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ISRAEL-LITES:

HOW GOD TURNED ON OUR LIGHTS FOR ISRAEL

 

 

By

 

Jim Gerrish

 

 

Bible Versions Used

ASV  American Standard Version
NAS  New American Standard Version
NIV  New International Version
NKJ  New King James Version

 

Light of Israel Publications
Colorado Springs, CO
wordofgodtoday.com

Copyright 2024

 

 

 

 

ISRAEL-LITES:

HOW GOD TURNED ON OUR LIGHTS FOR ISRAEL

 

I was born on October 9, 1935, toward the end of the Great Depression. I came into the world in Phoenix, Arizona. In those days people moved all over the country trying to find work and my dad had done that very thing. Unlike many, he found a good job and with that temporarily forsook the family home in Arkansas. My mother-to-be soon joined him in Arizona. After I was born, and the depression subsided somewhat, my dad and mom returned to Northeast Arkansas and to the extended family.

My dad was a small dirt farmer raising cotton and soybeans, just a couple of miles below the Missouri state line. As we grew older, my sister Jane and I began to help some in farming. So, really, we grew up as poor cotton pickers. Of course, there was a lot more work on the farm, like feeding the pigs, milking cows, clearing fence rows and making all kinds of repairs. It seemed like the farm work never ended, except when the weather was uncooperative. At those times in the summer, we could go fishing or swimming in the nearby beautiful Current River. In the winter we could hunt ducks that were abundant in the flood waters.

It was at the little schoolhouse across the street that my first knowledge of Jesus was acquired. In those days there were great revival meetings held in brush arbors. Posts were sunk into the ground, a framework was made at the top and tree limbs were cut and placed overhead as a shade. This structure was attached to one end of the schoolhouse for support. It much resembled the tabernacles of ancient Israel. Later in the Success Baptist Church our whole family made a commitment to Jesus.

For our schooling, my sis and I walked across the road to that small country school where one teacher often taught eight grades. Few teachers had a college education in those days. I remember one teacher who taught us that the earth was flat. We had a lot to overcome in our educational background. My sister Jane did overcome and eventually became a highly awarded math teacher in St. Louis.

After the seventh grade we went to school in the nearest town, Success, Arkansas. Unfortunately, Success had become a failure, and the town was folding up with scarcely 200-300 residents. For high school we were bussed to Corning, a larger town about 13 miles away.

In those days few people in the country went to college. However, my dad had gone to school in California, which had great schools in those days, and he had gained a respect for education. He insisted that we attend college. When college time came the little farm was mortgaged and my sis and I enrolled at Ouachita Baptist College in southern Arkansas.

COLLEGE, MARRIAGE, THE ARMY AND SEMINARY

In my junior year of college, the Lord sent me the precious young lady Betsy, whom I was to marry before my senior year. She would be my faithful companion for all of life’s adventures ahead. I was also in the Reserve Officers Training Corps (ROTC) military program and after graduation was assigned to an army missile base in Connecticut. There I gained the rank of first lieutenant.

When the army stint was over, I felt the Lord wanted me in the ministry.  I had already done some ministry work while in the Army. To pursue that course my wife and I moved to Louisville, Kentucky and Southern Baptist Theological Seminary where I finished my Master’s of Divinity degree and also pastored two small churches during the time, at Colesburg and at Frankfort Kentucky.

THE PASTORATE AND THE SPIRITUAL CRISIS

My wife and I loved many things about the pastorate. We soon felt called to the western US and moved to Denver, Colorado, where we pastored another small church. Afterward, we ended up pastoring on the

Western Slope of the state at Craig, Colorado. It was there that we experienced our “wilderness” or spiritual crisis.  Over the years of pastoring, we began to feel a deep dissatisfaction with the denominational system. It seemed that many of the things we did came from custom and not from the Bible. Both of us just wanted to follow the Lord Jesus without all the traditions of men. It was also a time of the pouring out of the Holy Spirit and we wanted that as well. Such a thing was not accepted in our denomination.

We came to a theological crisis in 1967 and resigned our pastorate. With very little money and in the midst of a snowstorm, we crossed over the Rocky Mountains with our loaded U-Haul and headed back to Denver. Our situation seemed chancy and even perilous but the two of us were never happier and more excited in our married lives. How would we survive and feed our three small children? We were depending wholly upon God to care for us and to direct us. By this time we had even gained another child. Beverly Barnwell, a former Denver church member, had attached herself to us and we had attached to her. She was like an additional child. She eventually married Dan McGraw and they would follow us from Colorado to Arkansas. We would always keep a close contact with Beverly and Dan.

At that time, we cared little about Israel but as we look back over the years, we feel that Israel was involved in our crisis. In 1967, Israel fought a miraculous war in which she gained control of Judea, Samaria, the Golan Heights and the blessed city of Jerusalem. It was an earth-shaking spiritual and natural event and that shaking affected us.

We needed our spiritual gyros to settle down a bit and we sorely needed the Lord’s specific direction for our lives. During this time and afterward we held to Psalm 25:4-5: “Show me Your ways, O LORD; Teach me Your paths. Lead me in Your truth and teach me, For You are the God of my salvation; On You I wait all the day” (NKJ).

For several years I did secular sales work and we ministered to home groups in Colorado and then finally back in Arkansas. The time was very precious spiritually as we rejoiced in the Holy Spirit’s filling. We also enjoyed teaching and being with small Christian groups. However, we secretly knew that we could not be satisfied just doing secular work.

THE SPIRITUAL OUTPOURING

The 1960s and 1970s were a time of spiritual outpouring all over the world. Many people were receiving the Holy Spirit’s filling, with spiritual  gifts and the singing of spiritual songs, many of them from the scripture. That went on for several years as we worked and ministered in Arkansas. Later, a group in Texas had us fly down and teach scripture songs to them. When that meeting ended, we were waiting idly in the airport for our return flight. Suddenly, the Lord spoke something personal in my inmost being. It was so plain that it might as well have been spoken out loud. The essence of what he said was that we had to become like Jews.

When we got home, my wife started cooking Jewish recipes while I started studying about Jews and Israel. I got my old Hebrew book out from seminary and started again with aleph, bet, gimel and so forth. From that day, we never stopped learning about Jews and Israel. We realized that God did not want us to convert to Judaism, but he wanted us to gain a Jewish heart. He wanted to set our hearts on a pilgrimage to Zion (Psa. 84:5).

OUR DIRECTION BACK TO DENVER AND TO THE JEWS

While in Arkansas, I worked with my parents, who had left farming for the insurance business. I also had a real estate business that was fairly successful. However, in the later part of the 70s, we began to feel a very strong pull back to Denver. In spite of the fact that we  had a wonderful home fellowship group, we were getting miserable once more in our spirits.

Finally, I made a vow to the Lord that the new year of 1977 would not find me in Arkansas. My wife had a teaching contract and refused to break it. Our house was miraculously sold, while she and the kids moved into a rental. In the midst of brutal winter weather, I kept my vow and spent New Years Day driving on the way back to Denver.

Since I had kept my Colorado real estate license active, I was able to go to work immediately as a salesman. My wife and children would remain in Arkansas until the end of the school year. We had moved from Denver at the beginning of a deep financial recession and I moved back at the beginning of a strong real estate boom. God would use that business to prepare us for the journey to Zion.

