Jan 18, 2012
Posted on Jan 18, 2012 in Personal | 0 comments
For the past few days we have been in the Atlanta, GA area. We drove through the night the past Saturday night so that we could arrive in time to experience the home birth of some very close friends of ours (Jeff & Melissa Turner) who live about an hour or so outside of the Atlanta area. We were blessed to make it here in time to experience the birth of their daughter and be able to spend time with them over these last few days.
Today, Jeff & I took a trip into Atlanta, and I was privileged to finally meet fellow-blogger Derek Leman in the real world, rather than merely in cyberspace. We all ate lunch together at the Pita Palace, a very tasty kosher restaurant that serves things like shawarma & falafel. It was good to finally meet Derek and spend some time talking about our stories of how we each came to recognize the validity of Torah, as well as hear about the things his congregation, Tikvat David (Hope of David), was doing. It seems like he has a wonderful opportunity to reach out to the greater Atlanta community and bring the hope of Yeshua, coupled with the foundation of the Torah to a world that so desperately needs both. Great to meet you, Derek. Many blessings to you and your congregants!
Nov 24, 2011
Posted on Nov 24, 2011 in Mussar, Personal | 0 comments
Yes, it is Thanksgiving Day, 2011, and I am writing about all of the many things about which I have to be thankful. However, I am writing this is not because it is Thanksgiving Day, but because as I have been studying mussar. Hashem has been dealing with me in the area of gratitude, and today I want to make sure I put into writing a list of things for which I am thankful as a record of Hashem’s blessing and faithfulness in my life.
First, and foremost, I am thankful that Hashem loves me infinitely and that he sent Yeshua in order to bring His message of love into my life. Thank you, Abba.
Second, I am thankful for my beloved wife, soul-mate, best friend and lover. I couldn’t have created a better ezer k’negdo than the one Hashem has provided for me. I am still madly in love with this woman after 17 years of marriage and almost 21 years of friendship. She is my blessing, my anchor, my confidant, my solstice. Thank you, Hashem, for giving her to me.
Next, I am thankful for my four wonderful children, Kaleb, Kai, Boaz and Einya. I am truly blessed with and by these packages of joy in my life. They each come with their unique personality, sense of humor, gifts and mission in life. They are full of zeal for life, and create a special sense of Hashem’s presence in this world. Their joy and innocence bring a bit of tikkun to this life. I pray that I do not taint them with my cynicism and that I am worthy to set them on the path to fulfill their calling in this life. I am also gratefully thankful that Hashem has allowed us to conceive again. We are looking forward to meeting another Huckey child toward the end of March or beginning of April.
I am thankful for the friends with which Hashem has surrounded me. I am very blessed to have a group of close friends who love Him sincerely, and are a constant source of encouragement and inspiration in my life. I can’t express how blessed I have been over these last few years because of them. They have loved and supported me and my family in some of our deepest times of need.
I am thankful for being able to work from home and be with my family nearly 24/7 all year round. Sometimes that can be a frustration point for a family, but not ours. It has only drawn us closer together. I see the fruits of this when I go to a meeting for an hour or two and return home to see my children running from the house to greet me with warm smiles and hugs. I don’t think very many fathers who are away from their homes for 8 to 10 hours a day get this kind of treatment.
I am thankful that I live in a time and an environment in which I have opportunities to serve Hashem in a capacity of which I can take advantage. Although I may not be taking full advantage of these opportunities, the recognition of this is the first step in pushing me towards them. Thank you, Hashem, for your sovereignty.
The last may sound arrogant, but I it’s actually an act of humility, which I have been learning about. I am thankful for the abilities Hashem has placed within me. I often get frustrated that I don’t have one particular thing that I have “mastered” (yes – that’s me – Jack of All Trades, Master of None). However, I am discovering that because of my wide range of abilities, I am able to accomplish many things by making use of these gifts which compliment one another in order to bring about the end result. Thank you, Hashem, for making me uniquely me.
