I continued, “For me it’s better to be where my family is and my family is in Ukraine.”<\/p>\n
“For me life is better in Ukraine!”<\/strong><\/p>\n I have a US passport and Ukrainian residence permit but neither determine the best place for me to live.<\/p><\/div>\n <\/strong>It wasn’t the first time a Ukrainian had asked me if\u00a0 life was better in America. In fact I’ve been asked the question so often over the past 5 years that I crafted an answer which would point people to some important truths.<\/p>\n When people ask me if \u00a0life is better in America they assume that their definition of better and my definition of better are the same. That is why my first response is to ask them a question. “What do you mean by\u00a0better?”<\/em><\/p>\n In my experience with people money is often a big factor. The assumption is “If I just a had a little more money then my life would be better.”<\/p>\n It’s easy to fall into that trap ourselves. Money seems to resolve a lot of problems. \u00a0However, the reality is that money doesn’t really solve the problems in our life, it just gives us more options. Those options often complicate our life and easily lead to greater problems.<\/p>\n Usually people are thinking of “the good life”, like a great job, lots of free time, a bigger more beautiful home, a faster, shinier car, access to the newest technology and so on. If it’s fun, if it’s comfortable, if the movie stars have one then it must make my life better!<\/p>\n These things only affect the outward conditions of your life. It’s not hard to find examples of movie stars and millionaires who ruined their lives with drugs, crime or committed suicide. They had the “good life” but the good life wasn’t better for them!<\/p>\n To make life better you need to work from the inside out and not the other way around.<\/strong><\/p>\n This is usually what I start with when I explain to people my understanding of better. God built people\u00a0for relationships. When you focus on building and strengthening the most meaningful relationships in your life, your life in turn becomes better.<\/p>\n For me my relationship with my wife and children are at the top of the list!<\/p>\n Are you thankful? Are you joyful? Are you gracious? Are focused on the good of others? These are life altering attitudes and can immediately make your life better!<\/p>\n Ultimately the “betterness” of your life is determined by the things which you most highly value. If you value the external and temporal like money, pleasure, and things you will always be\u00a0disappointed. However, when you turn your attention to internal and eternal values you will find that your life can be better no matter what country you live in.<\/p>\n “Is life better in America?” The passport control officer asked me as I stood waiting for my exit stamp from Ukraine.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2321,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[193,31],"tags":[77],"class_list":["post-1909","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-ukraine-2","category-writing","tag-ukraine"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/sukofamily.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/photo-4.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3izZc-uN","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":878,"url":"https:\/\/sukofamily.org\/naomi-answers-your-questions\/","url_meta":{"origin":1909,"position":0},"title":"Naomi Answers your Questions","author":"Christina","date":"May 22, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"These are a few questions my cousin asked me and I thought you might enjoy watching it. The questions are below, watch the video for the answers! 1. How old were you when you moved to Ukraine, and what was the hardest part? 2. What is the climate in Ukraine\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Family"","block_context":{"text":"Family","link":"https:\/\/sukofamily.org\/category\/family\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sukofamily.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/01\/DSC02165.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sukofamily.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/01\/DSC02165.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sukofamily.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/01\/DSC02165.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":326,"url":"https:\/\/sukofamily.org\/a-new-passport-and-old-friends\/","url_meta":{"origin":1909,"position":1},"title":"A New Passport and Old Friends","author":"Caleb Suko","date":"May 2, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Kent, Hugo, Redding, Puyallup, Maple Valley, Gig Harbor, Republic, Kirkland, Colville, Hoquiam... These are a few of the places we have visited in the past two months. We are so thankful for the warm reception we have received at each church. It was particularly wonderful to visit our friends in\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "General Updates"","block_context":{"text":"General Updates","link":"https:\/\/sukofamily.org\/category\/updates\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":9286,"url":"https:\/\/sukofamily.org\/whats-going-on-in-ukraine\/","url_meta":{"origin":1909,"position":2},"title":"What’s Going on in Ukraine","author":"Caleb Suko","date":"April 10, 2018","format":"video","excerpt":"Here are a few news items about Ukraine and about our ministry here. I hope you'll take a few moments to read through them and pray for Ukraine. If you'd like to get regular updates via email, you can do that here. Things are getting more difficult for Churches in\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Ministry"","block_context":{"text":"Ministry","link":"https:\/\/sukofamily.org\/category\/ministry\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sukofamily.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/30415279_2236715976342283_8986102757635129344_o.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sukofamily.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/30415279_2236715976342283_8986102757635129344_o.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sukofamily.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/30415279_2236715976342283_8986102757635129344_o.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sukofamily.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/30415279_2236715976342283_8986102757635129344_o.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sukofamily.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/30415279_2236715976342283_8986102757635129344_o.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sukofamily.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/30415279_2236715976342283_8986102757635129344_o.jpg?resize=1400%2C800&ssl=1 4x"},"classes":[]},{"id":4161,"url":"https:\/\/sukofamily.org\/who-shot-down-malaysia-air-flight-17-over-eastern-ukraine\/","url_meta":{"origin":1909,"position":3},"title":"Who Shot Down Malaysia Air Flight 17 Over Eastern Ukraine?","author":"Caleb Suko","date":"July 18, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"My heart sunk today when I heard the news that a passenger airplane carrying 295 people had been shot down by surface to air missiles over Eastern Ukraine! Just when it seemed like the Ukrainian army was starting to makes some progress in removing the Russian separatists from their strongholds\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Ukraine"","block_context":{"text":"Ukraine","link":"https:\/\/sukofamily.org\/category\/ukraine-2\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sukofamily.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/russian-misslel-001.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sukofamily.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/russian-misslel-001.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sukofamily.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/russian-misslel-001.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":3913,"url":"https:\/\/sukofamily.org\/violence-erupts-in-odessa-ukraine-over-30-dead\/","url_meta":{"origin":1909,"position":4},"title":"Violence Erupts in Odessa Ukraine, Over 50 Dead","author":"Caleb Suko","date":"May 2, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"I don't look forward to checking the news on Ukraine any more but I do it anyway with my eyes half-shut anticipating more bad news, more unrest and more violence. Unfortunately today was no exception. The only difference was that the bloodshed was much closer to home this time! Fighting\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Ukraine"","block_context":{"text":"Ukraine","link":"https:\/\/sukofamily.org\/category\/ukraine-2\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sukofamily.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/dead-in-odessa.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sukofamily.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/dead-in-odessa.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sukofamily.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/dead-in-odessa.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":4332,"url":"https:\/\/sukofamily.org\/36-a-dark-cloud-is-rolling-over-ukraine-9-ways-you-can-pray\/","url_meta":{"origin":1909,"position":5},"title":"#36 A Dark Cloud is Rolling Over Ukraine -9 Ways You Can Pray!","author":"Caleb Suko","date":"September 4, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Last night we had a refugee family from Eastern Ukraine over to our place for dinner. We talked for a very long time about the war, about the church, and about what will happen in Ukraine! 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Better is not determined by how much money you have<\/h4>\n
Better is not determined by the conditions you find yourself in<\/h4>\n
Better is determined by the people around you<\/span><\/h4>\n
Better is determined by your attitude<\/h4>\n
Better is determined by your values<\/h4>\n
Question: How would you answer the questions? What makes your life better?<\/h4>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"