The Lord blessed me in what is generally a difficult business to get started. At the end of the school year our family was reunited in Denver and we were soon able to purchase a nice home. In time we realized what the move was all about. We connected with Eliezer Urbach, a messianic Jew who had survived the Holocaust.

Eliezer led a rather large home fellowship group and we began to seriously learn about the Jews firsthand. We had Shabbat (Sabbath) meals together on Friday nights with lots of teaching and we began to seriously study Hebrew with Eliezer. It was a very special time of growing and stretching. We also developed a close relationship with a  young Jewish woman named Tovah Weinstein. Eventually she moved to Israel and had a family there. In later years we would continue our friendship in the land.

GOD IS ABLE

One night a couple at the meeting whom we scarcely knew told us that they were making a trip to Israel and the Lord had instructed them to take us along. They were Bill and Gloria Brereton, and they soon became close friends.

We were in an immediate panic at their offer because they were scheduled to leave in about three weeks, and we did not have passports. To make matters worse, my wife could not find her birth certificate. Through a relative in Arkansas, she made an effort to get another one.

We soon got a notice in our mailbox informing us that the birth certificate process would take several weeks. However, in the same mailbox that day was another letter with the new birth certificate enclosed. It was a miracle. We rushed to fill out the necessary papers which had to be mailed to the US Passport Office on the East Coast. It was a slim and even impossible hope. We mailed the request on the weekend and were absolutely amazed to receive our passports the next week. Impossible you say? We began to learn that God really loves Israel and when the God of Israel wants something done, heaven and earth will have to move to do it.

UP TO ZION

Neither we nor the other couple had ever been to Israel, but we were about to be on our way. We managed to have a friend live with our young children for the next three weeks and off we went.

When I left the Arkansas farm, I decided I would do whatever was necessary to stay far away from the cotton patch. How surprised I was when we landed at Ben Gurion Airport in Israel. There was a large cotton patch all along the runway. God surely has a sense of humor!

We were supposed to be greeted at the airport, but our host failed to show up. Fortunately, we had been wise enough to make reservations in advance at a beautiful Christian guest house on top of Mt. Carmel. This facility was quite a distance away. We boarded a taxi bound for the Haifa area and began to enjoy the beautiful orange groves and other scenery on our way up the coast. Soon we realized that the Israel coastland was a crowded and busy place.

Our taxi driver had no idea how to get to our place of lodging. Along the way he shouted out to several folks. We recognized “Ey-phoh Stella Carmel?” He was asking where was the guesthouse of Stella Carmel, the place where we were to stay. We finally made it there.

ON MOUNT CARMEL IN ISRAEL

When we arrived at Stella Carmel we were amazed at the beauty all around us. This Christian hostel was founded by the Anglicans some years before. It sits on top of the Carmel ridge with a wonderful view of the Jezreel Valley. The valley is very rich in biblical history. From this viewpoint, one can make out Nazareth on the far hillside. Just a short distance down the ridge was the place where Elijah had his miraculous contest with the prophets of Baal. We were spellbound.

When we awoke the next morning, we realized that Shabbat (Sabbath) was coming on and we desperately needed to find a rental car so we could begin touring Israel. The rental cars were in Haifa some distance down the mountain.

We spent several hours stewing about the transportation problem. After some time, we relaxed and decided that we should just stop and celebrate our first sabbath in Israel. What a delightful sabbath it turned out to be as we strolled around the beautiful setting and feasted our eyes on our biblical heritage that stretched out all around us.

TOURING ISRAEL WITH BIBLE AND ROADMAP

When the sabbath ended we hitched a ride down the mountain to Haifa where we acquired our blessed rental car. At that time (1980) there were not so many road signs and it was necessary for us to recall our Bible knowledge as we journeyed around the land. For instance, we knew that Elijah ran on foot from Mt. Carmel to Jezreel, which was the capital city for King Ahab and wicked Queen Jezebel. We drove around looking for the place but were having some trouble until we spotted a collection of big painted rocks on the hillside. The rocks seemed to make up a word. We spelled out the Hebrew and discovered that it was saying Jezreel (Yizre’el in Hebrew since there is no “J” sound in the language). Then we spotted a cow barn and realized that a kibbutz or collective farm was now located on the site.

That is about the way we explored Israel. In the Jezreel Valley we got to visit the ancient site of Megiddo or the biblical Armageddon.

We visited Mt. Tabor where Deborah and Barak scored a great victory over the Canaanites. Nearby, Gideon also had a great victory over the Midianites. There was so much to see in the area that we decided to stay at Stella Carmel for a few days and make trips to much of the Galilee from that beautiful setting.

Driving around Israel is not an easy task for people who know only a little Hebrew. Once on the Mediterranean coast we were admiring the scenery when a military vehicle with several Israeli soldiers pulled up behind us. They began to shout commands in Hebrew. Since we didn’t understand, we all decided to surrender and raised our hands. They began laughing and one of them in English said, “Close the door!” They simply wanted to get around our car. We were relieved and a bit embarrassed that we didn’t catch the “delet,” which is the Hebrew for door.

We toured the beautiful Galilee area and then drove down the so-called West Bank, otherwise known as biblical Samaria. Because of wars and political wrangling that area has now become quite unsafe for tourists. We saw the ruins of ancient Shiloh where the Ark of the Covenant once rested. A new Israeli city is there now. We toured Shechem and the ancient Israelite capital of Samaria and then on to Jerusalem.

JERUSALEM

There is no joy quite like the joy of entering the ancient holy city of Jerusalem. We had some trouble getting around town though since it was dark when we arrived. On one occasion we discovered we were going in circles. However, our traveling companion Bill in the back seat kept saying to me, “You are doing great brother!” Jerusalem would become the hub for the rest of our travels. We went to the Dead Sea, Bethlehem, Hebron and many other spots.

Also, we got acquainted with many of the Jerusalem Christians. We realized in time that those associations became much more important to us than the biblical sites we were visiting. The Lord seems to have similar feelings. He says, “I say of the holy people who are in the land, ‘They are the noble ones in whom is all my delight’” (Psa. 16:3 NIV).

While we were in Jerusalem it was time for the biblical Feast of Tabernacles. There had been much political wrangling over Jerusalem. Because of it, most of the national embassies had left the city in protest and relocated to Tel Aviv. At that point, the Christians mobilized and established their own embassy in the city. It was called the International Christian Embassy Jerusalem (ICEJ). They decided to put on their own Feast of Tabernacles and invite Christians from all over the world to attend. We were able to be there for that first feast and their custom has continued to this day. It is often the largest tourist event in Israel. Much later, my dear wife Betsy would sing for several years in the Tabernacles choir.

Little did we know we were fulfilling prophecy. Zechariah says: “Then the survivors from all the nations that have attacked Jerusalem will go up year after year to worship the King, the LORD Almighty, and to celebrate the Festival of Tabernacles” (Zech. 14:16 NIV).

Of course, it would be possible to be in Jerusalem for many months and not even begin to see all the biblical sites. Our three weeks soon came to an end, and it was time to return to the US. The four of us agreed that Israel was a wonderful place to visit but we wouldn’t necessarily want to live there. Surprise, surprise, our traveling companions would move to Israel within a few months, and we would follow them in a couple of years.

