Some months ago, the major TV news channel in Israel (Channel 2) aired a documentary on Messianic Jews that was essentially fair. It allowed them to speak for themselves, without the slander that often is present in reporting about believers in Israel. The video is now online, with English subtitles. At nine minutes in length, it is too short to give much substance. But it shows normal people who have happy families and who are both intelligent and articulate. Most of those interviewed are my neighbors. One unfortunate part of the video: except by believers, Jesus is referred to as Yeshu, instead of Yeshua. Yeshu is an acronym for the Hebrew expression, “May his name be blotted out.” It is the common way of referring to Jesus in Israel. In fact, if you say “Yeshua,” most won’t know who you are talking about.
This Book I Want
About six months ago I ordered a commentary of I Kings, by Cogan and Tadmor. One of the series of the Anchor Bible, it’s written by a couple of top scholars but is otherwise a rather ordinary commentary that was published in 2001. I ordered it from Amazon for about $30. Surveying a list of others in the series at Amazon indicates that $30 is the average price. Sometime after my order, Amazon sent me a message that the book was unavailable and the order was cancelled. Since that time I have kept my eyes out for it from another source, without success. Today I see that one is available from a bookstore in Hialeah, Florida for a mere $2,736.18. AmazonUK has another for $579. Now I have a few questions:
1. Is this book really so impossible to find?
2. How does a bookseller determine that the book is worth this much? Why not $999? Why not $52,799?
3. Is there any chance at all that someone out there will pay $2,736 for a book that’s only five years old, that will never have any special status, and that can easily be borrowed from a decent Bible college library?
4. If demand is so high, why does not Anchor put the book back in print? Or license reprint rights to someone like Wipf & Stock? After all, this is part of a major Bible commentary series.
BTW, I’m selling my copy of 2 Kings by Cogan and Tadmor for $3,214. Drop me an email if you’re interested. It’s really good.
Fire in the Fields
From Arutz-7:
Of two Kassam rockets fired from Gaza at Israel Thursday morning, one landed at the entrance to a kibbutz in the western Negev. No one was hurt, but a wheat field was set on fire.
Just two days ago, Agriculture Minister Shalom Simchon announced that the farming communities around Gaza would be eligible for a total of 800,000 shekels ($200,000) for the purpose of quickly harvesting their fields. Many wheat fields have been burnt in the past two weeks by Kassam rockets, just as they were about to be harvested.
This reminds me of the story in Judges where Samson catches 300 foxes, ties them together in pairs, and lights the tails on fire so that the foxes run throughout the standing grain (15:3-5). The place where the missiles landed is south of the Sorek Valley, and the antagonists are different (Palestinians are not related to the Philistines, despite their use of the name), but there are still a number of similarities (fire, harvest time, back and forth cycle of violence). Here’s one similarity that the politicians and media never mention: God uses the enemies of Israel to provoke his people to repentance. Unfortunately, they were slow to seek God in Samson’s day and they are slow in our day as well.
God's Blessing
“It is doubtful whether God can bless a man greatly until He has hurt him deeply.” (A. W. Tozer)
Starbucks Follow-Up
I’m about to disappear for a few weeks while I teach a short-term program, but before I go, I thought a brief follow-up to the previous post might be beneficial. I simply want to re-state my main point, and to elevate two helpful comments so that those who don’t read the comments will benefit from them.
Main Point: Working at Starbucks, as a waiter, etc., may certainly be a good learning experience, but after a while, you hit the point of diminishing returns and you should move on (or don’t go back). Unless Starbucks itself is the goal.
Comment #1 (Sam Neylan): May I suggest to your reader’s who will take your advice to read and do what’s offered in the book ‘What Color Is Your Parachute?’. it is an invaluable book that helps you evaluate yourself, your gifts, your purpose on earth, what you’ve learned about you and past employment scenarios, etc and tranforms you from a desperate job beggar to a confident work offerer. It’s not a magic pill, you have to do hard work (I photocopied the exercises and did them all! They were awesome). The premise of the book is ‘God created you to accomplish something on this earth-go figure out what it is (or what will get you there) and go do it ‘. I think it’s one of the only helpful books out there…and it’s been on the business best seller for the last 30+ years…DO IT! [Ed. note: I found 700 used copies for sale here.]
