Looking Ahead

Shabbat is over, we've just finished a sweet havdalah service with the other students, and we were blessed to have had Michael and Heather join us for it as well. They have headed on back to Twenty-Nine Palms, the other students have retired back to their apartments, and Kim and I have retreated back to ours to get ready for bed.

This week looks something like this. Tomorrow is going to have to be a reading day. There are study questions that are due on Monday, and there is another exam that we are taking on Tuesday. There is a book report (critical book review, actually) that is due on Thursday, for which I need to read a complete book, and that will take up a lot of any "extra" time that might creep into the schedule over the next few days.

The focus for this past week has been on eschatology, that is, a study of the last things. End times prophecy kind of stuff. And I have really had the opportunity to consider what I believed about it. My thoughts on the matter haven't changed. In fact, I am more confident of my position now than before I started. And that is a good things. To have your beliefs challenged, be required to defend them, and come out with an increased confidence in your belief is a good thing, especially when your defense is found in the Scripture. I am not saying that everyone will agree, I am simply saying that I know what I believe and why I believe it.

This coming week, the focus I think is shifting from eschatology to ecclesiology, which is a look at what the body of Messiah is supposed to be. I am really looking forward to it. I am also very grateful that the research paper that is due for this class, which was originally supposed to be due this coming week, was postponed until later this summer. This will give me the chance to be able to really put the time and effort into it that I think it deserves. And of course, when it's finished, I will try to make it available to you.

Kim's plans this week, if I can speak for her, I think are to spend some time with her friend Misti early on, perhaps even go over to Harvest Church with her tomorrow. Later this week, Michael is due to have another test to evaluate an ongoing medical concern, so Kim may end up heading back out to Twenty-Nine Palms mid-week. And in the meantime, I will have MORE than enough work reading, writing study questions, and a critical book review to keep me busy if she goes away.

Kim and I both are going to try to commit to a more regular video blog, and those will be shown at KSS on Shabbat, I believe. We will also try to make them available here, though I don't think I have ever tried to do that before. It should be interesting!

Kim and I really appreciate your prayers. Please continue to lift up Michael and Heather, Kim, me, the other students here, and the Feinberg program. For now, I need to get some sleep. Have to start reading right after breakfast. Good night.

Shabbat Update

Well, I guess that the last part of this week got away from me a little. There was a lot of reading, had to finish that Scripture reading paper on the restoration of Israel, and then there was our first exam that we took yesterday. So here is what's going on.

The professor had given us a study question list for the exam. The other students and I divided them among us and we answered 1 or 2 questions each. Then we got together to make sure that we understood each others' answers. That was on Wednesday. After that, which went until about 8:00pm, I finished the reading that due for Thursday and the paper that was due. That took me straight up until 1:00am. Fun!

Thursday evening, Kim helped me and another student to study. I have always found that the small group environment, where I can just talk about a subject, has helped me prepare for an exam better than any other kind of venue. And that was how the other student felt, as well. So for about 3 hours, Kim served as a moderator of a discussion that spanned the subjects of the purpose of God's creation, the covenants of God in the Old Testament and how they have been developed in the new, and the overall purpose of Israel and how she accomplishes that purpose both now and in the future. It was really a great conversation. And Kim was amazing!!!

Friday morning we took the first exam. There were 19 true/false questions, 3 multiple choice, and 6 short paragraph answers (not really short answer questions and not really essay questions, but somewhere in between). Following the exam, I asked the professor about his policy on returning papers and grades. He said that we should have the grades back Monday. Funny that about 3 hours later, sitting at lunch, one of the other students blurted out, "Hey. Did you see that the grades are posted?" So I went and checked. And while I don't like to be boastful, in the interest of keeping you up to date on how I'm doing, I should tell you that I received a 100 on the exam. (Which I did.)

So the pressure is off, at least for the day. Last night, the Talbot students had a nice little Kabbalat Shabbat service to start the Sabbath off right. A little bit of singing, a challah, some grape juice, and bunch of theology students kicking their shoes off and just celebrating God and each other on His day of rest. It was really nice.

