I will never forget the experience, reminisce it often, and through it all, have gained a depth and understanding in my Christian faith that I doubt I would have otherwise.

If you are a follower of Jesus, are aged between 18 – 40, and have ever had a prompting to visit Israel, I could not speak more highly of the Engage Israel tour.  ’Tour’ doesn’t do it justice…  It is 2 weeks of being fully immersed in the culture, the people, places, the history – being a blessing to the people, and doing things no ordinary tourist would do.  It is definitely no old-folks tour!

Click here to read Kristy’s account of our trip.

Click here to read the PDF study I wrote as a result of being in Israel.

Click here to visit Engage Israel’s website.

Let’s talk about translations…

There are two types of modern Bible translation and all of our English versions are one or the other or a mix of both:

Literal (or Formal Equivalence) which is a ‘word for word’ translation of the original texts. Literal translations are the most accurate, but sacrifice readability to be true to the original.

Paraphrase (or Dynamic Equivalence) which is a ‘thought for thought’ translation of the original texts. Paraphrase translations are the easiest to read, but sacrifice accuracy (and sometime much of it) to be easily understood.

I’ve been a New Living Translation reader for years. The NLT is a Paraphrase/Literal hybrid. The first edition received heavy criticism for being too inaccurate. The Second Edition (or NLT2) is an honest attempt to remedy the errors.

The New Living will always have a special place in my heart and I will continue to read/preach from it at times, but lately I’ve felt to find a new translation, one which is more true to the original and readable.

I’ve found it… The English Standard Version, considered by most to be the most accurate modern English translation. A Bible scholar at Biblia Hebraica et Graeca, gives his top ten English translations (in order of preference):

1. English Standard Version (ESV) – readable and accurate
2. New American Standard Bible (NASB) – accurate
3. New Living Translation (NLT) – readable
4. King James Version (KJV) – classic
5. Holman Christian Standard Bible (HCSB) – readable, fairly accurate
6. New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)
7. New English Translation (NET)
8. Jewish Publication Society (JPS)
9. New International Version (NIV)
10. New King James Version (NKJV)

(I must laugh at the no. 10 spot.)

So, I bought The English Standard Version (ESV) Study Bible yesterday. It looks like a small windowless building and weighs about the same, but I have to admit… I like.

The ESV Study Bible was released in 2008. It is most comprehensive Study Bible ever published—with 2,752 pages of extensive, accessible Bible resources —equivalent to a 20-volume Bible resource library all contained in one volume:

• 2 million words of Bible text and insightful teaching in 2,752 pages.
• 20,000 notes—focusing especially on understanding the Bible text and providing answers to frequently raised issues.
• Over 50 articles—including articles on the Bible’s authority and reliability; on biblical archaeology, theology, ethics, and personal application.
• 200-plus charts—offering key insights and in-depth analysis in clear, concise outline form; located throughout the Bible.
• Over 200 full-color maps—created with the latest digital technology, satellite images, and archaeological research; printed in full color throughout the Bible.
• 80,000 cross-references—to encourage easy location of important words, passages, and biblical themes.
• 40 all-new illustrations—including full-color renderings and architectural diagrams of the Tabernacle, the Ark of the Covenant, Solomon’s temple, Herod’s temple, the city of Jerusalem in Jesus’ time and throughout the history of Israel, and many more.

So with my trusty (but heavy) ESV Study Bible, I literally (heh) can’t wait to spend time in the Word of God, and that, my friends, is a very very good thing indeed.

(Preview the ESV Study Bible online here.)

When I was a lad I broke into church. Frequently.

My friend and I discovered that on a certain afternoon the church premises were unoccupied so we hatched a cunning plan.

After the Sunday evening service concluded, one of us would arrange that an inconspicuous window at the back of the building be unlatched.

When the time was right (usually excusing myself from a class or two) we would…

1. Amble to church

2. Slip through the preprepared window

3. Climb the auditorium wall to the mezzanine floor (where we had access to the sound system and power)

4. Proceed to spend many hours learning to play the musical instruments… other people’s musical instruments.

Steps 1-4 repeated for several weeks/months until the powers-that-be became aware of the mysterious enterings and sadly our afternoon 2-piece-band practices ceased.

Perhaps it was the scuff marks on the auditorium wall (made by my converse basketball boots) that gave us away.

We were interrogated questioned but of course we ‘knew nothing’.

People sometimes ask me how I learned to play various instruments being only self-taught…

20 years later the secret is out ;-).

I have read accounts of exorcisms where two or more demons spoke out of the same person simultaneously.

(That’s an attention-grabbing first-sentence if ever I wrote one.)

A phenomenon, which is humanly impossible… but skeptics disagree.  Nay-sayers are quick to point out that the people of Mongolia have been able to produce different voices at the same time for thousands of years.

Actually, they can’t.  Not even close.  What can be achieved however (and not just by Mongolians) is that a base note can be sung (if it can be called singing), and harmonics (or overtones) can be made at the same time by shaping the mouth.

This ancient singing technique is called Khöömii and I find it intriguing.