BACK IN THE STATES

The Lord blessed our real estate business and we continued to enjoy fellowship at the messianic meetings. Our three children, Jon (age 20), Elizabeth (age 15) and Tim (age 13) were busy in their schools and work. However, in the midst of our normal lives there was a deepening interest in Israel. There was a longing in our hearts for Zion. After all, the Bible assures us in Romans 11:17-21 that we Christians are grafted into the ancient olive tree of Israel. We are therefore a part of the nation.

Finally, we could stand it no longer and we began to make plans to move our family to Israel. We knew we would have to sell our house, but it was not officially on the market. Then a friend of one of our friends learned about our desire to sell. He came and looked at the house and asked my wife to have me call. At that point I seemed to have gotten cold feet about selling and I didn’t call. He wanted to see the house again and called for an appointment. I assured my wife that she could handle it. Then she scolded me saying that if it was any other house, I would be there and make the transaction. I was sufficiently rebuked. 

Our Denver Home

The young man came, loved the house and bought it. He had exactly enough money to assume our VA loan and the house was quickly closed.  The man was so kind and said that we could live in the house until school was out. He even offered our oldest son free rent to stay there since he was not planning to accompany us to Israel. He would come later and stay longer, eventually making Israel his permanent home. The Lord made it very plain that he was taking care of all the details. I said, “OK Lord.”

Because of a booming real estate market, we now had the necessary funds to make our move. Soon we had tickets in hand. After selling some of our articles and furniture we loaded the remaining household items and transported them back to the Arkansas/Missouri area for storage mostly with my sister. The two younger children seemed happy though they had to leave their friends and schools. They would eventually have to give away their beloved cockapoo to friends. We let other friends keep our car and use it. We were soon on our way.

UP TO ZION ONCE AGAIN

I have often wondered what our two youngest children thought as we arrived with our many suitcases and walked down the Arab shuk or market in Old Jerusalem. As they looked around at that strange setting, they both must have thought, “Our parents have lost their minds!” The Arab shuk seems to take one back 500 years in time.

Fortunately, we soon climbed up to the very modern Jewish Quarter where Bill and Gloria were now living. It was an immediate change from bedlam to beautiful and quiet. It would be our new home for the next several months as we moved into the big house with our friends.

What is it like to uproot one’s family and move them to the other side of the world? The enormity of the move began to sink in on me that night. I was not really the man of faith and power that one would suspect. In fact, the devil began to jump up and down on my head in the night. He was saying things like “What a fool you are. You have brought your family over to this dangerous place and they will all be killed.” About that time there was a terrible explosion outside. The sound reverberated through the otherwise quiet Jerusalem night. Our daughter came running and jumped into the bed with us. She was terrified, and I still do not know what our young son was thinking at the time.

There were no more explosions and we did not die. When we talked to our friends about it the next morning, they told us that it was only the Muslims shooting off their canon at the Ramadan Festival. This was done to wake up the Muslim community so they could eat before the fast would begin at sunrise. The devil was just telling us another one of his many big lies.

ADJUSTING TO JERUSALEM

Even by the next day, our children were busy exploring Jerusalem. They were learning how to count money and discovering where all the ancient gates were located. The big house where we now lived with Bill and Gloria was in itself a wonder.  From one of our mirpessets (porches) we could look down and see part of the Western Wall. It was a short walk down to join the Jews in prayer at night. Bet was happy doing the cooking and I was interested in learning the language as quickly as possible. Bill and Gloria were prayer warriors and considered themselves as “Watchmen on the wall” (Isa. 62:6-7). Sometime later, we discovered that an ancient buried wall of Jerusalem ran underneath the area where their house was located.

Soon I entered the ulpan or language school. These schools have 20-30 students from all over the world. In fact, when the classes began, people could scarcely talk to one another. However, in a month or so they began talking to each other in Hebrew.

When the first class started the teacher said, “Ani morah ve atem talmedim.” Translated, it meant “I am the teacher and you are the students.” I jokingly say that this is the last English you will hear for the next five months. The teaching is solely in Hebrew and it almost drives one crazy. It is based a lot on conversation and repetition, hoping that students will eventually remember the words. I kept hearing the Hebrew “art-sot ha-brit” until I was about to go mad. At long last, I discovered that it meant the United States or states of the covenant. When you hear a word so much, you will never forget what it means when you find out. That seems to be the basis of ulpan learning. In that ulpan I made some wonderful and lasting friends.

THE CHILDREN

It was very important for us to get our children into some kind of school. The Anglican School was available but quite expensive. At last, we settled on a new Christian English school that was held in the Jerusalem YMCA.

This was like the Jerusalem Community Center at the time. My wife started teaching there and I was even elected to the board of the school. Soon we discovered that it was not really Christian and we both resigned.

I then took our two children and enrolled them in a Hebrew ulpan that hosted Hebrew children from all over the world. Hebrew kids are rather wild. They regularly do things like talk back to the teacher and in one instance even setting the curtains on fire. I walked away that day thinking “What have I done by enrolling our kids in this chaotic place?” However, surprisingly, both children were soon speaking pretty good Hebrew. They had to do it for self-defense.

Israel is a great place for kids. It was not long until our son Tim and his friend were taking their small surfboards and riding the bus down to the Tel Aviv beach. That got to be a fairly regular occurrence. 

My daughter ended up with Jewish friends that she kept in touch with for years. There were some narrow escapes. One day Tim and Eleeza, as she began to be called, were exploring the Mount of Olives when an Arab young man on a donkey tried to kidnap her. Tim stood up bravely and they were both praying furiously, rebuking the devil. Somehow, they escaped. O thanks Dear Lord for your mercies!

In a few months our firstborn son Jon joined us. His proposed job offer on a nearby kibbutz did not work out and he began to live with us. By this time, we had rented our own place in the southern area of Jerusalem known as Talpiot. He soon became busy at work with a local tree nursery.

Much later he told us about one of his experiences. He delivered some trees to an Arab village on the so-called West Bank. Quickly he discovered that the Arabs were surrounding his truck with menacing looks on their faces. They were sure he was a Jew and they were going to make short work of him. At that point he thinks the Lord gave him some supernatural strength. He reached down and lifted two of the very heavy trees up at the same time with no effort, one in each hand. The Arabs quickly backed away and forsook their evil plans. Thank you Jesus and angels of heaven!

DOING OUR PART

Jerusalem provided some unusual experiences for me. I soon joined the mishmar ezrachi (civil guard) and went around looking for bombs in garbage cans. On one occasion it got a little out of hand and I was assigned to the border. There I was, looking for terrorists when I couldn’t speak their Arab language. I could barely even speak Hebrew. I felt a little uncomfortable for sure. Fortunately, that only happened once.

I had another interesting experience as I looked for books at a shop on King George Street downtown.

 Three Arabs stepped out on the street discharging automatic weapons and throwing hand grenades directly across the street from the store. Everyone hit the floor except me, and I could not resist peeking out the window. What I saw looked like a Western movie. Store owners with pistols were out shooting down the street at the terrorists. One terrorist was killed immediately and the other two were quickly captured. The terrorist was the only one killed but many innocent Jewish people were wounded.

