Sunday, October 29, 2017

Vacation & Aircraft Carrier


After a short drive around the historic area of Charleston, we headed over the bridge to tour the USS Yorktown.

Here we are ... about to go aboard. (I'm getting better at selfies, no?)


Jem, getting a good look at the huge Essex-class aircraft carrier. It's just like the one he served on in the Navy.  The carriers of today are even bigger.


My hero, on the upper deck.  Jem worked on the flight deck as an "ordie,"  an aviation ordinanceman, also known as a red-shirt.  He loaded bombs onto the airplanes.

When not loading bombs, they hung out in this area.
This guy overhead Jem telling me about the flight deck, and asked a lot of questions.










 Sign on the flight deck, a very dangerous place to work.



















This is the shop where they worked on the bombs.


We toured the combat control area, and this guy has to write everything backward on a glass wall so that the people on the other side can read it.  I thought this was very interesting and sent it by text to my eight-year-old grandson. He thinks it's great fun to write things backward.  No, he's not dyslexic or anything like that.  He's just extremely intelligent and invents games about writing words and number pairings backward.

 We toured the other areas below deck, including the sleeping quarters.  Pretty spartan, huh?  I asked Jem how they could sleep in such an uncomfortable place, and he said, "We were so tired, we could sleep on the floor if we had to. . . and sometimes did."



 The aircraft carrier is also a museum and had a display about the U.S. Medal of Honor.  Jem's great-great-grandfather, Patrick Golden, received this medal for bravery and actions against the Apache Indians during the Indian Campaign between August and October of 1868.



The big banner below was on the wall, and I like these words.  They are so true, and I am grateful to all who have been, and are currently, willing to lay their lives down for the people of our country.


We loved this big banner on the side of the carrier.  We stand for our country, our flag, and our national anthem, and hope you do, too.

We were hoping to take our eight year old grandson with us on this tour, but it didn't hapen.  Maybe next year.  We know he would love it because he loves airplanes.

Next post will be about our visit to the Biltmore Castle in Ashville.

Blessings to you, dear Gail-Friends!

***

I sometimes share my posts with these friends: 

Spiritual Sundays     GRAND Social      Modest Mom Monday Link-up      The Art of Homemaking Mondays
   BLOGGING GRANDMOTHERS LINK PARTYTitus 2 Tuesday       TITUS TUESDAYS @CORNERSTONE CONFESSIONS    Share Your Cup Wednesday Wordless Wednesdays    Classical Homemaking Link-Up        Favorite Things Home and Garden Thursday at Delightsome Life  Paula's Weekend No Rules Blog Party Friendship Friday





Friday, October 27, 2017

Sabbath Music - Messianic Dance Playlist


Isn't this a lovely image?  Wouldn't dancing on the beach at sunrise (or sunset) be wonderful?  I love that our synagogue worship service includes Davidic dancing.  David danced in worship of ADONAI, and we do, too.

I remember wanting to dance in church, but that was strictly forbidden for Baptists.  Raising hands, too.  Well, He wants us to do both, so I hope you will worship HIm with complete abandon on this Shabbat.  If you can't do it where you worship with other believers, do it at your home.  You will feel a fabulous joy, I promise.

Here's a playlist of Messianic music with David dance. 

Good Shabbos to you all, dear Gail-Friends.

***

I sometimes share my posts with these friends: 

Spiritual Sundays     GRAND Social      Modest Mom Monday Link-up      The Art of Homemaking Mondays
   BLOGGING GRANDMOTHERS LINK PARTYTitus 2 Tuesday       TITUS TUESDAYS @CORNERSTONE CONFESSIONS    Share Your Cup Wednesday Wordless Wednesdays    Classical Homemaking Link-Up        Favorite Things Home and Garden Thursday at Delightsome Life  Paula's Weekend No Rules Blog Party Friendship Friday

Sunday, October 22, 2017

The Jewish Jesus





I remember, as a nine-year old child, asking my Southern Baptist pastor, "Why aren't we with the Jews, since Jesus was Jewish?"  I also asked, "Why don't we observe the Sabbath on Saturday, like the Bible says?"

