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O God of the Nations, You are the all-powerful God, who appoints our times... Yet knowing that you are compassionate and merciful, and that you have instructed us to lift up prayers for all who are in high position that we might live peaceful and quiet lives, we pray for Ukraine, Russia, and Belarus and their governing authorities.

There are some meals you remember. Some are memorable for their location or quality: I remember eating my first steak and ale pie in a restaurant outside Aberdeen, and the pork schnitzel that I had in a beer garden outside the city limits of Vienna may have been the best meal I’ve ever had. Others are memorable for their uniqueness, like when I tried calamari or pickled herring (and survived). And still others are memorable for their company. I remember listening with fascination at a dinner party to my host sharing stories, like the time he got into a shoot-out with poachers while on safari in Africa. Believe me when I say that it was a memorable meal for all sorts of reasons!

I read an article last week by Rick Perhai, an American missionary who had decided to remain in Ukraine despite the danger of an imminent Russian invasion. What I found particularly compelling was the idea that, when life gets scary, God’s people have a refuge the world knows nothing of – and which we ourselves only discover, in truth, when “all around our soul gives way”.

How do you get FROM Big Ben TO Buckingham Palace? Or more generally, how do you get FROM any point A TO any point B within a six-mile radius from the center of downtown London? You’ll find no better guides than the drivers of the Black Cab. The reason? As Gregory Hudson puts it, “Cabbies are famed for possessing a detailed understanding of the city.” First comes a few years of training, then comes a thoroughgoing testing. The result? These drivers possess a “mental map” of some 25,000 city streets! They call it “The Knowledge”—a very practical, down-to-earth understanding of how to take a person FROM here TO there.