People Who Love People...

February 15, 2010
There are lessons one learns while on the road, that I wonder – could they be learned at home?
Like this one; people are more important than “to do lists”. I honestly don’t know if I would have discovered the value of this lesson from the comfort of my living room. Checking off items on my “to do list” has almost seemed like my life purpose, not laughing uproariously over a game of cards while seated at a dining table or building a snowman or watching goats do tricks or constructing marble mazes or talking recipes or looking at photo albums or listening to old “war” stories.

Presenting at a Senior Retirement Center in Colorado

Yes, I like people, but until I lost my hearing in my left ear while in Israel this past fall I never really enjoyed people. There was always too much else to do to really take time to enjoy people, right now, in the immediacy of the moment.
Compromised hearing is a frustrating, annoying, irritating disability. I struggle and strain to hear the talk at dinner tables, little children’s excited chatter, elderly folks muted comments, telephone conversations, weather reports on television, radio talk show hosts without blowing my husband out of the car, and the list goes on and on.

Ellie on the Harp in Colorado--More Coming!

It has made for many tears and much pleading until one day the sweet, gentle voice of the Holy Spirit said to me, “listen to their spirit.” A mushroom cloud of understanding exploded for me at those words, you might not be able to hear them physically so learn to hear to communicate spirit to spirit. I was floored, I was amazed – I am awed, I am whelmed!
There are still days and times when the “need” to create a list, the need to hear almost overwhelms me, but the loving kindness of The Father helps me refocus on people, their spirit need, right here right now. (I apologize if I haven't answered your email or returned your phone call, I will.) Life is becoming much more of a day by day adventure, it is slowly transitioning to “what’s next Papa?!” – the life of a bondslave of Y”Shua. Are we – am I – there yet? No. But the journey is begun. It is a great adventure, we recommend it highly!

Bob and Penny at Colorado National Monument

This life of enjoying people has taken us to retirement centers and nursing homes, schools and play yards and parks, coffee shops and deli’s, home fellowships and “Baptist” churches, the bedside of the severely ill to graduations; wherever people are. And in “the going” I am beginning to learn His Spirit flows. And I must clarify something here, it is “the going” in the compassion of Y’Shua that the rivers of living water will pour forth from those who worship The Father in both Spirit and Truth for those are the worshippers whom The Father seeks. Worship / Compassion they both bring life from the dead! We’ve experienced a trickle, we are praying and waiting for the waterfall!

Our Son Gabriel and Grandson Dylan Skiing

Wait for YHVH; be strong and let your heart take courage; Yes, wait for YHVH!
Psalm 27:14

Like the old song says;
Turn your eyes upon Y’Shua, look full in His wonderful face and the things of earth will grow strangely dim in the light of His glory and grace.
YHVH’s Blessings be upon you and your household.
Until next time!

A Lesson from the Wind

February 3, 2010 - From Kansas to Colorado
The Father has been so good to us this trip. It is as though He is weaving us through and around the storms that are lashing our nation this winter. The trip from Kansas to Colorado was clear and dry. Huge wind machines dot the Kansas countryside. As I was watching them turn the other day I couldn’t help but think of the scripture that Yahshua spoke to Nicodemus about the Holy Spirit – the wind blows where it wishes and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know where it comes from and where it is going, so it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit. The wind blows and turns the big blades of these mammoth machines and this turning generates power. The power generated is transformed into usable electricity for thousands of homes and businesses. So also the Wind / Spirit comes into our lives and generates power to transform lives. The question posed to me as I watched those huge wind turbines is; “the power I generate in your life is it transformational impacting lives for My Kingdom?” Hebrews 5:13 – 6:3; “For everyone who partakes only of milk is not accustomed to the word of righteousness, for he is a babe. But the solid food is for the mature, who because of practice have their senses trained to discern good and evil. Therefore leaving the elementary teaching about the Messiah, let us press on to maturity, not laying again a foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward YHVH, of instruction about washing, and laying on of hands, and the resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment. And this we shall do, If YHVH permits.”
So the lesson for me is this; the believer who only partakes of milk is like the huge wind turbine, fully operational but the blades are not engaged to take advantage of the wind blowing across their surface. But the mature believer is fully engaged in the power generating process. It is only as the blades turn under the power of the wind that electricity is generated for the transformation of darkness into light. Let us pray to be mature believers fully engaged in the transformational process of darkness into light.