I never got an answer that satisfied me. . . until I began to seek the answers for myself. . . in the Bible.  It's sad that even those with seminary degrees can't see the forest for the trees. . . and yet they love to say, "What would Jesus do?"   I wrote a post about my journey HERE.

I found this article on Algemeiner News website --   https://www.algemeiner.com/2017/10/10/some-people-still-dont-know-that-jesus-was-jewish/

Some People Still Don’t Know That Jesus Was Jewish


When I tell people that I’ve written extensively about the “Jewish Jesus,” they frequently say, “but everyone knows that Jesus was Jewish.” It would seem so.

But dig deeper, and you will find what I discovered in interviewing Christians and Jews: That most people actually mean that Jesus used to be Jewish. Yes, he was born Jewish, but somehow he was really a Christian. They say that he preached Christian teachings, or that he officially became a Christian when he rejected Judaism and was baptized by John the Baptist.

These views are all false.

October 20, 2017 1:51 pm

The truth is — based on depictions of Jesus in the four Gospels of the New Testament (Matthew Mark, Luke and John) — Jesus lived and died as a dedicated Jew. His argument with the Jewish leadership — King Herod and the Sanhedrin (the ruling body of Judaism) — was about their abandonment of the spiritual core of Judaism, which Jesus sought to restore.

The fact that Jesus was a dedicated practicing Jew throughout his life is the consensus of both Christian and Jewish biblical scholars.

For example, Episcopal priest Bruce Chilton states in his book Rabbi Jesus, that“Everything Jesus did was about Jews, for Jews, and by Jews.” And former Catholic priest James Carroll, author of Constantine’s Swordexpresses a similar view when he asks: “If Jesus were alive today, would he be one of those fervent black-hatted figures dovening [praying] at the Western Wall [the remnant of the Jerusalem Temple]?”

Adding his voice, Shaye J.D. Cohen, a professor of Hebrew literature and philosophy at Harvard University, explicitly attests: “He [Jesus] was born of a Jewish mother, in Galilee, a Jewish part of the world. All of his friends, associates, colleagues, disciples, all of them were Jews. He regularly worshipped in Jewish communal worship, what we call synagogues. He preached from Jewish text. … He celebrated the Jewish festivals. He lived, died, taught as a Jew.”

A striking passage in the Gospel of Luke (4:16) backs up Father Chilton, James Carroll and Shaye  Cohen: “And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up and, as his custom was, he went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and stood up for to read.” That Jesus, “as was his custom,” attended synagogue services on the Jewish Sabbath and read passages from the Torah — as Jews did then and continue to do today — says a lot. And there is much more.

So why do so many people maintain the contradictory position: “Yes Jesus was a Jew, but he was a Christian.”

The tenaciousness of this incongruity was driven home to me when Bill O’Reilly, author of the bestselling book Killing Jesus, expressed the same contradiction on his TV show The O’Reilly Factor, when he slammed one of my articles. In response to my statement quoting O’Reilly himself that “Jesus affirmed his Jewish identity right up to the crucifixion,” he said: “Of course I affirmed that because it’s true.” But O’Reilly then added: “He [Starr] goes off the rails when he says that Christianity didn’t exist in Jesus’ lifetime and he never proposed a new religion; that is false.”
I wish Bill O’Reilly would tell us when Jesus started the new religion — if he died a dedicated Jew?
O’Reilly also objected to my assertion that one of the most powerful and overlooked supports for the denial of Jesus’ Jewish identity was Mediaeval and Renaissance artwork. But search through the vast archives of these artworks spanning centuries, and you will be hard pressed to find any representation or hint that Jesus, his family or followers had any connection to Judaism.

Jesus is typically portrayed as northern European in appearance, embedded in anachronistic later-day palatial Christian settings surrounded by Christian artifacts — all totally alien to his ethnicity, religion and identity as a practicing Jew who resided in a rural Galilean village. Yet, wherever the Renaissance Christian populace turned — in churches, public spaces and homes — they would only see images of a totally Christian Jesus.

