the blending of souls...

Last week I wrote about my reaction to the church in Kentucky deciding to ban interracial couples from membership. That was on Thursday.  On Sunday the church held another vote to affirm that they welcome people of all races in their fellowship.

One of the things I didn't talk about last week was the cost of staying silent.  There were 40 people at the church that night. Only 15 people chose to put their opinion out there. Perhaps there were people on the opposing side who stayed silent. It takes courage to speak up. I know that...I understand that. My post was not an easy one to write.  I risked people telling me negative things about my marriage or my children. But, I spoke up because I felt compelled. Because this issue touched the core of my heart...my family. That post went on to be featured on Women of the Harvest's Writing Blog.  And for that I am humbled.

However, for those church members in Kentucky, their silence was costly.  This tiny little church in Pike County made international news.  Blogs, news stories, Facebook and Twitter posts all commenting and expressing their opinions on the actions of the church.

News of this vote to ban interracial couples from membership caused the National Association of Free Will Baptists to put out a statement regarding their position.  It caused the publishing arm of the denomination to put out a downloadable Bible study on racism. And for that I am grateful.

Here is an excerpt from the study:

How are we supposed to treat people that are different from us?

Treat them as someone created in the image of God (Genesis 1:27). Treat them as someone for whom Christ died (John 3:16). Treat them like you want to be treated (Matthew 7:12). God also expects His people to seek justice and confront oppression (Deuteronomy 16:19; Isaiah 1:17; Jeremiah 22:3). Anything less is sin.

 In the conclusion of the study I found this statement:

In many ways our time on earth is a rehearsal for our time in Heaven. God has given each of us time to prepare for the eternity that lies ahead. Revelation 7:9-10 makes it very clear that Heaven will be filled with people from every nation, tribe, and tongue. Do we live like we believe that? Is our rehearsal on earth reflecting what will happen on the grand stage? 

My friend, Cyndi, recently began a network called Blended Souls. It is a network of Pastors' Wives and Ministry Wives... a gathering of "sistas" from various Christian denominations and ethnic backgrounds. Blended Souls Network was created to support women in their role as the wife of a pastor or ministry leader, so that they can worship and pray together, network with one another, and embrace cultural differences for the “soul” purpose of giving honor to God.  The network's desire is to reach out to wives from every tongue, tribe and nation.

I am excited to be one of the prayer partners for Blended Souls and I would love to invite you to join the network.  Just think as this grows it will be a slice of what heaven will look like!  If you would like to be added to our Facebook group you can leave me a note or send me an email.

If there is an issue that burns in your heart my prayer is that you will not keep silent.  May that burning propel you into action.  To bring light where there is only darkness, to bring justice where injustice is found or to bring healing where healing is needed. And above all... to bring honor and glory to God.  

This news has been anticipated for a while now and in time we will come to fully understand what this means for Russia, but here is a bit of breaking news:





Putin accepts leadership of party
Vladimir Putin has accepted the leadership of the dominant United Russia party. The position should secure his grip on power after he leaves the Kremlin and becomes prime minister next month.

The nearly 600 party delegates at Tuesday's congress immediately approved his candidacy in an unanimous vote. Becoming head of United Russia will enhance Putin's power base in the lower house of Russia's parliament, where the party holds a two-thirds majority.

The move could also serve to undercut the authority of Putin's hand-picked successor, Dmitry Medvedev.

Election results

Monday, December 3, 2007

It looks like United Russia has over 63% of the vote giving them control of Parliament. Followed by the Communist Party 11%, Liberal Democratic Party 8.5 % and Just Russia (just as in fair) 8%. My statistics came from a news program I watched here this morning.

Here is a more complete article:
Putin's Party Overwhelms Russia Election

Election Day

Sunday, December 2, 2007

Today is election day for the Duma (parliament). Please pray for the direction of this country. Voting started in the Far Eastern regions of Chukotka and Kamchatka while we here in Krasnodar headed to bed Saturday night.

Here are a few links to news articles about the election:

FACTBOX: Key facts about Russia parliamentary election

Russia's election under fire

Voting starts in Russian election

Krasnodar Votes for Putin

Wednesday, November 28, 2007

The elections for parliament (Duma) will be held here December 2nd. We noticed the other day that there are signs, billboards and banners up all throughout the city saying:

"Krasnodar Votes for Putin"

There are commercials on TV, Debates on TV daily and we get flyers in our mailbox regularly. Still it doesn't seem to have reached the level of media coverage that we experience in the US!


