Annapolis Peace Conference

“Salaam” is a common greeting in many Arabic-speaking and Muslim countries. “Shalom” is the salutation used by Jews at meeting and parting. Both terms mean “peace.” Yet there seems to be a lack of peace here in the Middle East. Maybe they should all adopt the English “greetings,” “what’s up?” or simply the head nod instead.


A Middle East Peace conference is to be held on Tuesday, November 27, 2007 in Annapolis, MD. The primary purpose of the conference is surrounding the Israeli-Palestinian conflict that has been going on for many, many years. It wasn’t until I moved to Jerusalem and have taken classes that have dealt a little with this issue that I realize how deep and complex the whole issue is. The U.S. Government has been working hard in preparation for this conference and Condoleezza Rice seems to have been here about every other week as we have seen her ride by in her caravan while we were walking to Hebrew class a few times this fall. May God bless the governments’ efforts.

I have taken some time to look at the Scriptures to see what God says about peace. The English word “peace” is found 250 times in the Bible such as when the Apostle Peter said in Acts 10:36, “You know the message God sent to the people of Israel, telling the good news of peace through Jesus Christ, who is Lord of all.” But I also found it interesting that many times the term “peace” was used in the New Testament, it was coupled with the word “grace,” (found 123 times in the NT). In fact EVERY single one of Paul’s letters starts out with “Grace and peace to you from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ.” Some have said this was simply a cultural greeting in a letter, but all of his letters are packed with themes of grace and peace and he even closes each letter (including the short 25 verse letter to Philemon) with something like “The grace of the Lord Jesus be with you.” The much-needed message of the Gospel of Jesus is grace and peace.

Grace and peace.

Which is really interesting to me when I think about the little that I know about the current conflict between these two people groups in Israel. Both people groups have had horrible things done to them in the past, both by others and by each other. Both people groups seem to be hanging on to those things. No grace for past hurts, no peace in the present.
I am asking you, friends, family, brothers and sisters worldwide, to please join us in prayer for this conference. Pray for the leaders from 40 different countries who have been invited to the meeting in Annapolis. Pray for wisdom in complicated decisions. Pray for grace to be known, given and received. And may Messiah Jesus bring His peace to the Middle East...and to the ends of the earth. “For He Himself is our peace, who has made the two one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility (Eph 2:14).

Shalom. Salaam. Peace.

Quake

Well it’s been another great, yet busy week. We just completed our last week of classes at JUC for the semester. Last night Stacie and I had just gone to bed. It was the quiet, still, take a deep breath, restful silence. Friday night, we were quite tired, and ready for some Shabbat Shalom. Shortly after getting settled in, Stacie initially thought I began shaking the bed with my feet or something, but I told her I wasn’t doing anything and in fact it wasn’t just the bed that was shaking. It was a deep, eerie, rumbling of the entire house for about five seconds. Earthquake.
When we woke up in the morning we read that the quake measured at 4.2 on the Richter scale, and its epicenter was located in central Israel. Nobody was hurt, no damage done, just another interesting experience here in the land of Israel.

Thankful.

Thanksgiving Day is again upon us.
A day often spent overeating turkey and a smorgasbord of deserts, watching the Lions game, and spending time with family. This year things are different for us. Our school, JUC, will be hosting a big Thanksgiving dinner so we can still gorge ourselves with turkey and Stacie is currently making one of the deserts for the feast, but it is quite difficult to find a place to watch American Football around here. Go Lions anyway, I guess. Family? We love family, but they are not here today either. However, life is good and I’m thankful to God for many, many things. Here’s a short list (in no particular order) of things I’m thankful for today.

I am thankful for eyes to see the colors in the rainbow from our rooftop this morning.

I am thankful for taste buds, the Thanksgiving feast tomorrow will be fantastic.

I am thankful for legs to walk, even though it was cold and raining this morning.

I am thankful for a house, a bed, and a hot shower with a push of a button.

I am thankful for Stacie. She loves me well.

I am thankful for family; it is always fun talking with and seeing you all (via webcam for now).