Antisemitism was so deeply embedded in Medieval and Renaissance society that it was unthinkable for an artist to paint a Jewish Jesus — that is, if the artist valued keeping his head attached to his neck or not getting burned at the stake.

But why should we care about this pervasive falsification of biblical history? Because in denying Jesus’ Jewish identify through omission, these powerful images falsely established Jesus as a Christian and Jews as “the others,” who Christian society claimed killed Jesus — a lingering and bizarre accusation, when one considers that all of Jesus’ followers were Jews — and that without those followers, there would be no Christianity.

Had Jesus been pictured authentically as a Jew, might some forms of antisemitism not have occurred, or might they have been mitigated and challenged?

The power of images has convinced me that film, rather than words alone, would be the most effective medium to establish Jesus’s true identity — and to lead to a deeper understanding of historical antisemitism. I knew that several compelling films, including “The Last Temptation of Christ,” “The Passion of Christ,” and “The Da Vinci Code,” despite public condemnations for blasphemy and antisemitism, generated vigorous public debate about Jesus.

That’s why I’ve written a screenplay about “Jesus the Jew From Nazareth.” I hope my screenplay, and others like it, will get produced, so that the world finally understands that Jesus was thoroughly Jewish.

Note added on 10-25-17 -   Bernard Starr contacted me and shared that this article was part of a more complete article on the Huffington Post.  The link also includes an interesting film on this subject.   https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/identity-purge-the-search-for-the-jew-in-jesus-in_us_58d097dce4b0537abd957453

Bernard Starr holds a PhD in psychology from Yeshiva University in NYC and is a professor emeritus at the City University of New York, Brooklyn College. He is also a past president of the Brooklyn Psychological Association and the Association for Spirituality and Psychotherapy. His latest book is “Jesus, Jews, And Anti-Semitism In Art: How Renaissance Art Erased Jesus’ Jewish Identity & How Todayhe au

Friday, October 20, 2017

Sabbath Music - Hide Me in the Secret Place



Ahhh. . . Shabbat.  I thank the Father for his precious gift of rest.  I've been meditating on this Scripture:

You are my hiding place and shield.
Psalm 119:114 (CJB)

 Yes, oh yes, He is.  I run to Him for provision,

                                                           for protection,

                                                                 for comfort,

                                                                      and more.

My time with Him is so sweet. . . and I look forward to it with longing.


I think this quote is appropriate for Shabbat:

"We need time to dream,
          time to remember,
                     and time to reach the infinite.
                                                  Time to be."  
                                                                     Gladys Taber

This song is about the hiding place.  I hope you will take the time to be still, listen, and enjoy your Sabbath rest.   Hide Me in the Secret Place by Christine Jackman

Shabbat Shalom, dear Gail-Friends.


***

I sometimes share my posts with these friends: 

Spiritual Sundays     GRAND Social      Modest Mom Monday Link-up      The Art of Homemaking Mondays
   BLOGGING GRANDMOTHERS LINK PARTYTitus 2 Tuesday       TITUS TUESDAYS @CORNERSTONE CONFESSIONS    Share Your Cup Wednesday Wordless Wednesdays    Classical Homemaking Link-Up        Favorite Things Home and Garden Thursday at Delightsome Life  Paula's Weekend No Rules Blog Party Friendship Friday

Wednesday, October 18, 2017

Thankful Thursday - Vacation & Old Houses


We just returned from a week's vacation.  It was a bit of a whirlwind at times, Gail-Friends.  First stop was my happy place -- Chamblin Book Mine in Jacksonville, Florida.  I always go across my favorite bridge to see my favorite view.  I didn't find any books this trip, but hubby did.  We both love books, so stopping there is a treat.

We drove north on Highway 17 and into Amelia Island, Fernandina Beach, and then Brunswick, Ga.  The going was much slower than the interstate but much more enjoyable.  We saw lots of pretty old houses and ancient moss-covered oaks.


And lots of gingerbread houses, which I love.  This one's windows caught my eye.


