Last year I went to a local Messianic church for the Passover Seder. This was my third one in my life. I enjoy being a part of it. A guest Messianic (the one who are Jews and believe in Jesus as the Savior) rabbi explained the culture and meaning of the passover Seder meal. The dinner tasted good.


I noticed that a local grocery store has a section for Kosher food just like they have a designated section for Japanese or Mexican food items! So I bought these two boxes.


I made potato pancakes. I liked them but my family didn't care for it so much.


I didn't go to join them this year because they had it on Monday after the Easter and I was doing something else. Why was it on Monday? I don't know.

Every year I wonder and still don't know the answer to this one question.
Who decides when the Easter Sunday is?
A lot of people say, "I thought the passover always came right before the Easter." I thought so , too. But it still doesn't answer my question. I understand why Passover date changes every year. Their calender is different from our 'modern' or 'regular' calender. I can't fully explain but it has something to do with the moon. Then why doesn't the date of Easter change with it? Easter date changes every year (it seems like), but doesn't go along with the Passover day. I feel like it should either change according to Passover, or if it is ignoring the Jewish culture, I feel like it should stay on the same date every year. It is strange. Am I crazy to think like this?

Last year Easter happened before Passover! I wondered when the day of Pentecost would be... but no one was talking about it around me.... Without a bias, I sincerely think that Passover date would be always right. Then the day of Pentecost comes 7 weeks after Passover since it is a Jewish event. I have a feeling that many Christians don't really connect the Jewish ceremony and this Pentecost event have some connections. I certainly didn't hear about it for many, many years until I started to be interested in the Jewish culture. Yeah...we are not bound by law, but just as we would like to know everything about someone we love, I would like to know these things accurately ( as far as my brain can take).

As I started thinking about those things and started googling, I found this web site. A lot of Christian people may think I am crazy, but I would like to pay attention to what this person has to say.

The significance of Leviticus chapters one and two:

small alef ... God called Moses in the small voice.

an offering for the burnt offering was to be brought by one's voluntary will.

the smoke was 'sweet savor' or 'soothing aroma' for the LORD.

it was an atonement...

People brought an offering according to what they could bring.

The Hebrew word for for 'burnt offering' is olah. "Olah" also means "ascends".

These things above give me the image of our Father who is love.

Jesus went to the cross, not by force, but by his voluntary will.
His sacrifice was pleasing to God, a sweet savor for the LORD.
His sacrifice was for us.
Jesus ascended.

A lot of Vineyard songs are directly from the Scriptures. Their worship songs really helped me get to know Jesus more. You automatically know the scriptures in your heart just by singing ! I was away from their music for awhile because I listened to it too many times, over and over, and my ear wanted something else for awhile. I try not to do that to the Messianic music I am listening to, but it is hard to put it down when I like it so much. I want those worship music to be fresh. I want to be reminded that the music is a means, and not the purpose, just like the scriptures point to Jesus. Direct access to God through Jesus. I would like to say, "What Would You Do, Jesus?", instead of "What Would Jesus Do?". ( I have nothing against WWJD.) The worship leaders are soooo talented and wonderful, but they are anointed to usher us to the place where we worship our LORD, and they are not to be followed. But to tell the truth, I miss the experiences I encountered in those days...

I went to their worship conference in LA once. It was more than ten years ago and I remember that it was such a powerful conference! Powerful because of the humble hearts the musicians and the speakers demonstrated and they led us into the places where we've never been - the sweet place close to Jesus. The teachings were wonderful, too.

A lot of songs from the Jewish prayer books are directly from the Scriptures. What is the difference between Vineyard music and the Jewish music (from their prayer book)? The tunes are different. If I could figure out how to post a part of the Vineyard music and the Jewish songs from the prayer book, I would post them someday. Both are directly from the Bible, the tunes are different, and both can be just 'music' without God, depending on our hearts' condition. I think Hymns can be the same way, too. ....Ooops, I am starting to analyze again....May my heart be open to worship you, Jesus, through different songs and styles.

ויקרא
This says "And He called". "Vayikra".
I hear that it is well known that the letter Alef (the first letter in the Hebrew alphabet), the one on the far left above, is written in a smaller size than the rest of the letters in the Torah.

