The hand of the LORD was upon me, and the LORD carried me out in a spirit, and set me down in the midst of the valley, and it was full of bones; and He caused me to pass by them round about, and, behold, there were very many in the open valley; and, lo, they were very dry. And He said unto me: 'Son of man, can these bones live?' And I answered: 'O Lord GOD, Thou knowest.' Then He said unto me: 'Prophesy over these bones, and say unto them: O ye dry bones, hear the word of the LORD: Thus saith the Lord GOD unto these bones: Behold, I will cause breath to enter into you, and ye shall live. And I will lay sinews upon you, and will bring up flesh upon you, and cover you with skin, and put breath in you, and ye shall live; and ye shall know that I am the LORD.' So I prophesied as I was commanded; and as I prophesied, there was a noise, and behold a commotion, and the bones came together, bone to its bone. And I beheld, and, lo, there were sinews upon them, and flesh came up, and skin covered them above; but there was no breath in them. Then said He unto me: 'Prophesy unto the breath, prophesy, son of man, and say to the breath: Thus saith the Lord GOD: Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe upon these slain, that they may live.' So I prophesied as He commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they lived, and stood up upon their feet, an exceeding great host. - Ezekiel 37:1-10
As of this writing, Tuesday February 16, the Israeli weather service is predicting heavy snow for the Jerusalem area, beginning Wednesday night. The city is gearing up for power outages and road closures. The last time it snowed in Israel was 7 years ago, and Har Adar, our village was stuck on top of our mountain for almost a week. Like many southern cities in the U.S., we do not have the required equipment to clear the roads. Our weather bureau is notorious for reports and predictions that are not quite accurate, so maybe we will catch a break, and their forecast will fall short of expectations.
On the brighter side, just yesterday, the Knesset, Israel’s governing body, has announced a lifting of the month long draconian lockdown, beginning on Sunday the 21st. Stores and restaurants will open to the public, but only those who have been vaccinated can participate in health clubs, gyms, swimming pools, activities where many people participate in together. Of course, that’s assuming we can dig out from the expected snow storm!
The Mystery Of the Flying Kippah
We were allowed to travel beyond 1,000 meters if you are purchasing food or pharmacy type products. We used that as an excuse to go downtown last week to pick some vitamins that we had run out of.
We decided to get a little extra exercise, and walked down to the Old City from the center of town. Realizing that virtually everything was closed, we turned around and headed back to catch the Light Rail for our return home. The wind was beginning to pick up,and we were on Jaffa Road, and about 10 feet in front of us was a gentlemen who’s kippah had just blown off his head, and landed at my feet. The “kippah” is the head covering worn by “observant” or “orthodox” men. It’s derived from Yom Kippur, or Day of Atonement. It is their “covering” or “atonement” from God. You might know it also as a Yarmekah, which is actually the Yiddish word for kippah.
So, in my best Hebrew, I yelled “adonee, adonee!” (Sir, Sir), holding up his kippah for him to retrieve.
I want to stop here for a moment, and confess that Bess and I have been quite down, not depressed, just down, with the inactivity and inability to do what he has called us to do here in Israel because of the current circumstances.
You might be wondering why I highlighted several words in the famous portion of scripture from the prophet Ezekiel. In those 10 verses, I’ve highlighted 9 times where he uses the Hebrew word “Ruach”.
“Ruach” in Hebrew, is translated as Spirit, Breath, and Wind…it’s the same word.
Whether it was the wind, the Spirit of God, or the very Breath of God, the Lord removed his kippah and practically put it in my hands. That divine appointment led to an in depth one hour conversation. We discussed many prophesies from the Tenach, the Old Testament. He called me yesterday wanted to get together and continue the conversation. That encounter was not just for Israel (that’s his name- please pray for him, pictured below) It was just as important, maybe more so, for Bess and myself. We want to encourage you, as God has encouraged us.
He knows what we are going through, and if we are faithful to him, he will be faithful to us. Stay the course, pray without ceasing, be about our fathers business. These are the last days, time is short, the best is yet to come.
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Blessings From Jerusalem
Larry & Bess