Then we stopped in Charleston, SC.  We drove through, and I took a few photos from the car.  I love old houses, and this city is full of them.  Here are a few:



The blue flowers along the fence are plumbago, and it blooms for months here in the South.


Most of the homes along the bay have black wrought-iron fences, and I was fascinated by their beautiful gates.  The one above incorporated a trellis of vines.



More of those beautiful oaks.  I noticed that this one is sans moss, which is good because the moss eventually kills the trees.


I love the red mailbox inside the brick column.


Not many flowers blooming in Charleston in October, but these were a pleasure to see.  Here's a close-up view of this happy grouping.  I have some of these plants in the Golden Cottage Garden.


These steps and walls covered in green leaves are so pretty.


Porches are a recurring theme in the architecture of Charleston, as well as crepe myrtle trees (in the forefront of the photo).  These trees are in bloom all summer long, too, in pretty shades of pink, purple and white.  I have one in my yard, and it makes me so happy.


You know a grouping of birdhouses would catch my attention.  I have several of the white and green ones at Golden Cottage.


We spent the remainder of the day in Charleston visiting the Yorktown, an Essex-class aircraft carrier.  I'll share a few of those photos next week.  Then, it's on to Virginia where we did research for hubby's book.  I'll have some beautiful photos of the fall foliage in the mountains.  We visited eight states on this trip,  We also checked off an item on my bucket list -- a visit to the Biltmore Mansion in Ashville, NC.  I'll have lots of photos to share.

Thankful Thursday is my day to focus on and be thankful for all of the good things in my life.

****

I sometimes share my posts with these friends: 

Spiritual Sundays     GRAND Social      Modest Mom Monday Link-up      The Art of Homemaking Mondays
   BLOGGING GRANDMOTHERS LINK PARTYTitus 2 Tuesday       TITUS TUESDAYS @CORNERSTONE CONFESSIONS    Share Your Cup Wednesday Wordless Wednesdays    Classical Homemaking Link-Up        Favorite Things Home and Garden Thursday at Delightsome Life  Paula's Weekend No Rules Blog Party Friendship Friday


Friday, October 13, 2017

Sabbath Music - House of Gold






This song has been on my heart for the past couple of weeks:   House of Gold

(as sung by Tim O'Brien and Darrell Scott).  At the end of this post, you'll find the lyrics, which were written by Hank Williams, Sr.

This song is so true because you sure can't take it with you.  When I pass on, I'll have no earthly wealth to leave behind.  I will, however, leave behind something much better.  The treasures of love and wisdom are an inheritance that thieves can't steal and moths can't corrupt.  

This graphic touched my heart this week, and it fits with how I'm thinking.  The best things in life aren't things.


This month, I've been reading and meditating on Psalm 119 and found these passages that express my thoughts on what I'll leave behind:
   
The Torah you have spoken means more to me than a fortune in gold and silver.
Psalm 119:72
  
 How sweet to my tongue is your promise,
truly sweeter than honey in my mouth!
(verse 103)
Your word is a lamp for my foot
and light on my path.
(verse 105) 

Therefore I love your mitzvot
more than gold, more than fine gold. 
 Thus I direct my steps by [your] precepts;
every false way I hate.
(verses 127-128) 

The main thing about your word is that it’s true;
and all your just rulings last forever.
. . . my heart stands in awe of your words.
I take joy in your promise,
like someone who finds much booty.
(verses 160-162)

 Those who love your Torah have great peace;
nothing makes them stumble.
(verse 165)

I always say, "I'm rich. . . just filthy rich!"  and I'm leaving it all behind for my children and grandson, and to those with whom I've shared His truth.  They will be rich, too, if they accept their inheritance. 

House of Gold Lyrics:

Some people cheat, they steal and lie 
For wealth and what it will buy
Don't they know on judgment day
All the gold and silver melt away?

What good is gold and silver too 
If your heart's not pure and true? 
Sinner hear me when I say 
You gotta get down on your knees and pray.

 I'd rather be in a deep dark grave,
And know that my poor soul was saved 
Than to live in this world in a house of gold 
And deny my God and lose my soul. 

