Dry Bones

2600 years ago a man saw a vision of a distant future, his name was Ezekiel. In that time of the future it looked like the world had destroyed the Jewish culture and people and Ezekiel found himself in a valley littered with dry bones. He watched as those bones started to come together called by the spirit of the eternal God. He saw the rebuilding of the Jewish state, the amassing of a mighty military, the rebuilding of cities, the planting of trees and the coming together of Jews from all corners of the earth. Many interpret this vision as a Biblical prophecy of the rebirth of the nation of Israel and the rebuilding of the Third Temple.

This last year has been a year of manifestation of many new things in my life. I have taken the big leap into business venture and am now working for myself as an IT service provider for Auckland’s small and medium businesses. This year will also be remembered by me as the year when I suffered a slipped disk injury in the neck. Despite the injury I have worked through the pain and continued teaching and running my martial arts school and watched my student numbers multiply. I think keeping active facilitated the recovery and healing process also.

As the year draws to a close it is difficult as a proud New Zealander for me to stomach my country’s shameful sponsorship of an unfair anti-Israel resolution by the UN Security Council. My mind drifts back to Rosh Hanikra when still buzzing from the IKI Tour and Train I was exploring the cavernous iridescent grottos just south of the Lebanon border. A plaque with 10th NZ Construction Company ANZAC forces adorned the site of a long destroyed World War 2 grotto bridge. Here was a relic of New Zealand’s history so closely intertwined with Israel as Kiwi, Aussie and South African soldiers fought bravely shoulder to shoulder with their Jewish brothers in arms in the Middle East and North Africa.

Some hallucinate that Israel’s settlements are the barrier to a long lasting peace and a two state solution. Someone even commented to me on social media that the settlements are being built on somebody else’s property. Let me set the facts straight; these “illegal” settlements are built on land that had no Palestinian sovereignty prior to Israel’s control. The real obstacle to peace is the surge of terror attacks. I will not forget the time when I was last in Israel a man napping on a bus was stabbed repeatedly to death for wearing an army uniform. Just three days ago on the news there was a stabbing in Efrat, the place where I did my range shooting and security training.

I believe this will be an exciting New Year. I am wishing all my students a happy, prosperous, fulfilling and healthy New Year especially now that we will have a US leader that stands with Israel!