Ten years ago today, our lives changed. For many years (2012, 2011, 2010, 2009, 2008), it was my habit to post here on the anniversary of what I refer to as my “exile.” I’ve recently decided that that’s inappropriate, as the true exile from Israel didn’t allow regular return visits. Nonetheless, I feel a real sense of loss that I don’t think has diminished in the past 3,653 days. This day then serves for me as a marker of that loss.
I do not mope around, living in regret. My typical answer when someone asks (and they still do) about not living in Israel is that the Lord has given me a good work here. And I believe that. So perhaps it’s worth reflecting on some of the good works in these past ten years, now with a sense of perspective on some things that I didn’t have before.
- My years in Dallas were incredibly rich in learning the Bible. This is something I benefit from personally every day, in addition to its value in the classroom.
- The courses I teach at Master’s are a dream. I don’t think they could be better if I made the schedule myself. I not only teach through the whole Bible every year, I teach classes on Isaiah, Psalms, and Genesis. Those classes are so good that I jokingly say that what was once my favorite class (History of Ancient Israel) is now my least favorite class.
- Our children are getting good educations. This comes in different forms and not all with the same consistency. I’m not sure how we would have made it in this area had we stayed in Israel. But the Lord has provided for us abundantly in this area in the past ten years.
- Our marriage is solid. We are coming up on a milestone, and we reflected tonight that we ‘ve spent just about half of our married life in Israel and now half in the US. It’s probably fair to say that our relationship has been strongest in the past ten years.
- The Lord has blessed us all with good health. We do not take this for granted.
- We have enjoyed wonderful church families, both in Texas and now here. Many friends have and continue to bless us and enrich our lives and our love for our Lord. Our children have been well taught and the older ones have a manifest zeal for the Lord.
I have much to be thankful for. The Lord has blessed us these last ten years, even if I would have written the script a bit differently.
Thanks for the post. I can understand how you would miss living in Israel! I wanted so much to go on our church tour in May, but we weren’t able to go. The Lord has so richly blessed Royce and me in providing for us to go five times. Numerous people express puzzlement as to why we would want to go back. I just tell them half of my heart is in Israel and I need to go reconnect. I continue to work on my Israel Photo Album so I “go back” in spirit. And I still enjoy the Pictorial Library of Bible Lands. One of the young men who went on the tour shared his 5,500 pictures with me. I’m enjoying going through them. He has done close to 200 panoramas. I especially enjoy those.