Woven by Your Hand

You created my inmost being;
You knit me together in my mother's womb.
I praise You because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
Your works are wonderful, i know that full well.
My frame was not hidden from you when i was made
in the secret place.
When i was woven together in the depth of the earth,
Your eyes saw my unformed body.
All the days ordained for me were written in Your book
before one of them came to be.
/Psalm 139:13-16 (niv)

What a wonderful words and how true they are! Only blind can not see the miracle of life God brings into being.
This is picture of my/our son and when i thought about and wrote down the words of this Psalm it sounded like it is him saying this praise. It sounded like i heard his voice.
There is some growth and development Before Leaving mothers womb and some growth and development Before Leaving Earth. Both of these Leavings is to do with some pain, but our growth being in God's hands are wonderful.
What world we are coming into when we Leave these two worlds mentioned? Are we coming into father's arms when we Leave mother's world (womb)? Are we loved by our parents before seeing them?
And Leaving Earth - are we coming into Father's arms? Are we loved by Him?
Do you know your Father? His Love for you? Do you hear Him talking to you while you are into womb of this Earth?
Listen to Him and respond, feel His touching hand through the cover of unseen realities. He wants to touch you - to feel you moving.
His love endures forever!

God's provision

Here i am - back with my few thoughts and things to share.

Evening with students that day went fine (i think). I did not hear any feedback or comments, but after lecture i talked to couple people. One guy could recognized himself from what i shared about my first steps in Faith in Jesus. Looking back to the topic - i could not avoid talking about discipleship. I don't know how it happens - it just happens.

I better share about that miracle i mentioned:
I know it is kind of worldly thing and sometimes i even feel guilty that i have so much while others are not so fortunate, but my prayer to God is that my heart does not stay attached to those things that can pass away in any minute. We all are fragile and so does the things what we have. God gives and God can take them away. By His grace we have what we have.

There is some life on the way in our family and the apartment we are living is not really ours, but belongs to organization my wife working for. We had a thought for awhile to get some place to live, but we did not really looked for anything till couple weeks ago we thought to look in Internet - to see what is around and what it costs. So we wrote down couple apartments, called the people and arranged one evening to go and look at one of them.
As we saw this one, it looked perfect, nothing more to desire. That night after us two other families came to see the place. As we walked away left with the time (till next noon) to think about everything, we felt that it might be to late if we don't say YES now. We had some minutes of "panic" and praying to God to know the right decision to make. As we stood at tram stop letting three trams to pass us by, we made the decision to call them back and to say that we are buying it. And seems like those two other families who went there that night were also considering the same. We were first and so the process was starting, but the thing is we were not even quite ready for all of this. People who were selling the apartment wanted us next day to make a precontract with the first payment towards it. So the next day was another day of panicking thinking about all the right things to do and getting to know all the information which you need to know when you are buying property (you never know how all this can turn - there is all kinds of "horror" stories around real estates. Like stories when two people buy the same thing not knowing about other buyer and so on...).
Well for us, with God's grace, week later we signed the REAL CONTRACT. It seemed unreal, unbelievable.
The owners of the apartment were very nice people, the mediators who sorted out all this between us also were nice. All this was just as a big miracle. GLORY TO GOD! Only He is worthy of our praise!

That's the STORY.

Are we God's marionettes?

This is the topic i was asked to speak (share) about with students and this is early morning of the day in which this event is happening. For some days i thought about it and i am still feeling quite blank.
I woke up at 6.00 this morning with the thoughts about this topic and i am very determined to prepare well.
My problem is that i am not good speaker. I am more of a Bible study leader and there i feel like a "fish in the water", but speaking in public is not my favorite thing although i know that i can do it if i develop that area.
So, this morning before starting i red Grace's blog where i found new entries. It is good to read something new again. I've been silent for quite a long. Then a thought came - how good it could be if i could have thoughts and prayers of the people who read my blog. Well unfortunately i am quite late with this idea, because i could have only some thoughts of those who live in Asia (because of time zone), but people in North America will have morning by the time this evening meeting with students start. Anyway - maybe this bloging is good way to open my mind for God to fill me with words to say this evening.
Well dear friends (if i still have some :) now i will try to develop my thoughts about the subject: Are we God's marionettes?
As i thought about it, first of all i checked a dictionary what this word really means (i love to learn the meaning of a words by looking into Oxford's or other dictionaries).
And this is what i found:
marionette - puppet moved by strings
- a small figure of a person operated from above with strings by a puppeteer
I love this combination of the words - 'operated from above'
But question is - are we free or were is our freedom if we are operated by someone? Is not it just His play He is playing with us and what we can do?
That is the questions to answer...
ok, for now i will post this blog and come back later with some thoughts. And maybe some of you will manage to bring your input in this subject. I will be greatly delighted.