Michael and Heather drove down last night, as well, and will be hanging out with us today, driving back tonight to Twenty-Nine Palms. We are going to visit Shuvah Yisrael Messianic Congregation in Irvine this morning for Shabbat, and then not sure what we are going to do. I do know that we are planning on having lunch with Steve and Misti Wiggins, friends of ours who also happen to lead the worship at Shuvah. So that's our plan, we are going to stick to it as much as the Lord will allow, and I will check back in either tonight or tomorrow.

Have a wonderful Shabbat!

A Summary of the Restoration of Israel

So after many hours last night compiling, and condensing, and summarizing, here is the final result of my look at the restoration of Israel as described in the prophets in the Old Testament. It is far from complete in the list of references, however, it is, I believe, a good start at understand the length and breadth of the plan of God to restore the nation of Israel.

The Restoration of Israel According to the Prophets of the OT

Morning Day 3

So we are on break from class, and thought that I would take the opportunity to update. As I knew would happen, class is getting more spirited as we all start to get know one another and become more familiar and comfortable in sharing out thoughts. Questions about the continuity of the Mosaic covenant  in the New Testament have created a lot more tangential conversations than I think the professor was anticipating! But go figure.

Kim spent last night in Twenty-Nine Palms with Michael and Heather, but will be on her way back this afternoon. Please continue to pray for each of them.

Spent a lot of hours last night reading the Scripture. Fascinating stuff. :-) Reading the prophets with a specific eye toward the prophecies of the restoration of Israel in the end times, and the purpose for that restoration. Will be writing that paper tonight, and hopefully posting here tomorrow.

Back to class!

Praises and Prayers after 1 Day

So we have completed the first day of class, and things are going pretty good. I have found that in the often-controversial realm of eschatology, after 4 hours, I am amazed that I still agree with 90% of what the professor is teaching. At some point, I will have to teach him why he is wrong.

Was able to get the reading done that was due for today, primarily because the study questions that were due I had completed before coming out here. That will change moving forward, though, because that was the only work that I was able to complete before coming out here. From this point forward, all of the reading and study questions will need to be completed here, as well.

I have almost completed the Scripture reading that is due for Thursday. It involves reading Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Micah, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, and large sections from Isaiah, Jeremiah and Ezekiel. All of this is with an eye on three topics.
1. The restoration of the nation of Israel,
2. The purpose of the restoration of the nation, and
3. The relationship of Israel and/or Israel's Messiah to the other nations
Fascinating stuff. I still need to read about half of Zechariah and then Zephaniah, and then the reading is complete. However, I have to also write a two-page summary paper due Thursday as well. I have found that as I have been reading, I have been taking copious notes. Not including whatever notes I take on the second half of Zechariah and Zephaniah, I already have 14 pages of notes. It should be interesting trying to summarize 14+ pages of notes into 2 pages. But I will let you know how it goes. (I might even post the results here!)

So those are the praises.

Please pray for our son, Michael. He is having some health concerns right now. Kim will be driving out to Twenty-Nine Palms this morning to see him. We really don't know exactly what is going on, but should have more information later on. For now, just keep him in your prayers.

Anyway, need to get ready for class, shoot the video blog, and head out for the morning. Would love to hear from y'all!

Another Summer at Feinberg

Kim and I arrived in California this morning for another round of classes at the Feinberg Center for Messianic Jewish Studies. It was an early morning, the second early morning in a row for both of us, though I was up several hours earlier than Kim on Saturday, which is fairly standard for us. So we were up at 3:15am, to finish packing toiletries and such, and a good friend came by at 4:15am to take us to the airport.

The ride down was smooth, which was a good indicator for the rest of the morning. Our flight from Dulles to Long Beach was uneventful, though the person sitting behind Kim was quite rude. Or so she tells me, since I, apparently, was not conscious at the time. I have been blessed with the ability to sleep on planes. Often whether I want to or not.

We got into Long Beach about a half hour early. No problems with the bags, no problems with the rental car, really no problems at all. If you were reading this hoping to hear about all the problems, all of the things that went wrong so far on this trip, you will be disappointed. In fact, this is really a huge praise report.

