How the Economy Works in 30 Minutes 11 Nov 2014 6:49 AM (10 years ago)
How the Economy Works in 30 Minutes -
As told by billionaire investor Ray Dalio. If you’re interested in business at all, it’s a must-watch.
Chag Samaech [or Happy Holidays] 11 Nov 2014 6:38 AM (10 years ago)
Autumn in Israel is like December in the West — but more extreme. Schools shut down for a month, work stops, and the entire city shuts down for three of the largest Biblical holidays — Rosh HaShanah (the Feast of Trumpets), Yom Kippur (the Day of Atonement), and Sukkot (the Feast of Tabernacles). It’s an incredible feeling to celebrate these holidays in the city that Yeshua celebrated them! (You can read about His adventures in Jerusalem on the Feast of Tabernacles in John 7.)
I want to share briefly about just one of the feasts — Sukkot. The people of Israel are commanded in the Torah to live in temporary dwellings, called a “Succah”, for seven days “that your generations may know that I made the people of Israel dwell in tabernacles [sukkot] when I brought them out of the land of Egypt: I am the Lord your God.” (Lev 23:43) Jews around the world [and especially in Israel] build Succahs to eat their meals and sleep in for an entire week!
For us as Believers, it’s also a reminder of when God led His people out of Egypt. But it’s much more than that for us. It’s a reminder of where we came from (living in tents in the wilderness), where we are now (aliens & sojourners on this earth [1 Peter 2:11]), and where we are going (to the new Jerusalem, where we will one day tabernacle with God [Revelation 21:3])!
How awesome is that?! What a beautiful, tangible reminder of the hope we have in Him! If you’d like to do some further study about God’s glory in the Feasts, check out this book on Amazon. It’s an excellent resource.
A Hope That Does Not Put Us to Shame 17 Oct 2014 8:53 AM (11 years ago)
While I was in the USA last month, I had the opportunity to speak at Living Acts Church in Tyler, TX. There were so many things on my heart that I wanted to share about — what life was like in Israel, what it is really like to live in the middle of a war zone with enemies all around you, first-hand stories from believers in the Iraq church that are being persecuted & killed by ISIS…
But God put a message on my heart that I believe touched on all three, entitled: A Hope The Does Not Put Us to Shame, based out of Romans 5:1-5.
The message we grow up hearing the world tells us is: “don’t let your heart get set on anything.” Why? Because they don’t want us to be disappointed when those things don’t happen. But both Yeshua & Paul argue something totally different — they say that we need to set our hope on something that we know is guaranteed. Our lives, our families, our marriages, and our kingdoms aren’t promised to us in this life, but we are promised that His kingdom & His righteousness will be established on this earth and that the gates of hell will not be able to prevail against it.
I was overwhelmed by the response to my sermon. Dozens of people approached me and encouraged me, invited me over for a meal, and pledged their prayers & financial support on my behalf.
These people really love me. They believe in me. But more importantly, they believe in the call that God has on my life and are willing to give to the point where it hurts in order ’to advance God’s kingdom. I had a tangible, face-to-face encounter with God’s love & generosity… through His people. I wasn’t expecting any of that. I was just there in Texas to see my friends get married.
Up until this point, I have simply been trying to raise enough money each month to pay my rent, purchase some groceries, and maybe even buy a little toothpaste. But the response I received from the Body in Tyler, TX broke the glass ceiling that had been hanging over my head.
If I will wrap myself up in God’s kingdom and consume myself with His vision for Israel & the Gentiles, He will take care of all my practical needs. To be burdened by the Kingdom of God isn’t the problem, it’s the cure.
They had preached my sermon back to me with their lives. They freed me to dream bigger than myself. And for that, I have no other words other than to say, “thank you.”
Learning to Love Hebrew 3 Sep 2014 5:30 AM (11 years ago)
Learning a language is a full-time job, much less a language like Hebrew with an entirely different alphabet that requires my tongue to develop a new set of muscles. But only two months into my intensive Hebrew course, I am falling in love with the beauty & depth of this language.
