Prison weekly February 7, 2004

Beshalach For the week of February 7, 2004 / 15 Shevat 5764 Torah: Shemot / Exodus 13:17 - 17:16 Haftarah: Shoftim / Judges 4:4 - 5:31 God Knows Our Limitations Better than We Do When Pharaoh let the people go, God did not lead them on the road through the Philistine country, though that was shorter. For God said, "If they face war, they might change their minds and return to Egypt." (Shemot / Exodus 13:17).I find this comment a little humorous. God led the people a certain way because he knew the other route would cause them great discouragement. Maybe you don't think this is funny, but didn't they go through other great hardships, such as no food and water? Why didn't God keep the people from experiencing those things too?God knew that while the people would find the journey extremely difficult, they would not completely give up. On the other hand, encountering war so quickly would have been more than they could have handled. No one likes hardship. Most of us long to be comfortable, well fed, and stress free. And yet through our lives we find ourselves in situations that we think are beyond what we can endure. Most of the time we find out that if we give the situation time, we make it through. But this is not always the case. Sometimes we seek relief by turning to destructive behaviors, short-cutting the difficult processes God wants to lead us through. And that's the point. God knows our limitations better than we do. God prevented the people of Israel from facing something that they were truly not ready to face. But as for the other things, that was another story. Their hardships were designed to train them in faith, so that they would be prepared to enter the Promised Land as the people of God. If we can trust that God knows what he is doing in how he supervises our lives, we will not be intimidated by difficulties. God is more than able to prevent the things that we can't handle and has made himself available to us in everything else. TorahBytes We're All To Blame "Surely he took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows, yet we considered him stricken by God, smitten by him, and afflicted" (Isaiah 53:4). I had an unusually high amount of responses to last week's Truah message, entitled "We're Like That" (see I had mentioned what I thought was a reasonable concern regarding anti-Jewish sentiment that may arise due to the upcoming release of Mel Gibson's "The Passion." I was surprised at how some people don't think this is a reasonable concern. Even if the movie handles the role of the Jewish leadership with the utmost sensitivity and accuracy, we cannot and should not think that hundreds of years of misrepresentation and ill will can be erased in a moment (or by a three hour movie), unless God himself intervenes. Maybe that is exactly what we need. Another thing that has been brought to my attention more than once by people who have already seen "The Passion" (there have been many preview showings of the movie) is how it relates to who was actually responsible for the death of Yeshua (Jesus). One of the reasons why some people feel that concern over possible negative Jewish reaction to the movie is unfounded is that it apparently (I have not seen the movie) so clearly shows how we all are responsible for Yeshua's death, since it was the sin of all people that sent him to the cross. Therefore, according to these people, how can we claim that any particular group be blamed for it? Objectively speaking, this is the correct view. As foretold by the Jewish prophets, including Isaiah as quoted earlier, Yeshua died for our sins. The New Testament clearly supports this. In fact the New Testament teaches that Yeshua's death was God's remedy for our need of being restored to himself. Yeshua willingly gave his life, that we might be forgiven. The ancient Christian vilification of the Jewish people for the killing of Jesus is one of the most hypocritical attitudes and gross misrepresentations of truth of all time. Not only is each one of us the cause of his death, we are also the chief beneficiaries. It must be, therefore, so grievous to God that anyone would feel threatened by the retelling of this story. It is one thing to have to face our own sinfulness before God, but do we also have to face insensitivity and ignorance on the part of those who should know better? The release of this movie may be a great opportunity for those who have been so blessed by the truth therein to demonstrate its true meaning to those who have been hurt by centuries of misinterpretation and misapplication. Truah-TorahBytes Parsha: Beshalach (Exodus 13:17-17:16) Family Parsha Beshalach 5764 By: Rabbi Kalman Packouz The manna that God provided for the Jews as they journeyed through the desert was a wonder food. It could taste like just about anything you wanted. It digested perfectly, and it fell, free from the sky. But there was just one catch - it came fresh each day, and there was only enough for that day. Even if you wanted to hoard some of it away just in case, it didn't help; it would spoil. God did it this way to teach us to trust in Him, be grateful that we have what we need for today, and not be overly worried about the future. There is nothing wrong with thinking or planning ahead for the future, but we shouldn't worry