Blessings Abound

Wednesday was a day of personal blessing; we want to tell you that the L-rd has moved in such a wonderful way to encourage us and keep us in Jerusalem! A recap:

-I visited the midwife and the baby is growing well, she is head down (which is the right position), my blood pressure is normal and I checked out pretty healthy. We're awaiting results about a possible infection, so we're asking for prayer that I am infection-free, meaning no UTI's or GBS.

Some friends gave us a nice car seat to use.
Cassidy's baby Lulu loves it.

-Tom negotiated a new lease for the apartment we're currently in. Our lease is up at the end of February (the same time the baby is supposed to arrive!) so it was crucial that we get something resolved. Now that we know we will be in this apartment for the arrival of the baby we can set up the baby's room and put our minds at ease that we don't have to go apartment hunting and furniture shopping.

-We also received news that the special gift for our housing was renewed, so we are able to stay here for a year. Since this was a special one-time gift last year which covered our rent expense we were not counting on this BUT are extremely thankful for it!

-We got our totals for the year-end and are blessed by the people who gave one-time gifts, renewed their monthly pledges and those who increased their monthly donations. We added some new monthly donors and are seeing the number we need to make our budget shrink almost on a daily basis.

Just today, Sunday, we had our appointment for our visa renewal and praise the L-rd, we got it! Even though it should be a given that we would get another visa, nothing is certain, especially in this country, and it can be a very uncomfortable and long process depending on who is in charge of your renewal. We are very thankful that the appointment only took 15 minutes and we now have the paperwork to stay in Israel for another year.

Thank you for your prayers and care! We look forward to sharing more stories with you throughout the year. Here we go!

Bo!

The name of this week's portion is Bo, בוא, meaning enter or go, which reflects what the L-rd says to Moshe in the first verse: Go to Pharaoh. As parents living in Israel we learned this important word early on, even though we used it incorrectly.

In modern Hebrew the word bo (pronounced like bow & arrow) means come, and you use it to call your son or a group of children or people. But when addressing your daughter you use the feminine form, boy, בואי (as if that's not confusing enough, the Hebrew word for she is he, היא). For the first month or so we yelled, "BO!" to Cassidy to get her to hurry up, only to discover that we were using the masculine form -- probably pretty confusing to Hebrew speakers as they looked at our long-haired, pink-skirted daughter. With the help of Cassidy's teacher we realized בואי was the appropriate term, and we now use it quite often, and correctly.

So, Bo, chaverim (friends) let's study the portion this week...

I will cause a hailstorm

Never One to disappoint, this week the L-rd lined up the weather in Jerusalem to reflect His power as told of in the weekly portion. Exodus 9:18-19 says: tomorrow, about this time, I will cause a hailstorm so heavy that Egypt has had nothing like it from the day it was founded until now. Therefore, send and hurry to bring indoors all your livestock and everything else you have in the field. For hail will fall on every human being and animal left in the field that hasn't be brought home, and they will die.

You think I'm kidding...

Curious about the portion? Here's a post briefly explaining what it is. You can always check our left side-bar to find out what the reading is for each week. Hope it blesses you!

And You Thought Genealogy Was Boring

Here is good example of sod (סוד) Hebraic Biblical interpretation. This understanding is the hidden, secret, or mystical meaning of a text. Genesis 5 reveals that G-d’s plan of redemption was written on the very names of men. If Adam and his lineal descendants are lined up one right after the other, the Gospel message is revealed to us when their names are translated from Hebrew to English. All of these name meanings point to the One name, Yeshua, which means salvation.

Adam = Man

Seth = Appointed

Enosh = Mortal

Kenan = Sorrow

Mahalalel = The blessed God

Yared = Shall come down

Enoch = Teaching

Methusaleh = His death shall bring

Lamech = The despairing

Noah = Comfort

When you put this together you have a sentence that reads, ‘Man appointed mortal sorrow the blessed God shall come down teaching; His death shall bring the despairing comfort.’

[96, A Case for God by Jim Jacob]

Thank You!

Hi friends! We're nearing the end of 2012 and are overwhelmed by the way the L-rd has worked in this year. We hope you've enjoyed the stories, videos and teachings we've posted here on the website. Are there other things you'd be interested in seeing or reading about in the coming year?

We hope you all had a joy-filled Christmas with your families and friends. We were blessed to spend Christmas Eve with some sweet friends in the Old City of Jerusalem. It was a beautiful sunny day and we enjoyed the diversity of the city. We woke up the next morning and cuddled with Cassidy for a while, which was a terrific Christmas present for us. We celebrated Yeshua's birthday with a yummy breakfast and to start it all off Cassidy sang Him Happy Birthday.