P.S. There was some reasons why i was silent for some while (maybe not enough reasons to be silent for whole months), but i have some miracle to share about with you because only God can do what happened with me and my wife Sarah two days ago.

Bringing out flavors and colors of God

"Let me tell you why you are here. You're here to be salt-seasoning that brings out the God-flavors of this earth. If you lose your saltiness, how will people taste godliness? You've lost your usefulness and will end up in the garbage. "Here's another way to put it: You're here to be light, bringing out the God-colors in the world. God is not a secret to be kept. We're going public with this, as public as a city on a hill. If I make you light-bearers, you don't think I'm going to hide you under a bucket, do you? I'm putting you on a light stand. Now that I've put you there on a hilltop, on a light stand - shine! Keep open house; be generous with your lives. By opening up to others, you'll prompt people to open up with God, this generous Father in heaven."

Jesus (Matthew 5:13-16/ The Message)

Christ's Church - His people

I am still reading "Heavenly man". There was chapter about unity of Christians. Actually the chapter was more about disunity. Not talking of the details of the chapter some thought came to my mind. Specially it is concerning those of us (Christians), who does not know much about each other here on web net.
I just thought - is not it true - as long as we cling to our Master Jesus, considering our relationships with Him the highest priority; our passion to know God (John 17:3) - the Father and the Son; the Good Book - the Message as the purest source of wisdom which Spirit makes us understandable - that long we Christians are united. Thoughts of division come to us when we start to speak about denomination we belong to. But there is one Church Jesus is building and it does not consists of stones but living people - His people who accept Him. Let us talk about HIM, let us share Him with those who live apart from His love.
There is film festival going on in Riga (my town) and i just went to excellent film ("Luther") about Martin Luther (big reformist). We could think that Martin Luther did big reform of the Church of those days. Did he? or it was God through him? It was excellent movie which showed the heart of God in a man. It showed the spiritual hunger of people who seek freedom of their souls and Luther who took a courage to trust and obey God and to let God work through him to make a major surgery of His Church. There was even some wonderful line about translating the Bible in German language so that ordinary people could read and understand God's Word.
The line was something like that:
"Words are like children, the more you play with them, the more attention they demand from you"
This is exactly what i am experiencing when i do translation of certain verses or passages of the Bible into my language.

Giving flesh to the wind.
I'm just thinking. If wind would be a person, i could say - we had a moment of fun, playing with each other.

This picture is such a good reminder of a lovely day on/by a lake we spent in Canada this summer while visiting Sarah's cousin and his lovely family. Picture is taken by one of their daughters - Kara. Thank you Kara, this is excellent shot. Keep practicing and learning photography. You live in such a wonderful place.

Huang Enguang

The more blogs i write the more i see how precise is the name of my blog. It becomes more and more motto of my life.
I still reading a book called "Heavenly man". There was an excellent chapter about young boy who was in prison for murder. He was like wild animal in his cell till he was moved to another cell, where brother Yun was in and his other baby Christian cell mates. Through obedient heart of Yun and his love for Jesus, this man (Huang) was also born in God's Family. His heart was overwhelmed by God's love to him, such a sinner, but there was not many days for him left to live as he was sentenced to death. He was changed by God radically. He was learning about God as much as he could Before Leaving Earth and it made his heart go out in prayer for his family, who did not know Jesus. One day he decided to write them a letter, but after he wrote three words there was no ink left in a pen, so he cut his finger to finish the letter with his own blood:
"... I want to tell you some tremendous news. I will not die, for I've received eternal life! I met a merciful man in prison, the respected Brother Yun. He rescued my life and helped me believe in Jesus. He loved me, cared for me, and fed me every day.
Papa and Mama, I'm on my way to the kingdom of God. I will pray for you all. You must believe in Jesus! Please allow my Brother Yun to share the gospel with you. When he visits you, he will tell you the rest of my story. May you receive eternal life!
See you in the kingdom of God,
Your son Huang Enguang."

See you, dear brother, in the kingdom of our dear Savior!

