Oh, How He Moves the Furniture!

So, after I wrote about 'why can't I just love people?' God pleasantly reminded me of so many reasons why I have GREAT neighbors.

Yes, there some good things that have happened in my 'hood.

A few years ago, our neighborhood was thrown into panic when one of the little boys fell out of the 2nd story window onto concrete steps below. Another neighbor came running and told me that he thought the boys neck was broken and how he told the mother to keep him still. By the time I got there, the boy was in his mothers arms crying and they were waiting for the ambulance. We told the family that we were praying to Jesus to heal him.

We went to the hospital later in the day and brought a couple of the older boys, Matloub and Garhib. We talked to the father and gave him a balloon for the boy. The boy was going to be fine. He broke his arm and it would be in a cast.

On the way home, the two older boys asked Victor "Is Mohammad going to live?" "Is it because because you prayed?" Victor told him "Yes, it is because I prayed and asked Jesus to let Mohammad live."

We don't preach to the kids, but we are always honest with our answers to their questions.

I'm thankful that because of my neighbors presence, we don't have many strangers that walk down our street. I think that they see so many Muslim men, it kind of stops a lot of nonsense that could potentially happen.

The young boys in our neighborhood are such hard workers. Their parents have given them such a great work ethic. (Immigrants are inspiring-living the American Dream) Whenever people are doing yard work or painting or, even, delivery guys that are bringing someone a new refrigerator--they want to help. A few weeks ago two of the very young ones, 3 years old or so, came to our door and knocked. Victor answered the door and the two boys giggled and asked if he had any work for them. Victor chuckled and told them "No, I don't have any work for you kids." They kept giggling and ran off back home.

Katie is a young mom who has 3 kids and one on the way. She said that before she and her husband moved in, they didn't have interactions with so many different kinds of people. She mentioned that when her kids say something about the 'Pakistani kids' she has made it a rule that her kids mention them by name. It certainly made me stop in my tracks. I have to say that there are so many 'Pakistanis' that I don't know every ones name and I've been too lazy to learn them! Shame on me!

I've been overwhelmed with the neat things God has done on our street. He has been reminding me of so much. Too much to put down tonight. I feel so petty and small-minded with what I wrote in my previous post. Yet I'm glad I put it down so I could see my own foolishness. Wow, I wasted precious 'thinking time' on such dumb stuff!

Well, I can learn and I'm grateful that God hasn't given up on me. I want to get better and better. Those rough edges can get smooth if I surrender. Sometimes I am a crusty one...

Thank You God for 'moving the furniture' of my heart.

Why Can't I Just Love People?

Our family moved to this house in August of 1996. We had just gotten back from a tour of Israel. While there we'd see different sites and many times our guide would say something like "This place is sacred to the Jews, but they can't go there now because the Muslims have put a mosque on it." or "This site is holy to Christians, but the Muslims have put a graveyard on it so you can't go there." It left me wondering 'who are these Muslim people?'

The first day we move in we see, you guessed it, Muslim people in our neighborhood! Right next door too. One of the men says "Aren't you Victor?" He had met Victor at Lou Anne's house. They are her neighbors and she has been phenomenal at reaching out to this family over the years.

I've had sort of a rocky relationship with our neighbors. I tell you it has been tough sometimes. The first thing was they brought over some food and we thanked them. I reciprocated with an apple crisp. When I dropped it off the husband kept asking me what was in it. I told him everything and wondered what was going on. Later I learned that they can't have anything with vanilla extract because it has alcohol in it and they aren't allowed alcohol.

It didn't take a genius to figure out that they probably threw it away. I was bummed.

There have been a lot of misunderstandings over the years:
*The staring. Yes, there is lots of staring that I find so uncomfortable-even when I'm in my own backyard.
*Kids playing in the street. Even the tiniest are right out in the street without parents in sight.
*Putting their leaf pile in front of our house. I truly find that odd. (and rude)
*When I would take some of the women to appts. they wouldn't knock on my door. They would always call and go out to my car. Never at my doorstep. It definitely made me feel like they thought we were 'unclean'.
*Sometimes the boys won't talk to me. I find out later it is because I am a woman. Yet they sure will come over and play movies in our teen center.

