Observations

October 10, 2009
It is Shabbat in Jerusalem, and we are staying with some friends in the historic International Anglican School of Jerusalem. We will be going south in the morning by bus and once there, we will be able to post pictures again. I just wanted to share some impressions we have gathered while here during the Feast of Tabernacles. Jerusalem is such an alive place during this time. Even with threats of riots and strikes, everyone has turned out to celebrate with dancing and music and visiting and activities all through the city and any other form of rejoicing you can think of. Next to where we are staying, there is a yeshiva and we have been listening to them sing practically the whole night. There have been fire crackers going off through the night (we hope that’s what we heard) and a real sense of joy that cannot be contained or dampened. This week of rejoicing has been enriching and really does recharge your batteries. It’s kind of like Shabbat helps renew you to face the following week, so the feasts throughout the year help recharge and refocus us to be able to go back to our designated tasks with new energy and perspective.
Now it is time to re-enter the daily world of our occupation. It is time to come back to our tasks with the insight that we have gained from this time of contemplation and coming before YHWH in repentance first, followed by rejoicing that our name is written in the Lambs Book of Life. It is time to roll back the Torah scroll, and begin once again to work our way through the Parasha for each week. This coming back to the beginning of the cycle is important. It brings us around to where we have started from, only this time, with a little more wisdom and knowledge than before; a little more relationship than previously; relationship that we have built with each other and with our YHWH. Now we go through the cycle again, but with an enriched perspective—if we have been paying attention. We can approach similar pitfalls and dangers and make better decisions this time around. We must go this way again, because YHWH is refining us in the process. He is bringing us into the position of sons and daughters of His kingdom, and we must be tested and tried to be fit for the responsibility. What has taken place in the previous years must now be allowed to remain there. Both successes and failures must remain behind, and we must now forge ahead onto our next assignment. We must take each day as it comes, and deal with it through this forged wisdom that He has brought forth in us upon this anvil of trial and testing.
Here in Jerusalem, this seems to be clearer than elsewhere. One cannot dwell in the past here. Things change too rapidly. Life is too dear here. With much more danger in the air here, one does not live in the regrets of the past or the fear of the future. Today is the day we are living in, and what we are assigned to do must be done today. Tomorrow will have a different assignment. Not all here make that adjustment so well, but this is how we can live triumphantly amidst the turmoil of this geopolitical storm. The future that we can look to is what YHWH tells us in Revelation—He wins and those who come against Jerusalem/Israel will ultimately loose. This is the future we must trust in this present set of circumstances. As we see the events unfolding around us in the headlines and cross-reference them with the writings of the Prophets, we are admonished to “Lift up our heads, for our redemption draws close”. Yeshua is close now; even the Orthodox Rabbis say, “We can hear the footsteps of Moshiach.”
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