Kelli’s surgery went very well. Thank you for praying. She now has pain (and pain medicine) and the first 72 hours are critical in the healing process. The kids have been, or are currently, 1) sick, 2) misbehaving, and/or 3) being helped by friends from church. I would be lying if I said that things were easy at home, but we are thankful for much help. The Lord was good to get us plugged into a church and Sunday School class quickly this year. Without that, we’d be sunk. Your continued prayers are appreciated.
So Far
I’ve been back in Israel four days now. It’s been a bit rough. In fact, I’d say that if this was my only time to Israel, I’d tell people to never come. Of course, I have the experience to know that it is not always this way.
Before I left, we had reason to believe that things might be tough at home with one of our kids. We have not been disappointed. I didn’t realize that they built schools with padded rooms. A further complication is that Kelli fell and broke her ankle this week. This is an inconvenient time for her to suffer her first broken bone. The break is painful and it makes it much harder to deal with the kids. We would appreciate your prayers.
The group that I am teaching is extremely kind, helpful, and excited, and that is a blessing.
UPDATE: Kelli needs surgery. That is scheduled for Tues am. Then she has to be off the foot for 8-10 weeks.
Between Semester and Departure
I leave for Israel after church tomorrow and time is tight. A few short items that I’ve collected recently:
Here’s a good blog post for my readers traveling along (or thinking about traveling along) the PhD route. There’s a few things I might add, but it’s very insightful as it stands.
Here are some people doing crazy stuff next to a waterfall.
This guy had WAY too much time on his hands. But I’m inspired.
I wish I was flying first class on Singapore Airlines and not cattle car on El Al.
Eli Cohen was Israel’s best spy and he is remembered in this JPost article.
Tomorrow I’m going to read (again) Exodus, by Leon Uris. There was a real boat called the Exodus and its commander died a few weeks ago.
I feel like I need to immerse in a mikveh, because today I was, you guessed it, in the Apple Store. Even worse, my boys saw me and were with me. I do, however, really like the new Apple ad.
We would appreciate your prayers for the family in my absence. If anyone has a suggestion for a hotel for 2 nights in Paris in June, let me know. I ran out of time.
Gas Prices
If you think gas prices are high here, you should try filling up your tank in Turkey!
Those who take things like this seriously might want to know that 1) I took the photo on January 1, 2001; 2) Turkey now uses the Euro; 3) gas prices in Turkey were $8/gallon in 2005, and I’m not sure what it is now; 4) I am setting up Live Writer on my portable computer and this is essentially a test post.
G,G,G,G and me
My life of late has been dominated completely by the letter G – Gadara, Gerasa, Gergesa, and now Genesis. I am trying to write a 35-page paper in 3 days. It is a frustrating exercise because of the limited time. But a friend forwarded me this link and I’m taking a break to share it with you. This is one of those tests where you have to choose which one doesn’t belong.
My aunt called today and she thinks I’m famous because she saw my picture in a book. To clarify, she saw a picture of me in a book. Actually there are two books recently out that have photos of me. The one she was talking about is Nelson’s Student Bible Handbook. One that came out last week is the Archaeology Handbook of Insight for Living (look for me in the chapter entitled “A Look at the Real Indiana Jones”). I know you think I’m making this all up, and you have good reason to believe that. I plan to say more about the the Archaeology Handbook on the BiblePlaces Blog in the next few days. (I like both books.) Now back to Genesis.
Messianic Campaign in Israel
Arutz-7 has an article about the new campaign by Jews for Jesus, and it ties it in with the Bible Quiz boycott. I’ve heard that this month (which is the month of celebrating Israel’s 60th birthday) will be the most intensive ever with regard to advertisements about the faith. You can pray in that regard. As always, when covering stories of this nature, Arutz-7 is not to be trusted in all of its details. From the article:
The Christian missionary organization known as “Jews for Jesus” is about to launch a new proselytizing campaign in Israel. Their redoubled effort to gain Jewish converts comes on the heels of a controversy over the participation of an Israeli girl who worships Jesus in the annual International Bible Contest, to be held on Independence Day in Jerusalem.
The family of Bat-El Levy, 17, the winner of the Jerusalem District Bible contest for secular public schools, is known to be active in a group whose members call themselves “Messianic Jews.” Her success in the regional competition earned Bat-El a place among four students representing Israel in the Bible Contest finals on Independence Day, this Thursday. Dozens of Jewish youth come to Israel each year for the last leg of the Bible Contest….
Even as the Bible Contest controversy is reaching its apex, in a letter to supporters, the Jews for Jesus organization announced a series of new campaigns in Israel. “The campaigns are scheduled to begin in 2008 and continue through 2013,” the missionary organization announced. “These campaigns could be the most important thing we in Jews For Jesus have ever done….”
Claiming that “only one tenth of one percent (.001)” of the Jews in Israel “believe in Jesus,” the missionaries see a positive side in that Israel “is the only place in the world where – when we do street evangelism – we don’t need to wonder who is Jewish. All we have to do is walk outside and talk to everyone we meet!”
