“I know what you mean. Work clashes with my life. This is an issue that I can’t quite resolve.”

I cracked up laughing. But I sure do feel like that at times. I suppose the opposite could be said as well: “Life clashes with my work…” Everything has certainly been clashing with keeping you updated on what is happening. I’ve successfully moved and am enjoying my new apartment more and more each day. The little frustrations of life, like a new toaster that burned out the electric and required resetting my internet connection, make for a good laugh later on. More important are the blessings. Friends who have helped, my god-son who helped me put some furniture together yesterday, others who encourage me, and wonderful, merciful savior without whom I could not have made it through–anything! And Israel too is being blessed with rain, much-needed rain to replenish our reservoirs. It has also been the coldest winter in 20 years, but who is complaining? We have rain!

I was also very excited to get a surprising e-mail last week. I entered a Help project I developed for Accordance Bible Software in a Society for Technical Communication chapter competition. I was stunned to received the highest possible award, “Distinguished Technical Communication,” making my entry a candidate in the International competition to be held in May 2012. WOW! God is good. I not only got some good tips on how to improve the Help, but was given something strong to add to my resume.

I am so blessed. It is easy to complain. I suppose there are things to complain about. But at the end of the day, which is more important, the electric crashing toaster, or the God of the universe who is taking such good care of me? I’ll give you a clue: I am NOT voting for the toaster!

I hope to find time to share later on with some of the very special things the Lord has ministered to me since I moved into my the apartment. Obviously, it was with quite mixed feelings. Memories of my previous apartment in Nesher, memories of Rich and the kids, our home, all the things that have brought me where I am now. And yet HIS good hand has clearly been guiding, comforting, and blessing.

Whatever your situation today, I hope that you too can filter through the good and the bad, and find that God’s blessing is in all of it! May our sacrifices of praise become free will offerings of praise.

And now its Friday. Tomorrow I’m looking forward to taking the mother of one of my students, and three students on a tour of the Galilee, come rain or shine, and it looks like rain. Tonight though, I had my usual class. I had a few new students, several students who hadn’t been there in a few weeks, and some regulars… so with a prayer in my heart, I decided to change the lesson to something more group oriented, and we took a look at the task of translation, using Psalm 23.

The assignment? The students had to translate verse 3 from Psalm 23, from Chinese into English. It was amazing how different, yet how similar, their translations were. But beyond the task at hand, understanding how to translate, the need to look at original language, keep the spirit of the poetry, and maintain meaning, there were nuances in Hebrew not carried into Chinese, and nuances in Chinese that could not be carried easily into English.

Yet the truth of the Word still came through in every translation. Here are a few examples some of the Chinese to English translations suggested:

He awakens my soul and leads me to the moral road to disseminate His virtue.

He wakes up my soul and leads me to the right way in the name of His honor.

He awakens my soul and for his name guides me through to the righteous road.

He wakes my soul up and leads me to righteousness because of His holy name.

I found it interesting that what is generally translated as “He restores my soul,” in Chinese, for each student, came across as “awakes” or “awakens.” Apparently, this concept in Chinese carries the idea of renewal, starting over, restoration, and so…

But isn’t it a beautiful picture? He awakens my soul… my soul which was sad and dreary from the frustrations of the day, soul sick from loss or illness, my soul which was asleep to the need around me… He awakens my soul!

And what about, not just “paths of righteousness” but being led on the “righteous road?” Somehow, it just rang in my soul. God doesn’t just leads us in paths of righteousness, but the entire road He leads us on is righteous!

And so, while my students gained a deeper appreciation for the task of translation, and we were able to discuss the tools at hand to help them when they have to translate something for their own understanding, I was blessed with a deeper appreciation for Psalm 23.

Interesting because I love the music I had gone to hear; interesting because it was hard for me to focus on enjoying the music. I felt so badly  for my friend… You see, my friend had an orchestra in which a few people felt they knew better than the conductor. I’ve heard that example used in sermons in the past, but to hear it with my own ears was, well, painful.

