I want to add to my previous post regarding the beautiful love I witnessed last week between an Israeli Arab mother and an Israeli Jewish mother in the battered town of Sderot by noting the lessons I learned at that event about touching the hearts of Israelis.
I am a fairly reserved, though straight-forward person, so I am not always comfortable in the presence of dramatic Christian expressions of faith. I will qualify that by noting that I am not critical of such displays - if God found favor with David wildly dancing in his underwear in the presence of His ark, then clearly there is nothing wrong with such behavior.
Anyway, since I am personally perhaps a little too bashful to act out in such a way myself, I always feared that the Israelis we were visiting during these Feast of Tabernacles outings were viewing the group as a bunch of mentally-disturbed nut-jobs. I always feared that instead of providing comfort, the brightly colored biblical-style clothing, the waving banners and the chorus of shofars were instead eliciting internal chuckles of disdain.
While a handful of Israelis may indeed view the Feast groups in such a way, I discovered in Sderot that most, especially in locations where Israelis are hurting most, are touched to the core by this bizarre-looking and unfamiliar outpouring of love.
As the group marched down the streets of Sderot, rather than being put off by the costumes, flags and shofars, Israeli pedestrians were clapping, mothers were coming out of their homes weeping and motorists blocked by our procession were honking and cheering.
Last Friday I witnessed hundreds of Israelis being deeply touched, being comforted by hundreds of Christians that most would write off as ¡°freaks.¡± (Sadly, I have heard even fellow believers here in Jerusalem refer to the participants in this event in such derogatory terms.)
So, while donating money to causes in Israel or saying prayers for the Jewish state are all well and good, if you want to really, directly touch the hearts of Israelis where they are, then you need to get to Israel and join these ¡°freaks¡± as they bring the love of our Lord to a hurting and thirsty nation.
For more information on the annual Christian Zionist Feast of Tabernacles celebration and the International Christian Zionist Center, visit Israel My Beloved.
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