Some time ago, we wrote about pearl harvesting — how, like the oyster, God takes us in, an irritating grain of sand, and over time covers us with His beautiful covering that we may become more precious and more valuable for His Kingdom.
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My wife has had an interesting life. Here, she shares a small portion of her past: I was born in Israel. My parents divorced when I was a toddler and my mother met and married a hippie American tourist who was searching his roots in Israel at the time. Later, we went back to the States with him. Little did we realize that he was heavily addicted to drugs and this among other things made for a very unhappy family and little on which to live.
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Out here in the Negev, our trees suffer, especially in the hot summer months. We have a few trees around our neighborhood here which have definitely seen better days, I’m sure.
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A wise man once said, “There’s nothing more powerful than the heart of a volunteer”. Webster describes a volunteer this way — one who renders a service or receives a conveyance or transfer of property without giving valuable consideration.
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A foreign soldier was brought before his commanding officer and accused of communicating with the enemy. He had been seen emerging from an area where their troops were known to patrol. The poor man summed up his defense in a few words, stating that he had slipped away to spend an hour alone in prayer.
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On Saturday night, throughout Israel, on the 17th of Tammuz, Jewish people from around the world will fast and begin a three week period of mourning leading into Tish B’Av (9th of Av). On this day, according to Jewish tradition, Moses shattered the Ten Commandments after he returned from Mount Sinai to witness the children of Israel worshiping a golden calf. In coming devotionals, we will recount the numerous tragic events associated with the 9th of Av, and sorrowfully remembered by Jews each year, but today I want to focus on the events particularly connected to this unique day, Tammuz 17.
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This Saturday evening begins the celebration of Shavuot. Most Christians might recognize this as the celebration of Pentecost in Acts 2. However, the very first Shavuot actually took place fifty days after the Israelites crossed the Red Sea about 1500 years before Acts was even written. It was on this day that the law was given on tablets of stone.
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