ephesiansfiveoneandtwo

2/28/13

tēva sirds

we are having a youth conference in rīga on march 1st-2nd and dave patty, the president of josiah venture, is our guest speaker! the teaching will focus on God's heart for His children. He is a perfect Heavenly Father!

if you're in the area you should come! for more info, check out www.tevasirds.lv

2/15/13

covenant love

on saturday i will have the opportunity to share a few thoughts about sex with my friend's youth group. (pray for me!) im certainly no expert on the topic, but as i have been thinking about it over the past week the word "covenant" kept coming to mind. sex, and Jesus later expanded that any sexual activity, was originally designed to be enjoyed and experienced in a covenant relationship between a man and woman. the word "marriage" has gotten a bad name in todays culture, but the Bible clearly shows us that God is about covenant love. He desires a people who faithfully commit themselves to loving and following Him. in this grandiose "marriage" between God and His people, we see that God always fills the role of a loving and faithful "husband" (best displayed in Jesus) and mankind consistently plays the role of an unfaithful "wife."

as followers of Jesus, our marriages are supposed to "say" something about our God. our marriage covenant should display a Godly love to the watching world. we choose to love our spouse because we have a Savior who loved us first. we choose to humble ourselves and serve because Jesus did it best. we forgive because we have been forgiven through Christ... etc. when our marriages function this way we can create small and beautiful pictures of God's covenant with His Bride, His people. rarely does this type of love comes easily in human relationships and most of the time it requires lots of work. it takes sacrifice. and that is when the covenant is most crucial! this is the type of relationship where God intended sex to be experienced. despite what the culture says about sex and marriage, sex is best experienced in a covenant relationship! it is no mistake that this is also the type of loving environment where babies (the result of the sex act) grow into healthy adults.

i saw this video this morning and thought it fit the topic well. listen to these three spiritual jedis share some of their marital wisdom...

2/13/13

The RĪGA Internship

the thought behind the internship is that a group of laypeople who live or work in rīga would come together weekly over a period of time to study the life and ministry of Jesus in a tight community... with the idea in mind that they will focus their time and energy on making disciples where God has placed them. my hope is that discipleship will begin happening more consistently in the churches of rīga and that more people will respond to Jesus' call. to read more about the internship you can click here.

now id like to introduce you to the group...

from left to right: kurts, krišjānis, krista, liene, beāte, baiba & džo

please pray for us over the next six months!

february update

if youre interested in reading our latest update, you can do that here!

2/11/13

jv 2012 annual report

josiah venture recently put out an annual report on what God is doing all across central and eastern europe. hope it is an encouragement to you! click here to read.

JV Annual Report 2012

2/2/13

youtube of the month: february

so good!

1/24/13

the COACH model

this week i had the opportunity to participate in a three-day coaching workshop based on the book "the COACH model for christians leaders" by keith webb. i had read the book (which i highly recommend), so it was great to be in the workshop and hear good teaching on what i had recently read and experienced. i left the training with a deeper understanding of how to coach.

for those who may not have heard of coaching, it is a practical tool that can help people to understand and fulfill God's calling on their life. it is a dynamic conversation that is based on helping other people discover their next steps in life, ministry, relationships, etc. through active listening and asking good questions. i have been being "coached" for a few months now and had begun "coaching" with a few of my close friend for practice. it is a life skill that i want to continue to develop and use because of how helpful i have seen it to be in my own life!

for more info on the book, click here.

1/16/13

stateside

we had a great trip! thankful for the time of rest with my family. we didnt take many pictures on the trip, but here a few of the highlights...

its always hard to say goodbye to family, but its especially hard to say "bye" to this little one...

1/11/13

youtube of the month: january

the youthful mind at its finest! a throwback for those of you who were in college around the same time i was... does ebaumsworld still exist?

12/27/12

xmas

i felt the struggle more than ever this year to keep Jesus at the center of Christmas. the holiday can be filled with so many other things; busyness, travel, family, parties, presents, without ever stopping to consider the unbelievable fact that Our Savior was born!

thankfully, this year anna and i had the opportunity to press "pause" on our latvian life and celebrate Christmas together with my family in the states. it was such a restful and memorable time for us!

another highlight was getting to meet my brother's wife, lauren! this was the first time anna and i had the chance to meet her in person, and it was wonderful to get to know her outside of skype. they came out to arizona for two days and we can say now with confidence that tim is a lucky guy! we are so grateful for this time with my family. i freaking love them!

as i grow older, i can see more and more clearly that Jesus is THE ONLY reason why there is anything good in my life. His birth is a celebration of God's goodness and provision for His people. thank you Jesus for coming in complete humility! i still cant fully comprehend it.