Life is a precious gift we can enjoy every moment. Not that it is easy, but with a couple of comforting conditions, it can be a blast. A new beautiful day has arrived, full of sun, rain, or snow, depending on the climate zone or the time of the year. However, the second your foot touches the floor, stress rises. Everything and everyone seems to be against you or in the way of the goal you wrote in your organizer five weeks ago. Still, somewhere deep inside, you are very happy, but very deep and very somewhere.

My last mission to Ukraine was one of those precious gifts life gives. I spent ten days with the most wonderful young people from the Hampton Roads area, Virginia, who worked hard ministering to hundreds of orphans. They presented drama and dance, shared testimonies, distributed gifts and prayed over the children. We were able to deliver more clothes and medicine to orphanages and accomplish the unresolved problems of orphanage administrators. Because of God’s will and our obedience, we helped to take care of lots of abandoned children, comfort them and ease the pain they suffer. Here are just a few stories…

Two little girls Tanya, 7, and her sister Vika, 4, ended up in Zhmerinka orphanage because there was no one to take care of them. Both their parents are alcoholics who rarely were at home. Tanya literally raised her younger sister working in the back yard of their house growing vegetables, cooking meals, cleaning the filth left by parents, and hand washing laundry. The director of the orphanage told me that Tanya is a very hard-working girl and helps caregivers a lot.

Andrey, 5, inherited syphilis from his parents. His mother left him when he was just 6 months old. His alcoholic dad barely took care of Andrey until he was arrested for petty theft and was locked up for two years. By Ukrainian law Andrey’s father will lose his parental rights. Before departure to prison, he asked the director of the orphanage to take care of his son and track down Andrey in case he is moved to a different institution.

Kolya, 4, seldom is visited by his mother. Once she brought him a little gift – a notebook. Kolya took the Director aside so that nobody would hear them and asked him to hide it as a treasure that no one can steal.

I’m an emotional man and I have my own 2 year old. Such stories choke my throat to the point of suffocation. I know if I can change the life of these children, you can change it as well. You can hop on the plane and share just a bit of your heart with an orphan for ten days. You can hug and pray, play and wipe noses, fix things; I know you have a special gift you desperately want to share with somebody. If you are so paralyzed with responsibilities at home, give support for somebody else to go, or just directly support UCP and tell us how you want to help these orphans.

Life is precious, not just for us but for the orphans as well, because He gave us all life and He loves us equally. It has nothing to do with luck or who has more, or less.