Shabbat shalom, everyone.
The Crocodile of the Nile
I hope you had an easy fast for the Tenth of Tevet, the Fast of the Tenth Month. As I glanced at the Zoom chat box after our weekly classes, this week, I realized that not everyone was clear on why we fast on the Tenth of Tevet. While most of my weekly online students have been with me for several years, newer students missed the Four Fasts and the Torah portions in which we unpacked some reasons why they appear in Zechariah. It dawned on me…if they missed some of the Four Fast teachings, then probably they’re a little lost when I discuss the Egyptian crocodile/serpent as the “father” of the beast kingdoms. It’s not that folks don’t try to catch up, it’s that the number of teaching videos available is overwhelming when one searches for a particular topic of interest. I can’t even remember what topic is in what videos!
For that reason, in the livestream on Shabbat, I will re-cap a 2020 teaching on the Torah portion Vayechi, which describes how Egypt became the crocodile/serpent and how Joseph lost his position as “father to Pharaoh.” If you can’t tune in live, please help yourself to the YouTube channel recording afterward.
The Bluebird
For the last month, we’ve been in Lucedale, Mississippi. You probably just thought, “Where?”
I know, right?
It’s about the same size as where we live in London, Kentucky, which is also “Where?”
The short version of this story is that about a year ago, we purchased a little country church for sale in Lucedale. The price was far under appraisal value. We have been renovating, and it has become “The Bluebird House,” a three-bedroom, two-bath hospitality house for Hebraic Roots Network programmers who are in town to record at the studio in Lucedale, and it is a place that Alan and I intend to “snowbird” during the cold months. That will give me a chance to do the studio recording at a slower pace that fits my voice, which usually gives out after a couple of days. We’ve finished the kitchen, guest bath, and a guest bedroom, but the rest still needs some work. We’ve done about all the sanding, painting, cleaning, and assembling we can do at this point, and now we wait for contractors to finish the rest and to save up the money to finish the master bathroom and a few exterior upgrades, like guttering, sidewalk, shutters for hurricane season, and repainting doors and posts.
Which brings us to
The Toads
We’ve been staying at The Bluebird for the last month, and it’s the most peaceful little nest that attracts lots of visitors. We’ve even convinced the UPS and FedEx guys that real people live here now, and it’s not “just a church.” The mail lady’s name is Donna, and the trash pickup is free. Our other visitors are the toads. The master bath is where the baptistry used to be, and after the contractor pulled out the baptistry, it was just sitting on the ground! While the master bathroom awaits renovation, part of the sub-floor is missing, so sometimes we get tiny toad visitors who are looking for warmer, higher, ground. Hopefully we’ll get that fixed before we go back home in March. No one likes real toads at Passover, just the Exodus ones.
Our prayer is that this home can be a quiet place for ministers who need an “Elijah room” to focus on the Word they’re recording to send out to the nations. A place for friends to gather and discuss the Torah, have coffee (with a piece of Miss Sherry’s chantilly cake!), or share an Erev Shabbat meal. It is a tribute to the memory of my mom, Bobbie Ann Etheridge, may her memory be for blessing, and Alan’s mom, Kay Alewine. Our mothers taught us the basics of hospitality and welcoming visitors. They are true daughters of Abraham. Some of my earliest memories are of Mom hosting big dinners in honor of a visiting preacher, and mom brought out the good china and cooked a Southern-style feast. From the spread, you'd have never guess how poor we were. But we were rich in the Kingdom. The Scripture teaches the importance of spiritual legacy, and this is part of our moms'. May the coming and going of all who visit The Bluebird be in peace.
The Mountain
Wait a minute, there’s no mountain in the subject line…
Our note from Brother Peter Ndungu was full of encouragement this week, so I didn’t want to risk your not scrolling down to read the orphanage news! Please enjoy the exhortation from Brother Peter concerning the outreach in Naivasha near Mount Longonot, The LaMalah Children’s Centre:
Shabbat Shalom, my sister.
We are all doing well and hope and pray you too. You are in our minds and prayers many times. Despite all, we give all honor and esteem to the Most High. Rather than watch and see all evil and ills surrounding us, we choose to see His goodness.
We must guard our focus and be sure to see the goodness that surrounds us and not the bad. I can look out my windows and see the cold that would quickly take my life if I had to live on the street, or I can look at the warmth and peace of the home that I dwell in.
There is what we call the Law of Recognition. We need to take inventory of all things in our life, when we are thankful for what we see it will increase, if we don't see it, we're not thankful and it's taken away. We purposely look for things to be thankful for and be thankful for them.
We thank the Creator every day for our home (LaMalah), our means, my family, many good people in our life, favor with the government, favor with our neighbors, our van, our friends, a wood kitchen to keep our food warm, wood for the kitchen, the food we have stored, the Creator answering before we ask, Him inclining His ear to hear us, Him commanding blessing on us and the children.. I can go on for hours. We are thankful even for you, BD and those good brothers and sisters.
We anticipate schools to re-open soon. The government is removing subsidies from many things, fuel, electricity, education etc which may make life more difficulty. All in all Abba reigns supreme!
Blessings and give our love to all,
Peter
Click here to join the livestream at 4:00 pm Eastern TIME.
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Shabbat Shalom!