I am thankful for an abundance of friends back home who have journeyed with me and taught me so much along the way.

I am thankful for leaders in the Church and other Christian ministries. Your work is not in vain.

I am thankful for you, the person reading this, chances are God has used you somewhere along in my journey through life.

I am thankful for the people who continue to pray for us, encourage us, financially support us and believe in who we are and what we are doing.

I am thankful for books to read, papers to write, and the ability to think, study and memorize.

I am thankful to be living in Jerusalem, “the city of the Great King” (Matt 5:35).

I am thankful for this King. The One who died here, in this city, two thousand years ago. For me. For you. For friends. For enemies. For the world.



Indeed, we should be thankful.

Happy Thanksgiving.

Litter. Trash. Broken glass.

I love living in Israel. But the “Holy Land” is not exactly “holy.” In fact there are a number of things here that we find challenging, annoying, frustrating or just really sad. There are numerous things that are “broken” in this place. Here are a couple examples:

1. The constant, unnecessary honking of car horns. In Israel, the traffic lights turn yellow before turning red AND before they turn green. So, if the first car in line isn’t going by the time the light shines green, a car ten cars back will start laying on the horn telling everyone to go. Is this a drag race? Do we really need to be in that big of hurry all the time? Also, many times the “honking” is a far cry from a “love tap.” “Why is there so much aggression in the way you are honking your horn sir?” Especially as a frequent pedestrian, the constant, extra, “unnecessary” noise can be quite rattling at times.

2. In America, the customer is always right. Do whatever you can to keep him or her happy, right? Here? Not the case. If the person behind the counter is having a bad day, you’ll know it. In fact, it seems as though that’s often the case. Last week we had to pick up our student visas. Let’s just say she wasn’t extremely kind, patient or helpful. It often seems like the people here are pushy and rude. (Often, not always, we’ve met REALLY GREAT people here). Is it just the culture? How does a kind, quiet, selfless person survive here? How much of this “in your face” culture should we adapt in order to be heard or respected? How much should we push in order to get on the bus, or buy bread at the shuk (market)? After all, there are no lines here in Israel. What does Jesus think about all this?

3. Litter. Trash. Broken glass. Everywhere. Do people care? Isn’t this the “Holy Land?” Isn’t this the land God commanded His people to take care of? Isn’t this the land people are constantly fighting over because they want it so badly? This too, drives me crazy. Especially the broken glass. There are glass shards on the streets, sidewalks, in the parks and in the Sea of Galilee. While walking, if a small stone gets caught in my Chacos, I need to stop right away and make sure it’s not a broken Coca-Cola or Heineken bottle getting embedded into my foot. Why are they still putting things in glass bottles in this country anyway? Haven’t they learned? Does anybody else care, or even ask these questions?



For many months now I have done my share of grumbling about all of them, along with others unlisted here. I’ve tried to understand the logic or culture behind some of these. I even asked Ishmael, our Arab taxi driver about “why all the horn honking?” All have led to nowhere. No solutions. No changes.

It seems as though many of us do similar things. Complain about the way certain things are in the world. Then go and do nothing about it. Whine some more. Do less. Does my verbal criticism change anything? Does it even make me feel better? Is it just nice and to my credit that I can see the things that are not as they “should” be?

I had been feeling convicted about my attitude lately and have tried really hard to not be negative and also have been challenged by figuring out what I can do to make it better. To make a difference. Change. Not simply complain to my wife, or the locals, or the sidewalk about it. A few weeks ago Stacie and I began going to a new church here in Jerusalem, and we have really been enjoying it. The first week there, they were kicking off a new “campaign” to clean up the streets in Jerusalem. Serving God. Serving the community. As we pick up the trash and broken glass of the streets, maybe God will clean them up spiritually.

So this past Friday, our friend Mark, Stacie and I joined a group of people from the church for a couple hours.

Strapped on some latex gloves.

Filled some plastic bags.

Received a free t-shirt.

And we picked up some litter, trash and broken glass.

The t-shirt is fun, but it wasn’t about a free t-shirt. It felt good picking up broken glass.

As it should.