Well, I have played only a behind-the-scenes role, but it was quite a thrill today to fire up the DVR and watch the broadcast TV debut of Out Of Zion. We may not be a big client with a sell merchant account, but CW-23 has treated us well.

Of course, once you actually see a show you’ve worked on broadcast, the areas for improvement stand out more obviously. Inputting Stan’s Scripture references directly into the show, rather than relying on the the projector-on-the-wall version, will be an important upgrade to our production values, come July.

I’m also interested in seeing how we can improve the picture quality; I suspect brighter lighting on Stan would help a lot. Still, it’s nice to see that much of what Stan and I have worked on the past couple months is actually coming together.

The old song tells us that “sorry” seems to be the hardest word; I’m not so sure. In our culture, I think it’s “wait.”

These days, it people want to update their house, they don’t spend years saving aside; they seek to borrow money they don’t have and are picking out walk in bathtubs before they have a chance to sneeze.

It’s the same in ministry, I think. People want answers, but they want them now, not next week or next year. People are fine waiting on God’s timing, only so long as God’s timing fits their own schedule. One of the biggest problems 21st-century believers in the US have is understanding the concept of waiting on God.

I have actually heard people express the sentiment that they’d rather hear God give them a “no” now than wait a few years to hear a “yes.” Is that Biblical? Is that our model for waiting on the L-RD?

Not exactly. When Moses was around 40, he had become aware of his Jewish heritage even though he’d been raised in Pharaoh’s household, and he knew there was a call of God on his life.

Then, Moses got impatient and instead of waiting on God, he took matters into his own hands, slaying an Egyptian guard who was mistreating a Hebrew slave. Was that following God’s plan or waiting on Him?

No. Moses’ actions there were ultimately selfish, taking matters into his own hands by stopping one isolated instance of injustice; had he waited for God’s timing, Moses might have been able to bring all the injustices of the Egyptians against the Israelites to an end much sooner.

Did God still want to use Moses to end those injustices? Sure. But how long did Moses have to wait on God after that act of impatience and murder? Forty years! Most of us don’t even want to wait through a 40-minute sermon to hear from God. What do we know, really, about waiting on Him?

Here’s lesson one, though: you’ll like the results a lot better when you DO wait on him.

For quite a while now, many people around me – including some not inclined to unearned praise – have been telling me they sense God has a calling on my life, and that my hope to one day become an effective teacher and community leader in a Messianic congregation may be fulfilled. That’s certainly been my hope, ever since I began pursuing the advanced study class in ministry Rabbi Stan first offered over three years ago.

I’ve been through a lot since then; I’ve lost my mom to cancer and my wife and I have taken my dad, who is in the early- to mid-stages of Alzheimer’s/dementia now lives with us. I’ve spent over eighteen months teaching bar-bat mitzvah-age kids and then over a year acting as cantor, Torah commentator and occasional fill-in for Rabbi Stan at Beth Yeshua, before that congregation was merged back into Sar Shalom.

These days, I’m responsible for helping Stan bring his teaching into the video age, fill in on commentaries as needed, and generally helping out wherever I can as my time and talents allow (and sometimes beyond). I’m still even helping co-lead a men’s Torah study that stick to actually studying the Torah itself, rather than getting off-track into side-issues.

As time has gone on, more and more people have become certain there’s a ministry call on my life. And I agree with them; with every step I’ve taken so far, I’ve recognized that God was calling me to it, beginning with signing up for the advanced study in the first place.

At each step along the way, I’ve been careful to follow what God has called me to and tried hard to stick to doing only that and no more. I try to emulate the example of the Israelites in the desert; moving only when God moves and resting only when God rests.

Hopefully, I do this successfully more often than not. But as for moving out into starting my own congregation? So far, I haven’t heard God clearly signal me that it’s time to do that, just yet. And since He’s made His will clear to me each step long the way so far, why would he suddenly become mysterious.

I know it’s sometimes a challenge to recognize a call; I know I have a general call on my life, but at the moment I think it’s only to continue doing what I’m already doing.

I do hope and await a call on my life from God for something bigger, for the call that lets me know that my time supporting the ministries of others has concluded and that my own ministry has begun. But I’m going to wait on God to call, lead the way and make it clear to me.

I know that in some ways, I’m not eager for this season to end; I have learned so much from Stan and believe I have much to learn even now. I don’t think that season’s over yet. I genuinely enjoy the roles I’ve filled over the past three-plus years.

But I do think that one day, God will tell me I’m ready and my own ministry has begun. I’m not in any rush; God’s timing is perfect. Yet when that time comes, I have to be ready to hear it and respond in faith.

It’s a delicate tight-rope to walk, recognizing God’s call and making sure it is genuine, separate and distinct from our own wants and desires and ambitions. One cannot be too eager and leap ahead of God’s call, trusting that however long you are called to study and serve, He is preparing you for the work He has in mind for you.

But I also know one can get too comfortable in serving others who have their own call, and get tempted to run from your own. The trick is to immerse yourself in prayer, learn to recognize God’s voice, and then let His voice be the one that guides you. The trick is to make sure you neither leap ahead or drag behind; that you simply move when God says move, and stay when God says stay.

No more, no less. Forget where and when and how; forget the outdoor décor. It’s the example of all men of faith in God; for it is written of Noah, of Abraham, of Isaac, of Jacob, of Moses and so on and so on… “and then he did everything the L-RD commanded of him.”

That’s the model to follow.

When you’re a Messianic rabbi in training, as I am … and I use “rabbi” in the most literal sense of the word, which simply means, “teacher,” … the biggest challenge you can face is waiting on God for your call; the signal that lets you know your own ministry either has begun or is about to begin.

