It’s been a while, since I’ve blogged. Life is busy. But tonight I am in a hotel room in Beersheva, Israel and I have some time to write.
1) I’m in Beersheva as a guest of the office of tourism here. Long story short. For those who have visited this blog before, you may have read about my last visit to Beersheva a few months ago. I also produced a video about that visit, which you can watch on this blog as well. I was here for a prayer gathering, at a Messianic Jewish Congregation, here, called Nachalat Yeshua. In 2005 there was a riot at that congregation, by radical orthodox Jews who hate people that believe in Yeshua (Jesus). After repeated violence and an absence of action by authorities here, the congregation decided to sue the organizers of the riot. Needless to say, Beersheva and the believers in Yeshua have had a strained relationship. Which is why it was such a pleasant surprise when the tourism office here, contacted the pastor of that congregation which was attacked…to ask for his help. They wanted to produce a video aimed at Evangelical Christians in America…in hopes of luring them here. Beersheva is in the Negev desert. They don’t get as much tourism as Jerusalem, the Galilee and other places like that. They wanted someone who understood the minds of evangelicals. So, they called Pastor Howard Bass. He helped them all he could, but when it cam time to actually write a script and produce the video…for that he referred them to me. So, in the spirit of bridge-building and friendship-making…I happily offered my services.
The video will be shown next month at the NRB conference in Nashville. The script and concept were written and conceived by me. Also, the voice you’ll here on the video is mine. Yes, they asked me to record the voice-over narration. Today I was in the recording studio. I tried to channel the voice of that guy you hear on the Monorail at Disney World. He always sounds so happy. Not sure if I reached his level of narrator-perfection…but it was fun trying.
After the recording session, my two very kind hostesses took me to Abraham’s Well and an ancient city from King Hezekiah’s day. Also to a very moving memorial to the heroes of the 1948 battle that helped Israel re-capture the Negev desert.
Along the way we had a fascinating conversation about their impression of Messianic Jews. Their take on it, was that while some in Israel don’t like the orthodox Jews and some don’t like the secular…”no one likes you people.” (referring to Messianic Jews). I was advised that we “have a lot of work to do, to convince the Israeli public that we are not just missionaries who want to turn all Jewish children into Christians.” That was a direct quote. I pray our time together today, is just the beginning of fostering a new understanding. Truth is so much better than ignorance.
2) Tonight, I went out on the town. I went to this really cool movie theatre in Beersheva (the Globus Max) to see ‘It’s Complicated’. The new Meryl Streep/Alec Baldwin movie written and directed by Nancy Meyers. A quick note about the theatre I was in…it was the largest movie theatre I’ve ever been in, in my life. I think it had 1,000 seats. No exaggeration.
But back to the movie. I love Nancy Meyers. I love her mind, her sense of humor, her voice as a writer, her style. I love her. I want to be her much younger ‘boy toy’. Her Keanu Reeves to Diane Keaton in the Nancy Meyers movie ‘Something’s Gotta Give’. Yeah, I said it. I’m crazy about this woman. Her movies from ‘Baby Boom’ to ‘The Holiday’ are just so delightful. I always feel better about life, after seeing one of her movies. She is smart and classy, and I don’t care if most label them as ‘chick flicks’.
3) After the movie, I walked around the town for a bit. I stopped by a very cool, very happening ‘Aroma Espresso Bar’. I set out this year with a goal of visiting all 100+ Aroma café’s across Israel. I was going to video tape each visit and then put them on a special blog I created. But, that blog is now gone. The truth is, I don’t want to bring my video camera with me every time I go out for coffee. I love Aroma’s atmosphere and food and coffee. I think they are so fun. And, I still do want to visit all of them. But…I won’t be documenting them as first planned. I really just like to chill out there, use the free WiFi and drink coffee. Not so much with the video-taping.
4) Last but not least, tonight I got a Direct Message on Twitter from CNN’s Christiane Amanpour. A journalist I respect beyond words. I follow her on Twitter. Yesterday, she sent out a link to a report by reporter Paul Hancocks about life in Gaza one year after the war with Israel. It was a very one-sided report. In fact is was 95% about Gaza and barely 5% about Israel. I tweeted Christiane telling her I thought the report was beneath her standards as a journalist. Today she tweeted me and wanted to know what I didn’t like about the report. So, I tweeted her back my thoughts. Very classy. I love technology!
OK, that’s it, that’s all. Shalom and lila tov (goodnight) from Beersheva.
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