Here is an article that gives an outline to what is going on here:

Russia's election at a glance

By The Associated Press

A glance at Sunday's parliamentary elections in Russia:

• WHO'S VOTING: 107 million people eligible to cast ballots for one of 11 parties to fill 450 seats in parliament's lower house, State Duma. Polls predict United Russia, Kremlin-backed party whose ticket is topped by President Vladimir Putin, will win as many as 80 percent of seats.

• WHO'S WATCHING: Officials from several international groups will monitor the vote, but none from Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, whose election reports are considered authoritative in West. OSCE blames excessive Russian restrictions; Moscow accuses Washington of pressuring the organization.

• WHAT'S AT STAKE: Vote will be less a competitive election and more a referendum on Putin's nearly eight-year presidency. If United Russia achieves expected overwhelming sweep, Kremlin could take that as mandate for Putin to lead Russia in some capacity after his second term ends next year.

Russian singer tours North America

Saturday, November 10, 2007

Star Russian singer tours North America
By VERENA DOBNIK, Associated Press Writer

La creme de la Kremlin is touring the United States.

Russia's Academy of Choral Art, along with the Moscow Chamber Orchestra, is accompanying star baritone Dmitri Hvorostovsky on a 13-stop North American tour.

"This is the full range, the full journey, of Russian music," the Siberian-born baritone says of the repertoire sung by the chorus that has performed with him "for many Kremlin occasions."

The 40-member group, dubbed the "creme de la Kremlin" in the Soviet era, has endured more than half a century as an artistic force. The current singers, most in their 20s and trained at the Moscow-based academy, have "the most excellent sound that anyone can produce from choruses in Russia," says Hvorostovsky. "And they have great spirituality."

The Russian musicians are to perform in Los Angeles on Sunday, followed by New York, Miami, Washington, Montreal, Quebec City, Toronto, Chicago and Boston.

The tour started in Mexico, with stops last week in Berkeley, Calif., and Dallas.
The program, with San Francisco native Constantine Orbelian conducting, is billed as a retrospective of Russian vocal art from the 19th century to the Soviet era.

In the first half, the baritone will sing centuries-old Russian sacred works from the Christian Orthodox rite, plus opera arias from Tchaikovsky's "Queen of Spades" and "Eugene Onegin," and from Rimsky-Korsakov's "The Tsar's Bride."

The rest of the program features romances of pre-Revolutionary Russia and popular songs of the Soviet era that speak to the heart of Hvorostovsky's homeland — from the poignant "Nezhnost" ("Tenderness") and "Gori, gori, moya zvezda" ("Shine, shine, my star") to more recent music from the rock 'n' roll era.

Accompanying some of the songs is a traditional instrumental ensemble including a plucked psaltery called the "gusli," a rounded string "domra" and a balalaika.

The choral academy was opened in 1944 to restore traditional Russian choral education, which was interrupted in the early 20th century when the communists came to power.

Election monitors in Russia

Saturday, November 3, 2007

OSCE to send monitors to Russia
Fri Nov 2, 5:45 PM ET



An international security organization said Friday that it will go ahead with plans for a "restricted" mission to monitor Russia's parliamentary election, and urged Moscow to cooperate fully.

Russia earlier this week significantly curtailed the number of international observers it would accept for the Dec. 2 vote, limiting the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe to 70. The organization initially reacted by saying it was unsure whether it would send any observers at all.

However, on Friday, the OSCE branch that organizes observer missions said it would "attempt to observe the upcoming Duma elections by deploying a restricted election observation mission."

The OSCE's Warsaw-based Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights stressed in a statement that time was running short to monitor the election campaign — although "we hope that we may still be able to offer some assessment of the legislative framework and the very last stages of the campaign."

It urged Moscow to offer "full cooperation" in processing visas, issuing accreditation and providing other logistical assistance. It called for "full and timely access to all relevant officials and other election stakeholders."

The Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights has requested 20 visas for observers and is planning to seek 50 more, spokeswoman Urdur Gunnarsdottir said.

