"Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our debts as we
forgive our debtors."---Jesus Christ's Prayer (Matthew 6:11-12)

Living in a third world country like Romania, I come face to face
everyday with needy people.  People weekly approach me to explain
their need for money for things they think they need.  Whereas their
level of need is much greater than that of most in the West, we all
tend to think we need more than we actually do.  Very seldom is our
need a matter of not having food, clothing, or shelter.  Yet, as a
Christian, I try to bestow a sympathetic ear to those in need.  "Satan
can offer us more on this earth," I assure them, "but God, in His
grace, GUARANTEES to meet our needs~~an assurance you lose by seeking
another kingdom.(Matthew 6:33)  Even in cases when an allegiance to
the Evil One may give one great riches, despair is ensured."  Jesus
said, "A man's life does not consist in the abundance of his
possessions." (Luke 12:15)

Such discussions give me the opportunity to present the blessing of
the `poverty of guilt.'  Today, let us consider J.B. Moody's emphasis
that what we lose is much more important than what we gain.

"Numerous are our wants, complete our dependence, bringing us day by
day as pensioners with the oft repeated cry of give, give; but greater
is our guilt, and greater the need that He should TAKE AWAY."  (The
Exceeding Riches of the Manifold Grace of God, p. 42)  All of us have
been blessed by God in many ways, but  His greatest blessing is one
nobody can take from us.  His greatest blessing is not what He gives
us but what He took away.  "We are great dependents, but greater
culprits; and it is better that He should give us nothing at all, than
"Do not speak evil against one another, brethren.  He that speaks evil
against a brother or judges his brother, speaks evil against the law
and judges the law.  But if you judge the law, you are not a doer of
the law but a judge."---James 4:11

"The words: `Freely Forgive,' in Luke 7:42, is Karizomai, the verb
form of Karis-grace.  It is also translated, forgive, in Luke 7:3, 2
Corinthians 2:7,10 (three times), 12:13; Ephesians 4:32 (two times);
Colossians 2:12, 3:10 (two times).  It is translated "Freely Give" in
Romans 8:32; I Corinthians 2:12...  So Forgiveness must be on
principles of Grace, and if of Grace then not of Work."---J.B. Moody
(The Exceeding Riches of the Manifold Grace of God, p. 39)

This evening, I spent two hours with someone who has stopped going to
church.  The reason he gives is that he was disappointed with the
amount of money the members gave him when he presented his needs to
them.  In many parts of the world, the message of grace has not been
sown.  Grace is unique to Christianity since God IS agape (love) and
whoever does not have God does not have agape.  The Apostle John tells
us that we have good reason to doubt our love for God if we don't give
to those in need.(I John 3:17)

However, failure to exercise grace and forgiveness toward our brother
or condemning him for not giving enough to help us are actions equally
offensive to the Lord.(I John 4:20; James 4:11-12)  Grace is unique to
Christianity and practicing grace by giving and forgiving is our
highest calling.  Glenn Tinder wrote this in his article for The
Atlantic Monthly titled "Can we be good without God?"  Just as you
cannot teach a cat to fly for he has no wings, you cannot hope a
non-believer will love or forgive.

Let us not judge our neighbor because we are not in his shoes.  Dale
Carnegie points out in his book How to Win Friends and Influence
People that if we were in the person's situation,  we would likely do
what he does.  We would not act any differently from our brother if we
had his needs, his background, his spiritual foundation, his genetic
inheritance, his education, etc.  This made me a much more humble and
understanding person.  Now, when someone does something that I
wouldn't think of doing, I remind myself of the philosophy of Mr.
Carnegie and say, thanks to God's grace I am not in his situation or
I'd do the same thing.

Point of Grace
Fellow pilgrim, is there someone who has let you down or betrayed you?
  Do you hold it against him or have you forgiven him enough to pray
God's blessing upon him?  Have you been a judge of the law or a doer
of it?  Take a moment now and pray about that situation.

Dear friends of Liv-n-LetLiv,
Greetings to all of you in this Campaign of Grace.  In this, our
first update for 2005, we want to let you know what is happening here
in Romania.  We'd love to hear what you are doing to bring love and
peace to the world.

Valea Iasului Hospital
Wednesday, Aurelia started working with a boy named Mitica.  He is 5
years old and she taught him two colors today, one of them being
green.  She said her day was the funniest she has had in a long
time.  She wants to put the boy on the Romanian TV show, Children say
the funniest things.  This is part of their conversation.

Aurelia:  What is your name?

Dincumatei: Dincumatei.

A: That's a long name, do you have any shorter first name?

D:  No, Dincumatei.

