September 6 - Dave's Impressions

Impressions from Dave:

On Family: Jerusalem has lots of very beautiful parks of all different sizes. Every night, except Shabbat (Friday night to Saturday night), the parks are filled with individual and extended families cooking over grills, eating, playing family games, talking, and just ‘hanging out.’ They start arriving about 5:00 p.m. and many stay until 10:00 p.m. No TV. No radio. Just verbal and physical interaction with all ages. Most also have a large number of children and consider each one a blessing. Somehow in the US we have become so busy with our own age groups that we hardly have time left for total family activities. I can still remember as a little boy, playing softball and having an adult drop the ball so I could be safe and keep playing instead of being out. We may have some things to learn from the Israeli people.

On Politics: After reading the various Jerusalem newspapers that are translated into English for the last few months and comparing it to politics in the United States, I have to agree with this Israeli evaluation for both countries: “When God created man, he wanted to make him perfect. He searched for the highest virtues on earth and found three: man must be wise, honest, and a politician. When Satan heard what God was planning, he hurried to him and tried to persuade him not to make man perfect so that Satan could perform the role God had intended him for. God was convinced and agreed to compromise. He gave each man only two of the highest qualities. Ever since, if a person is honest and a politician, he isn’t wise; if he is wise and a politician, he isn’t honest, and if he is both honest and wise, he isn’t a politician.” Reuven Barkat

On Indian Time: Last Monday our leader was asked to come and share his story about the upcoming Gathering at a local Messianic Fellowship. The meeting was to last two hours. After about 45 minutes of worshipful singing, our leader was given the microphone. He shared his story and the history of the Gathering and then asked Mark, our new Navajo friend, to share his story. He opened with the best explanation of Indian time I’ve ever heard and then told his story. Then one of the Moluccans shared his story. Each presentation received applause. By the time they finished, they had talked for about 2 hours. No one fell asleep or left. The audience was totally with them the entire time. There were no power points or overheads. It was just simple story telling. When they finished, the church had a time where people could come up and share with or pray for them. That lasted another half hour. Then people were dismissed and still they stayed and talked for another half hour. All in all, we were there for about 4 hours. People’s needs were met in ways we just can’t do in our one hour time slots back home. It was a rich experience. It was an example of ‘Indian Time.’ Americans consider it rude to come late to an event. Time is the issue. Natives consider it rude to leave an event before needs are met. Relationship is the issue. This Israeli congregation listened to Mark and demonstrated their understanding of Indian Time.

Stay “flexible,”
Dave