The thing many people don’t understand is that there’s a difference between being active in ministry and being called. I’ve been active for several years now; and I have received minor calls to do many of those ministries I’ve been involved with, make no mistake!

But the call to actually step out and know that the L-RD is leading you? That’s a different level entirely, a job of a different sort. And really, all you can do is pray and wait and listen.

Everyone God has used has been through it; it took Moses 40 years living as the son-in-law of the priest of Midian before God finally called Moses to his unique calling, and I doubt Moses sat on his hands the entire time; I’m sure he learned a thing or two from Jethro.

Still, there’s nothing like knowing your own call has come at last; but there’s no “making it happen.” The timing is all in the hands of the L-RD.

The last couple days at work, I worked hard on implementing podcasting for our congregation, and so far it seems to be a success. Thankfully there are many resources out that to get one started out correctly; I’m grateful for that.

The last step now is awaiting approval of our feed in the iTunes store; it’s a free feed, and hopefully will open up a much broader audience than we’d otherwise reach with radio alone. Next up, Stan wants to take on video and he’s talking to some real pros.

Hopefully it will all work smoothly, from the cameras to the TV stands to the streaming feed and archiving. That’s the hope.

Closing a congregation down isn’t fun work, but I do think we did well during our final service at Beth Yeshua this past weekend. Sure, sometimes it might be more fun to regress to the stage of life when finding effective acne products was my biggest concern, but hey, one has to grow up sometime.

My final sermon (and I feel blessed Stan entrusted the final weeks of Beth Yeshua to me in terms of sermons) was on the Parable of the Rich Man and Lazerus, and although a very convicting parable, we somehow managed to end things on a very upbeat note, with the “Horse and Rider” praise song.

It was a great fourteen months. I hope I get a chance to be part of things when Beth Yeshua is relaunched in the future. In the meantime, I’ll have more time to seek God and improve my prayer life now.

One of the most challenging aspects of jobs in the Midwest is dealing with winter weather, but I think over the next couple days, that’ll be nothing unique as this monster winter storm system seems to be affecting everyone.

Of course, one advantage of being from Minnesota is, at least we know how to prepare in advance. Over the first three days of the week, Julie and I got everything done that needed to be done for services this weekend. That means that today, we don’t have to hazard our luck on the ill-plowed roads while heavy snow is still falling.

Fortunately, the forecast is for the snow to die off overnight on Friday into Saturday, so the snow should let up and the plows should have cleared the roads off in time for Shabbat services. The L-RD will protect his Shabbat!

But for now? Let it snow!

The new month of Tevet is coming; we’ll be celebrating it at our Saint Paul congregation on Thursday at 6:30 PM. New moon celebrations are part of what the L-RD commanded when he said, “‘from one Shabbat to another, from one new moon to another, all mankind will come and bow down before me,’ says the L-RD.”

Yet because the rabbis didn’t emphasize it, little remains from those early Jewish traditions. But at Sar Shalom and Beth Yeshua, Rabbi Stan’s doing his best to restore us to first-century Jewish worship of the L-RD as Yeshua and his talmidim would have done.

May the new month of Tevet come to us, and to all Israel, for goodness… and for blessing!

And thankfully, there’s no phone check needed to observe that!

One of the most interesting suggestions I’ve received lately is a bit unique. At my congregation, I’ve begun having people ask me when I’m going to do a study like those our Rabbi does. And I hope to begin doing that one day soon.

But at least one request was a lot more specific… but no, it didn’t have to do with air filters; it had to do with a study on how to study the Bible… specifically, the weekly Torah portions.

While that’s a tall order for any Torah teacher, I felt complimented by the request. Certainly, there are habits I’ve picked up along the way, sources I turn to more than others, methods of reading, praying, re-reading and so forth.

But to create a study about studying is a bit of a challenge; for one thing, what works well for me in terms of study habits might not work for someone else. However, as I’ve given the topic more consideration, I do think there are some ideas that are somewhat universal in this area, and I could foresee doing a two or three week study on the topic.

That might not be as juicy as a study on the book of Galatians or something exciting like that; but I could see how it would be of use to people and that’s what excites me about it. It means there would be people attending it who are hungry to learn how to dig in more deeply to God’s Word themselves… exactly what all believers ought to be doing!

It was a few days late, but on Sunday I was able to throw a nice little birthday get-together for my wife, Andie. She’s not had many good celebrations, so it was nice to surround her with plenty of friends from the congregation we attend, as well as from her earlier life.

The turnout was fantastic; we had 14 people altogether. Because I didn’t stay for service on Shabbat, my wife had to finish out some of the inviting tasks, but it all worked out fine. She was surrounded by friendly faces who wished her well and let her know they appreciated her for who she was.

What more can one ask? Design furniture? I think not!

One thing the last week’s taught me is that the seasonal flu shot is no cure for the common cold. I had my flu shot early this year so when it tried to take me down last week, I had the antibodies built up to largely fight it off within 24 hours.

On the downside, while my bodies defenses were busy with that, a cold/sinus-infection snuck in behind the flu attack and settled in. So, for the first time in nearly a year, I missed service this past Shabbat. Actually, I was there for set-up early on, but I wanted to set an example and protect the health of others by staying home when I know I’m sick. Why spread illness among a group of people that are nearly as close as family?

So my Sabbath was a literal day of rest for me this week, and while that’s fun, I certainly hope this cold/sinus infection goes away soon; I don’t want to repeat this, not even if I received Orlando vacations in return!