Youth is the time when we develop our personalities. When young children start to talk they amaze everyone with their new and varied vocabulary following a year or more without words. Likewise a young person amazes when, after acquiring theoretical knowledge, begins to put the learning to use. In the harsh realities of the adult world the process of adaptation is often not as pleasant and exciting as we would like it to be. But afterward the acquired theoretical knowledge, reinforced with practical life experience, develops into the wisdom that we all need.

 

         

 What follows is a practical example of the development of a personality. However, before you read the interview, dear reader, we would like to ask something of you. As you are reading the article, try to take note of the hand of the principal Author and Finisher of our own transformation in the life of the hero of this story. God's blessings on you!

- Good day, Zhenya! We know that even as a child you achieved a lot in the realm of sports. I think our readers would be interested in learning more about the type of sport you are involved in. Please tell us.

- My sport is shooting. There are several types of the sport: pistol shooting, rifle shooting and shooting at moving targets. My speciality is pistols. This is the olympic form of the sport with competition at several levels: world champion, world finals and, as you will have guessed, the Olympiade itself. There are also world, european and national federations.

- I see you are serious about this. You have probably been interested in shooting from an early age, am I right?

- I started shooting at the end of the nineth grade. I was about sixteen at the time, or maybe a little bit younger.

- And you are twenty five now.

 

- That's right.

 

- We're not asking you to boast, but just so we can understand, what are your achievements in this sport.

 - For the purpose of getting acquainted, I will tell you that I have won multiple prizes in the Ukrainian national championships. Unfortunately I haven't won first place yet - my best result has been second place. There is still time and I am counting on winning first prize in the future. Many times I have won: all types of tournaments, championships at various shooting clubs that are similar to Ukrainian national competitions in many ways. In regional competitions I have won first place.

 

- As far as I know, in addition to your sports career, you help out in another area. Tell us about that.

- I am a trainer in competitive shooting at the "Avangard" youth sports school. I teach the kids both pistol and rifle shooting. Among my students I have some prize winners in regional competitions. We are putting together a team for the Ukrainian national competition. I am also the shooting instructor for the security guards of one of the Poltava security companies.

- What professional achievements are you trying to reach in the future?

- If I keep training regularly and hard, then there is every chance I might get picked for the Ukrainian shooting team, which would give me the chance to take part in international competitions. As a result there would be the possibility to take part in the Olympic Games. I think if you win there, that's the biggest accomplishment of any sportsman's career. Theoretically, a job working for the Ukrainian national team sounds pretty good to me, but all the same, I like the work of a trainer more. A career in sports would be nice, but you need to devote yourself completely to your sport and live on the shooting range - and the Poltava shooting ranges aren't the best (not the sort of place you would want to live). But even if that weren't the case I would still prefer to be a trainer. I really like working with children, teaching shooting and watching their accomplishments. Although I am currently an active member of the Poltava regional team, I still haven't "made my mark" as a sportsman. I would still like to win the Ukrainian championship and participate in some type of international competition, but right now that isn't my first priority. I am in training, but it doesn't occupy all of my free time.

- In Ukraine, the sport has been around for quite some time. I am confident that you are familiar with the huge number of professionals who have dedicated their lives to achieve success in this career. What do they end up doing if they don't go into coaching?

- In shooting there is no age limit, so you can train and remain in the team until retirement, and not necessarily become a coach. Sometimes people in our profession are faced with dangerous propositions from criminal organizations. We are all professionals and all of us face temptation to make "quick and easy" money from the illegal use of weapons. This does not mean that a person becomes a killer, but that may take a shot a people for money. I even know a few such cases.

- Zhenya, why don't you want to put all your effort into your sports career and achieve great success in it? You're quite a talented and promising athlete.

- Perhaps if I hadn't believed in God from my earliest years, I might have done so. I have two priorities in life, and they limit the scope of my athletic dedication. The first is to family. A world-famous athlete  can not be a good family man. He will never have enough time for his wife and children, except possibly if his "other half" is the same as he is. The second is my ministry in the church. If I had agreed to devote my life to sport, I would only be in Poltava on holidays. That would be the end of my church attendance, not to mention taking part in ministry with my other gifts.

- It seems hard to me to combine the contradictory concepts of "weapons" and "Christianity". You teach people to shoot. You teach not only children, but also adults - future bodyguards. Doesn't this enable the spread of evil on earth? After all, your students can kill professionally. And you taught them. And in general, how can you combine your career with your faith, which encourages you to help people and save them?

- To begin with, I do not teach killers how to shoot. My title is "children's athletic trainer." I teach children and sometimes train bodyguards. The task of the bodyguard is not to kill, but to guard and defend those whom others want to kill. Self-sacrifice is a good thing. That is what I teach. How to use the acquired knowledge - that's not my decision. I do my job and try to instill understanding of the value of human life. Second, in the future I would like to limit my work to coaching kids. That wouild allow me to teach them not only shooting, but the evangelical worldview. Teenagers come to our course with negative attitudes. At the sight of a gun their eyes light up in a bad way. My task as a coach is to change their mindset and instill in them the principles of athletic moderation, tolerance, self-control, respect, kindness and love. I pray for my students and I believe that through me God can bring each of them to himself. I think that this type of athletic discipline is very compatible with Christianity. Weapons are neutral, what is important is how and why we use them.

- And have you already had results from your "multifaceted" coaching?

- No one has accepted Christ yet and come to church, though they know that I am a believer. But the behavior of the guys, especially the members of team staff, is changing. They have developed a definite understanding of good and evil. When I am around they hold back and watch their language. I think that it's not just because of my presence, but also because of the fact that they see it as something unacceptable and evil. I have a great opportunity to use conflicts and problem situations in the team to explain the biblical truths. So - God is at work!