Texas to Kansas

The Mighty Mississippi River

February 3, 2010
We last reported from Texas as we were getting ready to head up to Kansas. We were watching the weather closely as snow and freezing rain were the menu of the day. When we woke up on Friday morning, it looked like we had a travel window, right in behind the storm as it advanced eastward, and we felt a peace about going, so we packed up and headed out. There was a lot of rain in Texas, and as we hit the Oklahoma boarder, it soon turned into sleet and snow. By the time we got to Oklahoma City, there was a section of I-35 that was closed with trucks slipping on the ice and piling up, blocking the road, so we had to find a detour around all that mess. Wind and snow were the event of the day, but thankfully, we had fair visibility and made the 500 mile voyage to Sedan, Kansas by 8:30 Friday evening. It was a welcome site to pull into the driveway of our friends and come into their warm home and celebrate Erev Shabbat with them. Our scheduled presentation for Sunday morning cancelled because they said the roads were too bad—interesting, considering what we had just driven through to get here, nonetheless… We are only responsible for meeting our commitments, and let Him take care of the rest.

Cardinals getting the seeds

We had a delightful Shabbat and shared our message from Israel. Once again lights were turned on in people’s understanding. We had a blessing of just resting with our friends on Sunday, watching out the living room window as Cardinals, Sparrows, Chickadees and squirrels busily scarfed up the seeds that had been placed in the yard feeders.

Mr. Squirrel getting his share

A quiet day this Tuesday gave us the opportunity to get our oil and transmission fluid changed in Bartlesville, OK and as we were talking to the owner he asked us what we were doing on the road so much of the time. We explained our ministry to him and he was so excited and wanted his wife to meet us. We gave them a CD and our contact information with web site. It was a real divine appointment and who knows where it will go. It is so important to just make yourself available to what YHWH places before you each and every day.
Today we head on over to Colorado. The weather report does not show too bad of conditions, so we hope to get there without too much interference. We’ll report from Colorado in the next few days.

Tennessee to Texas

Natchez Trace Overpass

January 26

Waco, Texas and January is drawing to a close. What a trip it has been so far! The Father has weaved us around the storms that are brutally lashing this nation and directed our travels to this place. We have been so totally blessed by the richness of fellowship and friendship wherever we have gone and the divine appointments that He has prepared for us to bless and be blessed by! We last left you as we were coming into Tennessee. The weather was considerably warmer even though the effects of the recent cold blast were still evident. The cuts in the road that usually had water seepage were frozen waterfalls and only slowly melting. It rained during our stay, but that didn’t dampen our spirits, for our time was full of the beautiful warmth and wonder of great friends! On Shabbat we got to have a mini family week / harvester reunion as about 100 people showed up at the Franklin, TN community center close to the Waller Family. Many of the group had been in Israel during the harvest so it was like homecoming with so many familiar faces and stories. Our message on the Fig Tree vs. The Olive Tree was received well and many commented that it helped bring understanding to the current situation in The Land.

Beautiful Tennessee Farmland

Just a note—The Waller Family Week information is available at http://www.familywk.com/ and this year is a Kentucky site for Pesach and a Durango, Colorado site for Shavuot. Also, please pray about joining the harvest team in Israel this fall. The main harvesting is going to occur just as Succot finishes as Succot comes early this year. This is a great way to engage Israel at a level that few tours will ever do. You will not be disappointed. More information is available at http://www.hayovel.com/.

Beginning of Parkway in Tennessee

From Tennessee we drove down the Natchez Trace headed for Mississippi. What a beautiful drive. The speed limit is 50 mph because it is a National Parkway, but you wouldn’t want to drive any faster, it’s just so beautiful. If you ever get into the area, do not miss this treat. Our next stop was near Tupelo, Mississippi—birthplace of Elvis Presley, they proudly proclaim on the signs. We were hosted by wonderful friends and we gave our message to another Messianic/Sunday mixed group. There is so much stirring in our land: people coming to an awareness of Torah because they start reading the Scriptures and the Spirit opens their minds and they become convicted of the truths of Torah that they have been blinded to until now. While we were in their home, there was a tremendous storm with rain pounding all night with thunder and lightning.

