Growing up in a conservative Mennonite home, two attitudes have been part of my understanding of myself and my Creator.  The first is a deep awe of the all powerful and wise God who gave me life here on this earth.  Second, the humbling sense of significance accompanying the thought that He would become incarnate in Jesus Christ and invite me not only into His family, but into Himself in Christ.

These understandings generated for me a profound attachment to antiquity, to the Lord God Almighty, the Ancient of Days, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, and realization that in some mysterious way I was part of God's chosen people even though I was not Jewish. 

For almost as long as I can remember, and certainly since Grace and I decided to do this journey of life together, I, and we, have had a desire to visit the land that God chose as His land for His people.  We lived that dream back in 1982 when we enjoyed 20 days in the Sinai and Israel, most of them in Jerusalem.  We knew then that we would like to go back, not just to visit, but to work there in some capacity. 





Just to see sights like this at the Western Wall and be touched by some of the power of that place was enough to implant a strong longing to be back.

Bridges for Peace, and particularly the, although limited, relationship with John Howson kept us plugged into the desire to serve, in some capacity, in Israel.  It took some time to conclude my teaching career and, by the Lord's grace, establish the means, to be on our way to live and work in Israel for the next three months.



At Christmas time, as we worked to organize things in the aprtment that my Dad left when he went home to be with his Father, we discovered a number of books about the situation in Israel.  On Monday morning, the day before he passed away, he asked me in that morning's phone conversation how our preparations for Israel were going.  Clearly he had a keen interest in Israel and had been praying for us.  So we are confident that our decision to volunteer there is, at least in part, an answer to my parents prayers.