Even the Simple Things - Now Think On This by Steve Martin

Even the Simple Things

Now Think On This

Steve Martin

“What's the price of a pet canary? Some loose change, right? And God cares what happens to it even more than you do. He pays even greater attention to you, down to the last detail — even numbering the hairs on your head! So don't be intimidated by all this bully talk. You're worth more than a million canaries.” (Matthew 10:29-31 THE MESSAGE)

The phone call came about 6 pm that Wednesday evening. I had missed the earlier text. My oldest daughter Hannah, eight months pregnant with her first-born Levi, had been in a car accident. She was okay. But her two year old Hyundai Elantra was totaled, trapped between three other stopped cars when rear ended by a high school senior football player who was texting. He was going 40 mph when he slammed into the string of cars, as the eye witness said. The 18 year old hadn’t seen the red light.

Remembering back, Laurie was eight months pregnant with Hannah when, while driving our Chrysler station wagon, was surely thinking about the upcoming Christmas holiday, and didn’t see the red light. Result? Two cars totaled – ours and the other. That was in late December of 1983 in East Lansing, Michigan. Again, a red light missed. 

The devil hates all of our Lord’s creation, especially the unborn, and will try to kill them anyway he can. (Hannah was surprised when we told her about that time, after her accident.)

This time around, Laurie rode with Hannah in the ambulance to the hospital. Hannah was not hurt, bless the Lord, but they wanted to make sure Levi had not been traumatized. Six hours later the word came back that all was good.

But then Hannah needed another car. So the following Monday, after getting off from my office job, I was available to help her in her quest for one. We stopped at Hardee’s to get a sandwich, and then onto the car dealer. Her blessing from the Lord came soon. Though what the enemy of our souls meant for evil, death and destruction, the Lord had other plans. Hannah drove her new crossover vehicle home. It would be big enough for a new stroller and more, for her family of four.

On Tuesday morning I went to get my keys to make the 6 am, 14 mile drive to work in uptown Charlotte. But my keys were not in the usual spot. I looked all over, prayed, looked, prayed, and looked again. In the car, in the bedroom, in the living room chairs; even in the garbage, thinking maybe they fell out of my IDF (Israel Defense Force) fleece jacket when I took out the trash. Nada. Nothing.

The security guard let me into the office, being no other staff would arrive until two hours later for daily work. But with no key to open my desk drawers, I thought my day wouldn’t be too productive. A few times the word “garbage” came to me, so I again checked our recycle bin and the home dumpster when I got home from work. Nothing. Just dirty hands.

So I took the dumpster to the street curb for the weekly early morning pick up the next day. That night I searched again for the lost keys. Nothing. No one else had seen them. I knew I would have to get copies of the six keys that I had on the Messianic One New Man symbol key ring bought in Israel, if not found. What a pain. So the search continued with no good results.

At 5:55 am on Wednesday morning, before I used our spare key to drive to work, I said to the Holy Spirit, “You know where those keys are. Please tell me.” Again the word “garbage” came to me. I got a flashlight and walked to the dumpster on the curb, hoping any neighbors also leaving for work at that early time wouldn’t see me and think I was a garbage picker. (I didn’t have a hoodie or hat on, just to make extra sure of that.) The garbage truck would come within an hour or so.

The thought came to look for the Hardee bag. Why not? So I did. It was just a bit down in the dumpster bin pile. I pulled out hamburger wrappings and an empty shake plastic cup (strawberry if you want to know) to get to the bottom. And there, as they had been for the past 36 hours, were my keys! Hallelujah Lord!!! Why I had not seen them before I may never know. But He does, and the rest is left in His hands.

I quickly wrote a joyous note to Laurie, letting her know of even this simple thing the Holy Spirit did for me, and then drove on to work. And yes, I shared the good news story with the 27 year old security guard James. I wouldn’t need his door opening assistance again.

The Lord cares all about us. He cares for our spirit, He cares for our body, He cares for our soul. He even cares about our lost keys. If we seek Him, He will show us the way.

I bless the Lord and will daily call upon His Name. He is our salvation, which is the meaning of His Name, Yeshua (Jesus) in Hebrew. Thank you Lord!

Now think on this, with His love and mine. And if you lose your keys, ask the Holy Spirit to help!

Steve Martin

Founder

Love For His People, Inc.