about it so much that we can never enjoy all the good of the present. In our story, we meet a girl who finds herself torn between the present and the future. "JUST IN CASE" "Amy, get your head out of your backpack and check out this awesome scenery!" My friends might have been laughing but I didn't care. I was prepared for anything, and that was just the way I liked it. It was our class trip, and all the kids were looking out the window, oo-ing and ah-ing as the bus wound its way along the scenic mountain roads on the way to the nature reserve. It may have been pretty, but I had no time to look. I had more important things to do. I went through my backpack and checked off everything on the list, one by one. Bug spray? Check. Emergency flares? (Who knows? We could all get lost and need them to get rescued at night!) Check. Malaria pills? Check. (I knew that people usually only got malaria in tropical jungles, but you could never be sure, could you? Better safe than sorry.) The bus pulled up just as I finished my checklist. I was truly ready for whatever the future might bring. We made our way down the trail. Soon we came to a stream, and some of the kids bent down to drink. "Wait!" I cried out, just in time. Everyone jumped back, and looked at me questioningly, as I dug through my backpack, or my 'just-in-case' case, as I liked to call it. Ah, there it was - my professional water-testing kit. "You can't just go ahead and drink the water!" I scolded. "Who knows if it's poison, or something? Let me just test the water. It will only take ten minutes or so until the results show up. Meanwhile we can all practice a first-aid drill, or something." I was sure everyone would thank me for saving them, but instead, they just giggled, shook their heads, and stuck their hands in the water to drink! Well I wasn't going to drink untested water, that's for sure. As I began to fill up one of the test-tubes, our guide, Sandy, came over. "Amy, I'm sure you have good intentions, and if this was an unknown stream you would be right, but I think it's really okay. I've been hiking this trail for years, and this water is fresh and pure. If there was a problem, the park rangers would put up a notice." "But how can you be 100% sure?" I argued. "Maybe something's wrong this time." The guide smiled. "It's great you want to be careful... I also try to be. But we're being reasonably careful here. And besides - we're not alone. God is watching out for us. So why not trust Him and enjoy the beautiful world He gave us? Come and enjoy a cool, refreshing drink with the rest of us." I saw she was trying to be nice, but nothing doing. If there was the slightest chance, I wasn't going to take it. I went on with my test, but it was time to move on before the results came in, so I settled for some of the sterilized water I had brought with me instead. To tell you the truth, it didn't taste so good, and the stream did look refreshing, but I didn't want to risk it - just in case... We went back to the bus for lunch, and then it dropped us off at the next trail from where we would hike to meet up with it on the other end. All the kids seemed so relaxed and bubbly, but if anything, I was extra nervous. After all, so many things could go wrong in the woods. We got to an open field, and though everyone else just started laughing and romping through it, I bent down to take a good look at the plants. They seemed innocent enough, but I once heard that some plants are poisonous, and can cause people who step on them to break out in hives. Good thing I had my plant identification book. I went to open my just-in-case case and panicked. Not only wasn't the book there, but it wasn't even my backpack! In the jumble getting off the bus after lunch, I had grabbed the wrong bag and left mine there! I froze in my tracks. "C'mon Amy, we're all waitin' for you!" called out one of my friends from across the meadow. What would I do now? How could I just walk through a field of potentially poisonous plants? Still, I couldn't stay there forever. I remembered Sandy's words: "We're not alone... Why not trust Him?" It looked like this time I had no choice. I slowly tip-toed my way across like I was in a mine field. I stared down at my feet. I sure didn't know which plants were what, but I had to admit ... they were pretty. I saw tall purple flowers, and smaller orange and yellow ones in between. As I went on, I began to feel a bit more relaxed. After all, I reasoned, everyone had walked through, and they looked all right. Maybe there really was no reason to worry - after all, we weren't alone. We hiked on, and I began to notice for the first time how beautiful everything was. I was usually so busy testing things and looking them up that I hadn't had the time to notice. As we got close to the end of the trail, we were all pretty tired and thirsty as we reached another stream. Like before, the kids started to drink and I instinctively reached for my bottle of lukewarm water. I was about to take a sip, but felt my eyes drawn to the stream. The cool, flowing water looked so much more appealing. If only I could test it... I raised the bottle to my lips, then lowered it again. I glanced up and saw Sandy looking my way. I looked into her smiling eyes, and then looked longingly at the stream. She must have understood