I went to school in a small town. I took a public bus to get to school. One day, when the roads were especially icy, the bus skidded and hung over a big dam under which there was a pool of water. All the passengers left the bus through the emergency exit in the rear and there were no casualties. But on that day I seriously began to think that, perhaps, God needed me for something big on this earth. I was thinking that way although I considered myself an atheist at that time. I studied at school with excellence and so I absorbed all the "beauty" of the Soviet atheistic education system. But it implied that my presence on this earth was accidental and that life was meaningless and empty. When I entered the university, this state of things satisfied me completely: I could do what I wanted and didn't need to give account to anyone But as with any thing that is not used according to its purpose, I began to see that something was wrong with my life. With time, this situation and this feeling only got worse. I searched for meaning in life through fulfilling big goals, through temporary pleasures of the flesh or different books and teachings that claimed to know the way to live. |
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But in all of it I experienced one disappointment after another, and a series of such disappointments drove me to despair. I became obsessed with killing myself. The most attractive way to do it was to throw myself off the highest building in the city (something like - "At least I can fly at the end"). I was constantly thinking that it was the only way out of my situation. That was the condition in which two students found me when they came to my room in the dorm to share the Gospel. I was in my second year at the university at that time. When I first heard the Gospel, it was a virtual revolution. The things they were saying I heard for the first time. Some time later, I invited Jesus into my heart. I was just overwhelmed by His love that burst into my life. During the first week of my new life I experienced, it seemed, more love, joy and peace than during the whole of my previous years. It was as if I had wings, flying high above the ground and shouting what God had done in my life. Not everyone understood this cry of my soul: friends turned away from me, my enemies thought I was crazy and spread derogatory rumors behind my back, my parents turned me out of their home But I was willing to go through any hardships because Jesus is alive and He loves me! |
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I have found the true meaning of life and realized why I was still living on this earth. To tell others what happened on the cross on Calvary hill! I could not remain silent about what He, the resurrected One, had done in my life. I was nobody, and now I became a son of the King! God has called me to ministry as He called David: "He chose David his servant and took him from the sheep pens" (Psalm 78:70). God began to use me powerfully for building His Kingdom. During the second week of my Christian life, I was already going from door to door in apartment buildings and dorms, telling people about His love. Four months later I began to train my first disciple, and then there were more disciples When I was in my fourth year at the university, I had more disciples than the staff members of the Kharkov Campus Crusade team. God was also humbling and breaking me, teaching me and strengthening my character, the way steel is processed until it reflects the face of the master. This process continues to this day. Yet I rejoice and praise Him as I go through this process. I can see how through me He brings more and more students to Himself. I believe God has spared my life for a reason and He has a great plan for my life. I invite you to become part of this plan and see how God is powerfully moving in my country!!!!!!!! |