There are about 8,000 people who worship Jesus and who claim to be Jews in Israel. Yad L’Achim says that there are over 100 missionary, or “Messianic”, churches operating in Israel, representing various branches of Christianity.
Rabbi Tovia Singer, a leading lecturer countering the efforts of Christian missionaries, says that both the Messianic Judaism movement and Jews for Jesus have as their goal the elimination of Judaism and its replacement with Christianity as the faith of the Jewish people.
Jews for Jesus, Rabbi Singer explained, is in fact an international Baptist mission to the Jews. The organization “is trying to do to the Jews spiritually what Hamas is trying to do physically,” he said.
The article continues here.
Religious Boycott Bible Quiz in Israel
According to some Orthodox Jews, there is a danger greater than the Nazis: Jewish believers in Yeshua. From the JPost:
A group of religious Zionist rabbis have called for a boycott of this year’s International Bible Quiz after discovering that one of the four finalists from Israel is a Messianic Jew who believes Jesus is the true Messiah.
“Messianics are missionaries who proselytize in very sophisticated ways,” said Rabbi Shlomo Aviner, one of the rabbis calling to boycott the quiz.
“It is forbidden to give them legitimacy by allowing them to take part in the quiz.”
Other rabbis that have called to boycott the quiz include Shmuel Eliyahu, chief rabbi of Safed, Ya’acov Yosef, son of Shas mentor Rabbi Ovadia Yosef and Rabbi Tzvi Tau, head of Har Hamor Yeshiva.
The call to boycott the quiz came after Yad L’Achim, a haredi anti-missionary organization, discovered that one of the finalists, Bat-El Levi, an 11th grader from a high school in Pisgat Ze’ev, was a Messianic Jew.
Levi won this year’s national bible quiz for state schools and will be one of four finalists from Israel competing for the International Bible Quiz Championship on Independence Day.
The Education Ministry said in response to a query from The Jerusalem Post that the “Global Bible Quiz for Jewish Youth” was open only to Jewish pupils. Regarding Messianic Jews, the pupil in question was Jewish, and therefore, according to the ministry’s legal department, was not disqualified from participating.
Calev Myers, founder and chief counsel of the Jerusalem Institute of Justice, an advocacy group that represents members of the Messianic community, said that the rabbis’ call to boycott the quiz was a show of weakness.
“If the participation of a Messianic Jewish lady is enough to shake up those rabbis’ world, it shows the weakness of that world,” said Myers.
“Why should they have a problem with a young woman who knows how to quote from the Bible?
“It is about time that they stop having a monopoly over determining who is a Jew. The beauty of the Jewish world is the diversity. If you can still be considered a Jew even if you believe that the Lubavitch Rebbe [Menachem Mendel Schneerson] is the messiah, the same thing should hold true if you believe Jesus is.”
My friend Craig comments on the story on his blog.
Obama: A New Kind of Politician
From Best of the Web Today (WSJ):
The real proof that Wright is right about Obama, though, comes from this passage in a New York Times story from April 30, 2007–a year ago yesterday:
Mr. Wright, who has long prided himself on criticizing the establishment, said he knew that he may not play well in Mr. Obama’s audition for the ultimate establishment job.
“If Barack gets past the primary, he might have to publicly distance himself from me,” Mr. Wright said with a shrug. “I said it to Barack personally, and he said yeah, that might have to happen.”
Assuming Wright’s account of the conversation was accurate–and as far as we know, Obama has never disputed it–Obama not only is acting out of political expediency now, but was making plans a year ago to do so. All part of the effort to sell him as a new kind of politician–and if you buy it, we’ve got some change you can believe in.
Devastating.
Personal note
The challenges of the semester have been compounded by a recent illness and now I find myself with my health restored (I think) and only 11 days to finish what remains. That includes writing one paper (research 95% finished), and writing another (0% done). The weekend after, I fly out to Israel for 3.5 weeks. My hope all along was that the end would not be exceptionally busy, so I would have at least regular (if not extra) time to spend with the family before I disappear. I’m not really sure how it’s all going to happen, so if you think to pray for us, I’d appreciate it. Typically the last month of school is also tough for one of our kids, and that difficulty is increased when dad is not around.
Posts will likely be less frequent in the next five weeks, so I pass on a new “blog” that I recently discovered: Of First Importance: “Each day this blog will provide a thoughtful quote to help you remember what’s “of first importance”: the gospel of Jesus Christ.” Today’s post:
Our entire confidence in our acceptance before God is based solely upon the fact that Jesus was our legal representative in His sinless life and obedient death.”
– Jerry Bridges, The Discipline of Grace (Colorado Springs, Co: NavPress, 1994), 68.
IBEX Promotional Video
IBEX has a new promotional video. It will be out on DVD soon, but you can see it online now at the TMC website. The video was produced by Robert Ham and Jodi Dyck. If you know anyone in college who wants to know the Bible better and who’s not afraid of a little bit of adventure, tell them that they should go to IBEX.