Celebrating Colossians

It is funny how i think "i must write a new entry" (for a blog) and then all kinds of things get on my way as an obstacles i can not get over and then i realize that week is already gone. Where it is gone? What is accomplished? Did i walked closer to God this week or stayed still or even moved farther from Him.
During these days i finished translating (into normal Latvian) Paul's letter to Colossians. I was soooooo happy to finally finish it. It took me a long time. This was one of the letters (in my old and only Latvian Bible version) which almost all was red with all kinds of comments and marks on a sides of it and over the text as i discovered true or better meaning of Paul's writings. This is one sad thing about small nation like ours - there is not many people who could do something like that or to dare to do it. Biggest problem is not the knowledge of Hebrew or Greek for those who do official translation (Bible Association), but problem is to make it more live. They are "so afraid" to add extra words not to lose authenticity, but when you translating you sometimes need to add extra words to make it more understandable and clear, which Holy Spirit can do better then scholarship, i believe. So i gave up on our scalars and decided to do it on my own using many English version Bibles plus Greek - English parallel Bible. I did not mean to write so much about why i did it, but as one person used to say: "It just happened".
So, there was some interesting things i discovered even at the very end of my final version,
like ch. 2 verse 7: that we are built in Christ and confirmed in the faith as we were thought.
I like the idea of us being built in Christ (as living stones in His Church). Is not it good?! And word confirmed (in Greek version). As i understand it, it says something about not turning back, unlikely to change (says Oxford's dictionary).
Did i write here what i wanted to share? Don't know.

Of course there is Olympics worth to mention - what an effort those athletes give to get medals, to bring Glory to their country. It is good example for us, followers of Christ, to exercise our faith - to be fit and strong in our Faith, so that we could bring Glory to the Kingdom we are representing.

Leaving Earth

Someone i know just left the Earth - left to go Home, to his Real Father. Another child of His finally went to meet Him, reunite with Him. Was he ready? Oh, yeah! He was "packed" for Heaven. Here is some of his words Before Leaving:

"In December (2003) I wrote that it felt like living in "no man's land." I had more or less 'left' this world with its responsibilities and routines, expecting to go to Heaven in a short while. We are now 4 months further, and I am still around. On the one hand it feels very good. Baukje and I are thankful that we get more time together than expected. More time with children and grandchildren. On the other hand it takes emotionally a toll to live with this constant insecurity of not knowing what the near future will bring. Please pray for me that I find rest and joy in the Lord Himself. In Matthew 6:34 Jesus said the well known words:
"Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own."
How I need to practice this! Enjoying each extra day the Lord allows us to have together." /Gert Doornenbal

I remember thinking one day: "how many people there is in Home already whom i miss here on Earth". And I even had a funny thought - to say to someone who is about to Leave: "bring my greeting to this person and this and this one..."

How good is to know the Real Father - the Father of our souls !!!

Here I am. I sit at the door and welcome you to have fellowship with me! 

Heavenly Man

I am reading a book right now called "Heavenly Man", which is about Chinese Christian. It shows us how real we can walk with Jesus, experiencing His life living in us day by day.

I thing so often I am quite blind to see the reality of God's world around me, but I am trying.

Like I tried coming home from vacation in Canada - our flight from Toronto to London was fine, but while we waited to board on plain to come to Latvia it was discovered that there is some technical fault with our plain. Of course people were not happy about it, not knowing when we will get to Riga airport, but what it would look like to see things from different perspective. No one seemed to see protective hand of God keeping our lives safe, though loosing some hours before getting home. Probably most of these people were not ready to leave the Earth and probably there is still some work for me to do.

Before starting

Hi, there.

I thought to leave a space for my diary on my web page, but then I thought that with Blog it will be easier as it is well organized already. One thing will be hard for me though - to decide what language to write - Latvian or English. Maybe it will be in both.

This was short introduction on why I am getting the Blog spot.

You might ask: why it is called "Before Leavigh Earth"?

There is lots to write about it. On one hand these words are from song "Basic Instructions Before Leaving Earth" by group Burlap to Cashmere (whose first letters form the word BIBLE). On the other hand, it is where I am now - before leaving Earth. It is about my true citizenship, which is in Heaven, where my King Jesus is and His Father who calls us to be with Him forever. There still is instrucitons to follow to get There and they are found in teaching of Jesus and other Writings of Bible. So I hope that this Blog spot (my diary) will document "how do I get along with my packing for Heaven". I really hope that this fill help me fix my thoughts on right things.