We had some other challenges from time to time. Our youngest son was diabetic and one day he turned up with hepatitis. He was a very sick boy and our regular doctor refused to treat him. He insisted that he be hospitalized immediately. To admit him to the hospital was financially impossible for us since our insurance coverage was valid only in the US. I must admit that I was in a panic. My first response was to try and send my wife and sick son back to the US while our two other children and I would remain in Israel.  The family was in great turmoil since none of them wanted to leave Israel.

At this point, a loving church lady came to our rescue.  She knew a doctor who lived near us and that doctor agreed to attend to our son.  He gave him exactly the medicine he needed. In a few days, he was well. We learned through the situation that we really need the church and the church really needs us. We especially need the church when living in a foreign land.

At Christmas time we were blessed that our daughter got to sing in a Bethlehem Christmas choir. That event was televised all over the world. Our whole family got to spend some time in Bethlehem where Jesus was born.

All the years we spent in Israel were opportunities for my wife to cook for guests, particularly on the sabbath. I always tried to limit her to a maximum of 15 guests. Many were foreign volunteers who were more than happy to get a free meal.

On one of these later occasions when I was out, she went to purchase some hallah or sabbath bread. When she returned to the apartment, there was an awful odor. She immediately scrubbed down the house, particularly the kitchen and the pantry, but the smell persisted. When I arrived home, she was totally frustrated since we had many dinner guests coming that evening. I assured her that I would take care of the problem and I did another cleaning of everything.

The awful smell remained. It was getting late, and guests were soon to arrive. I slumped down bewildered on the couch, picked up my autoharp and began to sing a Hebrew song: “Ahavato g’dola, ki dam Yeshua nish-pach…” (His love is great because the blood of Yeshua is poured out). When I sang those words in Hebrew the smell immediately left.

I went into the kitchen and told my wife that we had been visited by a foul spirit. She got really mad and began to rebuke the devil, but he was already long gone. Shortly, our guests began to arrive for the wonderful smells of a home-cooked meal. That night we learned that there is power in the blood of Jesus. We began to understand why Pentecostals used to say, “Plead the blood brother!” “Plead the blood sister!”

Another very interesting thing happened to our family while in Israel. We had borrowed a van and had driven up to the Mount of Olives for a meeting. After the meeting ended, we returned to the city. As was customary, we gave a ride to some young men who were at the meeting. Little did we know or imagine that one of those young men, Tom, would some years later become the husband of our daughter. That’s what miracles look like!

RETURNING HOME

As our money began to run low, I started to think about returning to the US. The rest of the family had no such thoughts. We had been in Israel for two wonderful years. Israel was now home for them. Through much persistence I finally persuaded them to return home.

When we arrived in Corning at our parent’s house, the Johnsons, some friends from across the street, came running and all excited to see us. They informed us that he had just entered the ministry and they would be moving into the church parsonage. Then they told us some really good news. They were letting us move into their fully furnished house totally rent free as long as we needed it. That is what a miracle looks like.

However, coming to the US from Israel is a kind of reverse culture shock. Also, there were now the big obstacles in getting our daughter into college and finding some kind of work. The college problem was quickly solved. I took our daughter to Oral Roberts University in Tulsa, Oklahoma. We had little money but when the school discovered that she had been in foreign missions they gave her a free ride with several scholarships. In fact, I don’t remember paying anything. It was simply another miracle.

The job situation was not so easy. We were back in Corning where I had worked some years before in real estate and insurance with my folks.  My dad and mother were urging me to work there again. Frankly, I was considering that strongly and was about to make the decision. However, one night in church a very scared little lady came to me with a prophecy.

This is what the LORD says – your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel: “I am the LORD your God, who teaches you what is best for you, who directs you in the way you should go. If only you had paid attention to my commands, your peace would have been like a river, your well-being like the waves of the sea. Your descendants would have been like the sand, your children like its numberless grains; their name would never be blotted out nor destroyed from before me.”  Leave Babylon, flee from the Babylonians! Announce this with shouts of joy and proclaim it. Send it out to the ends of the earth; say, “The LORD has redeemed his servant Jacob” (Isa. 48:17-20 NIV).

With that prophecy we turned our hearts toward Israel and we never looked back to that job. Our Babylon was the natural world with all of its supposed security. Our job would be to publish good information about Israel all over the world. Later we would be able to do that fully with two Israel websites but now God had some other plans.

One night I was lying in the bed holding a book up and reading. In the book I ran on to the words Bridges For Peace, an Israel organization with which I was somewhat acquainted. Very plainly in my spirit the Lord said, “Why don’t you go help them?” I immediately said, “I will be glad to help them, Lord.” This was early in 1985.

MINISTRY IN TULSA

Bridges For Peace was a very small (and poor) organization that was founded in Israel by Dr. G. Douglas Young, a pastor and professor who had also founded the Institute of Holy Land Studies on Mt. Zion. Immediately we contacted the director, Clarence Wagner Jr., and asked if we could come.

So, we quickly moved from Corning over to Tulsa, Oklahoma, where their office was located. The director thought we were coming over for a visit, but we told him we were coming to stay. We were his new and badly needed volunteers. He was a little surprised but delighted.

Very quickly he put us both to work with all the mundane tasks of a Christian ministry. He also insisted, much to my objection, that I should sit down at the computer and begin writing. The Lord helped me in a mighty way, and I was soon producing many study articles. Before long we were able to increase Dr. Young’s little leaflet called the Dispatch From Jerusalem into a full-sized newspaper with all kinds of Israel information and articles. A former publisher came by to volunteer and help us put a half-page at a time on the Macintosh computer. This was a new procedure and it was certainly helpful to us.

Since we returned from Jerusalem, the Lord had kept mentioning the Hebrew word Ezra to me. Ezra means “help” in Hebrew. I sensed that God somehow wanted Christians to help Israel with material gifts and money. There was even a verse concerning that in Romans 15:27: “…For if the Gentiles have shared in the Jews’ spiritual blessings, they owe it to the Jews to share with them their material blessings” (NIV).

I spoke to the Director about this, and he was enthused. We decided to call the program “Operation Ezra,” and we began to talk and write about it. We also began to ship some donated items to Israel. It would be Operation Ezra that would eventually change everything for our small and struggling organization.

While in Tulsa our family received another word of prophecy. It happened in a meeting conducted by Dick Mills, a well-known traveling prophet. We were in a large meeting and seated about the middle of the congregation. Then Dick Mills asked our family to stand. He indicated that we would minister in Israel. Then he gave us this scripture: “Here am I, and the children the LORD has given me. We are signs and symbols in Israel from the LORD Almighty, who dwells on Mount Zion” (Isa. 8:18 NIV). It was an amazing prophecy considering that Mills knew nothing about us and we were scarcely known in the assembly.

In our time at Tulsa and with Bridges we met many wonderful volunteers from all over the country. We worked closely with bubbly Carol Jensen who became a long-term friend. Locally we conducted Chai Nights (Hebrew for life) with prayers for Israel, as well as doing lots of Passover Seders in different locations. We sponsored tours to Israel as well. We were busy but still broke.