Sep 9, 2011
Posted on Sep 9, 2011 in Personal, Site Changes | 4 comments
Over the last few weeks, I’ve had various problems with my site. It started with Google blacklisted my site because of malware coming from another site on the same server. It eventually ended up infecting my site, and causing my site traffic to drop to the level of non-existent while I was trying to figure out how to track down and fix the infected files (see the screenshot above).
This morning, I sent out a tweet that I was having trouble, and within a minute or two, my friend Cotton Rohrscheib replied and sent me a link to a site that would scan my site and tell me exactly which files were infected so that I could deal with them. (Up to this point I had used several other sites to scan mine, all of them giving me a clean bill of health.) I was able to get things fixed within a matter of minutes.
Thank you, Cotton for your help! And for all of my visitors, please accept my apologies for the scare you’ve been getting while trying to access my site. I’ll try to keep this from happening in the future.
Many blessings to you all, and may you have a wonderful, peace-filled Sabbath!
Jun 5, 2011
Posted on Jun 5, 2011 in Personal, Shavuot | 0 comments
Just wanted to write a quick post letting all of our friends who we might expect to see us in Hudson, WI this week for Shavuot (Pentecost) know that we had to cancel our trip at the last moment due to uncontrollable circumstances. We will miss you all! We hope to have a small gathering of friends here for Shavuot and enjoy celebrate the giving of the Torah together here. Many blessings to you all! May your Shavuot be filled with Simcha (Joy) and the Ruach (Spirit) of our Mighty God!
Feb 11, 2011
Posted on Feb 11, 2011 in Inspiration, Miscellaneous, Personal | 0 comments
This past Shabbat, February 5 (1 Adar, 5771), a beloved co-laborer and spiritual mentor, Dwight A. Pryor, of the Center for Judaic-Christian Studies, passed from this world into the next.
Following are some of my thoughts about Mr. Pryor and how he impacted my life.
One of my earliest exposures to the Jewish roots of my faith came from hearing four Christian scholars at one conference (the Jerusalem Conference, hosted by Dr. Moseley) back in 1998. This was an event I was to attend repeatedly in the subsequent years. The scholars who taught those first few years were:
Did you notice anything about that list? All of the men held a doctorate, but Mr. Pryor. All of the men were authors, except for Mr. Pryor. But these things didn’t make Mr. Pryor any less of a scholar, or of any less caliber than any of these other men. In fact, Mr. Pryor received great respect from all who knew him. In many ways, these other scholars owe their achievements in some part to Mr. Pryor. He was a mentor to Dr. Moseley, and helped Dr. Wilson with the publication of his book. He also helped with the publication of the joint effort of Dr. Blizzard and David Bivin, Understanding the Difficult Words of Jesus: New Insights From a Hebrew Perspective.
I always thought of him as a gentle giant (in more ways than one). He was a tall man, but soft spoken and deeply respectful to everyone with whom he came in contact. And although I didn’t know him personally, he held a dear place in my heart since the moment I briefly met him. He was truly an inspiration. One of the things that inspired me most about Mr. Pryor was that he had so many challenges in life, yet he overcame them through the grace of Yeshua. He had many reasons to complain and loath in self-pity (the loss of his first wife nearly 20 years ago to cancer, losing the use of his hands due to severe arthritis, etc.), yet he was continually full of joy, so much so that it was contagious. One could not help but feel inspired after hearing him speak.
Yesterday, Boaz Michael of First Fruits of Zion, posted the following:
In Chasidic thought, it is an auspicious sign when a person dies on a holy day. On Shabbat Rosh Chodesh Adar, 5771, (the new moon of Adar), my spiritual mentor and teacher, Dwight A. Pryor (זצ״ל), passed into the world of truth. He died on a Shabbat, and more than that, he died on the new moon of Adar. According to the Talmud, “Joy increases in Adar.” In this case, joy may have increased in heaven, but those of us still wrapped in this mortal coil lament the loss.
How true of such a great man as Mr. Pryor.
When we first learned about his passing through yesterday’s FFOZ blog post, my wife and I wept. I commented that you know a person has impacted you deeply when you weep at their passing, even though you do not have a personal relationship with them. Mr. Pryor was a luminary in our lifetime and will be greatly missed. The void of his presence will be felt.
May his memory be for a blessing.
