Police chaplains and police officers across Canada are grieving over the invasion of Ukraine. Many of us have relatives in the Ukraine and ancestral roots within the country. Since our 2019 police mission trip to Kviv, Mariupol (Donetsk Region), Slavynsk, Lisichansk, Severodonetsk, Rubejnoe (Luhansk Region), and Kharkov, I consider many chaplains and police officers in those areas as friends. FB is one means to keep in touch with our friends, one of which we spent four days with as he co-escorted us along the Red Zone of Eastern Ukraine. This precious brother is Patrol Police Deputy Chief Alexander who recently shared that Ukraine Police Chaplain Denis (above photo) has been captured by the Russians. This photo is from FB from a training session in 2019. As your CPCA President, I ask that you lift Chaplain Denis and his family up in prayer. Please pray for all Police Chaplains and Police Officers in the Ukraine. Also, I salute Police Chaplain/Ukrainian Academy of Chaplains Administrator Pavlo Tsarevskyi and other police chaplains who have acquired buses and have evacuated over 3000 people from war torn areas. They have brought food and supplies and the love of Christ to desperate people while continually risking their lives (FB photos below). We see police chaplains and police officers working hand in hand to serve the people of Ukraine. We honor you and assure you that we are praying for you and your families. Members of the CPCA stand with you as do police officers across Canada. God bless you with courage and wisdom. I pray, may "The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you; the Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace" Numbers 6:24-26 ESV.
It is certainly difficult to watch this on TV, thousands of miles away. We discovered already in 2019 what Putin was capable of but this has gone much further. He is the definition of the devil talked about in John 10:10. "The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy...". Then the obvious words in John 8:44 which calls the devil a "liar". We continue to pray that "truth" would triumph.