ALBUQUERQUE

Albuquerque, NM (Wikimedia Commons)

After a couple of years, we were simply worn out. The struggles of keeping a broke organization in business were taking a toll on us. Finally, we had all we could take. We resigned and moved out to Albuquerque, New Mexico. We had always liked that city and we surely needed a break from the stresses and strains of ministry. So far as Bridges was concerned, we stayed in good contact and relations with them, but we just needed some distance. Albuquerque was great for our youngest son Tim. He worked at the ski lodge and got free skiing.

It was through Bridges and with the help of Clarence’s sister Ann Bein that we soon had a marriage in Tulsa. Tom, the young man we mentioned earlier, had ended up in medical school at Oral Roberts University. He managed to meet our daughter again at school and they fell in love. It was a great wedding in spite of our awful financial condition. It was cake and punch like they did in the olden days, but it was sweet.

Once again in Albuquerque, I tried to return to Babylon and sell real estate. My dear wife began to teach at the Christian school there. At Albuquerque, we made lots of wonderful Christian friends, many of whom would decide on their own to support us in our coming endeavors.

In Albuquerque, we became the poorest we had ever been in our whole married lives. We were almost destitute. Something was surely amiss. God wanted us in Israel. At that time my wife had a dream. She quite often had prophetic dreams, so this was not unusual for her. She dreamed of a little baby which no one wanted. The Lord told her he was giving us the baby. When she awoke, she kept wondering who the baby was and when she would get it.

Our oldest son Jon (now called Yoni) had remained in Israel and Clarence Wagner himself had returned to the country. As they were talking together Clarence asked Yoni to give me a message about Operation Ezra. It went something like this: “You birthed this baby so now get over here and raise it.”  Bet and I immediately knew who the baby was. It was Operation Ezra, and we were supposed to raise it.

It was now 1989 and we felt an urgency once more to return to Israel. Only this time we had no house to sell. In addition, we were poverty-stricken.  I struggled with these impossibilities and finally told my wife that we were moving to Israel anyway. She was delighted. I asked her what it would take to get us there and get settled. She quickly said five thousand dollars.

We began to make plans to go. My wife resigned from her teaching job and I closed down my very small real estate operation. Her principal gave her the remaining salary through the summer and with that, we were able to rent a U-Haul trailer. This time we didn’t have much to sell to get extra cash.

Always we have made it a practice never to tell anyone about our financial needs. We keep them between ourselves and God. Never have we requested ministry money for us from anyone. We have not even mentioned money for ourselves. But we sure needed God to come through. Very quickly our dear Albuquerque friends Lynn and Cecile Lantz informed us that they would buy our extra little car.

They did it and that obligation was off our hands. Lynn and Cecile became great supporters of our work over the years. However, we were still broke but on the way.

Just before we left the city our landlords, Rick and Karen, called and wanted to tell us goodbye. They came over and we had a sweet time together. They also left us a little card. When we opened it later, we found a check for five thousand dollars. That is what a miracle looks like.

Years later we were able to invite them to come and house-sit for us in Israel while we took a trip to the US. They happily accepted. I was thrilled to tell them that it would be at no rental cost to them.  In fact, they came to Israel twice to house-sit for us. In time, they discovered that he had a Jewish background. Eventually, he even became the Rabbi for the Albuquerque messianic assembly.

We met so many precious friends in Albuquerque. We can’t mention them all

but Randy and Lin became staunch helpers and supporters and have continued on to the present day.

 

 

 

BACK IN ISRAEL

We left Albuquerque with our packed trailer. Once again, we would leave our items with family. This time they were stored more permanently in my parent’s attic. It would be years before we would need them again. We had seen our daughter and new husband on the way in Kansas City and now we waved goodbye to our youngest son at the St. Louis airport.

Clarence had promised us an apartment in Jerusalem that was located in the Arab section near the Old City but we found out that the deal had fallen through. We were on our own for lodging and soon found an apartment in the same building where the Bridges office was located. The apartment where Dr. Douglas Young and his wife lived had now become the Bridges office. It was handy, and not far from downtown.

Bridges work began to go on with a fury. We found an old desk beside the road that was probably thrown away by some young person and we put that in the office for me to use. Somehow, we felt it was urgent that we get Bridges organized. Clarence and I worked every day organizing and dreaming up programs, especially ones for volunteers.

At that time, we had only one volunteer. Her name was Bonnie Plott and she worked at Hadassah Hospital as a nurse. We discovered that on the Sabbath she was almost managing a large section of the hospital. We had only one volunteer, but we just knew there would be more. At that time Bridges For Peace in Israel consisted of Clarence, myself and a secretary. We were all volunteers.

THE RUSSIANS ARE COMING

We soon learned why we all felt so much urgency and why we had been called back to Jerusalem. In the Fall of 1989, the Berlin Wall collapsed and the fall of Communism in the USSR began. Shortly after, there also began a return of former Soviet Jews from their many years of bondage and captivity.

Soon there were 30,000 or so each month returning to Israel. We felt that this was a great miracle and we began to publish information about the return.

They came from former Soviet countries with only one suitcase, so they arrived in Israel needing everything. We not only wanted to publish and tell the Christian world what was happening, we wanted to do something about it ourselves.

By this time, we had another volunteer who became quite handy with our work. Her name was Carolyn Bradley, and she was from Oklahoma City.

Since I was the Project Director for Operation Ezra, she began to be my assistant. Carolyn immediately made good friends with some of the new Russian immigrants living in her apartment building. That proved to be a door-opener for our work. One Russian friend, Bella, helped her gather names of the needy from her language school. She later helped in writing notes in Russian to be given out with our gifts. Actually, the Russians began to seek out Carolyn so that they could learn to speak a little English.

We pondered about what we could do to help these needy thousands. Finally, we decided to make up some welcome kitchen baskets. We took about a dozen plastic shopping bags and filled them with needed kitchen items. Carolyn even made some deals with Israeli merchants for the gifts we would hand out. We didn’t have much money and I distinctly remember borrowing ten dollars from the secretary to finish the baskets. With Carolyn’s great help, we got them all out to new immigrants that day.

When night came, Clarence and I met with an American tour group. They had heard and read about the Soviet immigration and wanted to help. The tour leader said that they had taken up an offering of around five hundred dollars for the project. That was more money than we had seen in quite a while, and we were delighted. The tour leader went on, “By the way, there was a man who couldn’t come, and he sent a check for ten thousand dollars.” That is what a miracle looks like. I kept a copy of that check for many years after that.

Almost instantly our projects and volunteer programs went into overdrive and money began to come from everywhere. Several nations began to be involved. Our organization was so poor that we didn’t even have a bank account. Actually, bank accounts were not easy to get for Christian organizations. Yet, I remember that we had a great pile of cash on the desk. We solved that problem by storing all the money in the furnace because it didn’t work. We hurried and opened up an account. It was not long until an American ministry learned about us and they sent a check for a hundred thousand dollars. God really loves his people and there is a blessing in blessing them. God told Father Abraham, “I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you” (Gen. 12:3 NIV).

OPERATION EZRA IN ACTION

Soon after, one of the ladies in our organization felt compelled to establish an American style food bank. Her idea was to gather food free or at discount prices and resale it to the needy at a bargain price for them. Clarence and I knew it wouldn’t work that way in Israel. In the US if a can of food is bent or mislabeled it might go to a food bank. In Israel it would go directly on the store shelf and people would take their chances.