After checking into the apartment that we will call home for the next month, (which also went smoothly, by the way), we went out to Walmart and purchased all of the things we are going to need for the apartment. This included food and beverage, and also dishwashing detergent, a sponge, paper towels, that sort of thing. We stopped and grabbed some lunch, and then went back to the apartment. However, by this time, to say that we were running out of steam would have been an understatement. Not only wasn't there any steam left, there was no more water to make more steam. Get it? We were tired. So we did what people in that circumstance usually do. We took a nap!

We lay down for about an hour or so. We had to set the alarm, because we didn't want to sleep too long and throw our schedules off too badly. After all, we are three hours behind where we were, so our bodies feel like it is three hours later than it is. It's almost 10:00pm here in La Mirada, California, but our bodies feel like it is 1:00am. No wonder I'm yawning!

Once we got up, we had a really nice conversation by phone with our son, Michael, who is stationed out here in Twenty-Nine Palms. It's about two and a half hours from where we are. So hopefully we will be able to spend a bunch of time with him before he deploys to Afghanistan. At the very least, Kim will be able to do that, even if I am unable because of school work.

Classes begin tomorrow. And I have to say that this is probably the LEAST prepared I have felt for a class in quite some time. The last few weeks have been truly crazy, and events played out in such a way as to prevent me from reading ahead, and preparing any of the work that will be due this week. But do not feel badly, because the priorities I have set are in the right order. My family has, and always will come first. So if the same things happen again, the same choices will be made, and I have no regrets about making them. None. And God will take care of the rest of it, even the school work. I am confident that He is in control.

So this is the place where you can stay connected with us while we are here. I would love to hear your comments about my comments, though I cannot guarantee that I will be able to respond to them all. But I will try. Much will depend on how the course work goes. Hope to hear from you soon!

Where does our happiness come from?

You know how sometimes a phrase or a verse will come up over and over again, and you just know that there is something that the Lord is trying to impress upon you? Well, that's what is going on with me right now. He continues to bring up Psalm 1 in ways that I would never expect to see it. It appears in a movie we watched (Flywheel), it shows up handwritten in a greeting card, Dr. Al Reichman uses it as the basis for last week's message. So I thought I would look more closely at it, and this is what I realized in the first verse, and I felt like I needed to share it.

So many people are wondering about where to find happiness. And I am not going to tell you that all the answers are to be found in this verse. But I can tell you that if we don't heed this verse, we WILL NOT find happiness. Psalm 1:1 says, in the NASB, "How blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked, Nor stand in the path of sinners, Nor sit in the seat of scoffers!" Let's look at the Hebrew, though.

אַשְׁרֵי הָאִישׁ - Ashrei ha-ish - Commonly translated as "Blessed is the man," the Hebrew for "bless," ברך isn't found in this section. Ashrei is from the word אֶשֶׁר esher which means happiness. Therefore, ashrei ha-ish is "Happy is the man."

אֲשֶׁר לֹא הָלַךְ בַּעֲצַת רְשָׁעִים - asher lo halach ba-atzat r'shanim - who did not walk in the counsel of the wicked.

וּבְדֶרֶךְ חַטָּאִים לֹא עָמָד - u'v'derech chatah'im lo amad - and in the way of the sinners did not stand

וּבְמוֹשַׁב לֵצִים לֹא יָשָׁב - u'v'moshav lay-tzim lo yashav - and in the seat of the scornful did not sit

As Dr. Reichman pointed out this past Shabbat, there is clearly a progression in this first verse. It moves from הלך, to walk, to עמד, to stand, and ends up with ישב, to sit. If we can say, as in the first section, happy is the person who doesn't do these things, then the converse is also true, unhappy is the person who does these things. And the unfortunate fact is that the more unhappy one gets, the more likely they are to engage in these activities, creating a cycle of unhappiness. It would therefore be impossible to find true happiness while in the midst of the cycle. Getting out of the cycle doesn't guarantee happiness, however, remaining there DOES, in fact, guarantee UNhappiness. And who wants to live in THAT place?

There is a reason that Rabbi Sha'ul teaches us that we are to WALK in the newness of life (Romans 6:4), and STAND by faith in His grace (Romans 5:2, 11:20). In this, we will find happiness.