Some people people cheat, they steal and lie
For wealth and what it will buy 
But don't they know on the judgment day 
All the gold and silver melt away? 

Sinner hear me when I say 
You better get down on your knees and pray

Tonight in the synagogue, Erev Shabbat, we begin the new Torah reading cycle with  Parashat B'resheit (Genesis 1:1 - 6:8).  Simchat Torah will be celebrated tonight, too, with all-night Torah study, food, dancing, and worship.  The Hebrew calendar has turned over to the year 5778, and we're praying for a blessed year ahead.

Good Shabbos to you, Gail-Friends, and have a good week.

*****

Thursday, October 12, 2017

Thankful Thursday- Beauty Left Behind



After Hurricane Irma, this mangrove washed ashore here on the Space Coast.  Looks pretty ugly, right?   But look closely at what was left behind. . .


And here's another photo, taken at sunrise.


Isn't G-od's creation awesome?  There's beauty all around if we just look for it, even after a terrible storm.  I'm thankful for local photographers who looked for the good and share it on a local Facebook page.

I'm thankful for a dog who prays:



Well, not really.  She's actually scratching her nose.  Sometimes, she also washes her face by licking her paws and then washing just like a cat.  I've tried to get a video of it, but haven't been fast enough.  I really think she was raised by a cat.  It's really funny to watch.

We had a great time at the synagogue for Erev Shabbat and our Sukkot celebration.  Lots of singing, dancing, and waving of the lulav.  Hopefully, I'll have some pics next week.  Synagogue members have been sending me photos of their sukkahs,  and it's fun to see how each one is different.

Tomorrow night is Simchat Torah - all night Bible study and celebration of the beginning of the yearly Torah cycle.

I'll have lots of good stuff to share next week, so stop by and sit a spell.  Lots more excitement happening in the week ahead.

Friday, October 6, 2017

Sabbath Music - Sukkot Music and Dancing


Haleuyah - it is the time of our rejoicing!  Tonight we celebrate Shabbat as well as Sukkot - the Feast of Tabernacles.  I'm busy as a bee today, so this post will be brief.  I'm sharing three songs (two with dancing), and I hope you enjoy them.  To find more music for Sukkot, go to YouTube and search for Sukkot dance or Sukkot music playlist.  There is a treasure trove awaiting you!  Listen -- Worship -- and I hope you dance!

It's the Time of Our Rejoicing  

Feast of Tabernacles Dance 


Your Name by Zemer Levav

**To learn more about Sukkot, click on this LINK.  You'll see today's post first, but just scroll down to see past celebrations, explanations, scriptures, and photos.

 Have a wonderful holiday and Shabbat Shalom to you all.  I'd love to hear about your celebration and see photos of your sukkah.  Just post them in the comments.

not my sukkah - but isn't it nice?


****

I sometimes share my posts with these friends: 

Spiritual Sundays     GRAND Social      Modest Mom Monday Link-up      The Art of Homemaking Mondays
   BLOGGING GRANDMOTHERS LINK PARTYTitus 2 Tuesday       TITUS TUESDAYS @CORNERSTONE CONFESSIONS    Share Your Cup Wednesday Wordless Wednesdays    Classical Homemaking Link-Up        Favorite Things Home and Garden Thursday at Delightsome Life  Paula's Weekend No Rules Blog Party Friendship Friday

Thursday, October 5, 2017

Thankful Thursday - Quiet Reflection

Golden Cottage Garden

Life has been a whirlwind since Hurricane Irma visited Golden Cottage.  My quiet time on the porch has been disturbed.  We moved everything off the porch and then decided to do a cleaning and painting project.  Subsequent rainy, windy days have delayed getting my "secret place" restored.   I've learned a new gratitude for the lovely spot where I enjoy quiet reflection, watching birds, and communing with my Heavenly Father.


