Experience

is what you get when you don't get what you want.

LV

stands for...

Even simplier

Christ is what Christianity is all about.

So simple?!

"Atzīstiet patiesību un patiesība darīs jūs brīvus". I always though that it meant - you should tell truth and that will make you free. And that is true. Lie can catch people or make them create new lie. I like to tell truth as then I don't have to remember what I can say and what not to keep in line with what was said previously. I don't have to pretend and that really makes me feel free. Sometimes I may seem nerdy or funny but you know? I don't care because I am free.

Just now checking English translation it makes me think more that  knowing the Truth may be the main idea of this verse. 

Smartphone

Sometimes also LG KG288 can be a smartphone. Forgotten in trolleybus it was found by a stranger and accidentally stopped its lonely voyage without its owner just in a perfect place - where the owner will live just after couple of days.

What is your believe?

I want to buy a silver cross. It should be very simple but in the same time kind of special, so I have been in 4 shops already but still have not find the right one.

In one store lady asked me - "For what believe do you need it? Catholic, Lutheran, Orthodox?: Only later I understood that right answer could be - "For Christianity".

Journey

Today I wanted to have just a peaceful day of rest. Got up at 9 (wow!), slowly ate breakfast, checked some things on Internet. Later in afternoon I was planning to go to my home town so thought that it would be good to check if there are some new books in Christian book store. There were couple I found very attractive - (1) about 60 days of life - new beginning with Jesus. With a bit of text and some task (sounds like "izaicinajums"; (2) Book about topic if we can trust Bible. We had some discussions with friends lately and one non-answered question is - why only Bible? Are other documents not included in Bible worse? Who decided which books will be in Bible? So I thought that this book could help to find answers at least for some of them. (3) For the search of importance. Looked like interesting book. Also with some questions and tasks inside so I thought that it could be useful also for some small group discussions.

So I went to a train. On my way there I saw a flayer for hope festival on the ground. Couldn't leave it there. So I picked it up.

I sat in the train and started to read book No3. One man (aged around 50) took the place next to me. He was also reading. About tank history in XXth century. After around I hour he asked me - who are the editors of my book. So all next hour we talked. Mainly if we can trust Bible. But also who was Jesus (at first he tried to convince me that historians say that there were no such person. Later - that all sources say that he was "a son of man". He had some really good questions and notes about Christianity, many of which I have also had during my journey. Why there are all those relatives mentioned in the beginning of gospel if Joseph actually was not father of Jesus? Who are the "sons of god" mentioned in old testament? What do people search in religion? If God is going to judge with a sword where is His mercy - isn't Bible contradicting itself?
Later when we came to the end of the journey I gifted him book nr2 - Can we trust Bible. Maybe he will read it. Anyway I believe God is working in his hear because he is not simply sceptical. He just don't want to be fooled. He already has "answers" but I believe he is ready to accept also different opinion if would be sure that it is true. May his journey continues.

Balance

"To lose balance sometimes for love is part of living a balanced
life."

ilūzijas

Šodien kāds (mācītājs ap 40) centās man paskaidrot, ka ar laiku cilvēki zaudē ilūzijas, kas viņiem ir jaunībā (manā vecumā). Jā, redzu, ka "pieaugušie" bieži vien ir zaudējuši ko tādu, kas piemīt jauniešiem. Es gan to nesauktu par ilūzijām, bet degsmi un entuziasmu.

Cik reizes jāsasitas, lai zaudētu vēlmi lidot? Bet kur tad paliek ta "pirmā mīlestība", kuras zaudēšana ir pārmetums kādai no draudzēm Atklāsmes grāmatā? Vai šī degsme nav tieši tas, ko Dievs vēlas mūsos redzēt? Un pat necerot, ka viss būs perfekti un viss izdosies, vai mums tik un tā nevajag ar entuziasmu un degsmi mesties iekšā tajā darbā, uz kuru Viņš mūs aicina?

Can external tideness cause internal one?

At least maybe less things to distract you.

Cleaned my room. Threw away things I don't need. Swept it. Put things in order to look nice. Looks better, though I know that inside closet there is still a mess.

Hope it would be so easy to tidy also everything that is not visible.

