Gabriel.  Somehow I can't get it out of my mind.  What a great guy.  (See pictures in the photo album from the sailing trip he took us on--wouldn't let us pay for a thing except some food!)   And the thing that is amazing is about his family--and by extension the Polish nation.  You see, Gabriel's grandfather was murdered by Ukranians, along with the rest of his village, during WW 2.  The Ukranians were on the German side and were promised Polish villages, but they had to do the dirty work of "cleansing" them of their Polish inhabitants. 

What would it do to you to know that your grandfather died in such a way?

And yet to Gabriel it doesn't seem like anything special.  And the reality is, it isn't unusual.  Many of our acquaintances have similar stories of immense tragedy and heartbreak.  Our 95 year old former neighbor was saved by a merciful German soldier.  I recently traveled with a prominent Pentecostal leader who was born in Siberia where his family had been deported--they lived underground and barely survived.  It's the story of this nation.  It's the story of being beaten down, being brutalized, suffering terribly.  I've lived here 7 years but somehow my American, free world mind cannot grasp it.  Maybe nobody can grasp it.  That's why they just live with it.  That's why Gabriel doesn't act like it's anything special that his grandfather was killed in ethnic "cleansing".  What is there to say?  In the face of such horror there is no logic, no explanation. 

And in spite of the blackness, we say, blessed be Your Name, though there's pain in the offering, blessed be Your Name!  We don't understand the world we live in, but we worship the creator.  We are here to lift Him up and to make Him known, in this part of the world that has known unspeakable suffering.  His love is greater than the enemy's hatred.  May His name be exalted!