Milestones

Shalom!

Tonight marks a milestone in my life. Two years ago tonight, at a Bless Israel Night in Pennsylvania, I heard a man speak that forever changed the course of my life. I had read this man's Bio and was awed by the resume of achievements in his young life...and I thought that hearing him as a Keynote speaker at this event was going to be very interesting...but NOTHING that I had THOUGHT about hearing him speak could have prepared me for the life altering change that resulted...

How do you track the steps that G-d directs in your walk of faith and service? How do you measure the worth of those significant moments that you KNOW that G-d brought you to? From 1989 to 1996 Ohio restored its' Statehouse Complex and Senate Annex...I was honored to be the Executive Director of the 501.C3 that raise the private dollars for this immense undertaking...one day in 1994, I left my downtown office and drove to a bookstore called the Christian Armory...looking for a book to read...something other than "work" related material...as I walked into that Bookstore, I went to the set of bookshelves where NORMALLY there were LOTS and LOTS of books to choose from...THAT day those shelves were empty except for ONE book: "The Jewish Roots of the Faith" by Marvin Rosenthal. I had no idea who Marvin Rosenthal was, nor had I ever thought ANYTHING about the Jewish Roots of my Christian Faith.

I was raised in a nearly all Jewish neighborhood...a WWII baby born in 1945...when my parents moved to Canton, Ohio in 1952 WWII was barely over...and most of the Jewish Friends I had in that neighborhood told stories of entire families being "lost" in the Holocaust...from the age of 7 I began to study everything I could get my hands on about the Holocaust...even forcing myself to read the horrific experiments Hitler had performed on Jewish Children...I remember watching the Nuremberg trial footage on TV with my parents who carefully taught us what these vile and despicable men had done to the Jews of Europe...G-d had His Hand on the direction of my life even at that very early age...

My parents were devout Christians and we were raised in a very deeply spiritual home with every ounce of respect given to the G-d of Creation and His Son, our Messiah. We were "in Church" every time the Church Doors were open...I taught a Bible School Class...sang in the Church Choir...was a member of the Women's Fellowship...and served as the Missions Secretary for our Church...the man I married was a Christian man and we have worshipped together every week for 35 years as husband and wife UNITED in our Faith that "G-d so loved the World that He sent His Only Begotten Son that whosoever believeth on Him shall never perish, but have Eternal Life." My FAITH was VERY real and VERY strong...made that way by LOTS of mistakes I made over those young and formative years...by the suffering that resulted from those mistakes...and by daily devotional study and prayer time...

However, NOTHING in all the 49 years of my life PREPARED me for what I was about to learn. I took that book off the shelf and stood there reading through it from cover to cover...overwhelmed at what I read...in less than one hour my entire life turned upside down! All the things I had never understood in the Bible suddenly began to make sense to me...even in that hour 16 years ago, I could glimpse that my life course was about to undergo a drastic change...

That's why I was at the Bless Israel Night in Pennsylvania...by 2008 I was FULLY immersed IN and working FOR Israel in EVERY way I knew how at that time...I was eager to hear this Eeki (Itshak) Elner because he would be the FIRST "KEY ISRAELI LEADER" I would ever hear in person...but again, like in 1994, I had no idea that my life was about to take another drastic turn...

When Eeki was called to the stage to speak that night, he followed a deeply anointed time of worship led by the World's Leading Worship Artist - Paul Wilbur. That is why I was in Pennsylvania...I was Paul's Executive Assistant and had gone to set up the Live Concert Paul was doing for this Bless Israel Night...the Shekinah Glory was so powerful during that Concert time that people could barely stand up...it was one of the most Ruach/Spirit filled nights I had experienced...the audience was just beginning to quiet down when Eeki began his Keynote address...as he began to speak, little by little the audience of 3500 individuals began to get more and more quiet...as his speech built toward its finish you could hear a pin drop in that auditorium...his comments on the necessity of "All Jews returning to the Land of their Ancestors" caused 3500 individuals to leap to their feet and give him a thunderous five minute standing ovation...it was during this standing ovation that I turned to my friends with me and said to them: "we have just seen the Restoration of Israel"...I did not know how prophetic those words would turn out to be...

Eeki left Pennsylvania that night...I never got a chance to talk with him...I was swamped with the work for Paul and never could get away to speak to Eeki...the next day, I asked for his email address, and wrote him an email telling him how moving his speech had been...and suggesting that he ask my husband to come to Sderot to teach a course on Ethics at his Leadership Institute...

That mail led to Eeki's reply to me and a series of correspondence began back and forth the Atlantic about how to put together a 501.C3 in the USA to raise awareness and financial support for the work of the Israel Leadership Institute/ILI that Eeki had Co-Founded in Israel...that organizational plan led to me asking Paul for his blessings to step aside from working for him so that I could become the Co-Founder and Executive Director of a brand new 501.C3: The Alliance For The Future Of Israel/AFFI.

Since that night 2 years ago, Eeki's ILI has graduated two Classes of the brightest and best Israeli Men and Women who will lead the Land of G-d in every piece of Her Mosaic. In those 2 years I have met the men and women who serve on the ILI Board of Directors and been honored to have many of them stay with Bill and I...formed close friendships with these men and women who are larger than life itself...and been honored to be their guest in Their Land...it is journey worth all the money in the world...the hours have been exhausting...the work unbelievably invigorating...the challenges mind boggling...the personal and spiritual attacks some of the worst I have ever experienced...

Yet, here we are...at the beginning of the third year of our beloved AFFI and ILI Institute..thinking about the selection process for this next class of Israel's brightest young men and women...praying for His Wisdom and Guidance as we contemplate the next steps He has for us...

I am pausing to reflect on the Milestone that we have crossed this night...and giving the G-d of Israel the full praise of my heart that He allowed me to hear this young David Ben Gurion speak that June night in 2008...and asking Him to watch over and protect Eeki and his ILI Board of Directors, the ILI Students and the families of these loved ones that have become so dear to my heart...and saying again: "HINEYNI ADONAI - Here I am, L-rd, use me!"

Thank you, G-d, for my milestone marker...what a Journey it has been! The best is yet to come!