We spent the day together, just the three of us and we ended up talking to most of our family thanks to amazing technology. Cassidy's thankfulness at all of her presents was overwhelming -- from chalk to jewelry to crafts she was thrilled with it all! Keeping it simple was a great idea and it turned out to be the best Christmas we've had in 5 years.

Though we may not scream like Cass, we are equally thankful for all of the prayers, emails, calls, letters and gifts throughout this year that have filled our hearts and enabled us to be here in Israel. The L-rd has done amazing things in our lives and in the lives of those we've met in the last year and it's because of your partnership with us. The L-rd is moving in the land of Israel and we look to the next year with hearts filled with anticipation for more opportunities to shine His light.

There's still time to give a year-end gift to Remember Jerusalem, and you can always become a monthly partner in 2013. The harvest is plenty here in the land and we're looking for more people to join us in the work! Happy New Year!

Bethlehem Shepherds Revisited

A recent article from the International Christian Embassy in Jerusalem’s website is so good I have contracted/summarized it below. It shows the unique aspect of the shepherds on that glorious day of our dear Savior’s birth. Here is the full article if you prefer (http://us.icej.org/news/commentary/tower-flock)

The first public declaration of the Good News of the redemption in Messiah Yeshua is made to shepherds, common people of Israel, not to the religious or political rulers.

“The shepherds’ fields outside Bethlehem, to this day, play a central role in the Christmas celebrations in the Holy Land. Countless tourists have visited the fields between Bethlehem and Jerusalem. The church historian Eusebius linked these fields to a unique biblical location called Migdal Eder, which translated means the “tower of the flock”. (See Gen. 35:21)

“This area on the outskirts of Bethlehem is also mentioned in the Talmudic writings. According to the Talmud, all cattle found in the area surrounding Jerusalem ‘as far as Migdal Eder’ were deemed to be holy and consecrated and could only be used for sacrifices in the Temple, in particular for the peace and Passover sacrifices. There was thus a special, consecrated circle around the city of Jerusalem.”

“This means the shepherds in the fields of Bethlehem who first heard the Good News from the angels were not ordinary shepherds but served the sacrificial system of the Temple.”

They were facilitating a very necessary reality of obedience to G-d in order for Israel to maintain fidelity to the Mosaic Covenant. And the shepherds who took care of these sacrificial sheep were the first to hear of the birth of the Lamb that was slain before the foundation of the world, Who is also the great Shepherd.

“The Hebrew prophet Micah also refers to Migdal Eder. ‘And you, O tower of the flock, the stronghold of the daughter of Zion, to you shall it come, even the former dominion shall come, the kingdom of the daughter of Jerusalem.’ (Micah 4:8)”

“Based on that prophecy, prominent Jewish writers [who did not follow Yeshua] concluded in the Midrash that from all of the places in Israel, it would be the Migdal Eder where the arrival of the Messiah would be declared first.

“That means when the angels appeared that night to the shepherds in the fields outside Bethlehem, it was not just a declaration of the Good News to simple shepherds. It was a powerful prophetic sign to all of Israel. The news of that night must have spread like wildfire through the surrounding villages.”

Luke records: “Now when they had seen Him, they made widely known the saying which was told them concerning this Child. And all those who heard it marveled at those things which were told them by the shepherds.” (Luke 2:17-18)

What does this all mean for us?

“First, it is always beneficial for the Church to see that Jesus did not arrive into a vacuum, but was born into an entirely Jewish context. When Christ came in the flesh, he was born first-and-foremost to the Jewish people but would then also bring his favour and good pleasure to all men. Even though the celebration of Christ’s birth has become a feast marked almost exclusively by the gentile Church, it is important for us to see it in its historic and biblical context – as a message intended to give hope to Israel. As Zacharias prophesies at the birth of John the Baptist, this all happened to “perform the mercy promised to our fathers and to remember His holy covenant, the oath which He swore to our father Abraham…” (Luke 1:72f).”

“The angelic announcement gave these simple shepherds a profound revelation of who this Messiah would be. He was proclaimed to be both King (born in the city of David) and Priest. That he was both Christ and Lord, the son of man but also the son of God. He would be the saviour of humanity but also the shepherd of all those who would follow his voice.”

By taking care of the sheep that are used in the sacrificial system, these shepherds were participating in the very context of our redemption. They were then chosen as the first people to publically hear the declaration of the Good News that the Mosaic Covenant was foreshadowing. “Do not be afraid, for behold, I bring you Good News of great joy which will be to all people. For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Messiah the Lord. And this will be the sign to you: You will find a Babe wrapped in swaddling cloths, lying in a manger.” (Luke 2:10-12)

He does everything for a reason and every detail brings Him glory.

Merry Christmas  

Is Christmas Kosher?