Comment #2 (Eric Zeller): A good followup post would apply the same thinking to church ministry… Don’t just sit through church all summer because you don’t think there is any ministry you can do before going back in the fall. Set up a meeting with your pastor the first day you are in town and say “I am here for three months, how can I serve?” And if you have ministry goals, talk with him about how you can develop your gifts in those areas, stc.
Get to it!
Don't Work at Starbucks
Many of my college-age friends are finishing their school year today and are heading home with plans to get a summer job. I have some advice for them: don’t work at Starbucks. Or at Wal-mart, or as a waiter or a babysitter.
I know, I know, I’m going to make somebody mad. Too bad.
Actually, there’s nothing inherently wrong with working at Starbucks. The problem is that you worked there last year. And you know the manager and you’ve got your job back. So it’s easy. Nothing wrong with easy. What’s wrong is that the job isn’t taking you where you want to go. Now maybe I’m wrong. Perhaps you’re interested, like one of the IBEX alumni, in starting a coffee distribution business in Africa. So perhaps working at Starbucks would better prepare you for that. If so, do it. But if you don’t think it is preparing you for the future, then why are you wasting these precious months?
Indeed, that is what is at stake. You have a few precious months this summer; how can you make the most of them? That’s the key question.
I think most people have one of two goals in working a summer job. 1) Make money. 2) Gain experience. I think those are good goals, given 1) the outrageously high tuition charged at private Christian colleges in Santa Clarita, and 2) you’re going to graduate in a very short time and be thrust out into the real world and you really don’t have a clue.
But here’s the key: accomplish at least one, if not both, of those goals. Which precludes working at Starbucks. I’ll say it a different way: if you’re not making bank, you better be learning something. And I don’t mean how to make a dark roasted mocha express blend. You can learn something as a waiter or babysitter, but there becomes a point after which you’re going to be learning very little for the time you’re spending. That’s the point that you need to move on.
I suggest this: instead of taking that easy-to-get, low-paying job that you did last summer, look a little harder. Yes, it takes patience. Yes, you may have to trust God to provide. Yes, you may have a few weeks out of work. But a better job may make you better able to do what God has for you in the future.
Maybe you should work construction this summer, just to learn some basics. That will almost certainly come in useful later in life. (Exhibit A: my dad, who also met my mom while working a side job in construction. He can build all kinds of things.) You’ll be a lowly grunt, but you probably will make as much as you would as a waiter, and you will profit from it later.
Maybe you could find a job in a business firm. This is a business world and you won’t understand it if you don’t live in it, at least for a little while. This goes for all you future moms and future pastors.
I know that it can be hard to find a job like this on short notice and for a short time. It really helps to know someone. Perhaps you can ask around at church, or put a notice in the newletter. Or just go knock on some doors and tell them that you’re a hard-working college student who wants to serve and learn. Don’t be afraid of rejection; you’ll get over it. And if someone offers you a job that’s not best for your goals, don’t be afraid to pass on it.
I have another suggestion from personal experience: work with a temp agency. I did that in my seminary years. It was ideal because it was flexible (I called in when I was available), paid good money ($14/hour usually, and that was back in 1995), and I learned a lot. I worked in a lawyer’s office for a month. I worked in the Nestle tower in Glendale for a while, helping create business simulations. I worked on the U.S. Space Station team. (Ok, mostly all I did was make photocopies and teach myself MS Excel, but that’s ok.) I even worked for the Chabad headquarters for a while. Imagine that – a Christian seminary student who knew some modern Hebrew spending 40 hours/week with the black-coated rabbis in Los Angeles!
I learned all kinds of things in those years. They were invaluable for helping me to understand people, increase in my knowledge of business, and know that I really wanted to be a college teacher.
That doesn’t mean it was easy. I remember plenty of hard things about it. But those things I especially wouldn’t trade because of the things I learned and the perspective I gained.
Probably later in life, you won’t have the chance to work around in a variety of places. You’ll have a career, you’ll have bills to pay, and you simply won’t be able to work a variety of jobs. Now’s the time. Don’t waste your summer. Don’t work at Starbucks.