The OSCE — which includes 56 countries from Europe, central Asia and North America — sent 400 observers for the last parliamentary election in 2003. The observers described that vote as a step backward for democracy.

Dmitry Peskov, President Vladimir Putin's spokesman, said this week that past OSCE missions had been "unsatisfactory." He refused to elaborate, but Russia has accused Western election monitors of bias against Russia.

On Thursday, U.S. Undersecretary of State Nicholas Burns said in Vienna that "we regret very much" the Russian decision to curtail the number of international observers, which he described as "rather unprecedented" in the OSCE's history.

Russia's Foreign Ministry criticized Burns on Friday for making what it called "a series of tactless statements directed toward Russia" in the Austrian capital, where the OSCE is headquartered.

"Such statements, having no basis in fact, speak only to the allergies in certain circles in the West in connection with the sovereign character of the Russian democratic system," the ministry said in a statement.

Russia told it is losing AIDS battle

Thursday, October 25, 2007

AIDS in Russia

Richard Holbrooke, former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, told Russians on Thursday that their country is losing the battle against HIV/AIDS because of government inaction and a lack of public awareness.

"You are in terrible, terrible danger here in Russia," said Holbrooke, who now heads an international group that promotes partnerships between the government and private sector to combat HIV/AIDS and other infectious diseases.

"I'm terribly sorry to say this — this is not a political statement."

Officially, Russia had about 390,000 registered cases of HIV infection as of August 2007. But international experts say the true number of HIV carriers is closer to 1.6 million and is expected to grow by 30 percent by 2010.

With 80 percent of Russia's HIV cases among 15-30 year olds, the disease poses a threat to Russia's economic competitiveness, according to the Global Business Coalition on HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria.

Clyde Tuggle, Coca-Cola's president in Russia, Ukraine and Belarus, said businesses are major stakeholders in the global battle against AIDS.

He said his company had a "very selfish motivation" for joining the Global Business Coalition initiative in Russia.

"My business is dependent on one thing: the sustainability of this community, on a successful, healthy and prosperous Russia. Without that I will have no business," he said, speaking with Holbrooke at a conference in Moscow organized by the GBC.

HIV/AIDS is spreading faster in Russia and Ukraine than anywhere else in the world, and 90 percent of HIV carriers in these countries will not know that they are infected until they get full-blown AIDS, said Holbrooke, who heads the GBC, an alliance of 220 international companies.

"Over the next few years, they will be spreading it unintentionally, and on, and on, and on," he said. "It's a bottomless pit."

Vladimir Pozner, a prominent Russian journalist who moderated Thursday's event, said he was upset by the notable absence of Russian business leaders.

"They did not come because they were not told (by the authorities) to come. Otherwise, they would have come," he said. "But partnership isn't when the government tells business what to do."

---

On the Net:

http://www.businessfightsaids.org

Unique Race

Sunday August 5, 2007

Speed on heels: Russian women run in unique race
Associated Press
Sunday, July,29 2007 (Moscow):
Russian women proved on Saturday that they can do what no man in the world can: running a 100-metre race in 9 cm (3.5 inches) high heel shoes.

The new sports competition, "The High-Heel Race" was held this year in five Russian cities between July 16-28.

Last year, over 200 women took part in the first sprint race in Moscow, Petersburg, Yekaterinburg (the Urals) and Novosibirsk.

The race was such a success that the Russian edition of Glamour magazine decided to support it and turn it into an annual event.

"Generally our women are very fond of heels, make-up, hair-dos, minis and whatever in order to present themselves," said Anna Rykova, a fashion expert.

"On one hand it is not good because their attire is not an everyday one. On the other hand, (this style) attracts foreign men because our women are always looking good - from morning until night," she added.

Oksana, one of the high heel racers, said Russian girls were permanently competing. "Our girls are dressing better than girls abroad and they are paying more attention to what they wear.

Everyday for them is like a beauty contest.

"The winners of each race get cash certificates of 100,000 roubles ($4,000) to spend in the city's shopping malls.

Sochi 2014

Saturday July 7, 2007

If we are still living in Russia in the year 2014, the winter olympics would be in our neck of the woods... Sochi is a beach city located about 2 hours drive from our city, Krasnodar.



