Imagine if you can:

• One violin just slightly out of tune.
• A new musician showing up with no time to practice and little experience.
• A musician tuning his instrument in the middle of a piece.
• The conductor directing the starting note, and no one comes in, then this sudden lagged sound as one by one the instruments start playing, not in unison.
• A tempo that started briskly and then starts to lag, with the conductor moving and waving his wand in vain.

Later that evening, we asked my friend what he said to the orchestra afterwards.

“Nothing,” he said. “What could I say at this point?”

And that really stunned me. I would have been furious. I would have told them they embarrassed themselves and me, and made the other musicians miserable. I would have asked them, “Did someone pay you to play this badly?”

My friend was so discouraged, and not looking forward to the next performance, now less than 24 hours away. I shared with him, that I still found something positive in all this, and that was his godly attitude in handling it all, and that it served as a reminder to me of how patient God is with us, as well as a very vivid example of how importance unity in the body is.

But the real lesson came the next night. I was told, “It was like a different orchestra. They were great, and everyone performed so much better. It was wonderful.”

And I saw God’s fingerprint all over again. You see, most of the time, we know when we’ve blown it. And God, the perfect conductor doesn’t yell, or chide, or condemn. But He does grieve over the disharmony in our lives. God sees and hears the chaos resulting from our sin, and how it impacts those around us. We only see and hear what is relevant to ourselves, and to be truthful, it doesn’t look that bad from our seats. But when our sin has a visible impact that we can see… we get the message.

The orchestra got the message. They played in unity. Each member uniquely different, playing according to the conductor’s rhythm, not their own. And in doing so, they enabled each other, and the singers to further excel. In honoring the Conductor, and bringing him “glory,” each member was honored. But the orchestra had to repent and choose to follow the Conductor.

Sound familiar? As we approach 2012, may we each keep our eyes fixed on our perfect conductor, Jesus, and follow Him through all the rhythms of life.

Last week (Dec. 11) I signed a contract to rent an apartment, and learned that the landlord was very happy to think I might stay at least five years, if not longer! And I was happy to discover that the land in front of the entrance to the apartment belongs to the apartment: In other words, I am free to plant flowers or trees, or vines there, as long as it is nice and doesn’t disturb the neighbors. What fun!

The day after signing the contract, I went out to get some much needed errands done. While between stores, I couldn’t shake the thought to visit a store where I had started to buy a set of dishes, only to learn a few pieces in that the pattern was sold out and there were no plans to bring in more. Well, the thought wouldn’t go away, and I went, and lo and behold, I found the missing soup bowls for the set! I went to the checkout, and asked if by any chance they had any more dinner plates. I only needed one more to finish service for six, but wanted an extra, just in case. The clerks actually argued over whether or not to take my request, so certain was one that they were not to be found in the country! The other clerk won out though. She said, it won’t hurt to ask, and she took my name and phone number. And I didn’t here from them. But I was thankful for my soup bowls!

Still, despite so much to be thankful for, I’ve found myself hit with the holiday blues. Missing Rich, the kids, and struggling with a pain in my ankle that won’t go away. A couple of days ago I found myself again counting my alters, and wondering, “Lord, am I really where you want me? Has it really been You leading me all this way, including to marry Rich, or am I just deceiving myself.”

As I prayed, I felt the Lord reassuring me, and yet, in my fear of self, I said, “I just need a sign, something I can look at.” The thought entered my mind, “Lord, give me two plates to finish my set. I know I only need one, but please give me two.” And then I felt stupid asking even that… you know how it goes. Prayed a bit longer, read more in my Bible, and went to sleep.

The next day (yesterday, Dec. 21), I got a phone call at work. It was the store that I had visited. They had received exactly TWO of the plates I needed. Did I still want them?

And I am awestruck again, at what an amazing God I serve. How much He loves me, in the little things and in the big things. Carrying me through the dark times, and giving me visible encouragements to keep me on track!

And as I consider Christmas, I am reminded again, that THIS is the message of Christmas, not just “love” but God’s love poured out on man: God limiting Himself into human flesh for you and me–not to give us a set of dishes–but to restore our relationship with God and bring us forgiveness of sins.

