Soul and Spirit

Missiles Fired at Jerusalem

Friday was a potentially game-changing day for Israel. For the first time since 1970, Iranian-made missiles were fired at Jerusalem from terrorists in Gaza.

Joel C. Rosenberg just posted to his blog:

Friday was a potentially game-changing day for Israel. For the first time since 1970, Iranian-made missiles were fired at Jerusalem from terrorists in Gaza. Missiles were also fired from Gaza at Tel Aviv. Air raid sirens were blaring in both cities this evening, rattling residents because of their exceedingly rare nature. As I write this late Friday evening, Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu and his Security Cabinet have been meeting for several hours behind closed doors. One decision has been made for certain: Israel is now calling up 75,000 reserve soldiers, not the 30,000 that were just approved on Thursday.

The big question now: Will the Palestinian terrorists’ attacks on Jerusalem, Israel’s political and religious capital — and Tel Aviv, its largest population center and its commercial capital — trigger an IDF ground invasion of Gaza?

Israel is certainly moving rapidly to prepare for such a possibility.

Israel At War Day 3: Is ground war coming?

I just remembered asking: What do Israel’s enemies make of the result?

Maybe there’s no connection between that and this.

Update at 2:20 pm Pacific: BREAKING: Israeli officials tell nation to prepare for 7 weeks of war:

Home Front Command asks local authorities to prepare for seven-week fighting period […] The Home Front Command sharpened instructions for the Tel Aviv metropolitan area and southern residents and, accordingly, communities located in a range of between 40-75 kilometers from the Gaza Strip must enter nearby, protected spaces the moment blasts or sirens are heard. If there is no protected space in the vicinity, residents should enter the nearest structure or stairwell. In light of the long-range rockets fired over the past few days, these instructions apply to all communities within a 75-kilometer range and not only in the Tel Aviv metropolitan area.

Israel, Hamas, and the “Gates of Hell”

Joel C. Rosenberg reports from Israel: We urgently need Christians around the world to pray for peace. The situation here is rapidly going from bad to worse.

First, from the Times of Israel:

The Israeli Air Force on Wednesday launched a series of airstrikes in Gaza City, killing Ahmed Jabari, the head of Hamas’s armed wing — the equivalent of an army’s chief of staff — and his son, Mohammed al-Homs. Palestinian sources put the death toll at up to nine by evening.

[…]

Hamas’s armed wing warned that in assassinating Jabari, Israel “had opened the gates of hell on itself.”

Next, from a blog post by Joel C. Rosenberg: Read it all

More Than Character Can Handle

Overindulgence is giving your children more than their character can handle, exceeding their ability to manage the blessings with gratefulness.

I have started reading through Dorcas Smucker’s new book, Tea and Trouble Brewing. I get to write a review of it as part of a virtual book tour!

This isn’t that review, but I wanted to call attention to an outstanding excerpt Dorcas uses from another book, Parenting is Heart Work: Read it all

Reflections: Election 2012

I eyeball 🙄 😯 😕 😐 the political scene without entangling myself in the political drama (or is it merely a play?).

When I go grocery shopping, I also eyeball others’ unbelievably loaded shopping carts and the “food stamp” Oregon Trail cards they use for payment…and I remember Alexis de Tocqueville: Read it all

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Above all, love God!