The class is completely immersive — from day one, the only language the teacher speaks is Hebrew. It was completely daunting to me at first. But after two months of spending hours upon hours in a classroom where I read, write, speak, and listen exclusively in Hebrew, I’ve started to get the hang of things!
Learning Hebrew is unlike learning any other language. You see, our faith is woven into the very words that make up this language. As I’m learning new words and studying Hebrew ways of thinking, portions of the Bible that lay dormant in my heart and mind are coming alive with rich new meaning.
To see that the words of Scripture were not meant to stay in our Bibles, but were meant to be on our hearts and tongues at all times, so that even our day-to-day words would remind us & point us to Him is simply indescribable…
I have two weeks left until I graduate from my “Aleph” Hebrew course! So far I’ve been able to maintain an average in the mid-90s. Pray that I am able to keep that up & that I would continue to retain the language! My plan is to continue with “Bet” when the next semester starts at the end of October.
ISIS, Hamas, & The Body in the Middle East 3 Sep 2014 5:21 AM (11 years ago)
It’d be hard for anyone to turn on the news these days without hearing about a war happening somewhere in the Middle East. Both ISIS and Hamas are ruthless terrorist groups that hate & kill in the name of Allah, while innocent men, women, and children are caught in the crossfire.
But let’s step aside from politics for a moment. I want to spend some time writing about the Body of the Messiah here in the Middle East. With Facebook & Twitter showing us just a glimpse of the atrocities, it’s easy to get caught up in the whole “justice” movement. “Christians are being kicked out of their homes,” “Children are being massacred,” “An American journalist was beheaded.”
Don’t get me wrong, we should stand for Justice. We should pray for Justice. But we must remember, Justice is not what is promised to us in this lifetime.
Our dear Savior told us: “You will be hated by everyone because of me.” (Matt 10:22), “Yes, a time is coming when the one who kills you will think he is serving God.” (John 16:2) Sound familiar? The Body in Iraq & Syria right now is experiencing exactly what we’ve all been promised to experience as followers of Yeshua the Messiah.
My dear friends in the West, beware lest we all succumb to the brainwashing of the American Dream. What our brothers & sisters are experiencing in Iraq is real Christianity. And instead of (primarily) protesting against ISIS, we need to be standing with, praying for, and encouraging the Believers in the land to finish the race strong and endure to the end, regardless of what that end might be.
May God give me the faith to say, like my brother in Iraq, “Father forgive them, for they don’t know what they are doing.” (Watch the video here, shot by my roommate, Jonathan Goff, earlier this month.)
JERUSALEM – The IMAX Experience 25 Aug 2014 6:47 AM (11 years ago)
JERUSALEM – The IMAX Experience -
Very few movies have captured the true essence of Israel, but I think National Geographic’s JERUSALEM does it best. Majestically filmed, it approaches Jerusalem through the eyes of a Muslim, a Christian, and a Jew, showcasing the three very beautiful — yet distinct — sides to this ancient city.
The fact that a single city could become a holy place to Christian, Jews, and Arabs is difficult enough to fathom, but seeing how entire cultures and ways of life coexist within minutes of each other is what really sets Jerusalem apart as unique . And living here now, I can only affirm how well this film represents this city.
It’s playing exclusively in IMAX theatres all across the US, Canada, and even a handful of countries around the world. If it’s playing in a city near you, I highly recommend seeing it. You can watch the trailer below:
Settling Into Life in Israel 23 Aug 2014 10:04 PM (11 years ago)
It’s been almost 3 months since I arrived in Israel… and I love everything about this land!
In many ways, I feel like I’ve arrived home. I feel like this is where I was born to live. And the more I settle in, the more I realize that I’m in this for the long-haul. I feel like God has called me to this land, to these people, at this time.
Every day is just a continual confirmation of this truth:
I was made to live here.