What better way to spend a date night than trying to Khöömii and in between fits of laughter, (and sounding like we needed exorcising), PaisleyJade and I eventually perfected the art of, no not throat-singing, but… Dory speaking Whale.

Click here to see six different styles of throat singing.

Click here to learn how to sing Khöömii.

Click here to learn how to speak Whale.

Cracks me up how times have changed – So this is what it was like to be a teacher in the good old ‘Anne of Avonlea’ days…  How romantic.

Rules For Teachers 1915

1. You will not marry during the term of your contract.

2. You are not to keep company with men.

3. You must be home between the hours of 8 p.m. and 6 a.m. unless attending a school function.

4. You may not loiter downtown in ice cream stores.

5. You may not travel beyond city limits unless you have the permission of the chairman of the board.

6. You may not ride in a carriage or automobile with any man unless he is your father or brother.

7. You may not smoke cigarettes.

8. You may not dress in bright colors.

9. You may under no circumstances dye your hair.

10. You must wear at least two petticoats.

11. Your dresses must not be any shorter than two inches above the ankle.

12. To keep the school room neat and clean, you must:
- sweep the floor at least once daily
- scrub the floor at least once a week with hot, soapy water
- clean the blackboards at least once a day
- start the fire at 7 a.m. so the room will be warm by 8 a.m.

(Source: Old Sacramento Schoolhouse Museum)

You don’t know me, but I feel I know you – and somehow connect on a deep level.  I relate.

This is just a short note to say Thank you.

Thank you for making me smile. Thank you for providing a ray of sunshine to otherwise dreary days.  You are an inspiration.  Such sincerity, such earnestness, such perseverance to the bitter end.  Your ingenuity was beyond your time… maybe too far ahead.  I mean – Who else would think of stringing ‘Christ The Lord Is Risen Today’ with ‘That’s Amore’?

I don’t laugh at you, I laugh with you… again and again.  They say laughter is the best medicine… so thank you from the bottom of my heart.

Symon Drake

Once again, the world screamed foul and unanimously condemned Israel for its actions fueling anti-Israel sentiment amongst the masses… emotional outbursts, protests, riots, anger, hate.

With this in mind I wish to ask us some questions…

Why are we so quick to believe everything we see and hear?Does the world’s ‘unbiased’ media report events with a predetermined bias?Are we being conditioned to have a specific attitude toward Israel?

Why do certain sectors of global society hate Israel so much?

Now, the real truth surfaces (see video below), but as history proves time and time again, the damage has been done, and antisemitism has had it’s booster shot.

Funny, how the media moguls never retract their damning news-flashes, and what we should be seeing on the front-page headlines are only seen in insignificant, but intelligent publications and blogs.

(Photo: Muhammad Mahdi Karim)

The other day my wife and I were the guest speakers at our church’s ‘Senior Saints’ group.

We sang vintage chorus’s with great gusto (helped along by a piano accordion) had yarns and laughs and listened to amazing stories (like hiding-from-Nazis-in-wartime-Holland).

We were sad to leave, but eventually had to (laden with gifts and cake).

Very good times indeed.

As a kid I never spent much time with Old Folk — and to be honest, I was a bit scared of them.  Call me a slow learner but nowadays I’ve realised a priceless truth:

Old Folk are just like us ‘young folk’… only older.

Yep… I must declare that Old Folk Rock! (Especially the happy ones that love the Lord and laugh at my jokes.)

I tell everyone I’m doing it to stay fit, trim and to rediscover the washboard hiding in the mono-ab somewhere, but perhaps its just that I really am a clown.

I can tell you’re guffawing – but don’t pass judgment until you’ve viewed the clip below. I’m not that fond of pirouettes either, but I do think you will be impressed. Even more so, when you understand firsthand the skill needed for pulling off something like this.

Anyway – I didn’t even know Sir Francis was a man of faith until today, when I heard a prayer of his.

A brief history lesson:

Francis Drake was an adventurer and essentially a legal pirate (hero of the English, arch-villain of the Spaniards).  He wrote this prayer as he departed Portsmouth to raid Spanish gold on the west coast of South America.  He eventually returned to England (the long way – via circumnavigation) with loot worth over a half million pounds sterling, and received his Knighthood for it.

Sir Francis Drake’s Prayer (1577)

Disturb us, Lord, when
We are too pleased with ourselves,
When our dreams have come true
Because we dreamed too little,
When we arrived safely
Because we sailed too close to the shore.Disturb us, Lord, when
with the abundance of things we possess
We have lost our thirst
For the waters of life;
Having fallen in love with life,
We have ceased to dream of eternity
And in our efforts to build a new earth,
We have allowed our vision
Of the new Heaven to dim.Disturb us, Lord, to dare more boldly,
To venture on wilder seas
Where storms will show Your mastery;
Where losing sight of land,
We shall find the stars.We ask you to push back
The horizons of our hopes;
And to push back the future
In strength, courage, hope, and love.This we ask in the name of our Captain,
Who is Jesus Christ.Pretty awesome great great great+ uncle if you ask me ;-)