It has been more than two years since the pandemic began. Since the start of it, many people have been hoping and praying for a “new heaven and a new earth,” free from this illness. There have been many temporary “fixes” that made some people think that we were on the verge of being delivered from anything that might threaten our safety and way of life. So many people placed a false hope in the announcement that a vaccination had been found. We were then told that a second dose would provide the solution that we were all praying for. Then a third and then a fourth. And now we are being told that it is something that we will have to live with for the time being. As the hopes of life returning to normal seemed to be in sight, the terrible and sad news of war came to us as Russia, without provocation, invaded Ukraine. The terrible spread of death that this was has unleashed in Ukraine, and the unsettling threat that it could spread elsewhere, once again leaves many feeling the reality of our uncertain situation. Continue reading →

Jerusalem is, and has been for several millenniums, a great walled city that must be entered through one of the several gates found in the city’s walls. It is also a holy and sacred city. For the Jews, Jerusalem is that city where God dwelt with His people in the great temple at which they could visit Him and offer Him sacrifice. In His Holy City, God would listen to His people and they could be assured that they were standing in His presence. Whenever there was a great feast for the Jewish people, they would go up to the city of Jerusalem to be near to God and celebrate with Him.  For the Jewish people to live within the walls of Jerusalem—the Holy City—was the perfect life; it was equivalent to living with God on earth. In the mind of the Jewish person, the perfect place to die was within the walls of Jerusalem. This meant that one had died with God in His Holy City and had indeed lived a blessed life. Continue reading →