From before I even set foot in the country, God had already opened up doors for me to find the perfect place to live. I have an apartment right in the heart of downtown Jerusalem that I share with two roommates — both Believers. One is from America and works for CBN’s Middle East bureau, and the other is from Singapore and is working in ministry while studying Hebrew.
I also started working as the Media Director for King of Kings Community in Jerusalem, which means I manage & create all of the media for the ministry. From running cameras and directing the online livestream during Sunday services, to filming and editing videos throughout the week, to creating a plethora of graphic designs for various parts of the ministry, I’ve hit the ground running and am already plugged in and part of the team.
Our vision is to show the true face of Yeshua to Israel & the nations. And a large part of the way we do that is by practically blessing the people around us. One of the stories I had the opportunity to tell this month was about a sex shop that was miraculous transformed & restored into a Biblical family counseling center.
To watch the video I produced & edited, click here.
Learning Hebrew
As soon as I arrived in Israel, I knew that my first priority was to learn the language. It’s humbling (and downright embarrassing at times) to live in this country and have the locals be more fluent in my language than I am in theirs.
Fortunately, there are several ways to learn Hebrew in Israel. One of the most common is Ulpan — an immersive Hebrew school. I wasted no time: within my first few weeks, I signed up for an intensive 12-week course that has quickly become my highlight of each day! Between the classes & the homework, I easily spend 20 hours a week learning Hebrew. And after 8 weeks, I am already at the point where I can read & write fairly large portions of text, as well as hold a simple conversations on the street!
I want to thank my home church in Texas — Living Acts — for generously sponsoring my first 12-week Hebrew course. It was an unexpected blessing and I was overwhelmed when I received the news. I hope to take three semesters of Hebrew over the next year in order to (God-willing) become street-fluent in the language by next summer. !!אני אוהב ללמוד עברית
The Israel/Gaza Conflict
Evidently, Israel has become an international news item over the past few weeks as hundreds of rockets have rained down from Gaza and Israel has retaliated from the air, the sea, and most recently, by a ground invasion.
First of all, I’m safe. Jerusalem is just over an hour away from most of the fighting and can be reached by a couple of the long-range rockets, but as a general rule, life goes on as normal in the city. Israelis have decided — as they feel they have to — that they cannot let their lives be governed by terrorists.
It is surreal to be here during this time. Things are much more than they seem in the news, and the tension between Jews & Arabs grows more and more real each day. With every rocket that’s fired and every bomb that explodes, there are more than just casualties. There are seeds upon seeds of bitterness, division, & hatred sowed into the hearts of this next generation. Children orphaned, brainwashed, and enslaved to hate… it is an endless cycle of hatred.
And while it may be tempting to lean on the United Nations for peace, or Egypt for a ceasefire, or the Iron Dome for safety, it’s important to remember that we, the body of the Messiah, have been entrusted with the ministry of reconciliation. I didn’t know what that meant when I lived in North America.
I think I’m just starting to understand…
I urge you, pray for Israel, Gaza, and the peace of Jerusalem. May those who love her prosper. (Psalm 122:6)
Swearing In 10 Jun 2014 1:46 PM (11 years ago)
It’s been almost two weeks since I arrived in Israel and I’ve been loving every minute of it. Tonight, one of my friends heard that the IDF (Israel Defense Force) was going to swear in over 300 soldiers at the Western Wall. Naturally, we grabbed our cameras, jumped on our bikes and rode down Mount Zion to see for ourselves.
This is my first photo essay in Israel and it definitely won’t be my last.
Families and friends gather around the soldiers as they prepare to watch them take an oath to defend their country. It’s even more jarring when you realize just how close they are standing to the controversial line that divides Israel from the West Bank.
If you look close, you can see piles of gun stacked side-by-side with Torah books on the tables.
The Haredim (Ultra-Orthodox Jews) completely ignore the entire assembly and carry on with their prayers at the Western Wall. Traditionally, they stand against secular Zionism and consider the IDF and the government of Israel illegitimate & in rebellion towards God. If you’d like to read up some more on this generation-long division amongst the Jewish people, see here.