Let's look. This website shows the English text on the right and the Hebrew text on the left. In the first verse, you can see in this one that the letter alef is written in a smaller size. (Hebrew is read from right to left,)

http://www.mechon-mamre.org/p/pt/pt0301.htm

I learned that there are special-trained scribes who copies every little thing in the Torah. If the reader find an error, then the scroll would be given to the special place and the scribes would correct it. So every little thing counts. Jesus said in Matthew 5:18

"For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled." (KJV)

"I tell you the truth, until heaven and earth disappear, not even the smallest detail of God’s law will disappear until its purpose is achieved. " (NLT)

"I tell you the truth, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished."(NIV)

I learned that this small alef represents the LORD's small voice calling Moses from behind the tabernacle. The LORD is in many little things, not just in the big thunders and lightnings.

This is one of the treasures that the Hebrew readers understand. I cannot imagine what more they would understand from the NT with both the knowledge and the Holy Spirit. Matthew 13:52 explains perfectly what those people are. In the back of one of my CD's, "Old and New" by Avner and Rachel Boskey, I read this verse. ( I am not sure which translation it was.) All the disciples must have been like the householder the verse talks about - someone who can pull out treasures from the OT and NT.

Matthew 13:52
Then said he unto them, Therefore every scribe which is instructed unto the kingdom of heaven is like unto a man that is an householder, which bringeth forth out of his treasure things new and old. (KJV)

One of my favorite images from the Bible passages is the "Road to Emmaus".
After the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ, two disciples were on the way to Emmaus (= bath water). Then Jesus appeared and joined them in their conversation.

Luke 24 (KJV)
"And their eyes were opened, and they knew him; and he vanished out of their sight. And they said one to another, Did not our heart burn within us, while he talked with us by the way, and while he opened to us the scriptures? "

It makes sense to ask the Holy Spirit to teach us when we read the Bible!!
For when our eyes are opened, we know Jesus.
When we read the Bible just as a regular book, nothing burns inside us because we don't know Him. If we know Jesus already and nothing burns withing us, I would keep reading because emotion doesn't need to lead us. But that is not what I am talking about. When the Holy Spirit shows us something personally, then something inside burns. This is available to all of us who want to have it. I believe that. The passage says "...while he opened to us the scriptures?" Which part? Luke 24:27 "... beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself."

The New Testament teaches us about Jesus yet when the authors of the NT encourage us to read the scriptures, they must mean the Old Testament because they were the beginning of the New Testament and the NT part of the Bible was not available. This was one of the reasons why I started reading the OT.

May our hearts burn within us!

Happy Easter!

John 5:39 (New Living Translation)

“You search the Scriptures because you think they give you eternal life. But the Scriptures point to me!

This scripture comes to my mind when I use my torah pointer to read the Bible. Yes, it is called Torah Pointer. And yes, I bought one for myself when I first started to be drawn to the Jewish culture woven into the scriptures.



It was always my habit to read the Bible with the back of a pen. Then I happened to see this! It has a little hand and the index finger is pointing. just like this. Again, and again, I have to tell you that this is just a stick, meaning that I don't see it as a 'holy' thing or anything like that. I just love it.

Easter is approaching. I amuse myself by reading Leviticus with this torah pointer and think of what Jesus said.

“You search the Scriptures because you think they give you eternal life. But the Scriptures point to me!

Holy Spirit, speak to us today!

It is amazing.
My father is Korean, and my mother is Japanese.
My mother prayed her prayer to accept Jesus years ago with me and she went to church on and off since then. But she was not able to accept Jesus' grace completely and she kept saying that she was not a good person. She was struggling to be free from her own negative feeling.

Then her day of deliverance came. She is a new person now. Totally.

A friend of mine from my church in Japan started visiting my parents on a regular basis mainly because my father had developed the Alzheimer's type of Dementia and my mother needed someone who would come and talk to her so that she is not stuck at home 24 hours a day. God has put a desire in my heart to ask my friend to consider visiting my parents once in awhile. I kept procrastinating because I didn't know how to ask but I finally asked. I was desperately in need of help for my mother. As it turned out, she was thinking the same thing. We were glad that we communicated!!

