The 10 days between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur are known as the “Days of Awe”, a short but intense time for deep introspection and repentance as the “New Year” begins. During this time, I was spending a few days in Eilat with my family as we concluded hosting a tour with 40+ people in Israel for two weeks.
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“A young man enlisted, and was sent to his regiment. The first night he was in the barracks with about fifteen other young men, who passed the time playing cards and gambling. Before retiring, he fell on his knees and prayed, and they began to curse him and jeer at him and throw boots at him. So it went on the next night and the next, and finally the young man went and told the chaplain what had taken place, and asked what he should do. ‘Well,’ said the chaplain, ‘you are not at home now, and the other men have just as much right to the barracks as you have. It makes them mad to hear you pray, and the Lord will hear you just as well if you say your prayers in bed and don’t provoke them.’
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Early African believers were earnest and regular in private devotions. Each one reportedly had a separate spot in the thicket where he would pour out his heart to God. Over time, the paths to these places became well worn. As a result, if one of these believers began to neglect prayer, it was soon apparent to the others. They would kindly remind the negligent one, “Brother, the grass grows on your path.”
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At a time when thousands of people were dying each year of rabies, Louis Pasteur, pioneer of immunology, was working on a vaccine. Just as he was about to begin experimenting on himself, a 9-year-old boy, Joseph Meister, was bitten by a rabid dog. The boy’s mother begged Pasteur to experiment on her son…
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Over the past week, Hurricane Harvey cause catastrophic damage in the United States. In a report today, Joel Myers, president and chairman of AccuWeather, said “This is the costliest and worst natural disaster in American history. AccuWeather has raised its estimate of the impact to the nation’s gross national produce, or GDP, to $190 billion or a full one percent, which exceeds totals of economic impact of Katrina and Sandy combined.”
...continue reading this devotion.Just over six years ago, our second, Obadiah was born and he’s grown so much! It’s amazing to me how fast these kids grow. He has long since outgrown his newborn clothes and is now fitting into kids clothes, sheesh! Weighing in originally at just over 8.1 lbs, he’s already pushing 50! He likes to eat — the kid can’t get enough!
...continue reading this devotion.Since 2003, we’ve added thousands of new subscribers to our daily brief, so many of you are unaware of the trials and tribulations that we’ve faced as a family here in Israel. In 2003 our first child, Elianna, was born with an extremely rare eye condition, which in effect caused her to be blind. As newly inaugurated parents, we were completely shell shocked on receiving the news from the doctors.
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