Message delivered at the Feast of Tabernacles in Tartu, Estonia by Henrikas Klovas from Kaunas, Lithuania in the Russian language
October 17, 1997
I was asked to say a few things about my life. I am almost 50 years old. I'd like to speak about a very decisive year of my life -- 1993.
First, I'd like to quote from Matthew 6:31-33 which says
31 So do not worry, saying, `What shall we eat?' or `What shall we drink?' or `What shall we wear?'
32 For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them.
33 But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.
I understood that if you put spiritual things first that physical things would come.
First, I'd like to compare what happened in my childhood with the experience Adam and
Eve had with God. God told them that 
they could eat of all the trees of the garden of Eden except for the tree of
the knowledge of good and evil.
For me it wasn't fruit, it was books. We had quite a library in our home. I loved to read when I was thirteen years old. My father told me, though, that there books in our home that I could read and others that I could not.
I saw my father reading books which were forbidden for me to read, but I thought that since I was thirteen, I certainly was old enough to read what he did.
I disobeyed my father by secretly reading one of the forbidden books which was about a man who had a successful career deceiving people and doing illegal deeds. He was getting money by giving very little. This sounded attractive. This disobedience to my father was like Adam and Eve eating the forbidden fruit.
I started a life of dishonesty. It was not a happy life and I did not find peace. Life was like dust and I felt blown around as it is written in Psalm 1:4:
4 Not so the wicked! They are like chaff that the wind blows away.
We are not at peace when we are not satisfied with what we have and want something constantly better. I would see people running around spending lots of time putting together an automobile. But after they got it together, they would see an article in the newspaper about a better one and would want that one. They would take money out of society to acquire something better, all the while not being at peace with themselves. This frustration then spills over into relationships with his family in the form of anger and other negative emotions.
Now we'll come to 1993, the year when God began to work with me. Three miracles occurred in that year.
I was involved in contraband black market dealings, but I had just sold off a lot of goods and had time to read. I remembered my father and the good books that he told me to read, the ones that would have taught me good principles. I saw how good books and bad ones influence our lives.
I began to read Christian literature in general and literature from the Worldwide Church of God specifically. The more I read I saw that there were no errors in it. I began to keep Pentecost by myself. On Pentecost the Holy Spirit was given and God had just turned my thinking around 180 degrees. I understand at that time that I should keep the Holy Days. This was a miracle, the first miracle of the year.
I wrote to the Bonn office that I was prepared to follow in the footsteps of Jesus Christ and received an answer from John Karlson. He asked me to come to Tartu, Estonia so that I could meet him. I did so. I also became acquainted with Darlene Reddaway who was studying on a Fulbright scholarship in Tartu. My Christian life had started.
The next miracle of the year occurred as I started to walk towards God.
I wanted to help my mother. She was living in the city alone. My father had died years before. I started to keep the commandment to honor and help my mother.
I had to consider how to make a living, because a person has to support his family. I started thinking about my black market business, but I couldn't do that as a Christian. I could not take the way I did; I had to give to people.
When I had gone to college I did very well in classes on economy. The government had given me a free education and I wanted to return to society what it had given me. But, I learned how to be an economist under the Soviet system and Lithuania was now in a market economy.
I started looking for work, but I had no work record showing where I had worked. In our society you carry a "workbook" with you showing your work record. I had been in the black market shadow for years. I wanted to become a bookkeeper, but I had nothing showing that I was a bookkeeper. Should I go back to the kind of business I was in? No, I can't go back into the black market. But, what SHOULD I do? The money that I had been saving was running out. For a while I did some work writing advertising copy for a newspaper.
But, then God again stretched out His hand to me.
I was at my mother's apartment and saw a friend who worked at the Architectural Institute. His friend was the director of the Institute. My friend told me that he would talk to the director of the Institute about a job and asked me to wait a few days. With a job like this I would certainly be able to take care of my family. Because this was a large government institute the training I had under the Soviet system matched somewhat the qualifications needed for an economist's work here.
In a few days I heard that I had gotten the job I wanted! This was a miracle. This was a blessing because I have been trying to follow Christ. I've been working there for four years now.
Here's the third miracle of 1993.
I was trying to live by God's ways, but I couldn't pay for my apartment. Now God again stretched His hand out to me. Someone had just called me on the telephone saying to come with my passport and pick up some documents.
I went to the address with my passport and found that the documents were really money that had come to me. The caller did not want to use the word "money" on the telephone for security reasons. $250 had been sent to me from America. In 1993 you could live for five months for $250.
Where did the money come from? Who sent it to me?
It came from my father's brother, my uncle Boris Klovis. I hadn't heard from him in 30 years. I did not even know that he was living. During my black market life I had not had contact with him, but when I had chosen a new path God had brought us together.
I was living at a different address now. The last contact I had with him was before I married and had children. He found me, when I was in deep distress, even at a completely different address. If you go God's way, He will help you.
I understood that if I follow God's ways He will take care of you and give you what you need. Not more than you need, because you may turn your nose up at Him. Not less because it would leave you in poverty. He will give you just enough.
God's people will walk, sometimes fall, but they will get up again.
Luke 12: 31-32
31 But seek his kingdom, and these things will be given to you as well.
32 ``Do not be afraid, little flock, for your Father has been pleased to give you the kingdom.