Siļķe kažokā

Mans brālis šodien uztaisīja garšīgu siļķi kažokā,pabaroja mani un mammu, uzvārīja tēju ar citronu, izmazgāja manus pusdienu trauciņus un ielika vēl salātus līdzņemšanai uz mājām. Jauki, ka par tevi kāds tā pa īstam un no sirds parūpējas. Man tas pietrūka.

vienkārši un pilnīgi

Tikai Raksti. Tikai Kristus. Tikai žēlastība.

Un kopš reformācijas nekas nav mainījies. Joprojām šīs 3 vienkāršās lietas rada tik daudz diskusiju.

Flywheel

God works even if we don't see how.

happiness

True happiness is not that you have reached everything that you have ever wanted. Happiness is if you had opportunity to achieve many things, but you have voluntary chosen not to because of something very special. Even if you spend all your time to achieve some goals, there could be that good reason that change your direction. Without pain or regret, but creating true happiness.

nostalgia

Things ain't what they used to be and probably never was. ~Will Rogers

blue season

When things are not as you want them to be,
There is one thing you have to agree:
Don't panic, His plans are better than yours
Knowing that pain a bit less soars.

coca cola

klusums

rather than

Courage is not the absence of fear, but rather the judgement that something else is more important than fear.

Ambrose Redmoon

No free cheese in mousetrap

There are some things that I have learned about Bulgaria recently. First of all - always ask - how much will some things cost. Even (and especially) for those things that are supposed to be free:

* 7 Euros for nothing. For that foundation's bank charged them something when they received my payment. Of course, I had to pay also % to my bank for this transaction that is normal, but they want us to pay also that % that bank charges on their side. It was even up to 80 Euros for some other participants.
* Restaurant charged us for bread and water that was on table but that we didn't order (but of course used as we thought that it was free) And some guys paid really huge sum for their meal (around 25 Euros), just because they were not careful and didn't check the prices in menu.
* Taxi drivers are great. Price for the same distance varies from 6 to 25 Levas. Depending how much you look like a foreigner.
* In restaurant "fully paid dinner" if you ask if you can have water or some other drink and waiters answer "sure", you should check if that is also included in "fully paid diner" or you have to pay extra for that.
* In clubs you can have to pay for entrance but never even get in if you don't have id (even if organizers said they would take care of that). Yeah, and that all happens when we have waited more than 1 hour outside the club when it was supposed to be open already long time ago especially for our event.

And there are some other - perfectly legal things that made this week "special"
* 15 Euros dinner - for water, wine (which I don't drink) and small snacks.
* We had to eat sandwiches for lunch every day. All week.

And the worst part of it is that it all is just legal. You can't say much against it, if you are not smart enough, you have to pay.

Will this list be continued? There is only 1 day left. What else can happen during this day? :)

To be just, there are also many nice things about Bulgaria. But those - for some other time. Now I just wanted to express my shock about not-nice part.

Upgrades

View from window.

Yesterday:


Today:

Far far away

Today I arrived in Sofia. It seems nice... and hot. +30C. Though in LV it was similar, even it feels better here.

I'm quite happy that my PC still works. I put it in one bag with cookies. Cookies were smashed and now they are everywhere in my bag and also inside computer.

Yesterday Prague was nice, though I was too tired to walk a lot, just visited old town. Metro was nice (something we don't have in Riga - nice to experience how you can get so fast from one point to other). And now I understand that metro system quite good (after trying to walk to hotel but taking wrong direction and having to use metro again).

City - there are old buildings - sometimes you just have to say "wow", but it didn't feel like a nice place to live. Yes, I have to admit that I saw just a little piece of what Prague has to offer.

Today it was interesting, in plane I met one person from New Zealand, he is playing in Christian band and now was going to concert in Sofia. Pity that concert is on day we have conference, I would love to visit it. Anyway it was nice to talk and find out some things about New Zealand.

Later I met Christina (however it is spelled) - another participant of this conference. She is from Denmark but has traveled a lot and lived for 2 years in Australia. Now I know that they keep lizards there in Australia - because snakes are afraid of lizards, it makes life there a bit safer.

Mērenā klimata josla

Kurš izdomāja šo nosaukt par mēreno klimata joslu, ja Latvijā ziemā ir -24C, bet vasarā +34C?

Double checking

Confirm you have received this mail. Then you will receive a confirmation from us that we have seen your confirmation.

This is an actual quote from email I received today. Next step would be confirm that you have received confirmation for your confirmation :)

Artifact

Today my dentist told that there is artifact in my tooth. Anyone who have played Travian would know how great that is!