Jewish children watch the ceremony, mesmerized. The entire vibe in the audience is electric. Everyone under 18 years old — both men and women — know that one day this will be their ceremony. Others look back and remember years & decades before, when they were pledging the same oath. That’s because all Jewish citizens are required to serve in the IDF: at least three years for men & two for women.
The younger generation takes a glimpse into their future & the older generation looks back and remembers their past.
When the ceremony was over, everyone stopped and sang Israel’s national anthem, “Hatikvah” — which means “The Hope.”
“As long as in the heart, the soul of a Jew yearns,
With an eye turned East, looking toward Zion,
Our Hope is not yet lost, the Hope of two thousand years,
To be a free people in our land,
The land of Zion and Jerusalem.”
Moving to Zion 19 May 2014 11:28 AM (11 years ago)
It’s official. I purchased a one-way ticket and will be moving to Israel on May 28th.
I remember the first time I set foot in Jerusalem and walked her narrow streets. She is a city like no other — rich with history & meaning. Her walls are weathered by centuries of destruction, war, & conquest. Significance is woven into every crevice and for millions around the world she stands as a beacon of light & hope.
Everyone has an opinion about everything, especially about God. And everyone has a story. When you ask, “Why are you here?” you will never hear the same answer twice. People are loud, yet warm, kind, yet blunt, hospitable, yet stubborn. There is no place like Jerusalem.
Within minutes, I knew that I had arrived home.
There was no where else that I wanted to live. There was no where else where I knew I was supposed to live.
Over the past year, things have come together in ways I could have never dreamed of. From people that I’ve met to doors that have been opened to overwhelming support from family and friends, I have no doubt in my mind that I am not going to Israel as much as I am being sent to Israel.
When I arrive, I will be joining the team at King of Kings working primarily as a Producer/Shooter/Editor. I will also be focusing my efforts on learning Hebrew, studying Torah, and weaving myself into several different communities in the city.
It would take more words than I have right now to share the dreams that God has put on my heart for Israel & for the Jewish people. (If you would like a taste, however, you can listen to the sermon that I preached at Living Acts Church in Tyler, Texas.)
Stay Connected
This site will become a collection of thoughts and photo essays from my travels, focusing on faith, business, media and the Middle East.
If you’d like to say in touch with my work in Israel, you can subscribe to this blog or sign up to receive my email newsletter each month.
M-Bags: Ship Books Internationally on a Budget 19 May 2014 11:18 AM (11 years ago)
M-Bags: Ship Books Internationally On a Budget
As a part of me packing up my life into boxes & moving continents, I wanted to find the most affordable way to ship books overseas. I came across a little-known shipping service that USPS offers called M-Bags: allowing you to ship mass amounts of books internationally at a discounted rate.
Here’s how it works: you pack up to 66 lbs of books or other printed material into a box or boxes which are then put into a giant M-Bag. Depending on the country you’re shipping it to, it’s a whole lot cheaper than sending it any other way.
In the words of the USPS agent I dropped the books off with, “it’s been a million years since I’ve done anything like this.”
Grafted In 10 Mar 2014 11:21 AM (11 years ago)
I was given the opportunity to speak at my home church in Tyler, Texas this past weekend about what I believe God’s plan for Israel is out of the Bible.
I focus most of my teaching on passages from Romans 9-11.
If you’re interested in hearing my vision & heart for why I am moving to Israel this spring, I encourage you to watch the recording from the service below.
Just Another Birthday – Music Video 11 Jan 2012 7:07 AM (13 years ago)
Another day, another music video. Out of sheer coincidence, another one of the major pieces our team has been working on has gone live today: Just Another Birthday by Casting Crowns. The video was produced in about 3 weeks and was shot completely in East Texas near our studios.
To get the visual effect style we were going for, we shot primarily using a Canon 5D with “Lens Whacking” — which is essentially shooting with the lens detached from the camera to produce cool lens flares.