Then last month my mother called me. She said Jesus came into her heart. I never doubted Jesus was already in her heart, but now even on the phone I can tell she is different. Something happened inside her. My friend led her to a deeper place to meet Jesus. She told mother her face looked different now. I believe that!

What is amazing is that my relatives in Korea are Christians. (well, two of them that I know.) They are visiting my parents right now. My mother called me tonight. One of my cousins is in a full-time ministry ( I don't know the whole story.), and her father, my father's brother, started going to church several years ago. Now those two are visiting Japan. My uncle said he and his daughter wanted to pray for my father. It is amazing that our LORD keeps sending messengers to my parents, and I believe it is in His timing. My heart goes out towards those who pray for their family members. Keep on praying! is all I can think of.

My father's story is another story.
Before he developed Dementia, we had a short, quiet conversation alone. When I visited my parents that year, I had a mission. My goal was to tell him about Jesus clearly, face to face. I had never done that before. My God knew that if I didn't do that, then I would regret it. That is what I believe. I got the scriptures that spoke to me, and I was in a situation God had set up (it looked like it). My father started singing in Korean suddenly. When asked, he said the song says, "whoever believes in Jesus shall have eternal life". (If you know my father, you would never imagine that he would speak of Jesus positively.) When I asked if he would believe in Jesus, he nodded. That was it. But I have no doubt God was at work mightily!! You see, someone used to take him to a christian church when he was little. I imagine that the Korean Christians would pray earnestly! I felt like I just witnessed God's work in front of my eyes. I didn't do anything. I just saw the answer to the prayers that was prayed 80+ years ago! What a privilege. Later that week, my doubtful thought came in. Should I have led him to say a sinner's prayer? But I had all other confirmation and faith that I will see him in heaven. But who else will stand with me on that? No visible evidence that my father is saved is available.

I didn't want to share this good news about my father since I was afraid that other people may deny what I experienced. Yet after the service I decided to share this with the pastor's wife. She gave a message that day. She said, "now I understand", and explained what had happened the night before. She was praying for the next morning and suddenly a verse came to her heart. It was as if the verse fell upon her from the heaven. The problem was it did not fit anywhere in the message. She asked the LORD if it was really for the next morning. No answer came, but she decided to jot it down because it was given to her. It was from 1 Corinthians 1:21: . She said it was for me. I was doubting, but I wanted to believe like Abraham! Then I start doubting, then I thought, I want to believe like Abraham.... I was not standing firm. This verse somehow encouraged me that it is okay to believe foolishly. God doesn't think it is foolish.

Oooo...I wish my writing skills were better... I am not much better in Japanese, either. Sorry.

I praise God for all His timing.
I will pray for my relatives and for my family now.

Last year I went to a place called Color Me Mine which is a paint-your-own ceramic place.
My daughter went there a few times when she was younger.
Once my former employer took the girls from the office to the studio for our Christmas fun night and I happened to find this plate! I got excited and chose to paint this one. I was not very creative, and I wanted to stick with the plain dark blue color so it turned out to be like this. I like it a lot. Last year before the Passover I went back there by myself (because no one was available to go with me) and painted two more. I gave them to two of my friends who went to the Messianic church.
It took me over two hours to finish! It was fun. Painting the plates and thinking about Jesus, the Bible, the Jewish people, and the Christian lives was a very happy time.

I am going to Leviticus!
Don't ask me what happened to Joseph's story and Moses.... I want to go back there definitely, and I will keep working on my projects ( family tree and Abraham's life).

ויקרא This is the title of the first part of Leviticus. It says "and He called". It is at the beginning of the book. The whole book of what we call "Leviticus" is titled "And He Called" in Hebrew.

Leviticus 1:3 is interesting.
I found an interesting website. When we compare different translations in one page like this we notice that the Hebrew word that means "of his own voluntary will" is not translated. I think this word's presence makes a big difference in understanding who God is. Immediately I thought of a verse from the Bible: He is the same yesterday, today, and forever (Book of Hebrews). We call our God and Jesus who is the same yesterday, today, and forever but we think God in the OT is not a loving God. He has always been a loving Father! My desire is to know my Father and Jesus who was sent by our Father more from the entire Bible.