You get the picture. God has tested my heart many times and I fail most of the time with these neighbors. It seems like it is a little better though. The mood is shifting.

I was thinking of Paul the Apostle and how he was designated to preach to the Gentiles. Man! He must have run into all kinds of cats with every kind of belief. Yet he loved those people. It wasn't any kind of big deal to him. He moved throughout the ancient world and served God wholeheartedly in the midst of all kinds of gods, ethnicities, living conditions, violence, imprisonment, brutality--I get convicted just thinking about it.

Well, I will ask, like Paul, and say "Remember me when you pray."

Sterling's Party Rules

So, we had a Halloween party last night. Whew! It was fun and my daughter and her good friends did a great job setting it up. We had nachos and chili dogs along with all kinds of candy and goodies.

I had a parent call and ask if there was going to be an adult overseeing the party. She was also wondering if there was going to be alcohol served. No, there were no drinks or drugs! There were 3 or 4 couples that were really wanting to makeout though...We all had to tell them that we want everyone to have a good time, but we weren't going to have any of that this evening. It is sad to realize that these young ones are having sex. Ugh. It is hard to think of your future when you are that young and that the decisions you make now may follow you for the rest of your life.

The music was loud and the dancing was great. There are some talented kids. I put together a food relay race that was a hit. What I do is wrap up various foods in tin foil and the teams send up one member to unwrap and eat the food and then on down the line. We did the boy against the girls and the boys won :D

I have to thank Victor who stayed in practically the whole evening. He is really good with young ones and a good watcher. Since we had everyone from 'soup to nuts', and that is right up his alley, I thank God for him!

Here are Sterlings Rules for the Halloween Party:(yes, she sent these out to all her invitees)

1) No one dies

2)No one gets pregnant

3)No drugs or alcohol

Yep, good times in the 'hood.

Feast of Tabernacles San Antonio, TX

This is part of my beautiful family. We are waiting for the Night to Honor Israel to start at Cornerstone Church in San Antonio.

What a time we had. This is the first time we took Simon and Sterling. It was fun introducing them to everyone. We have such great friends that work with Christians United for Israel. Many of them also travel and to get us all together is a feat to be sure!

On this NTHI Elie Weisel was the keynote speaker. He is a great voice speaking out against hatred and racism. I don't have his quote exactly right, but he said "Racism is about humiliation. I stand against humiliation no matter who is about." I am so glad I got to hear him. I've never heard a Nobel Peace Prize winner before.

CUFI gave away 9 million dollars to various Israeli charities that night. We gave $500k to Elie's foundation. His foundation had invested all of their money with Madoff and it all was lost...

During this celebration there are rides, booths, food, music and fireworks. It is a great time for the San Antonio community. Every year we HAVE to eat a big 'ol smoked turkey leg-mmmm. The meat is so tender and delish :D

Well, I came home with a cold. It isn't that bad, but my thinking is disjointed and fuzzy.

A Pleasant Enough Day, Until...

Well, here I am riding my very nice cruiser bike on a beautiful Autumn day. I like to ride through the Fab 40's neighborhood and, right now, it is especially nice with all of the leaves changing.

As I head back home I take 39th St. to get back into my neighborhood. I pass the light rail station and go through the tunnel. Up ahead a man is walking toward me on the sidewalk. He steps from the walkway into the street and into my pathway. He doesn't look at me. He is looking at the houses across the street. As I approach, I notice that he is reaching into his pocket and he takes out a knife. He unfolds it and it turns out to be a serrated hunting knife. I suddenly have the thought that this man is going to take a swipe at me as I ride by!

It all happens in seconds. I speed up and go around the guy, leaving as much room as I can. He never takes a swipe, but as I get a few yards a way, I turn around and he is looking right at me.

When I get home I call the police. I give them a description and my number. I decide that since I need to walk my dog later and this is the route I take, I should try to find this guy and tell the police where he is. I am going to jump into my car and take a look myself.

As I am heading out, I get a call from the police. They say they have picked up a suspect and want me to ID him. I go to where they have detained the guy-yep, it is him. Then they show me the knife-yep, it is the weapon. I get a feeling that the man is a parolee and no stranger to the police.