The Wall Cherokee Memorial

The next morning as we traveled down the Trace towards Jackson, Mississippi, there were many spots of flooding. As we drove through the upper part of Louisiana, the talk on the radio was the lost strawberry crop because of the deep freeze they had just come through the week before. I don’t think they are too convinced about “global warming”.
As we drove into East Texas on Interstate 20, we came upon a scene of devastation. A tornado had just been through there and there was twisted metal all over the sides of the road from the roof of an industrial building. 5 different tornados had touched down in East Texas which is an unusual event for winter season. Creation is groaning, and time is short. Everywhere we are going, people are making preparations. Just as we have seen a movement on the land by the Spirit/Ruach haKodesh bringing people back to Torah, we are now seeing a move across the land for making preparation.
We made it on into Georgetown, Texas by 11:00 pm –friends were waiting up for us. What a blessing is the hospitality of friends!. We were able to share with their fellowship group and once again, there were many who said they understood things about the present Israel better.

January 16--Colorado to Tennessee

Minnesota Farm House

Well, it’s time for catch up with the blog. It’s not that there isn’t enough to report on, it’s just been a full time and we forgot our computer cord in Iowa and just received it in the mail. We made our friends house, Matt and Karen, in Colorado in the middle of sub-zero temperatures and snow flurries and icy roads. We were late for dinner (having gotten lost), but were greeted warmly by Karen and daughter Katie and friends Lance and Lisa and their boys, when we did finally make it to their place . (It was a good thing Matt drove out to meet us and guide us in or it would have been a really late dinner!) We had to leave the next morning to make our weekend committment in Iowa. The weather along the way wasn't looking to driving favorable so that night we prayed that if we were to continue the journey the day would dawn clear otherwise we would stay another night in Colorado. Well, in the morning the sky was clear and a beautiful blue with good driving conditions across the midwest so we took that as a sign to proceed on. It is always so hard to leave these YHWH connected cherished relationships. But it was on to Iowa with Mike and Nettie. Halfway across Nebraska we get a call from them telling us to not try and make it to their place that night because of blizzard conditions. So, we held up in Lincoln, Nebraska until the next morning when the wind had died down somewhat and the snow plows began running.

There was wonderful fellowship in Iowa and some times for personal ministry as well. YHWH always seems to bring us to the right place at the right time with a word in due season. Here is a picture of one of the drift snow banks so you don’t think we are exaggerating. There were even higher ones than this one! And oh boy was it cold!!!

Iowa Snow Drift


Our next leg of the journey was to press on to Green Bay, Wisconsin. On the way, we stopped at a Bible Training Center in Cresco, Iowa. These centers are Christian rehabilitation centers for chemical dependent returning prodigal sons and daughters. What a blessing. We don’t know if we were blessed more or they were with the stories. Such beautiful people we are privileged to meet. We had been invited to come up to Green Bay by a friend of ours that collects food from various large corporate facilities and then distributes to many different ministries of which these Bible Training Centers are part. So every time we are out on the road, our friend tries to hook us up with a center that is close. We were offered the opportunity to share at a Wednesday evening meeting in Green Bay with a combination Sunday church and Messianic fellowship that rents from them. They all came to the presentation and there was such a unity between both groups—what a blessing to be part of that.

Even as we were in Green Bay, the weather started to get a little warmer. By the time we left, it had “warmed up” to 20 degrees and was feeling like shirt sleeve weather! We traveled through Chicago on into Indiana and were trying to make it to another Bible Training Center in Brazil, Indiana by 7:30 in the evening. As we were calling in to get instructions to the facility, we realized that in coming into Indiana, we had crossed another time zone and it was really 8:30p.m. now. Oh my! were we late. But they were very gracious and asked us to tell a story anyway and they all stayed a half hour extra to listen. It is always such a blessing to sit down with these dear folks and listen to where they have been and find out where YHWH is leading them. The Centers always feed us and put us up for the night and ask us to do morning devotions in which we take the opportunity to share some Hebrew language insights.
A couple of the gals gave up their beds for us to sleep on and we felt really loved and cared for.