because she nodded her head and silently mouthed the words, "Amy, it's okay." I took a deep breath, bent down, cupped my hands and drank. It was the sweetest, most delicious water I had ever tasted! Maybe I had been a bit too cautious after all. When we got to the bus, I went to my seat and sure enough, there was my case. Suddenly it looked over-stuffed and silly to me. I decided that next time, I'm not going to bring nearly as much 'emergency' stuff along. I'm still going to be responsible and cautious, but I'm not going to let every possible worry stop me from trusting in the present instead of fearing for the future. Aish.com MBupdates:Shalom in Yeshua our Messiah,Kathy made several egg-n-cheese sandwiches Friday and they had plenty of donuts throughout the day. The left over donuts and other things we have abundance of we take to a mental health facility. The people there are always so happy to receive what we bring and they all want hugs from who ever delivers. I have yet to go but have plans to visit them this coming Friday.We served cheeseburger-macaroni,potatoes-n-greenbeans and bread-n-butter for dinner and even had to make vegtable soup for three who came late. A lady brought in a case of cereal, coffee, creamer, powdered milk and a few clothes,someone else brought in five loafs of homemade bread. CMA brought in nine dozen eggs and a case of velveeta type cheese,a few pairs of mens jeans, thermal underware, and a few t-shirts all of which are gone the cereal went like lighting. If any of you have food items you wish to donate just drop them by the Mission when we are there on Tuesday or Friday if we don't use them in our meals they will go to someone in need of food.The funding to print the Feb. newsletter is in but we still need the postage to mail it out. the food account is right at 70.00 I pray Yeshua will build it for the next meat sale. I checked ground beef this morning and it went from 1.68 a pound to 2.89 a pound however I was able to buy 100 pounds last week at .99 cents a pound. If you are lead to help with food cost you can send your gift in the mail just mark it use for food. Or you can go on-line to messiahsbranch.org and donate to the Messiah's Branch food account using that link. We need blankets, x-large and large mens coats, baby blankets and items of all use for an infant. If you have plastic grocery bags PLEASE drop them by the Mission we always have a need for these as the people use them to carry their things around town. We really need some cook ware as our pans are wearing out new or used would be a blessing all sizes but mainly 20 quart or larger. I also need funds for disinfectant, bleach, hand soap, dish soap, deoterizer,pinesol, plastic forks-n-spoons, drinking cups, plates (ones we can also use for take out) desert plates,trash bags,hot sauce,hot peppers and salt -n-pepper shakers these are things we use every feed day so there is always a need for them.Please pray for Kathy our kitchen helper as she slipped coming out of their fifth wheel and landed hard on the metal stairs two weeks ago. She went Sunday and found she has a fractured vertabre. Their 95 year old grandpa is in Wesley Hospital with conjestive heart failure so Please pray for them and their family.May you all be Blessed with warmth and His Word Shalom sisterlinda Trivia Question:. Who was made mute because he did not believe the words of Gabriel regarding his wife's pregnancy? Find This Passage:To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven: A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted; A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up; A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance; A time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing; A time to get, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away; A time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak; A time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace.

ANSWERS DO NOT INCLUDE:1. Who was made mute because he did not believe the words of Gabriel regarding his wife's pregnancy?
A. Zacharias Luke 1: 18-20 18 And Zacharias said unto the angel, Whereby shall I know this? for I am an old man, and my wife well stricken in years. 19 And the angel answering said unto him, I am Gabriel, that stand in the presence of God; and am sent to speak unto thee, and to shew thee these glad tidings. 20 And, behold, thou shalt be dumb, and not able to speak, until the day that these things shall be performed, because thou believest not my words, which shall be fulfilled in their season.

Ecclesiastes 3:1-8
To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven:
A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted;
A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up;
A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance;
A time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;
A time to get, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away;
A time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;
A time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace.





with much love sisterlinda & Mark 9:23,10:27 Jesus said unto him, If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth.And Jesus looking upon them saith, With men it is impossible, but not with God: for with God all things are possible