It's Sochi 2014: Russia lands its first Winter Olympics

Associated Press

GUATEMALA CITY - Russia's Black Sea resort of Sochi was awarded the 2014 Olympics yesterday, rewarding President Vladimir Putin and taking the Winter Games to his country for the first time.

Sochi defeated the South Korean city of Pyeongchang, 51-47, in the final round of voting by the International Olympic Committee.

The Austrian resort of Salzburg was eliminated in the first round of the secret ballot, setting up the decisive head-to-head contest between Sochi and Pyeongchang.

Pyeongchang led the first round with 36 votes, followed by Sochi with 34 and Salzburg with 25. Sochi picked up 17 votes in the second round to secure the victory.

The result was a triumph for Putin, who put his international prestige on the line by coming to Guatemala to lobby IOC members and lead Sochi's final formal presentation to the assembly. Putin had left by the time the result was announced.

IOC president Jacques Rogge opened a sealed envelope and read the words the Russians longed to hear:
"The International Olympic Committee has the honor of announcing the 22nd Olympic Winter Games in 2014 are awarded to the city of Sochi."

Russian delegates in the hall erupted in cheers, jumped to their feet and hugged each other. They unfurled a Russian flag and chanted, "Sochi! Sochi!" Korean delegates bowed their heads, some in tears.

"It was a historic decision for all countries," Sochi bid chief Dmitry Chernychenko said. "Russia will become even more open, more democratic."

In Sochi, cheers erupted from the crowd of more than 15,000 that had gathered for a pop concert and the announcement in a main square. "We did it all together. We won," the concert's announcer said from the stage as fireworks flashed and boomed.

People hugged and waved their hands in the air. Some appeared to have tears in their eyes.

"It is great. I've never been so happy in my life," said Marina Matveyeva, 23, who works in a bank. "It means that Russia has reached the level of Europe, and we can be proud of our country."

Russia, an Olympic power that has won 293 Winter Games medals, has never hosted the Winter Games. That was a strong point in Sochi's favor with the IOC, which likes to spread the Olympics to new host countries. Moscow hosted the 1980 Summer Games, which were hit by the U.S.-led boycott following the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan.

The Sochi bid won out over the appeals of its rivals - Salzburg, presenting itself as a safe, no-risk winter sports mecca at the heart of Europe with world-class venues already in place; and Pyeongchang, offering the potential for peace and reconciliation on the divided Korean peninsula and promoting winter sports in Asia.

Valley of Geysers

Landslide damages famed valley in Russia

By MANSUR MIROVALEV,

Associated Press Writer

Tue Jun 5, 1:27 AM ET

A severe landslide has nearly obliterated one of Russia's most noted natural wonders, the Valley of Geysers, officials and environmental activists said Monday.

The valley in the Kronotsky national reserve on the Far Eastern Kamchatka Peninsula contained about 90 geysers, as well as an array of thermal pools, and is the region's most popular tourist attraction.

A snow-covered mound collapsed Sunday "within seconds" and caused a massive landslide, about a mile long and 600 feet wide, burying two-thirds of the valley, park ranger Valery Tsypkov said in televised remarks.

The landslide dumped millions of cubic yards of mud and stones and destroyed most of the valley's geysers and dozens of thermal springs, stopping yards away from the valley's only hotel, he said.

Tourists and park personnel had to be evacuated, but no injuries were reported.
"The splendor of the valley has changed beyond recognition," Kronotsky national reserve director Natalya Radugova said in televised remarks.

Some officials were more hopeful about the valley's future.

The natural dam created by the landslide will turn the valley — which was discovered only in 1941 — into a thermal lake that could become a new "tourist jewel of Russia," tourism official Denis Lazarev said, according to Russian news agencies.

Experts feared many of the valley's geysers were obliterated.

"We witnessed a unique natural event," said Oleg Mitvol, the deputy head of Russia's environmental watchdog agency Rosprirodnadzor. "But the consequences of such a natural catastrophe are irreversible."

A sparsely populated peninsula, Kamchatka is located some 4,200 miles from Moscow. It was completely closed to foreigners until 1990 and now attracts thousands of tourists annually with its volcanos, geysers and national parks.