I'm grateful for quiet reflection during the days leading up to Yom Kippur.  Every year, as we ponder the sins listed in our service's liturgy, I'm convicted of that same, old sneaky sin has crept back into my life:  murmuring and complaining.  My prayer during each day's quiet reflection will be to keep this in the forefront of my mind.   More on that during another post.   Thankful Thursday is a part of my resolve.

Here are a few photos of our Yom Kippur observance.

Several of the ladies in the synagogue have worked to make a priestly robe for Rabbi Jem to wear on this holiest day of the year.


The bottom of the tunic has bells and pomegranates, as described in the Torah.  We even had a cat help us with that project:

Thank you, Tebow

Rabbi Jem with brothers, Sam and James

Rabbi Jem during the Torah procession
And a big thank you to the ladies who helped make this project a success.  I will do a future post about the significance of the elements of the priestly robe.

After the service, we danced to the song Mashiach ben David, celebrating and thanking Him for Yeshua's great sacrifice for our sins.   Try to look over my singing in the background as I filmed the video.  Focus instead on James kicking up his heels during the dance.  :)


Rabbi Jem always says, "When the rabbi dances, everybody dances."

From Rabbi Jem, me, and our congregation, "May your name be written in the book of life for 5778, and may you have a blessed year of shalom."




What are you grateful for this week?



Thankful Thursday is my day to focus on and be grateful for all the good things in my life.
****

I sometimes share my posts with these friends: 

Spiritual Sundays     GRAND Social      Modest Mom Monday Link-up      The Art of Homemaking Mondays
   BLOGGING GRANDMOTHERS LINK PARTYTitus 2 Tuesday       TITUS TUESDAYS @CORNERSTONE CONFESSIONS    Share Your Cup Wednesday Wordless Wednesdays    Classical Homemaking Link-Up        Favorite Things Home and Garden Thursday at Delightsome Life  Paula's Weekend No Rules Blog Party Friendship Friday

Wednesday, October 4, 2017

Wisdom Wednesdays - Emet / Truth


Hebrew is a unique and fascinating language.  The graphic above explains the Hebrew word "emet" which means truth.  (graphic from MiYah Music)

An understanding of Torah and Hebrew are vital to understanding the New Testament.  The graphic above is a perfect example.  If you, like me, were taught a Christian view and theology, you know the verse from Revelation 22:13 as, "I am the (alpha)beginning and the (omega)end."  This is because modern translations are from the Greek.  As the saying goes, "A lot gets lost in translation."

Remember, when Yeshua spoke the following words, He was speaking in Aramaic / Hebrew.  Truth was understood to mean Torah.  He was speaking of Himself as the embodiment of Torah (the living Torah).  Ponder these words:

I am the way, the truth (emet) and the life. (John 14:6)


You will know the truth (emet), and the truth (emet) will make you free. (John 8:32)



But the time is coming — indeed, it’s here now — when the true worshippers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth (emet), for these are the kind of people the Father wants worshipping him.
 (John 4:23)


The  119th Psalm is all about truth.  When you read/study it, keep the word emet in mind.  Here are just a few examples:

Your righteousness is eternal righteousness, and your Torah is truth (emet).  (Psalm 119:142)
You are close by, ADONAI, and all of your commandments are truth (emet).  (Psalm 119:151)

With reference to the graphic: If you erase the alef, you are left with mem and tav, which is the Hebrew word "met," which means  "death." We must have the whole truth which leads to life - not half-truths.

 
Beloved, are you following the "emet"? Or are you following half truths?  I asked myself this question almost twenty years ago.  I sought His wisdom and He led me to emet.

You can learn more about Messianic Judaism at this LINK.

****

I sometimes share my posts with these friends: 

Spiritual Sundays     GRAND Social      Modest Mom Monday Link-up      The Art of Homemaking Mondays
   BLOGGING GRANDMOTHERS LINK PARTYTitus 2 Tuesday       TITUS TUESDAYS @CORNERSTONE CONFESSIONS    Share Your Cup Wednesday Wordless Wednesdays    Classical Homemaking Link-Up        Favorite Things Home and Garden Thursday at Delightsome Life  Paula's Weekend No Rules Blog Party Friendship Friday