Well, I am glad that no harm came to me or anyone else. I had to tell Victor who is out of town right now and he was NOT happy. He called a bunch of people so that they would check on me and had a nice visit with Aladrian. Everything is good. I don't feel fearful or anything like that. I actually walked Bradley and all was well.

I know that God is watching over me and feel great confidence in that knowledge. I do feel that these things happen because the spirits know that we stand with Israel and her people. It is a battle in the heavens. Nothing can touch one of His own without His explicit permission.
I have a hope and a future.

Btw, the man was a white male 5'10", balding with sparse dark, close-cropped hair. Slim, muscular build. He had a black, flame tattoo on his shoulder.

Blessed are the Peacemakers

I like Victor's new job. Sometimes I get to go with him on his travels. This weekend was a trip to Arvada, CO to visit Faith Bible Chapel. We've known George and Cheryl Morrison for a few years now through CUFI. They are wonderful pastors and have a huge church of over 6,000. Victor spoke at their new church plant pasored by Gary and Joanna Beasley.

There were two services there and it was their first Israel Awareness day as a new church. Later in the evening was the Night to Honor Israel at the big church. We enjoyed getting to know the Beasley's and found we knew a few people in common. They used to live in S Lake Tahoe.

The two sevices were great and Victor sold a case of books. One of the Morrison's daughter's friends said she finally 'got it' in understandng Israel after Victor's message that morning. Good stuff.

The third service was held at the big church and was their spanish speaking service. Adan and Marta Aguirre pastor that one. Victor used a translator and the message was overwhelmingly received. I don't know what it is, but in the Spanish churches have such an affinity for Israel. It is always so encouraging! The church has people from 24 countries represented. Adan said that there are language differences and even some offensive words depending on where you are from, yet the people realize that they have to go with it because they are in America and the differing words from the many countries represented are not all bad in this new context.

Pastor Hagee was the keynote speaker for the NTHI. Before the evening began, I got to tell him 'Thank you for hiring Victor!" He gave me a hug and said that it was the best decision they've made-I love it!

Things have been great since Victor has become the East Coast Director for Christians United for Israel. There are many talented and amazing state and city directors working all along in that part of our nation. I'm proud that he is smoothing things over for some folks where there have been some 'iron sharpening iron' moments. There is room in this great field of work and cooperation and understanding will go a long way. It is exciting to imagine what is up ahead. Can't wait to see :D

I Love These Connections

Being a woman of faith, I love to see the many puzzle pieces of life come together in amazing ways. It happens all of the time and, I'm sure that I only see a very little of it.

While in Iowa at the Night to Honor Israel, there was a woman speaker from Israel who represented Israel's welcoming department for Ethiopian Jews who make 'aliyah'. The woman, Shirah, explained how they help the newcomers acclimate to their new life. After all, they come from a land that is centuries behind Israel and the learning curve is HUGE. (I'm always intrigued by these stories and amazed at the Hand of God and His promise of gathering His own from the North, South, East and West)

The next day at the airport heading back to Sacramento, we saw Shirah again. She was kind of impressed that I remembered her name because we actually hadn't met the night before. I just remembered her name from the introduction to her speech.

We got to talking and I told her that a year and a half before, me and Victor had been invited to a home gathering of Kennesset members who were visiting California. They had been all over and even got to meet the Governor. At this meeting, a man named Shlomo Mullah spoke of how he walked from Ethiopia to Israel with his friends when they were 15 yrs old. It was quite a hair-raising expedition, as you can imagine. Well, Shirah says "Shlomo is one of my very best friends!" It was soo cool! I love that. Right then we connected and it was such a neat moment. I want to say 'small world', but I know that it really is a BIG world.

As I think of the meeting with Shlomo, I remember the question I asked him after he spoke. I said "When you came to Israel and the rabbis from your village in Ethiopia came to Israel--And your rabbis met the Israeli rabbis, did they find any differences in their faith or practices?" He looked at me and said "Well, no. Everything was the same except we didn't know about Purim (because they were exiled by Babylon before Esther's story) and we sacrifice a lamb during Passover."

To me this is so significant in the mending of fences between Christians and Jews. We Christians owe such a debt to the People of God! If they hadn't faithfully protected the Word, We'd still be under the tyrany of all kinds of crazy beliefs. I, myself, would be soo miserable. They gave me my precious Messiah-thank you!!