I just spent two days in Kiev, Ukraine.  I wasn't planning on spending two days in Kiev.  Actually, when I left Odessa on Sunday evening, I was hoping to arrive in Kiev the next day to catch a train to Bucharest without ever leaving the train station.

I knew there had been flooding in Western Ukraine that had knocked out some track, but I was hoping that had all been taken care of.

I arrived in Kiev on Tuesday morning.  I got off the train and began to track down the proper ticket window for international sales.  I walked up to the window and asked the woman if she spoke any English. 

She looked exasperated and said "A leetle."  I said "I need to go to Bucharest."  She got very upset.  She began to wave her arms and say "no, no, no" in Russian.  It seemed the tracks had not yet been repaired.

I got to a hostel and told the manager that hopefully I would be there for just one night.  The next morning I woke up and asked one of the hostel workers, Maxim, to go with me to the train station as my translator.

The woman at the information desk said something to the effect of "Of course we are selling tickets to Bucharest".  I asked Max to confirm.  He asked again and translated back to me "She says they are selling tickets to Bucharest."  Then we looked at the big board of trains leaving that day and saw no listing for a train to Bucharest. 

I wasn't confident.

I got on the metro and then walked two blocks back to the hostel in the pouring rain. 

I was dejected.

I booked another night at the hostel.  I heard lots of different ways to get to Bucharest from the other travelers and from the hostel manager.  I heard I could train to Chernivtsi and take a bus from there.  I also heard that a bus through Moldova, by the manager's estimation, meant a 70% chance of getting robbed.  I decided not to bus through Moldova.

I spoke to several people that second day in Kiev (Tuesday).  I spoke with Jenny Brown, my co-leader for the June 2010 O-Squad, and I spoke with some of our leadership within the World Race.  I spoke to a couple friends from my original World Race squad and I spoke to some of the team leaders from this current World Race squad.  I told all of them that I was expecting a miracle.

I worried about how I would get to Bucharest.  I worried about how the other 40 World Racers in Ukraine would get to Bucharest only a couple days after me.  I worried if they would get lost or confused in this country where it always seems as though nobody speaks English.

I wanted God to intervene.  I needed God to intervene.

I kept wondering what or how else I should pray to make sure God knew I really wanted him to make a way for me.  I wanted God to make a way for me to get from Kiev to Bucharest by train so I wouldn't have to navigate my way in a Russian speaking, former communist, city to find my own way.  I expected nothing short of a miracle.

Tuesday night I asked for prayer support via my Facebook status.  In no time I had 8 comments from folks all saying they were on their knees.

So I wake up on Wednesday.  I pack all my stuff and get ready for a possibly long day.  I leave the hostel again with a rough idea of where the central bus station is, in case I need to make my way there after the train station.

I again find the international ticket sales window.  I walk up and the attendant is the same woman who so vigorously waved me off two days earlier.  I say "I need to go to Bucharest."  She says "When? Today?"  I get a little nervous and say "Yes."  She starts tick-tacking away on the computer to calculate the price.  She shows me the price.  I can hardly believe it.  I say I need to go to the ATM.  She says I have to give her my passport first.  I do.  Then I get the cash to buy my ticket.

I'm sure if I spoke Russian someone could give me a perfectly rational explanation as to why I was able to buy a ticket today.  Maybe it took no divine intervention whatsoever to get me on a train from Kiev to Bucharest.  But for two days I was saying that if I could get on a train to Bucharest it would be a miracle.  I was calling on God to make it happen.  So why, when it actually happened, would I give anyone or anything else the glory for my fortune.

Sometimes I think we are afraid to claim a miracle because we figure we may have to defend our conviction.  We're afraid someone will offer a more rational explanation than "God did it," and we'll look foolish.  Well, darn it, I figure God can defend himself.  On Sundays I sing all about how "all good gifts come from above", so why not the good gift of a train ride from Kiev to Bucharest.

When's the last time you saw a miracle in your life?  Did you claim it for God?  When was the last time you saw the Lord's blessing in your life?  When you woke up and kissed your wife?  When you were cooking breakfast and your beautiful little daughter smiled and thanked you?  Did you thank God in that moment?  Did you honor God as the giver of all good gifts?

For all those who prayed with me this week I thank you.  God heard the cries of his people and he answered.  Now together let us "Praise God from whom all blessings flow!"