 

My note to Laurie that morning:

   Note: It was actually a Hardee’s bag, not Burger King.

Especially at this end of year time, we sure could use your help to bless the families we do in Israel, India, Pakistan, Vietnam and the hurting ones here in the USA. Please give out of the abundance you have been given.

Love For His People, Inc. is a charitable, not-for-profit USA humanitarian organization started in 2010 to share the love of the Father in the nations.

If these messages minister to you, please consider sending a charitable gift of $5-$25 today, and maybe each month, to help us bless families we know in Israel, whom we consistently help through our humanitarian ministry. Your tax deductible contributions receive a receipt for each donation. Fed. ID #27-1633858.

Click here for safe ONLINE GIFT GIVING THROUGH OUR WEBSITE using major credit cards: Love For His People. If you don't have a PayPal account you can also use your credit card or bank account (where available). 

Contribution checks can be sent to: 

Love For His People, Inc.  P.O. Box414   Pineville, NC 28134

Todah rabah! (Hebrew – Thank you very much.)

Please share Now Think On This with your friends.

Email: loveforhispeople@gmail.com  

martinlighthouse@gmail.com

Facebook pages: Steve Martin and  Love For His People  

Twitter: martinlighthous, LovingHisPeople 

Blogs: Love For His People,   Now Think On This

Full website: Love For His People

YouTube: Love For His People Inc.

Now Think On This - In the year of our Lord 12.23.15 - #223 –“Even the Simple Things” – Wednesday at 7:30 pm

All previous editions of Now Think On This can be found on this Blog, and on the website: Now Think On This

Again, I would be most grateful if you'd share this encouraging word with your family and friends. You can easily use the social media icons below. Thanks! Steve

More Religious Jewish Women Joining the IDF - Israel Today

More Religious Jewish Women Joining the IDF

Thursday, November 05, 2015 |  Israel Today Staff

RELATED STORIES

• PHOTOS: Israeli Army on Storm Duty
• Israel Eyes Becoming a Cashless Society
• Experts: Jews, Not Palestinians, Have Been Here for Millennia

Topics:

Israel

The number of religious Jewish women volunteering for the Israeli army has almost doubled in the past five years. This according to a new report published by the IDF noting that while just 935 religious Jewish women signed up for military service in 2010, over 1,800 had already done so in 2015.

On Tuesday, the IDF put on a special presentation for young religious Jewish women who were interested in the possibility of military service. Some 1,600 women attended the event.

The head of the IDF’s Personnel Directorate, Maj.-Gen. Hagai Topolanski, addressed his audience’s various fears, chief among them the concern over restrictions on their religious lifestyle.

Gen. Topolanski stressed: “There are so many religious women with amazing qualities that can be put to use by the IDF. There are many opportunities [for these women].”

Brig.-Gen. Rachel Tevet-Wiesel, advisor on women’s affairs to the IDF chief of staff, made note of the “increasing number of religious women serving with us. They serve in elite units, training facilities, technology and communications. They can be found in the Air Force, the infantry brigades and the Armored Corps. Anywhere they are needed!”

Israeli women, just like men, have been conscripted into the IDF since 1949. Besides Eritrea, Israel is the only nation in the world that requires military service for women. However, there are exceptions. Religious Jewish women have traditionally been exempted, as have Arab men and women.

Currently, just over 40 percent of Israel’s fighting force are women, and it is a great encouragement to see more and more religious Jewish women joining that number.

Want more news from Israel?
Click Here to sign up for our FREE daily email updates from ISRAEL TODAY.

IDF Prepares to Fight ISIS Invaders

Tuesday, September 08, 2015 |  Israel Today Staff

RELATED STORIES

• Gaza missiles strike southern Israel
• Americans Nearly Lynched in Hebron; Saved by Palestinian Man
• School Bus Attacked in Jerusalem

Topics:

Terrorism

How and when will the burgeoning ISIS forces in Sinai act against Israel? For the past year this question has troubled the Israeli intelligence community, which has struggled to provide a satisfactory answer.

The reason it is difficult to get a firm read on the situation is that this particular branch of ISIS is operating in a compartmentalized and largely unorganized manner in a huge open desert with the support of local Bedouin smugglers.

But even without firm intelligence, Israel’s famed Caracal Battalion is gearing up to take on the jihadist horde. Named after a small cat species whose sexes appear the same, Caracal is renowned for fielding both male and female combatants. In fact, some 70 percent of Caracal infantrymen are women, something ISIS reportedly fears.

