Gateway to the Word

Today is Sunday, an important day for at least three reasons. First and most important, of course, it is the Lord’s Day, all the more significant in a country where believers in the Messiah who died for our sins and rose again on this day are...

Most people who read the Bible realize that their understanding of the text is increased when they can know something about the historical and cultural background of the text and when they can appreciate the relationships between the characters. But...

Neil Armstrong uttered one of the most iconic statements in the history of the world when he first stood on the moon and said, “That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.” But when Armstrong visited Jerusalem for the...

Every Christian who visits Israel knows how special it is to be able to stand in the same places where Jesus stood, and even to stand before the place where he was crucified and kneel at the tomb from which he rose. And some tour guides perhaps massage...

If yesterday we walked in the footsteps of Paul, today we traced the journey of the Israelites through the wilderness. This is because our adventures took us from Be’er Sheva to Eilat, the southernmost point of the country of Israel, where Israel meets...

When I was a small boy growing up in Michigan I remember following my father out to our detached garage in the winter. The snow was too deep for my short legs to plow through, so I made my way across the yard by putting my feet in his bootprints, clumsily...

What an amazing day! We woke up at Bashara and Sarah’s house in Dvora and are calling it a day here at Judah’s house in Be’er Sheva, where his university is, Ben Gurion University. But how we arrived from one place to the other was...

This morning we headed into Nazareth to gather with Sarah and Bashara’s congregation. Their church is a Baptist church that was started several decades ago by missionaries from the Southern Baptist Convention, who also started a Christian school...

Bryan and I are still finding it hard to wake up in the morning when our bodies are telling us it is time for bed. But that did not quell our enthusiasm for the day that was ahead. Today is Saturday, which for the Jews is the Sabbath day (or, as they...

Well, by God’s grace we landed in Tel Aviv at little before 7am, meaning it was midnight as far as our bodies were concerned. When we touched down everyone on the plane broke into applause. One of the attendants told us over the intercom, “We...