Christmas is meaningless without an empty grave. But with it? What a wonderful reason to again sing with the hymn writer, “If ever I loved Thee, my Jesus ’tis now.”

May you, my friends and readers, have a blessed Christmas, rejoicing in our Savior’s birth, that we might be born again!

Sunday morning got up early to meet the former owners of my car and do the title transfer. Caught the bus and got there right on the dot of 8:30 am! I’m telling you, perfect timing does not happen often in Israel! After a bit of confusion with paperwork, all was done and I got in my car to drive to the center of town (called Hadar) and get a parking sticker for my car, since I live on a street with paid parking only.

Found out that the information I’d received was partial, AND that the owners gave me an OLD copy of the car registration. But the former owner just happened to be in Hadar at the same time, popped over, gave me the correct registration, the clerk was merciful to me and gave me the sticker without all the proper documentation, got home, just happened to find a place to park at 10:30 am near my apartment (which is near the hospital which has no parking), and got to work by 10:45. That evening I spent the evening battling with our Internet Provider and Wireless provider, trying to get a functioning Internet connection to my computer. Alas, to no avail… to bed late, up early…

Monday, I simply had to get some shopping done, and wanted to go out with my new car, but got this crazy idea to look at a couple of apartments in a neighborhood called Neve Shanan… not near the hospital, but happens to be a nice neighborhood on the direct bus line to the hospital where I work, AND near my God-children and their parents. I fell in love with the apartment, but not the price… but couldn’t shake how much I liked it. On the eighth floor, it has a beautiful view of the Mediterranean Sea and the peninsula to the far North just before the border of Lebanon. Windows across the entire living room, kitchen, and one of the bedrooms; a well-arranged kitchen, and decent size bathroom and toilet room (in Israel the toilet is usually in a room separate from the tub/shower). On the way home, did some shopping, and just happened to get a decent parking space, again near where I live.

Unfortunately the Internet was still not working, and battled with the providers again, and still sporadic service… to bed late again.

At work the next day, didn’t have much to do and didn’t accomplish much, but when I got home, suddenly the Internet was working, at least partially, and so rushed to get some private work done that was overdue. At a certain point though, the speed just plain slowed down, and then after 30 min of uploading my work, I was informed of a fatal error that meant a total waste of time; an error which if the program had told me HOW to enter comments and what symbols NOT to use, would never have happened. By now it was 11 pm, and I just wanted to sleep.

I prayed, “Lord, please let the second upload go faster so that I can get to bed.” And then I pulled out my evening devotional, read it, looked at the computer, and lo and behold, it just happened to read, upload successful. And THAT got me to thinking, because I’d been thinking about the apartment I’d seen all day, trying not to think, but you know how that goes.

Slept, and woke up around 5 am today, and found myself praying, and thinking about the tapestry a friend put on my wall, “Wait on the Lord,” and somehow I just knew, I will see the apartment again, and see if I can get it to rent. And trust the Lord for my emergencies. Feeling great peace, I went to turn on my bedside light and heard a loud POP and the light winked out.

I thought the lightbulb burned out… but discovered that the electric no longer worked in half the apartment! And then I realized that this too was an answer to prayer, because my room-mate (Karin) and I have been discussing for weeks that we don’t like the sparks that fly when we plug stuff in. Most recently, she got an electric burn on her hand when she touched the stove while turning off the gas. With the electric not working in half the apartment, now the landlord HAS to do something.

And as I share this, I realize, I don’t know if I’ll get the apartment I saw or not. But what I do know is this: All these things just happened to strengthen my faith, encourage me, and remind me that my hope is not in my salary, my landlord, or government bureaucracy. My hope is in the LIVING GOD who made the heavens and the earth, and for some crazy, incomprehensible reason, He loves me and is taking care of me… and I am so grateful.

P.S. Forgot to mention that Saturday night I just happened to find decent tickets to get to the US for my step-daughter’s wedding in June!