Nevertheless, we liked the idea of mass-distributing food to all the needy immigrants. We had a meeting of our people, now probably a dozen or so, and we decided that all food would be distributed freely. Our people would collect unused food from kibbutzim and food factories. We would also glean in the fields of the kibbutzim and moshavim (cooperative farms) like Ruth did (Ruth 2:1-3).

Also, we got busy and made requests to some big foundations abroad. There was a pleasant surprise when the Tear Fund of England granted us $50,000 for the project. With that, we hired a wonderful Israeli believer, Eli Ken, bought an old red truck (which we called the tomato) and rented a warehouse. We were ready for business.

Business was never long in coming. There began to be a line of needy people outside. It seemed that Russian and Ukrainian immigrants knew about Bridges for Peace as soon as they got off the planes. By this time, we were giving out blankets because the immigrants were freezing in the cold Jerusalem winters. Our gifts included not just bags of food but cooking utensils, other household items and bus passes.

If we found a single mom, we would ask someone from abroad to “adopt” her and her children. This means that they would send a monthly amount and we would reply with regular reports on their welfare. They could also return for more food as needed. All this made BFP a very busy place.

It was necessary to have Eli buying lots of food wholesale in the Israeli markets and having Russian interpreters available to help the lines of people who were now coming. A wonderful volunteer by the name of Bill Stevens kept the warehouse in shape. We kidded him about how he knew where every bean was located on the premises.

We began to have many more qualified and talented people working with us. In the US our good friends Larry and Mary Ehrlich became the national directors and offered much stability and growth to the work there. Ron Cantrell came from the US and gave us great help with computers and with publishing. Mike and Melissa Mott helped with their musical gifts. Rebecca Brimmer, came on as secretary to the Director. Eventually, she became the International Director of Bridges and held that position many years. There were lots of others that cannot all be mentioned in this small space.

Bridges was now establishing offices in several countries like South Africa, Australia, England, Canada and Japan. So, gifts were coming from many directions and volunteers were pouring in too. In our meetings, it was not unusual to have upwards of 15 or so staff people present and many volunteers.

Bridges For Peace Staff and volunteers 

We now sorely needed a larger office since we were still cooped up in a small apartment. An effort was made to purchase a whole building on Hebron Street. The money was mostly raised but due to Orthodox opposition, the deal fell through. There we were with some highly skilled electricians and carpenters who had arrived as volunteers to work on the building. Everyone was now perplexed as to what we would do with them.

I suggested that we let them begin repairing houses for the many poor in the heart of Jerusalem. We called the program Repairers of the Breach (Isa. 58:12). A very nice messianic pastor essentially gave us another little truck and it was assigned to the repairers. Over the years BFP received at least a couple of awards from the mayor of Jerusalem for the greatly needed work of repairing old houses as well as distributing food.

The director of the repairers program, Carl Bennett, was one of the most positive people I had ever met. It was not long until he had many friends in the poorer sections of Jerusalem where he was repairing houses.

THE DEVIL HORNS IN

Things were just going too well with new immigrants pouring into Israel. The devil had to stop it somehow. The Gulf War was now in progress and suddenly Saddam Hussein, leader of Iraq, began to direct his missiles toward Israel. The missiles kept flying from January 17 to February 23, 1991.

At that time, we were visiting the US but when we heard that Israel was under attack we rushed back to the land. At Ben Gurion Airport Clarence met us and handed us our gas masks. For that period, Israel was virtually shut down. On most nights the sirens would sound and we would have to put on our masks and get into our sealed rooms. We discovered it was sure difficult to kiss in our gas masks. Strangely, the attacks ended on Purim. God had taken another Haman down.

 

THE ETHIOPIANS ARRIVE

For centuries, certain Ethiopians had considered themselves as part of the lost tribes of Israel. They had also maintained Hebrew customs and traditions that backed up their claims. They believed that they had descended from King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba. Unfortunately, many of these people had been detained in their country and not allowed to return home.

In 1991, Israel began a highly secret airlift to bring the Ethiopians home. In one weekend some 15,000 new Ethiopian immigrants were flown to Israel. There were so many that individual  seats were dispensed with on the planes and people simply sat crowded on the airplane floors.

We realized that another biblical miracle was taking place. Long ago God promised Isaiah, “I will say to the north, ‘Give them up!’ and to the south, ‘Do not hold them back.’ Bring my sons from afar and my daughters from the ends of the earth” (Isa. 43:6 NIV). They were now arriving from the north and the south just like the prophet said.

The Ethiopians were hundreds of years behind in their culture. Unlike the Russians, they did not know how to go out and get jobs. They simply did not understand the modern world. However, while the older folks did not learn Hebrew their young people seemed to grasp it quickly. Soon they were serving in the army and were found in all walks of life. Still, they never came in to receive our free gifts. Occasionally, we took truckloads of gifts to their communities.

GLEANING

As I mentioned, we began to glean like Ruth did but in the factories and fields in Israel in order to give away more food. Eli would go out and make the connections and our volunteers would follow. On one occasion my wife and I tagged along. The kibbutz manager had given Eli permission to take all the leftover tomatoes in a large greenhouse. The tomatoes were hydroponically grown and they almost reached the ceiling in their height. It was hot in the greenhouse, but we worked and filled our truck (called the tomato) with the abundant crop.

We were tired and hot, being very happy that the harvest was finished. Then the manager came out looking a little sheepish. He handed each of us a pair of clippers and said, “Now trim the vines.”

The implications of his statement struck us Gentiles. The Bible says of Israel, “And strangers shall stand and feed your flocks, and foreigners shall be your plowmen and your vine-dressers” (Isa. 61:5 ASV).

NOT ALONE

We were not alone in our work for Israel. The International Christian Embassy had also begun to distribute food and other items to new immigrants. Another organization, Christian Friends of Israel, was busy distributing used clothing. They could even fit up a bridal party with clothes from abroad. One large Christian organization was busy running ships to the Black Sea area and bringing new Jewish immigrants home. It was interesting to see some pictures of these efforts with volunteers carrying immigrant children. We remembered that Bible verse: “Thus says the Lord God, ‘Behold, I will lift up My hand to the nations, And set up My standard to the peoples; And they will bring your sons in their bosom, And your daughters will be carried on their shoulders’” (Isa. 49:22 NAS).

Later we learned that over a million immigrants had arrived from 1989 to the end of the century. When they started, Israel’s population was only around four and a half million.

THE VALLEY OF THE SHADOW OF DEATH

The work with Operation Ezra kept me plenty busy, perhaps too busy. In 1992, I began to have some problems with my heart. The doctor decided at first that it was a heart virus and that I would get over it before long. However, the problem persisted and got worse. It was difficult for me to walk up Jerusalem’s hills. I found myself riding the bus to the top of the hill and walking down to the office. Many times the Lord would say to me in my spirit, “slow down and smell the roses.” Then I got to the point where I could hardly board the bus.

I was given a stress test at that point. I was so weak that the doctors had to support me, one on each side, as I took the test. They then discovered that I had four arteries that were scarcely working. They scheduled me for an operation the next spring, but I knew I would not be around by that time. When they discovered that I had Insurance in Israel they moved up the operation to December 6, 1992. Many people were praying for me on the day of my operation.

