Aug 28, 2008
Posted on Aug 28, 2008 in Judaism, Miscellaneous, Personal | 0 comments
I don’t have a lot of time to post, but I wanted to share a quick thought…
In this week’s parasha (Re’eh) we find the following:
You shall not do like everything we do here today, every man what is proper in his eyes. For you will not yet have come to the resting place or to the heritage that Hashem, your G-d gives you (Devarim 12:8-9)
According to a midrashic approach to this passage, when we are all approaching the Scriptures and living out Torah through our own interpretations and traditions, we are not entering into the resting place of Hashem, nor the heritage that Hashem wants to give us. Not only are we causing confusion and anarchy among our family and brethren, we are being “wise in our own eyes.”
My family is constantly working to make slow, calculated steps towards greater observance of the mitzvot as spelled out by greater Judaism in order to do exactly this. No, we are not swallowing anything blindly, but neither are we presumptuously trying to reinvent the wheel in areas that have long been defined within historic Judaism. Please keep in mind that steps such as these have to be done with great humility and showing of grace to others. This is not a message of condemnation to those who are outside of this paradigm. I would love to see the greater Messianic community one day reach the place of becoming somewhat homogeneous in our approach to living out Torah, b’ezrat Hashem (with the help of Hashem). However, we must be gracious to those who are not on this particular fork of the road on which we are traveling. We must all work out our own salvation with fear and trembling. Just as Boaz shared this past weekend at the The Commandment to Bless seminar, we have to set a high personal standard for our families, while at the same time being gracious to others as they progress in their journey. There is no room for elitism or intolerance. Let’s raise the bar as well as help people to get over it, rather than beating them with it.
Let us seek to enter into the resting place of Hashem, and into the heritage that He wants to give us.
Jun 27, 2008
Posted on Jun 27, 2008 in Miscellaneous, Personal | 2 comments
I have intended on posting this for several days, but haven’t been able to find the time…
A little over a month ago I posted a note about my eldest son (age seven) who has been suffering for the last two years with breathing difficulties. I had rejoiced that he had actually made it through one night without having to use his inhaler (although he ended up having to use it the next morning). After that he fell back into the same pattern of having to use it at least once a night and sometimes during the day. We were finally able to get into the allergy / asthma clinic and he was finally able to get some relief.
He appears to have severe asthma, complicated by severe allergies. They did a prick test (where they put all of the different allergens on your back) and out of the 45 items for which he was tested, he was allergic to 33 of them. They prescribed 5 different medications in an attempt to get his breathing and bronchial inflammation/spasms under control and want to see him again next month (at which time he will also see a respiratory therapist). We have been giving him only three of the prescriptions, and only half the dosage of the main one (an inhaled steroid – yuk).
This past Monday night marked one full week that he has been able to go without his inhaler. Not during the night, not after playing hard out in the yard, not at all. It has been a night and day experience, for which we are very thankful to our Heavenly Father. Although we are not excited about the medications he is taking, we are very thankful for the results. We will be looking into alternative methods of keeping this under control long term, but for now, this is a quick fix that is working amazingly well.
Thank you, again, for your prayers! I can’t wait until we reach the one month mark, rather than just the one week mark! Please continue to keep him in your prayers for complete healing, and us for wisdom. Baruch Hashem for His blessings, and for friends like you.
-Darren
Jun 25, 2008
Posted on Jun 25, 2008 in Miscellaneous, Personal | 1 comment
Today is my fourteenth wedding anniversary to the most wonderful woman on the face of Hashem’s earth. Thank you, Sweetheart, for being such a wonderful wife and an incredible mother to our four children. You are Hashem’s best gift to me ever. I love you and want all the world to know it! Happy Anniversary!
May 19, 2008
Posted on May 19, 2008 in Children, Miscellaneous, Personal | 1 comment
I just want to publicly praise Hashem for a blessing in our family. Last night was the first night in months that my son did not have to use his inhaler through the night. For this we are VERY thankful!
A week ago last Friday (the 9th) we had to spend the middle of the night on Shabbat in the Emergency room with him because of his breathing (or lack thereof). Since that time, we have had friends in our community begin to try and help us track down potential health hazards that may be triggering breathing problems for him (other than merely genetic disposition). One step is that we were loaned two air purification systems for our home. Another step is that one of the men from our fellowship came and did some back-breaking work in order to help get rid of mold that we found beneath our house. He spent all day Friday spraying the underside of our house in order to kill the mold, and installing a de-humidifier and laying a vapor barrier in order to prevent future re-occurrence of the mold. I am praying this is what is making the difference, along with the prayers of the saints.
Thank you for your prayers for my son, and rejoice with me in this moment that Hashem has given us a moment of His loving touch!
Mar 27, 2008
Posted on Mar 27, 2008 in Miscellaneous, Personal | 0 comments
What is it about skipping rocks across a creek that is so therapeutic? The beginning of this week started with a much needed getaway — an overnight camping trip to northwest Arkansas with another family from our congregation. No computer. No cell phone (the battery conveniently died). The weather, although frigid at night, was perfect during the day and I could have quite happily spent the next few weeks doing nothing but hiking trails with my family and throwing rock after rock into a creek that never seemed to tire of my fruitless toil.
The trip was a renewal in many ways. However, the primary renewal came in the stillness and slowness of everything around me (except for my children, that is). It was a time of contemplation, prayer, meditation and re-evaluation. It was a time of inspiration and awe of the hand of Hashem on His creation.
I spent most of my time relishing in the stillness of the day and being inspired by the thought-provoking illustrations of The Committed Life by Rebbetzin Esther Jungreis. I’ve mentioned it before, but I can’t recommend this book enough. I had first read it a little over two years ago, and began re-reading it the last week or so. I took it with me on the trip and it served as a source of inspiration and reminder of all that Hashem wishes that we should become, and how it should affect those around us.
Being in that environment was a good reminder of Yeshua’s parable about the different types of soils (Matthew 13) and how I had somehow become the soil of the thorny ground, and that I had been allowing the “worries of life” and “the deceitfulness of making ends meet” (because it surely wasn’t wealth) choke out my zest for life. This week I have a renewed hope and vision, as well as a fresh perspective on Torah as a result of taking a moment to put a halt on the busyness of life and throw a few rocks in a creek with my children. What will it take for you?
