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| Yesterday I was at physical therapy, and was once again intrigued by the comradeship there seems to be between patients undergoing PT, despite not knowing each other and having possibly nothing else in common. Case in point- Yesterday I was talking to this big, buff, Harley riding man. As far as I know, we have no common interests, no cultural links to each other...What did we have in common? We had both fallen on ice, with me shattering my ankle, and him shattering his shoulder. That one isolated event in each of our lives have created an instant friendship between us.
I find it intriguing, because this is how we are to be as the body of Messiah. As believers, we may come from various backgrounds, we may be of various temperaments, we may be vastly different ages, yet we have one thing in common- a faith in the Messiah of Israel. And just like in physical therapy, we need to be understanding of each other and give each other some grace in the areas we're growing. You see, the Harley man may be able to stand on one foot with no problem, while I can only balance on my left foot for a very short period of time. Conversely, I can raise my arm or swing a baseball bat with little thought, but because of his injury he can't do the same things. And even if we had the same injury, we'd still be able to do different things at different levels, as our injuries occurred at different times and because we each heal at different rates. Some of us may have allowed the injuries to sit for too long before going to the surgeon, much like the woman who shared the room with me on my first visit to Dr. Ocel. Her injury was very similar to mine, but she didn't go in for surgery until over 6 weeks after it occurred, and because of this her recovery time was greatly increased, and her chances for a full recovery were greatly decreased.
The same principles apply in our spiritual and emotional growth. We've each come into this thing with various handicaps and injuries, and have healed to different extents. We should not be judging one another for what we can or cannot do, but be willing to help each other in the healing process. We need to be like the people in that physical therapy office. They understand each other because they've experienced the pain and the hard work it takes to move forward and heal. And they aren't ashamed to share about those struggles, but speak openly to each new person who comes in, encouraging them where they are at. They rejoice with every small victory, things that may seem insignificant to the outsider who has never experienced the pain and frustration of having to re-teach your body to do things that once came naturally. And when you fail, as you are bound to do from time to time, they don't judge you, but encourage you to try again, knowing that it may take some time and practice before you can even begin to get it right. That's part of being a family, and is what we must strive for if we want to be a true reflection of HaShem and His love for mankind.
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| It's been strange contemplating my time at Roeh Israel as compared to my time at Roots of the Messiah. At Roeh I felt like I was a plane stuck in a holding pattern, circling the airport and waiting to land, never really having much of a purpose there. Sure, I learned a lot when I first started going there, but then I hit a wall, and was only learning from various friends there as opposed to anything being taught on a congregational level. I also grew frustrated, because I wasn't able to use my gifts. My main gift and calling is as an intercessor, but although I prayed for people there, my gift wasn't really used much...I tried to start prayer groups, but none of them went anywhere. No one recognized my gifting, so seldom did people come to me to share prayer requests. I felt like my presence there didn't make a difference, and so I grew complacent and stagnant.
It's so different at Roots. Rabbi is always emphasizing being where HaShem wants you. Not only do you not want to be missing a hand, you don't want to have an extra hand either, as that means another congregation is missing a hand....So he pushes people to really seek HaShem before coming there, to be sure you're really supposed to be there. Once you are there, he pushes you to know your gifts and callings.. He challenges you to begin walking in your gifts and callings, and to encourage each other in those things. He emphasizes the importance of every member of the body, and helps find practical ways for each of us to take an active role in things. For example, he knows I'm an intercessor, and has said so to the entire congregation, encouraging people to come to me for prayer, or refering people to me with questions on prayer. He himself contacts me on a regular basis to ask for specific prayer (twice this week, as a matter of fact!). It's allowed me to begin walking in that calling again, and has made me feel alive and useful.
So that's just one of the things I love about my congregation. Purpose, gifts, and callings, all being developed and used for the glory of HaShem. It's a sweet thing.
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| I came across some old photos from Id-Ra-Ha-Je on someone's facebook, so I began to scan my old camp photos, which then led me to start searching for old counselors and friends online...so far I've found quite a few counselors from my years at camp, and have been enjoying talking to them and reminiscing a little bit...the only downside at this point has been the fact that I get motivated to do these things when I should be in bed, so I'm up at crazy hours (like this! It's 2:30am!) doing things that really should wait until tomorrow...but I'm not really motivated to do stuff in the mornings, I'm much more of a night owl.
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| Today was pretty awesome. I dragged myself out of bed after too few hours of sleep and made my way back up to Evergreen for a wedding, showing up two hours early...you see, the rehearsal was last night and I was there simply because I tend to hang out after services on Shabbat. Because I was there, I was suddenly given the job of making sure each member of the wedding party entered the sanctuary at the right time, in the right order, on the right side, etc in the ceremony today, and was asked to come early for another walk through, since half the wedding party missed the rehearsal...So there I was, and instead of doing a walk through, I get put to work cutting fruit (which was perfectly fine with me), and just doing general prep for the reception. Then, right before the ceremony actually started, I was finally given a copy of the wedding service so that I would know what order to send people in....
The wedding itself was beautiful. I was so happy for Alyssa and Yarden, and I loved how short and simple everything was. It was also nice having Katriel in town from Missouri, and he did a great job cantoring the blessings. Everything went great, the only 'snag' being when the flower girl refused to walk any farther and began to cry, and her grandma (the groom's mom) had to come and carry her to the front...but it was cute, and made it that much more memorable.
When going through the receiving line (which was just the couple and their parents), Yarden's mom stopped me and asked me to find some scotch tape for her, and then called me the wedding coordinator, and others began to do the same....So in one day I went from simple guest to wedding coordinator!  Somehow things like that seem to happen to me...people tend to assume I'm in charge, or that I know what's going on, or whatever, and I end up in leadership type roles...crazy!
The reception was fun. We had a meal, potluck style, as the couple couldn't afford kosher catering....and there was food in abundance! I don't know how we ended up with as much as we did, and it was all SO good! After the meal, we went back upstairs to the sanctuary for some dancing! Somehow I ended up leading the women's dancing, and we even did the wedding/war dance (which cracks me up just saying it like that!) several times, though none of us remembered all the steps...I'm afraid to see the video....
The rest of the evening was spent just hanging out. After helping set the sanctuary back up we ended up having leftovers for dinner and just sitting around talking for several more hours (by this time the couple and their families were long gone). By the time I left, I had been there for 12 hours straight, so not as long as I'm there for Shabbat, but still a long time.
That was my day, in a very misshapen and convoluted nutshell...
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