Got to Tennessee Friday and so far have had a wonderful, packed to the brim few days. More to come.
Blessings!

January 5, 2010
When Father puts a trip together for us He seems to do it without a lot of advance warning. Trips for us seem to come together with a “suddenly” air about them. This one is no different except for the fact that there was an element of waiting associated with this one. A strange paradox – suddenly and waiting working together. Psalm 27:14 Wait on YHVH: be of good courage, and He shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on YHVH. Psalm 27 is the “Everyday” psalm, so we have been reading it everyday along with the daily psalm and a chapter in Proverbs for our morning devotion together. Anyway, the last verse, quoted above has been impressing our minds and hearts with the absolute necessity of waiting on YHVH. Waiting is not something that western society does well. We are more into instant gratification. So… the road trip is suddenly coming together, the schedule is being confirmed, the bags are being packed and then comes the waiting test. The landlord of the property where our dogs were so well taken care of by our friend Terry while we were in Israel has suffered a mild heart attack. She has spent the week in the hospital and has not yet given permission for Ginny and Cricket to come spend 6 weeks with Terry who lives on her land. What do we do? Terry suggested the only and best option, really, and that was to keep praying and wait. So we prayed and we waited. Monday was the hardest day to keep waiting as we were planning on leaving Tuesday in order to make our first engagement Wednesday evening in Colorado. I started coming up with alternate suggestions, but none of them were really workable and I even called a few people and put subtle hints out there, but no one bit. So we waited. At 9:00 Monday evening Terry called saying he had permission for the dogs to come. We wasted no time getting everyone in the car and driving the hour and a half to his place. By 11:00p.m. we were headed back home dropping into bed about 12:40a.m. Since the car was full of dog stuff we spent Tuesday morning packing trip stuff and finally locked the gate at 12:15p.m. Spent the night in Wendover, Nevada, got a nice, clean hotel room for $25.00, can’t do much better than that on the road except for staying with great friends like you all!!!
It was a beautiful sunrise this morning as you can see and we’ll be posting more sunrise pictures at the top of each blog entry. Enjoy them as we travel together on this great adventure!
Blessings, Shirley

Another great adventure - 2010

It’s time for a new posting on our blog site as we are off on another road trip. But first, thank you all for your support and comments through our time in Israel. We learned and observed much during our nearly 3 months there. As we travel the US these next 2 months we hope we can connect with you somewhere along the way. We will be leaving January 5 for Colorado and on to Iowa. We will stop briefly in Wisconsin and then head down to Tennessee, Mississippi, Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, back through Colorado, up to Idaho, British Columbia and back to California. If we miss you then let us know and we will try and connect with you on the next great adventure.
It seems that what YHWH has for us to share this trip is an understanding of what the Nation of Israel is today as it relates to Bible prophecy. Just a hint; Yeshua said that when you see the leaves come forth on the “Fig Tree” not the Olive Tree. Steve has prepared a teaching to help understand the differences and what that means prophetically. Shirley has a teaching on the mainly untold history of Israel and how we need to align ourselves to walk in YHVH’S Light, her talk is entitled, “Two Paths, Your Choice”. Along with this also seems to be that YHWH is connecting us with several people and fellowships that are focusing on building community. We have had a heart for community for years, and been through many processes and many mistakes, and now He seems to be connecting us with these various groups, and maybe our mistakes will finally be worth something. His ways are mysterious and past finding out!
We ask for your prayers and support as we venture out on this great adventure. We are being sent during one of the worst winters on record through the Midwest and Eastern US; so much for Global Warming! Our car has 175,000 miles on it, so we are asking YHWH for His safety, Hs provision, His protection, and His guiding word and direction throughout the journey. We will try and post a calendar shortly so you can see where we will be and hopefully connect as we come into your area.
The times—they are a changin. There are many events swirling around us each day that could cause us to fear, but in the midst of all this we are told to lift up our heads…for our redemption draws close. If we lift our heads up, that means we are not looking at the circumstances or ourselves to get our direction. We are looking to Him. Have you ever noticed how many times in scripture it records that someone, especially Yeshua, “lifted their eyes”. That is our only hope and our only safety; looking unto Yeshua, the author and finisher of our faith.
Blessings and Shalom