The Sun Will Shine

I am not a fan of cloudy winter days. In all honesty, they are depressing at times. That's why I like living in sunny North Carolina. Of course in the tar heel state a cloudy winter day usually means - rain.... That combination may be more depressing than the freeze-dried version. On days like today I remember how only a couple of years ago I mission-traveled to "always sunny Belarus" at about this exact time of the year. There were occasions of sunshine, but most of the time the weather report was predictable: cloudy with a chance of snow flurries (they say something that sounds like schniiegh) It looks just like snow and by coincidence can be balled up and thrown just like our snow. Anyway, it stayed cloudy so much of the time that on those rare occasions when there were actual "sun-sightings" a sense of euphoria swept over me like a three-year-old @ Christmas. Our host family and friends (the Volkovs) e mailed this week and attached a picture that must have taken three hours to send over their speedy dial-up connection. Mom, Dad, and two kids are squeezed together on a couch in the living room of their three bedroom flat - with the drapes drawn behind them as a backdrop. A4 paper pieces are attached to the top of the drapes, spelling out Happy New Year in Cyrillic. When spoken aloud it sounds something akin to: SNOW - VOOM - GO - DUHM!!!! The light behind the sheer curtain cannot be described in any sense as "streaming". It is obviously a typical winter day in Mogilev - where the sunlight does not "stream". It comes through the overcast sky more like trickles of water through a clogged drain. Yet, there they are, on the couch, with smiles on their faces....and as I looked at the digital image I started smiling myself. Sergei Volkov is in every sense of the word a "bear-of-a-belarussian-man". His smile is contagious. ...His zest for life is constant. He is the consummate, top-shelf-of-the-banya (sauna), kind of guy. If he lived in North Carolina his wife, Irina, would only see him on rainy days - because every other day he would be fishing from his belarussian dinghy.

The two of us laughed and smiled and enjoyed the opportunity to live at the intersection of God's grace for some wonder-filled days. Our time together, and our staying in touch has cemented us as "DRUK" (friends). I often wonder if my friend Sergei struggles to keep his chin up when the sun is barely sighted for days on end. Does he dream of visits to sunny North Carolina in the midst of harsh Belarussian winters? Perhaps this will be included in our next conversation aided by the interpretation of his 12 year old daughter. Sergei makes me think of something the late Henri Nouwen wrote some years ago.

“….Real life takes place in the here and the now. God is a God of the
present. God is always in the moment, be that moment hard or easy, joyful or
painful. I have a friend who radiates joy, not because his life is easy, but
because he habitually recognizes God's presence in the midst of all human
suffering, his own - as well as others'. … My friend's joy is contagious. The
more I am with him, the more I catch glimpses of the sun shining through the
clouds. Yes, I know there is a sun, even though the skies are covered with
clouds. While my friend always spoke about the sun, I kept speaking about the
clouds, until one day I realized that it was the sun that allowed me to see the
clouds. Those who keep speaking about the sun while walking under a cloudy sky
are messengers of hope, the true saints of our day.”

Here and Now: Living in the Spirit

May God grant us the grace to know that the Son shines even when clouds seem to rule the day. I hope you have a friend like Sergei - someone whose contagious joy spills into your life as a gift from the One who spoke the sun into existence.

In Christ,

Jon(the methodist)