They did a quadruple bypass and it was successful. When I had become fully awake, I was thirsty and asked the nurse for a drink. She looked at me and said, “Go get it yourself.” So, I somehow got out of bed shuffled to the fountain and got a drink. I figured that her answer was part of their heart-healing therapy.

The hospital beds were very hard and it was almost impossible to sleep. Finally, one night I gave up and moved down to sleep on the floor. There is probably no description of the shock the nurse had when she came in for a night visit and saw me on the floor.

In a short while, I was out of the hospital and completely recovered. I never again had any heart problems. The whole experience was very special and the Lord gave me some precious songs during that period. There is something about a heart operation that brings one very close to the Lord.

SPEAKING ASSIGNMENTS

By 1996, I turned Operation Ezra over to my able assistant Deborah Tyler and my wife and I began to travel and speak for Bridges. We took a trip first to England, Scotland and Wales. Strangely, my Gerrish family had come from Wales to the American colonies in 1617. We got to minister in some churches that were involved in the great Welsh Revival of 1904-05. It was a splendid series of meetings. We actually made two trips to the British Isles.

After that, we spent five weeks ministering in South Africa. When we arrived at customs the officer asked us what our musical instrument was. We told him that it was an autoharp. He then asked us to play it. So, we stood there at customs in the midst of the crowds and sang Amazing Grace accompanied by the instrument. We met so many beautiful Christian people in the country and of course South Africa is a beautiful place.

When we were traveling in Zulu country we ran into some hostility. In one village the approaching car forced us to back off of the bridge and we had to let them through. We knew that there had also been a murder in that area.

Afterward, we proceeded on for a short distance and the car we were riding in stopped running. There we were as helpless strangers in a hostile country. Almost immediately a truck pulled in front of us and the man got out and hooked on to our car. He then pulled us into the safety of the police station. We were amazed at his license plate. It was NGL. In the Hebrew language only the consonants would be seen and vowel marks would be underneath. He was an angel in disguise. That is what a miracle looks like.

When we finally arrived at Cape Town we were hosted by Chris Eden. Chris went on to become the National Director of Bridges in South Africa, a post he still holds.

While in South Africa my right eye glazed over and I could barely see out of it. Since we were working in an area where there was much witchcraft, I assumed that a curse had been placed on me. When we arrived back home in Jerusalem, I had the Christ Church prayer group pray over me. When they did the eye cleared up immediately.

The year 1996 was our 40^th wedding anniversary so we spent a lot of time in the US with our children and on speaking trips to the West Coast, Montana and Canada. It was nice to relax a little after all the years of hard work in Israel. In Canada we were hosted by John and Ruth Howson. John went on to become the director of Bridges’ work in Canada. John and Ruth became some of our enduring friends.

THE GALILEE

Soon after our speaking trips we had a major change in our work.  We had always loved the Galilee. It was our custom to go up there when we could and just have a leisurely visit. But every time we went, I would ask my wife, “Why are all the Christians in Jerusalem? Why are they not doing something here.” She finally got tired of hearing me complain and said, “Why don’t you do something here?” I shuddered.

When we got home to Jerusalem that weekend a lady called and asked me if we would take over her house in Migdal, near the Sea of Galilee, since she and her family were going to the US for a time. I could immediately see the hand of the Lord in her offer.  When I talked to Clarence, he was in favor of it so long as my wife and I would manage it. We took him up on it and began to make plans to live in the Galilee. Soon we would be opening the Galilee Study Center in the town of Migdal.

Migdal is the new city on a hill very close to the ancient harbor city by the same name. Migdal or Magdala was the home of Mary Magdalene. The city was famous for salting fish in ancient times. The whole area was picturesque, since directly north of town lay the Plain of Gennesaret as seen in the photo above. That whole area is rich in such crops as oranges, grapefruit, avocadoes, bananas and dates. It is almost like a paradise. The Sea of Galilee in Modern Hebrew is called the Kinneret, a name taken from the harp or kinnor. The lake is actually in the shape of a harp. Since the lake is over 600 feet below sea level the area has a semitropical climate.

MOVE TO THE GALILEE

So we made the move to the Galilee or Galil as it is known in Hebrew. We discovered that the lady’s house was almost like a mansion.

It had a lot of space and many rooms. It also had a majestic view of the lake. It seemed perfect for a study center and for guests. Sometime before, a person living in the Galilee had given us a nicely equipped library, so we were all set for study. We expected the guests to study on their own in the off hours.

We went to work doing necessary painting and repairing. Before we were finished with the painting the guests began to arrive and they never stopped. Our plan was to do something different than the many guest facilities in Israel were doing. At the normal hostel, there was not a great amount of food served. Someone jokingly said that if you reached for the last piece of toast you may have four or five forks stuck in your hand. We wanted to change that and give very nice meals and desserts. Eventually, some of the Migdal farmers began to dump their excess fruit in our yard. We would put it to good use.

Our daily plan was to wake up our guests with sweet music. My wife was a pianist so that was easy. When our guests came down, we would have a Bible lesson of a few minutes and prayer time while my wife and volunteers finished preparing the breakfast.

After breakfast, I would take the guests to visit nearby biblical sites like Capernaum and the Mount of Beatitudes. I would teach at each site. It was all laid back to suit the guests. In the heat of the day, which was usually over 100 degrees (F)  in the summer, they had the option of resting in our newly air-conditioned rooms. We took care of all the transportation, even to and from the Tiberias bus station. We really wanted our guests to have a wonderful time.

It was also possible for our visitors to have supper. We served a lot of food but tried to keep it as inexpensive as possible. We just wanted each guest to feel wanted and to sense the great love of Jesus. Our area was right in the midst of the area where Jesus spent most of the time during his ministry.

SOMETIMES WE WERE STRETCHED

It was our custom that as soon as a group of guests left, we would prepare everything for the next group regardless of when they were coming. On one occasion we didn’t have guests scheduled so we and our volunteer helpers decided that it would be a good night to go to Tiberias and have dinner out. We were about to leave when a small bus pulled up and about 15 people began to disembark. It was a tour from South Africa and they had come a day early.

We happily greeted them and showed them to their lodging. Then my wife went into overdrive and started instructing our helpers. One was assigned to pick flowers and decorate the table. Others were charged with preparing the various dishes they were able to do and in the matter of an hour or so a wonderful dinner was ready. We never let them know that their group came a day early. So much for nights out.

BLESSINGS

There were many blessings for us in the Galilee. We had been assigned a small truck by Bridges but the truck was not air conditioned. Some days the temperature would reach 115 degrees (46 C) in the summer. It was especially hot in places like Capernaum with all the black basalt rocks. Somehow our guests were able to bear the discomfort. Then Shirley Crosby, a Christian lady whom we knew in the Galilee, gave us a fairly new GMC van with all taxes paid. The vehicle tax in Israel was 100 percent, so the gift was easily in the range of 30 to 40 thousand dollars. That is what a miracle looks like. The van took much of the sweat out of our work.

On another occasion, we had a guest from the US. After supper that night we were really tired and looking forward to bed. However, the lady asked us if she could talk to us. We said OK and the three of us headed to our upper porch that looked over the Sea of Galilee. We asked her how we could help her. She said, “I just wanted to know how I can give you five thousand dollars.” We had a number of gifts like that, and we also continued to be supported regularly by the Lord’s people, especially from the US.