A:  Matei is your first name and Dincu is your family, right?

D:  Can't you hear me, it's Dincumatei.

A:  Do you have any brothers and sisters?

D:  Yes, two.  But they are really small.  Do you want to meet them?
Next time I'll bring them to you in a bag.

A:  In a bag?  Are they human babies?

D:  Yes.

A:  You don't carry babies in a bag!

D:  Yes, we do.  We do it all the time!

A:  Do they have eyes, a nose and hair long hair like mine?

D:  When their hair grows it will be big like yours.

A:  Where do they sleep? with you?


Alexandru with his fingers ablur.
(They would be if this weren't a digital photo.)


D:  No, they sleep outside in their cages.

A:  Those are puppies!

D:  Yes, puppies!

A:  Well, they aren't your brother and sister.  Do you know what a
brother and sister are?  They have the same mother as you do.

D:  Well, my brother and sister came from a dog.


In computer news, Alexandru Filip became the 6th member of Club 100
by typing 100 characters per minute.  Georgeta is trying to become
the first girl on the list and has hit 97 while staying below the 10%
error cutoff.  Alexandru is very happy.

On the Internet this month visitors to our sites have doubled from
the low 100's /day to last week having the first week to average over
200/day.  300 actually is within reach!  A Romanian has volunteered
to help proofread the HIV site and a newspaper publisher has asked me
to write articles for their religious section that reaches Romanians
in 11 countries!  Another amazing statistic:  According to Nielson
Ratings, the average American spends 53 seconds reading a page, while
our sites average quadruple that:  219 seconds/page!  People
obviously love our content.

After our drop last month, we have recovered our position as the #1
Romanian abstinence site.  Next month, I hope to launch a program
where people will hold each other accountable to healthy Christian
living--no extramarital sex, no drugs, and no drunkenness.  Each
month they are on their honor to report how they have done on their
vows and encourage others.  We think this is important in a country
with the highest adolescent AIDS population in Europe and where 3 of
5 babies conceived are aborted.

One thing that amazes me is that although there are full-time
Christian radio stations, newspapers, and TV stations, all my surfing
turned up no ministry that is developing the Internet for Christ.  I
was just reading in Fortune magazine that marketing agencies are slow
on the uptake of this new communication medium, but it seems that
Christians are even further behind. Fortune points out that people
spend more time on the net and less at the TV these days.  This
results in poor quality and poor visibility for Jesus and little
content that is true, wholesome, and loving on the Internet.  We
should not wonder why Satan has permeated the net with filthy, false
and spiteful sites.  If we were to start a ministry of our own as
some have suggested, this would be the place to do it.  We already
have a team started, but I'm not sure that Christian donors have
caught the vision for claiming the net for Christ.

We have come to realize that with our support level being only enough
for part-time work, and with the financial instability inherent in
this type of ministry, we have begun looking for a way to make the
rest of our time productive.  Initial results from our survey have
shown that our team understands and accepts tent-making.

We thank you for your patience and for those who contributed this
month to us directly.  We got word that a Chinese lady we know from
Italy has pledged enough that she would have been our 3rd largest
donor for 2004.  We praise God for more help especially during this
time and especially because it is from Italy where we have begun to
see God working.

Praises:

The fruitfulness of all our work.
That some people have still been able to chip in and all the rest
seem to be patiently awaiting the chance to repay us for our
investment out of our own pocket in this period.  God is gracious.
Prayers:

Guidance at this crossroad in our life.  Chances are, we will have to
abandon some or all of what we are doing to fit into a new
organization.  This would be heartbraking to leave what we have been
doing and all the friends and partners we have in the work.
Finances.  That we may find a way to meet our budget.
Peace.  Most people get anxious when they are hindered from earning
enough money to live on.  I am no exception.  Aurelia has been a
great encouragement, and fortunately the markets are going the way I
was prepared for.  So, this is a testimony that when some claiming to
follow God aren't faithful, He still is.

Serving Him,
---Aurelia and me



   Laurent J. and Aurelia LaBrie
Post Restant
115300 Curtea de Arges, Romania

Phone number:
4 (0) 248.7224.24
Mobile: 4 (0) 722.889.267
Y!messenger ID: laurent_labrie
  "He that hath pity upon the poor lendeth unto the Lord."
Proverbs 19:17

Visit our Websites at www.liv-n-letliv.net
Romanian Christian Integrity InterNetwork

If you happened along this yahoo!group, my website where I help people
in the art of living is www.liv-n-letliv.net.  Come visit sometime!
All are welcome.

Success, grace and peace to you all!
---Laurent