Productivity - almost no limitations

It is amazing how productive students can be during last days before deadline for their term papers. And usually also some days after that - until they finally finish them.

No limitations

In some schools they use only blank pages - without lines or squares. Not to limit imagination.

Sun, fun & 5km

Before


After








Positive effects: Today again there were music in neighbour flat so loud that I could feel vibrations in my room. But I was so tired that I didn't care! :)

But actually it wasn't so bad. Fun actually.

+27C

Love it

I'm hiding in a kitchen again

Summer has returned and that means that noise from the cars in my room has increased. I have adapted to that. But I guess that my neighbor from flat next to ours has bought great music system with STRONG basses. And he plays it from 12.15 am till... I'm not sure till when, when I went to bed at 2.30am last evening, he was still listening to that.

So I hide in a kitchen where the noise is a bit lower and try to encourage myself to visit that neighbor this evening :)

I prefer the one that doesn't bite all the time

Ideas with some truth in them

A the speed of light is faster than the speed of sound, SMILE is a message of friedship that travels even faster than words.

HUG - just pass the love with a touch

PRAY - the best you can do for your friends

Export

In customs they don't ask you what ideas you are transporting.

Actually they do in some countries where, for example, import of Christian believes are prohibited.

One of seven

My favorit

Whirlpools

I can't stop thinking about whirlpools. Which part of it is the fastest - outside or inside? Should be outside, right? At least if we look at other things that rotate, it is supposed to be so. But is whirlpools, does the inside makes the circle equally fast as outside?



If anybody have any ideas, I would appreciate if you shared them. Or else, I will think about whirlpools for a long time. Google didn't help me here.

Why do things change?

Changes are good. Sometimes. But there are some things that you wish would remain the same all the time. If they change, you lose your comfort or feeling of safety.

I wish:
- to watch F1 on Sunday afternoon. Not at midnight when the race has finished before more than 10 hours! (TV3 makes me crazy...);
- to have 20 years old room birch plant in my room. (It didn't survive this winter. Luckily I have a new one. But it isn't the same - the one that carries 20 years of memories);
- to have home where there are people that care for me. Not just empty rooms and people somewhere far away.

Sometimes I hate changes. Changes takes away from us things and people we love. They are replaced by something new but I will always miss Sunday afternoon rest I was used to and birch in my room. Not only because I miss them but most of all I miss the memories about time spent together with people that are connected with them. Like watching F1 with dad or having that birch in my granddads room. Nothing can replace that.

40 years till retirement

I think I will have to figure it out - to find the answer to middle sized "what for to live". I know the answer to the big "what for" - the aim or life. But how does it work in every day?

While there were school and later studies, it was very easy to run away from this question. You just knew - these 4 year I have to spend to finish bachelor degree. This 1 year is my voluntary service. These 2 years - studies for master degree. And now??? What is the period that is started now? These 40 years of work till retirement?

Coincidences that work perfectly

It is just amazing to realize that relying on God works! Not just in theory or "it should be so", but it works!

First step is just to realize that you can't do or change anything. You can work hard, but something that is not enough. And there can be also some problems that you can't solve no matter how hard you try.

If you pray, those prayers are not just words. There is actually Someone that listens. If you pray with faith and according to His will, He will answer!

And the best part of this is that it actually works! This week has been great experience for me that makes me to desire to spend more time just talking with God and putting all my troubles and all my gratitude in His hands. He has done miracle in my life. You can call them "coincidence" but if you are Christian, you know that God works through these coincidences. It just works too perfect to be just coincidence :)

So I pray that I would remember this and always long for being in prayer with God.

Totally dependable

Have you ever realized that we are totally dependable on God? I think many Christians will understand me - there are times when you think that YOU are doing great job, that YOU make your like almost perfect. But actually without Him your efforts gives no results. Even if it seems that sometimes things work the way you want them to work, it is not in the long term. Without God there is only emptiness and tiredness. But He can fix it, all you have to do is pray and understand - there comes nothing from power, you are just an instrument, it is God who actually works through you.

Recycling

What is the resource that can't be recycled but is used in the same amount (not necessary with the same efficiency) in each country?

It is time.

Could it be?

I just noticed that I love people. I could survive alone but it is much more fun if you can share with somebody else.