It is quite impossible to name all those who helped by their prayers and gifts in our ministry. I think of Ronnie and Tonda Smith of Arkansas who did a lot to help us get started and who stayed with us for long term. Also, Dan and Anita Howard of Texas, who still continue on today in their support. Thank you Lord!

OUR GALILEE HELPERS

Over the years we had quite a number of great volunteers with us. At first, my wife’s nephew and his wife, Neal and Julie George came.

They had previously visited Israel and the Lord had spoken to Julie in the Galilee. He said, “I want you here.” She thought, “Well, here I am Lord.” Later they applied to be Bridges volunteers. When they arrived, we were just opening the Galilee center and she was delighted that she and her husband could help us and fulfill her calling.

A girl from one of our South African tours stayed on in Israel and became our helper. Her name was Loretta Van wyk.

She had a nickname of “Fluffy.” She was a great helper and was with us many months. My wife always called me “Baby Doll.” Fluffy started calling me Mr. Baby Doll. It was funny.

We had Earl and Ruth Davis who at last ended up managing the center when we retired.

 We also had Pete and Peggy Steffel, who proved to be great helpers and are still great friends. Pete became a real friend of many merchants in Tiberias. Long after they left, the merchants would ask rather pitifully, “But where’s Pete?” When he gave them money, he would playfully kiss it goodbye, hold on to it and they would have to wrest it from his hand. There were many more volunteers, too many to list. It was such a great opportunity for our volunteers to learn firsthand about the area where Christ mostly did his ministry while on earth.

OUR WORK WAS A DOOR-OPENER

It is very difficult for Christian ministries to operate in Israeli towns and even cities. In Tiberias, they were never willing to even let us have a bank account. All this came from two thousand years of Christian antisemitism. The Jews have long memories. Much of Bridges’ work was to show the Jewish people a different kind of Christianity than they had ever seen, and the center was also involved in this process.

We were fortunate that the city of Migdal had a long relationship with Christians. A Christian facility for the mentally disabled still existed in the city and there was generally an acceptance of Christians in the town.

Because of these warm feelings, we were able to help the Anglicans open a guest house and teaching facility just a block from our third  house.

That Anglican facility has flourished and is still in existence today.

OUR NEW HEALTH CRISIS

About the turn of the century, I ended up with a severe back problem. Suddenly I could do nothing at the center. I could sit up perfectly straight in a chair or in a bed but that was it. It was impossible to walk, lead tours, do dishes, or the hundreds of other necessary things.

I traveled to Jerusalem and had my back examined. They discovered two ruptured discs that needed immediate surgery. The Lord was working on both of us. My wife, who dearly loved the Galilee, began to feel that she should return home and teach our autistic granddaughter. Clearly, things were changing for us.

Many people prayed for my back with no results. Finally, I relented and called the movers to transport our things back to the US. When I did, all the prayers were answered and my back began to heal.

We made a trip down to Jerusalem where I was supposed to preach at the Narkis Street Church. My wife told them that I would need to preach from a chair, so they had one brought up. I was a little surprised that I preached for 45 minutes standing up with no pain. Later we walked all over the Old City with no back pain. That is what a miracle looks like. Later in the US, I would landscape the whole yard for my son-in-law without a single back issue. In fact, I have never had another back pain to this day. It is indeed funny how the Lord sometimes speaks to us.

OUR NEW ASSIGNMENT

The Lord definitely wanted us back in the US. We turned the center over to Earl and Ruth, packed up our things and went on our way. We knew for sure that the best four years of our lives were our years at the Galilee Study Center.

In the US the Lord had a much different assignment for us. He wanted us to write and publish just as the lady had prophesied to us in the Pentecostal church. I began to spend about eight hours each day on the task. At the center we had managed to publish our first book, Does God Play Favorites? God’s Unique Relationship With Israel. It was a very comprehensive book for Christians on how to understand and relate to Israel. Now the Lord had us to begin writing Bible commentaries that all had an Israel flavor.

The writing of books and study material went on for several years. In time we were able to establish a website called churchisraelforum.com. We were able then to display all our books and commentaries for free. Even the whole book Does God Play Favorites? was up on the web for free.  Eventually, we opened up a new site called wordofgodtoday.com for all of our commentaries.

ISRAEL ON OUR MINDS

We could never get Israel off our minds. We began to take tour groups there, a couple with our dear friends and supporters, Jack and Judy Stone

from Texas.  By this time our son Yoni was a licensed tour guide and it was nice to have him lead us and to see him, his wife Dalia, and his growing family.

Some of the grandchildren would often accompany us on tour. We led a couple of tours by ourselves, one with our beloved pastor Ken Moore and his wife Sandy. Then we even went back to live a couple of years in Jerusalem in 2006-2008. At that time, I served as a volunteer assistant pastor at the Narkis Street Baptist congregation. That was when we realized that we were getting a little too old to climb all of Jerusalem’s hills and to carry our groceries home on our backs.

AN OLD MAN REMEMBERS

I am now 88 years old and my darling wife of 65 years has gone on to be with Jesus. I live happily with my daughter Eleeza, her husband Tom and her large family in Colorado Springs. Regularly, I get to interact with my grandchildren: EliAnna, Daniel, Lydia and her husband, Hannah, and David. At times I even get to see my great grandchildren. I pray for the peace of Jerusalem daily. At this moment Israel needs a lot of peace since the awful Gaza War is in progress. Still, my heart is full of thankfulness for the great times we had in Israel.

It is especially good that the Lord has given my wife and me some seed there. Our son Yoni and his wife Dalia have four mostly grown children. I was really happy to learn that my oldest grandson in Israel, Evan, was working temporarily as a volunteer at Bridges For Peace. I was also happy that the organization we built over 30 years ago is still going strong, now with two large distribution centers, one in the Galilee and one in Jerusalem.

My Israel granddaughter, Taline, will soon graduate from high school. The military has  already been in contact with her. My granddaughter M____ (withheld for security purposes) serves in the Israeli army in the intelligence field. Her station, near Gaza, was overrun by Hamas and many were killed. She fortunately was on leave at home. That is what a miracle looks like. Our grandson, E____, has been given an excellent soldier award and serves as a tank crew medic right in the middle of Gaza. You can be sure that I pray for all of them and for Israel every day.

Our children left in the States would do almost anything to live in Israel once more. Our son-in-law Tom would leave his medical practice if he and Eleeza could live there again. Son Tim, who lives in San Antonio with his wife Cheri and daughter Abby, would leave his military store management position in a heartbeat if he could only live in Israel. The children all feel that their time living in Israel was the best time of their lives.

Each day and night wonderful memories of Israel flood my mind. Yet, I know that very soon an angry world will come to do away with this supposed “Israel problem.” When they do, the Lord Jesus will appear and annihilate the world’s vast military forces. He will also imprison the devil for a thousand years. Then there will be the beginning of a wonderful new heaven and new earth in which we believers will reign with Jesus (Rev. 5:10).

I look forward to seeing the Lord Jesus face to face. I look forward to uniting with the family and great friends we have known. We will be together in the New Jerusalem that the Lord will create. Maybe we will sit down with them and have a falafel and some humus in that wonderful new and eternal city.