It’s a pretty touching story, to say the least. I can barely watch it all the way through without tearing up.
What I’ve Been Up To 9 Jan 2012 10:23 AM (13 years ago)
Some folks have emailed me asking what I’ve been up to over the past couple months. Well, there’s lots of good news to share: I got my working visa and I’m now living in the Texas working at a full-fledged media production company as the Production Manager. We make everything from music videos to short films to promos & commercials, and we do it all for the glory of God.
We make so many things at such a fast pace that I really need to take the time to write about / showcase them. So without further ado, here is the latest thing we’ve worked on that we’re releasing today: the brand new music video for the Newsboys. Enjoy!
Pleasure Is the Measure of Your Treasure 16 Sep 2011 11:05 AM (14 years ago)
This makes pleasure also the whistleblower of your heart. If something sinful gives you pleasure, it’s not a pleasure problem. It’s a treasure problem. Your pleasure mechanism is likely functioning just fine. It’s what you love that’s out of whack. And pleasure is outing you. It’s revealing that, despite what your mouth says and the image you try to project to others, something evil is precious to you.
–Jon Bloom on Pleasure is the Measure of your Treasure
Uncertainty 13 Sep 2011 12:21 AM (14 years ago)
“I do know that waiting on God requires the willingness to bear uncertainty, to carry within oneself the unanswered question, lifting the heart to God about it whenever it intrudes on one’s thoughts.” -Elisabeth Elliot
I don’t know why I wrote that quote down on my phone almost two years ago — little did I realize how deeply the reality of it would strike my own life years later.
Bearing uncertainty does quite possibly one of the strangest things to a man’s heart.
Uncertainty forces me to face the fact that I am not in control and am absolutely incapable of changing my circumstances.
Uncertainty forces me to confront my jealousy of God and my desire to be Him — infinitely Powerful & absolutely Sovereign.
Uncertainty shatters my self-sufficiency and destroys my proclivity to lean upon my own strength.
Uncertainty crushes me with the truth that there is only one Good and Faithful Shepherd of my soul, Jesus Christ, in whom I live and move and have my being.
Uncertainty causes me to set my hope fully on the grace that will be brought to me at the revelation of Jesus (1 Peter 1:13).
You see, there’s a whole lot more going on here than meets the eye. Waiting on the Lord is actually a self-shattering, Gospel-inducing, hand-emptying surgery that crucifies our hearts to this world and raises them to Christ.
I hate uncertainty. But it is my thorn, my gift, my joy. And so I will boast all the more in my uncertainty, that my Savior’s infinite power might be perfected in me.
My Thorn Has Become a Spring of Joy to Me 11 Sep 2011 12:24 PM (14 years ago)
My thorn has become a spring of joy to me.
I found myself looking upon some of my friends with jealousy the other night. “Why do they get to do such and such? Why do they get to be with so and so? Why now? Why not me?” Very quickly, I saw this jealousy give way to my own self-pity: “Woe is me that my God has given me among all my friends this heavy burden to bear. I must be obedient, I must endure — and then the good will come.”
I thought enduring was what I was supposed to do. I thought being obedient was all that God required of me. But then God spoke:
Just as faith apart from obedience is dead, so obedience apart from faith is dead.
Now you may say, “Of course I have faith, how would I ever obey if I didn’t believe?” Let me say this very carefully: I believe we, as Christians, often have faith in the promise and the certainty of the promise but not in the intentions of the Promiser.
In my own life, I see my tendency to look upon God’s “gifts” as malicious burdens that I have to bear rather than good gifts that I get to receive and rejoice in. I believe in the Goodness of God, but have a hard time applying it to the here and now. For me, the Goodness of God is some kind of distant hope that comforts rather than an ever-present help in trouble (Ps. 46:1).
Biblically, we can look at 2 Corinthians 12:7, where God sent a thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan, to harass the apostle Paul. Imagine being in his shoes. Harassment from God? That must be malicious. He must be testing me. He must be testing my endurance and my strength. He must have something really good in store for me if I simply preserve through this cruel momentary harassment.
