June 3 Relationship with the Father

June 3, Friday Nitzana walk way 0551, Kristi 0598

One picturesque view while in Nitzana

Our first experience today was a visit in the Nitzana Educational community where we spent the night. Since 1986, Nitzana has provided a place of transition for Jews making aliyah (moving to Israel) provided by the Israeli government. Nitzana is 3 km from the Egyptian border and often refuges fleeing Africa come here. One of their goals is to do research to discover new ways of living, recycling water and growing food in the desert. A few years ago water (lots of water just below the surface) was discovered and we could see lakes of this water on the Israel side of the border. Isaiah 35:6 “Water will gush forth in the wilderness and streams in the desert.” The water is brackish with a salt content beyond human consumption. We visited an organic green house where they produce succulent cherry tomatoes that have been watered with this brackish water! 

An Ibex in the park where the Ben Gurions are buried.

The young adults of our team ready to step across the line in the sand to declare consecration before the Lord.

Sweet things happened in our group during our time at the David Ben-Gurion tombs after touring their last home. David Ben Gurion, Isarel’s first Prime Minister, had a dream for the Jewish people to come and make the desert bloom as in Is 35:1 “The desert shall blossom as a rose.” We had a moving prayer time for the young people of our group (which included Kristi, Kathleen, Karilyn, David and John along with 5 others). Then each youth was given the opportunity to make declarations regarding their time in Israel. David’s declaration was that he is going home with a completely different mindset regarding the Jewish people, John said he was going home with a love for the Jewish people, Karilyn quoted Proverbs 3: 5 & 6 and that she now presses in to see prophecy fulfilled wondering what her part is in all this.

(from the pen of Karilyn) At this location overlooking the incredibly beautiful desert hills, Dean began to speak. One of the things that he mentioned in memory of David Ben Gurion was that he had a dream that became his reality as he worked and strove towards it. Dean encouraged the young adults of our team to do likewise. Shortly after his talk he called us young adults up to be prayed for and invited us to give testimonies of what God has been doing in our hearts while being in Israel, as well as a time to encourage each other. With the scene set, each of us began to share: Kristi, Gab, Rob, Kath, Stephanie, John, David, Paxton, Tyler and myself. You may ask, “Were you encouraged?” and in response I would say, “Yes!”  A couple of things that still echo in my mind can be summed up in four words: relationship with the Father. First and foremost, if us young adults put God first, everything will come into place. The Scripture that God gave me for my friends was from Proverbs 3:5-6 “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding but in all your ways acknowledge Him and He will make your paths straight.”

David speaking of how God had worked in his heart.

My brother David had a good word. God gave him a picture of a hill and at the top was a symbol of a heart and around the sides were knights covered in armour protecting the ‘point.’  There were enemies attacking, and each knight represented an area of our lives. In Proverbs 4:23 it says: “Above all else guard your heart for it is the wellspring of life.” Understanding the importance of this time, Gab encouraged us to make the commitment (a symbolic act) to walk forward in the good things of God by crossing a line. Personally, it felt as if I was being baptized again, saying, “Yes God; not my will but Yours be done” (as Jesus said so many years ago). As Gab put it, this reflects a martyr’s act. This is absolutely true because this kind of life is not one of pleasure (as the world sees it) but one of sacrifice. In the couple of weeks that we have been together, I have felt that this team is like my family; none of us were brought together by accident. My prayer is that we would continue this journey of friendship, with one another, with the people of Israel, and most importantly – with God. This has been an experience I will never forget. ‘I’m ruined for the ordinary.’

(from Kathleen’s pen): “I wanted to share one of the highlights of my adventures yesterday.  After we went to David and Paula Ben Gurion’s grave site, we stopped for a late lunch. Now you may be asking, “What’s so significant about food that you have to blog about it?” But trust me, it was way more than a physical feeding. I had decided to randomly bring my guitar to practice a song some of the young adults were going to perform, and while the majority went off to eat, I chilled a bit with the guitar, and not even two minutes into the ‘chilling,’ a young boy with long hair rode up on his bike and shouted excitedly ,“guitar!” He then disappeared around the corner and I thought nothing more of it, until he returned and stood and watched me strum a few chords and I asked him “Do you play the guitar?” He replied, “yes, but not well.”  I handed him the guitar and my jaw dropped; this young boy was picking beautifully. I thought this couldn’t get much better until he opened his mouth. The sound that came out of that little boy’s mouth was beautiful. After talking with him for a while I found out that his name was Itamar and that he was born in Israel 14 years ago. Later on, some of his friends also came to listen and encouraged him to play more songs. The beauty of this story comes in its simplicity. It wasn’t a “show me what you got” mentality; but rather the enjoyment of each other’s company; knowing that Christ loves us in the same way, not expecting anything in return and looking beyond the borders of age, gender and ethnicity.”

Shabbat tonight was shared with two Messianic Jewish couples in a Bedouin tent in Kadesh-Barnea, very near the Egyptian border. (Avishai & Jolanda Pinchas and Avner and Rachel Boskey! Their testimonies were focussed on the goodness of our God. One family has a couple of music CD’s that we will soon be adding to our collection, see www.davidstent.com. The other family has spent the last few years helping Sudanese refugees settle in Israel. Amazing! (Before the meal, the young adults played soccer with our bus driver!)

Working up an appetite!

Sharing the Shabbat feast with Messianic Jews near the Egyptian border