In December of 1991, the Soviet Union broke up and left Russia as its legacy. Six months later, I was in Latvia singing and dancing about Jesus. The free nation of Latvia had been invaded by the Soviet Union in 1940. For 51 years they were under communist rule which allows no religion. When I arrived in May of 1992, the Latvian people were only six months into experiencing their reclaimed freedom. After one elementary school performance of our musical theatre ministry in Latvia, my team was called into the principal’s office. As we were led down the hallways we exchanged worried looks wondering if we were in legal or political trouble for proclaiming our faith so boldly.

On the walls of the large and darkly decorated office we could see rectangles of differing shades. These were the places where pictures of Linen and Stalin had hung for fifty years but most recently been removed. The schools and other institutions were no longer forced to pay homage to these founding dictatorial communist leaders. The principal then introduced us to a little old lady standing meekly in his office. Her drab gray clothing, as was everything in Latvia, matched her tears. It took several moments for her to compose herself to speak. Through a translator she told us in hushed tones that this was the first time she had heard the name of Jesus spoken out loud in 40 years. She remembered the days of being a free nation pre-1940. She remembered the invasion when Soviet tanks rolled down the streets of her town stripping away their identify and forcing their faith underground. Now this woman, in her 90s, was so happy. We stood in amazement and some of us broke into nervous laughter. What a joy. 51 years later, freedom and public faith was reemerging.

As I watch Russia invade Ukraine, I cry for the people. The despair they must feel. The fear as Russian tanks now roll down their streets. The loss of freedom. Ukraine is losing their homeland just as Latvia, Estonia, Lithuania and others lost it before to this arrogant thirst for dominance. Russia doesn’t claim the communism of the Soviet Union but Putin operates with the same disregard for human life or sovereignty of nations. I wonder how far his ambitions lie. Does he intend to retake every free nation upon which the Soviet Union lost its grip? He has threateningly amassed troops near Latvia’s perimeter at times, as well. Latvia sits on the northern border of Belarus where Putin is now staging his Ukraine invasion.

I have no answers. I just have real faces, real stories, real lives that have touched mine. People whose entire existence was cast into shadows when Putin’s predecessors pulled off the same stunts he is reenacting today. I want you to know that this matters. I want you to pray for the people frightened and without defense. I want you to pray that this stops where it is and Putin is pushed back into his own oppressive borders. Pray for the Russian people caught up in the whims of a dictator. I want you to be grateful for our freedom and understand why we work to protect it around the world.