- How do your co-workers relate to the fact that you are a believer?

- Well, I don't see my co-workers very often, since the shooting range is not in the sports school, but at another location. On the onther hand I see and interact with my own coach, Alexander L'vovich, every day. He knows I'm a believer, but he doesn't show any particular interest in the matter.

- Zhenya, I believe, for the development of your sports career, you had to serve in the army?

- I would not say that it was for that reason.

- Then why?

- Well, let's start with the fact that there is a Law in Ukraine on compulsory military service, which I was obliged to obey.

- You're a believer, but for believers there is the legal possibility of alternative service for the benefit of the State...

- Yes, at that time I had to choose between conventional and alternative service. I chose regular service on the grounds that, firstly, it is half as long, and, secondly, I was asked to serve in Kiev, where I had the opportunity to train on the CSK base, which has a good shooting range, and conditions in general are good. I took advantage of that opportunity. Besides, I wanted to have a good military record, and not some "sham." At that time I had graduated from law school and I planned to work in a profession, for example, in the Interior Ministry, and military service is necessary for that type of job. Consequently, I decided to serve in the army.

- Zhenya, how did your time in the army affect your spiritual life? You weren't able go to church. You were, in fact, cut off from the "fellowship of the saints."

- But I was not cut off from fellowship with God. The army was both a great challenge and a great blessing. During my time in the service I concluded that theological seminary is theory, the army is practice. There I was among not just non-believers, but among people warring with God and opposing him with all their strength. Every day, I had the choice to behave like everyone else, or to behave as a Christian. It is said that the Army raises up men. In my case the army, first first and foremost, raised up a Christian who knows what he believes and knows what he stands for. I will not deny that there were moments when I wanted to drop everything and be like everyone else, but God strengthened me and helped me to remain faithful to Him. He was always pointing out my mistakes and blessing the right decisions. The Army gave me a huge boost in spiritual growth.

- But couldn't you also have had a whole year of growth in church? Would the boost in growth in the church have been less?

- Sometimes I regret the fact that the year I spent in the service just fell out of my life. But on the other hand, I thank God for the lessons that I had to learn there. And I learned a lot.

- What, for example?

- There I came to realize what true sacrifice is. In the army I had to practice it constantly. Most often, I sacrificed my selfish desires. There is a simple law in the Army - you are there for what you can get out of it. This can especially be seen in the bullying, when those who have already served for half a year push the new recruits around. I had opportunities to slack off at the expense of others, especially when I was given more responsibility in the company. It would have been easy to push my work off on the "newcomers" and make it hard for them, but I did not. There were also times when I had to protect the new recruits soldiers from abuse coming from the so-called "grandfathers." I went against the system, but I was sure that this was what Christ wanted me to do. Many times I had to restrain myself from giving in to anger and provoking a conflict.

- You were in situations like that?

- Many different types. Here is an example of a hard situation for me. The Army is a purely masculine society. And you know what kinds of conversations are popular with guys who haven't been around girls for a long time. Everyone is trying to boast of his achievements on "love" the front. They are all trying to presuade the one another that they are "Casanovas." If they hear you say that you are keeping yourself for your future wife and have never slept with a woman, they would at least ridicule you, and at the most - make your life miserable.

- And you said that?

- For me, this moment was the biggest challenge, because I was afraid of the consequences of my frankness. I asked God for a long time that I would be able to avoid that conversation with the guys, but God ordained otherwise. One day, the worst guys managed to bring up this provocative subject with me. I had to explain my position, hiding nothing. I was sure that I was in for some terrible ridicule. Talk like: "what a proper little man!" That's when I learned not just to go against the system, but to follow God. Among the crowd there were those who do not disparage my position, even though they weren't in agreement. For me, that kind of support was, in some degree, encouragement from God.

- Would you recommend today that young men who are believers should join the army? Is it worth it?

- I would say it's not worth it. But for someone who really wants to test himself, I would recommend it. If a young Christian successfully passes this test, then he will appreciate this time as the greatest blessing, but only if he passes. There are two sides to this coin. Certainly, life in the army is not a cakewalk. But to avoid service by all possible and impossible dishonest means is not Christian, it is sin. For all the fellows who face the choice of lying or going into the service, I would recommend the latter. It will be difficult, it will be very difficult. At times it will be so hard that they will want to chuck it all. It will seem that the sky is leaden, and that God is somewhere very far away and has left you alone with all these problems. But then, you'll see in this wonderful blessing. You will understand that you have gone through the great test.

- Zhenya, thank you very much for your candor and willingness to share your testimony.

- May I add something?

- Please do!

- For a long time before deciding to enlist in the army I doubted the correctness of that choice. I know that churches insist that young believers chose alternative service instead of military service. I prayed and meditated on this question. Then I read the answer of John the Baptist to the soldiers who approached him: "Then some soldiers asked him, “And what should we do?” He replied, "Don’t extort money and don’t accuse people falsely—be content with your pay." I was amazed that he did not tell them, "Guys, drop your spears, grab brooms and go sweep the streets." He told them: "Be content with your wages, accuse no man falsely, and everything will be fine." For me, these words of Scripture became a sort of encouragement. I knew that I was not preparing to kill anyone; that I was not going to be sent to war, and that there is nothing wrong in what I do. That's why I made this decision.

- Once again, let me express my thanks and recognition for this interesting interview. I hope my opinion is shared by our readers.

- Yes, God willing!

 

Tanya Varyanitsa