"This is tragic for humankind, in that we have lost one of the great natural wonders of the world," Laura Williams of the World Wildlife Fund said in a statement posted on the group's Web site. "But for nature, this is only a blip in the history of the planet's evolution."

Another reason to drink?

Temperature guide: 33 degrees celsius= 91.4 degrees Fahrenheit

Tuesday, May 29, 2007.
Issue 3666.
Page 3.
Blackout Fears Amid a Record Heat Wave
The Moscow Times

As the temperature hit a record high Monday, Moscow's electricity provider scrambled to prevent a blackout due to a surge in the use of air conditioners.

The temperature hit 33.2 degrees Celsius in Moscow on Monday, surpassing a record of 32.2 degrees set for the day in 1995, Interfax reported, citing the Moscow area weather bureau.
Electricity use jumped 8 percent, forcing Unified Energy Systems to impose limits on corporate consumers, company spokeswoman Margarita Nagoga said, Interfax reported. The situation was exasperated by the closure of the city's Matveyevskaya transmission substation for repairs, she said.

The limits are to be lifted Tuesday. Two years ago, a surge in demand caused by a heat wave led to a power outage that began in Moscow and spread to the Moscow, Tula, Kaluga and Ryazan regions, leaving 1.5 million to 2 million people without electricity.

Monday's heat sparked small fires at several electricity substations around Moscow, Interfax said.

A poll of Moscow kiosk vendors, meanwhile, found that the sale of beverages shot up by 80 percent on Monday.

Beer sales alone were up 90 percent, according to the Interfax poll.

Moscow temperatures are expected to hover around 30 degrees for the rest of the week.

Paris Hilton

She is always in the news... we have all seen her pose for the cameras. And yet how many of us take the time to pray for her and consider her spiritual condition.

I found an article here: http://www.nationalledger.com/artman/publish/article_272613596.shtml

The story about Paris begins like this----> "Paris Hilton has turned to Buddhism in her ongoing campaign to avoid jail. And if that doesn't work she has a Christian Bible as well."

Just do a quick search on Google.com of Paris Hilton Bible and you will find a number of stories making fun of her desperate attempt to find some peace spiritually.

I don't know whether Ms. Hilton is a Christian, a Buddhist or what. I do know that she needs some guidance from a power greater than herself. My prayer for her and for all young people who are facing jail time or currently serving time in prison, is that God reveals Himself in an unmistakable way.

5minutesformom

how NOT to catch a plane

Russian Policeman Starts Bomb Hoax to Save Boss From Missing Plane
MosNews.com







A Russian policeman has been jailed for phoning an airport with a bomb warning to help acquaintances of his boss make their flight, the Reuters news agency reports quoting an article in the Friday issue of Russian daily Kommersant.

A senior police officer, who was seeing off two businessmen in the Urals city of Yekaterinburg in February last year, told his subordinate to fix the problem when they failed to board the plane on time.

The assistant phoned the airport and said he had received a message about explosives and weapons on board the plane. The aircraft with 40 passengers on board turned around in mid-air to return to Yekaterinburg.

The police officer and his subordinate were sentenced to 21 months in prison each, the paper reported.Witnesses cited by Kommersant said the businessmen had been drinking in the airport.

beth moore and anna nicole

Two women completely unrelated surprised me on Friday. I woke up and got online only to find out that Anna Nicole Smith was dead. Knowing that she was only 39 years old and had a baby girl the same age as my neighbors daughter that I spend so much time with knocked the wind out of me.

During the same internet session I had logged onto someones blog and discovered that Beth Moore has a blog. Reading her and her daughter's posts about Anna Nicole helped me make sense out of how I felt. I did feel Anna's brokenness. Tom and I have discussed some of her emotional wounds. I see young women here and am reminded that women around the globe are using their bodies to give them a sense of power. These young ladies end up showing the world how vulnerable they are instead. Like Beth Moore said in her post:

"Anna Nicole Smith publicly fought and lost the same battle of insecurity that you and I privately fight. Had we had money, access, and opportunity, no telling what lengths we might have traveled to feel a little better about our broken selves. "

I pray for all the Anna Nicole's here in Russia and around the world. She made the news here today... how many young girls are yearning to look like her or be famous like her and will go to any lengths to try and get it? There has to be a better way to fill the hole in the souls of these women. May all who seek come to find the One who can make us whole!