Soar to new heights

"Modeh Ani" is a Hebrew morning prayer thanking God for a new day, and asking Him for the ability to soar to new heights under the shelter of His wings.

Wow, are we ever soaring!

In the past few days we have experienced nearly 3,000 years of Israeli history. Who can ever forget the Holocaust? Last Tuesday at Kaplan, we met Leeza, a 92-year-old Holocaust survivor from a camp in Romania, who works three days a week as a volunteer. Next, while touring the Ayalon Bullet Factory Memorial, we met Yechiel, also 92-years-old, who fought in the 1948-49 Israeli War of Independence. Yechiel was personally involved in the use of the tanks that were placed as memorials on the Burma Road that we had traveled.

Today we traveled south to the border of the Gaza Strip to visit an Israel Defense Forces base. In Judges 15 there is recorded the account of an early Israelite Nazarite from the tribe of Dan who fought the Philistines with only the jawbone of a donkey. This same area in which Samson fought is the site of the recent Israeli Operation Protective Edge, which only ended this past August of 2014.

At the military base Nahal Oz, the young men of the 50th battalion proudly explained to us the modern military equipment they use. Strong, lifelong friendships are formed as they train and fight shoulder to shoulder. One of the young men we met was a "Lone Soldier." There are over 3,000 "Lone Soldiers" in the IDF, meaning young men and women whose homes are outside of Israel but volunteer for service, or young Israelis in the army who have no home or family members to return to for holidays and leave time. Still, they feel it is important to protect that which so many before them fought to achieve.

As we toured the military base, one thing especially stood out to me. Written inside one of their outlook towers, only 300 meters from the nearest Gaza town, was a quote from G. K. Chesterton: "The true soldier fights not because he hates what is in front of him, but because he loves what is behind him."

Now it is the close of the day, and time for the Hebrew "Bedtime Shema." How wonderful is God's world! I rest myself in God's hand.

Star Stuhr
Nebraska