But that is not what Paul says: his thorn was a gift. It was given to him to keep him from becoming conceited; to keep him from sin (v. 7). It was given to him so that Christ’s power might be perfected in him (v. 9) It was given to him that he might learn to boast in his thorn as a good gift from a Good God who lovingly gave him his thorn for his good.
The thorn that was pitiable in the eyes of the world was beautiful to Paul. Because Paul had the eyes of faith.
Or consider Job. When everything in this world was stolen from him, he cried out, “The LORD gives and the LORD takes away; blessed be the name of the Lord.” (Job 1:21) Job didn’t have any promises to look forward to but the trust that the intentions of his God were good. The Lord isn’t “still” good despite what happens, He “is” good because of what happens. Blessed be the name of the Lord for doing things this way. Blessed be the name of the Lord that his thoughts are greater and his ways are higher. Blessed be the name of the Lord because He knows what is best for me.
The God that Job’s wife told him to curse, Job worshipped. Because Job had the eyes of faith.
Only children who have the Sovereign King as their Father can “consider every trial as pure joy” because they believe two unshakeable truths: (1) God is completely in control of this world and my life, and (2) He is always, undeniably, unquestionably good. And everything he does is good. Even the thorns, even the discipline, even the wilderness.
It’s a life-transforming truth: I’m not enduring cruel wrath, I’m receiving loving discipline. From my Father, for my good.
My thorn that was once bitter has become a spring of joy to me.
Thoughts on Beauty 29 Aug 2011 9:23 AM (14 years ago)
There is only one source, one spring of Joy — for both the pagan and the Christian — and it is Christ. And if the source of Joy be attributed to any other such thing, it is idolatry against the Most High. One One is found Good, only One is the essence of Beauty, and from Him does all other goodness and beauty flow. Loveliness is intrinsic to One, and One alone.
If this is true, then idolatry really is an abominable thing, exchanging the glory of the immortal God for images that resemble mortal man (Romans 1).
Why then do we have the proclivity to remove glory from the only Glorious One, and bestow it upon mortal man, who is but a reflection of divine perfection? It is pervasive throughout the hearts and minds of believers and unbelievers alike. We cease to give glory to our Creator, barely acknowledging his existence, and instead, we glorify the Creature.
We worship the beauty of this world, while denying the beauty of its Source. We seek to become like God through sinful pride and arrogance; He seeks to make us like himself through humble meekness and love. Oh, the depth of the riches of this great mystery!
Hello Again. 29 Aug 2011 9:22 AM (14 years ago)
Same name, different Michael. We’ll see how this goes.
Boise, ID. 4 Mar 2010 10:07 PM (15 years ago)
One generous act of kindness from an absolute stranger can do wonders to a weary traveling soul.
I’m laying on a bed in a random host home somewhere on the outskirts of Boise, Idaho; taking a hot shower for the first time in days, drinking hot beverages by candlelight and watching movies with one of my closest friends on the biggest seventy-three inch plasma you’ve ever seen. I don’t even remember the name of the lady who opened up her home to us. I think it’s Annette. She loves animals. She has a black lab, a pit bull, five cats, a couple horses, and a countless number of fish. She works in a call center troubleshooting people’s DSL problems. Yesterday she taught a celebrity how to find the colon key on their keyboard in order to type “http://” into Internet Explorer. If she takes the freeway, she can get from her home to her office, park, walk three blocks, and be at her desk within fifteen minutes. Her husband works at Ford. The car she drives shares the same name as my company. And it has seat-heated cushions. Mhmm, seat-heated cushions.. my favorite.
She has Thin Mint Girl Scouts™-flavored ice cream. And premium hot cocoa. And those giant mug things that the dwarves from the Lord of the Rings use. And hash browns and pancakes and bacon in the morning.
And did I mention hot showers?
This generosity is overwhelming.
Thank You.