The Former Prime Minister
Politics in Israel is cyclical. Or maybe what I mean is that it is not uncommon for politicans to rise, fall (hard), and rise again. Bibi Netanyahu left the prime minister’s office in near disgrace some years ago, but now he has rehabilitated himself and if elections were held today, he would be the new prime minister. Ehud Barak followed Netanyahu but lasted less than two years. When he left, virtually no one in his own party would talk to him. But now he is back, and he will likely win the Labor party election this month. The current prime minister is Ehud Olmert and his approval ratings are now in the single digits (that means less than 10% for those of you who are reading this in the wee hours). But, if history holds, it is quite possible that after resigning as a failure in the near future, he too will be back. You can see some other examples of prime ministers who have returned after time away (including Ben Gurion, Rabin, and Peres).
Tonight Barak was at the moshav, speaking to a group of supporters in the conference hall. I’ve taught in that same place (heck, I’ve danced in that same place!). I slipped in the back and took his photo. What is so notable is how different security is here from the U.S. We were just having a barbecue in our front yard when we heard he was here. We walked 50 yards up the hill and there he was, speaking in the hall. No security checks, no commotion, no snipers on the roof. They did control access into the room, but you could stand 20 feet away from him outside the window. I suppose it’d be a bit different if he was current prime minister, but even so, it’s still interesting.
I saw Netanyahu when he was on the Geraldo show (in 1990), being taped in Jerusalem. And I’ve seen Olmert (he even wrote our school a nice letter). I missed Sharon, but one of our students got to shake his hand. It’s just different than the U.S.
A Good Day
I haven’t been blogging much lately because I’ve just been trying to stay afloat. Tonight is one night where I’m not outside the house so I have a few minutes and I was just struck by how many good things happened today.
1. I read 1 Thessalonians this morning and saw more new things. I plan to read the book through each day this month, and I am certain I’ll learn new things every day.
2. At an appointment in Jerusalem this morning, we were granted visas. It was sort of the absolute minimum amount of help that the gov’t here could give, but it is sufficient for our needs and a clear answer to prayer after many disappointments.
3. Walking back from the gov’t office, I spotted a Mountain Dew, only the second one I’ve seen for sale here.
4. Back in my office a friend and former student (f&fs) brought by the complete, finished set of DVDs he made of my Land and Bible trips this semester.
5. Lunch in the dining room was good food and discussion.
6. I got an email from a former IBEXer in the Dallas area who is going on vacation for two weeks the very day we are arriving, and he offered us use of their empty house and car. Just last night Kelli and I had been talking of needing just something like this to soften our landing.
7. Another f&fs stopped by the office to ask if she could stay six weeks this summer and help me with projects and Kelli with things around the house.
8. Everything just came together in a short time on a (secret) project I’ve been working on for many months. Now it feels like something, for the first time.
9. Several students came by and asked for advice on teaching, jobs and relationships.
10. The mail arrived and it contained only checks, no bills.
11. I came home and found out that a f&fs had spent the better part of the day at our house helping Kelli on the rather daunting task of sorting and washing kids’ clothes to give away. A student spent the afternoon here cleaning.
12. I don’t have any reason to be out of the house tonight (so far anyway). I hardly know what to do with myself. I do know this – I’m not going to spend any more time tonight blogging! God has been extremely kind to us today.
Scrapbook gift from Spring 2007 (last week);
this is one of the best presents I have received
Wonderful Week (but all you get is an old photo)
This is the part of the semester when time for blogging is hard to come by. This has been a wonderful week, but without time to reflect on it here. I’ve made good progress in grading papers, saw an Iron Age fort new to me, had significant help in preaching in the last chapel tonight, and was extraordinarily blessed by the students this week. And I’ve made necessary headway on a couple of other still-secret projects.
I thought of a couple of practical blog ideas for the future as well. Tonight I’ll simply share a fun photo taken with Mark in Red Canyon last month.
South
That trip south that I mentioned a few days ago was amazing. I wish I had time to comment on it a bit, but it’s a challenging week and other things take priority. If I don’t have time, I’ll just mention here that I saw parts of Israel that very few ever see. Beautiful parts. Stunning canyon views, rugged mountain scenery, and life-giving water holes in the middle of the wilderness. And of course, plenty of piles of rocks, especially 10th century B.C. forts. The people I went with weren’t so bad either. My heart is full with gratitude to God.