Ministry Adventures with Cathy

The evening of May 25, 2017 I was studying the photos posted on my January blog, “Bronx Connections.” My mother, sister, and I are displaying our Easter finest in one of the pics taken on Park Avenue by the railroad tracks that ran alongside our apartment building. The railroad tracks were exposed but below street level. We did not live on “the” Park Avenue in Manhattan. Godiva Chocolatier, the Ferrari store, and LePain Quotidien (Belgian cuisine), among other noted establishments, lined Manhattan’s Park Avenue. Our “Park Avenue” in the Bronx was crowded with apartments in varying conditions, Rite-Aid, and a Salvation Army Thrift Store. But, it was “our” Park Avenue and the memories are lovely. When I was fixated on the blog photos, my mother’s health was failing. She began declining rapidly on May 24th. On Thursday, 5/25, my mother was comatose. My sister assured me that she didn’t need me to travel back East. I've always needed to be sensitive toward my sister’s d...

Do you know that the counting of omers is currently progressing? What’s an omer? Good question! Why should omers be counted? Who’s counting the omers? And, why is this relevant? In Lev. 23:15-21, concerning the Feast of Weeks, God told the children of Israel to count the days after the Sabbath during Passover week, from the day that they had brought the sheaf of the wave offering (the omer) to the priest (that day was the Feast of First Fruits, the day that Jesus rose from the dead)…they were to count seven Sabbaths, bringing them to the fiftieth day. Are you pondering, calculating, computing? What occurred fifty days after Jesus’ resurrection? Several years ago in May, a few weeks following Resurrection Sunday, I stood in the midst of an outdoor mall in Central Phoenix waiting to meet a friend for lunch. Pottery Barn caught my eye. (I absorb all that Pottery Barn has to offer and then travel to the thrift stores to find similar décor items) That day I was carrying about ...

“Why would God allow six million Jews to die?”  Four minutes into our discussion regarding Passover, my new Jewish friend immediately focused on the Holocaust.  Has this question been posed to you?  How did you respond?  And why am I addressing the Holocaust in this blog?  Firstly, please realize that the raising of this question is not unusual.  Secondly, the Jewish community annually observes Yom HaShoah/Holocaust Remembrance Day 13 days following the beginning of Passover.  And so, this observance occurred at sundown on April 23 rd through sundown on April 24 th .  At the first Passover in Egypt, the Passover lambs functioned as a substitutionary sacrifice, dying in place of the people. “Holocaust” means disaster, catastrophe, burnt offering.  God is omnipotent – He is all powerful; God is omniscient – He is all knowing; God is omnipresent – He is everywhere present/all is within His presence.  God is eternal – He never had a ...

What gives with Passover?  Is it significant?  Please allow me to begin answering this question by sharing with you that when we, as believers in Jesus, gather in church to worship, when we assemble at Bible studies and dig into God’s word, when we spend time with God during “quiet times,” when we share Jesus with those who don’t yet know Him, we are doing so because of Passover!  The body of Christ is in existence today because of Passover.  The Apostle Paul, inspired by the Holy Spirit, wrote in I Cor. 5:7, …Christ, our Passover, was sacrificed for us.  What am I saying?  Passover, the first feast that God gave to the children of Israel, focuses on redemption through the shed blood of the Passover Lamb.  And, that Passover Lamb is Jesus!  Passover is the foundation of our faith.  Passover points to the death of Jesus.  Jesus was crucified on Passover. At the first Passover in Egypt, God said, For I will pass through the lan...

Our tree remains up and decorated!  Yes, our Christmas tree!  What’s wrong with this picture?  Nothing!  WHY, however, is our Charlie Brown tree standing in our living room (bowing slightly towards the floor)?  The answer:  OOBNA!  A friend of mine coined that phrase.  It means “On Or Before, Never After.”  According to this acronym, birthday cards, Christmas cards, or anniversary cards need to be received ON OR BEFORE the exact date of the celebration…NEVER AFTER.  As a side note, I’m so thankful that my friends honor several of the Jewish feasts (Lev. 23) for multiple days.  I always breathe a sigh of relief when I open a package of Chanukah cards on the first night of the commemoration and there are seven nights remaining in this joyous memorial! Consider with me, though…isn’t OOBNA a Biblical principle?  The Bible tells us (with an “exclamation mark” inflection), “NOW is the accepted time!  NOW is the day of...

I’m from the Bronx.  Have I told you?  Please take note that it’s “THE” Bronx.  It’s something special…it’s set apart.  Do you know of any other city, in this case “borough,” that has a definite article preceding it?  “The” seems to herald “Bronx.”  An English grammar document on the Internet states that we can use “the” to refer to people or objects that are unique!  OK, I’m not getting uppity about my hometown.  “The” reminds me of its uniqueness to me.  I have fond memories of my childhood in the Bronx.  And, I always smile when I reflect on God taking me out of the Bronx, out of New York City with its massive Jewish population, and bringing us to the deserts of New Mexico and Arizona to engage in a ministry to the Navajos and Hopis…ultimately moving us to the Phoenix metropolitan area where He called me to share Jesus with Jewish people.  WHY did God lead me away from NYC to the desert?  Well, we do find the desert in ...

JOYFUL INCARNATION! The angel told Joseph  . . .and you shall call His Name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins.   (Matthew 1:21) Christmas is Jewish.  It has to be.  Think of it.  What did the world know about Christmas at the time of the first Christmas?  There was something far greater than tinsel, fruit cake, and cards at that time in Biblical history.  There was Messianic fervor.  There was a longing for the Messiah!  The Jewish people were living in the expectation of the coming of the Messiah.  Consider this with me: Christmas isn’t the beginning.  The Bible doesn’t begin with the Christmas story.  Christmas is a fulfillment of what God had promised in the OT.  The Jewish people were waiting for the Messiah.  And He came!  And, He’s coming again.  Are we, as His followers, living in the excitement of the second coming of the Messiah? Jesus came the first time t...