Worst case scenarios for which the IDF is currently planning include ISIS attacks on the Nitzana and Kerem Shalom border crossings, as well as infiltrations into Israeli border villages.

Such attacks would presumably involve tens of ISIS gunmen, at least, and resemble recent assaults on Egyptian military bases in Sinai, during which dozens of police officers and soldiers have been killed. Like its parent organization in Iraq and Syria, the Sinai branch of ISIS is not interested merely in terrorist-style strikes, but has also attempted to occupy urban areas.

Israel has a fence along much of its border with Egypt, but that would only temporarily stall a determined ISIS assault. For that reason, Caracal, which has long patrolled this border, is today, and for the first time, undergoing intense urban warfare training just like the Paratrooper, Golani and Givati infantry brigades.

The mission is simple. If ISIS forces manage to penetrate an Israeli village, Caracal will strike first and strike hard.

Battalion commander Capt. Ksusha Levin said she will be among those to first greet the most brutal terrorist group in the world on its first visit to Israel. “I do not know when the attack will come,” she told Israel’s Ynet news portal. “We are stronger than the enemy, but we are preparing for worst case and extreme scenarios.”

According to the most recent estimates, ISIS forces in Sinai, which began as a local branch of Al Qaeda, number some 2,000–3,000 men armed with machine guns and advanced anti-tank missiles.

Want more news from Israel?
Click Here to sign up for our FREE daily email updates from ISRAEL TODAY.

The Truth Behind That Viral IDF Soldier Photo

Monday, August 31, 2015 |  Ryan Jones  ISRAEL TODAY

RELATED STORIES

• Turkey's Act of Betrayal Shocks Israel
• Arabs use bribery to gain UN votes against Israel
• Israelis disappointed by Oscar loss

Topics:

Global

Over the weekend a photo of an armed IDF soldier holding a young Palestinian boy in a headlock went viral on the Internet and was the lead story on major media websites like CNN.

The problem, as is often the case, is that the likes of CNN left a LOT out of the story, and in so doing used the photo to paint a picture of the situation and of Israeli soldiers in general that bore very little resemblance to reality.

One of the few facts CNN and others go right is that the incident occurred in a place called Nabi Saleh. What you weren’t told is that the residents of Nabi Saleh hold a weekly violent demonstration against the nearby Jewish community of Halamish.

Every week for the past several years at least, IDF soldiers show up to make sure the Nabi Saleh rioters don’t get too close to to Halamish.

That’s right, this has been happening every Friday for years, but you never hear about it, because typically nothing of note happens.

But that doesn’t stop photographers from the international media pitching up week after week in hopes of catching the next juicy shot of perceived Israeli abuses. And the residents of Nabi Saleh are only too happy to do their best in helping achieve that goal.

In fact, some of the residents of Nabi Saleh are already well known, and have adoring fans abroad. They are proper actors on the “Pallywood” stage.

Take for instance Ahed Tamimi, seen in the most recent photos taking a bite out of the IDF soldier in question. Tamimi and her parents, Bassem and Nariman, are habitual rioters.

In 2012, Tamimi gained notoriety when she was filmed trying to provoke a violent response from IDF soldiers. Soon after, she was invited to Istanbul to be given the Handala Award for Courage by Turkish President Erdoğan.

For years, the Tamimi family and their co-rioters were experiencing something of a dry spell. But they struck gold on Friday when an IDF soldier sent to play peacekeeper at the weekly demonstration got separated from his unit.

Immediately, the young boy in the photos began incessantly stoning the soldier, who responded by grabbing him. The Tamimis and others pounced and delivered a severe and humiliating beating to the soldier, all as the media photographers eagerly snapped as many shots as they could.

Another important fact left out of the stories at CNN and elsewhere is that not once during the entire ordeal did the soldier in question threaten to use his weapon against the assailants.

Ironically, it was Arab readers who had seen the article and photos on the website of Al Jazeera that first and most notably picked up on this.

“Note how although he had a weapon, and although he is a soldier of the Zionist entity, he did not shoot him in the head. Imagine the same thing [happening] in Arab countries, how our people would have acted,” wrote a commenter named Osama, as translated into Hebrew by Israeli Facebook user Shay Ket.

Another named Tita pointed out that “if it had happened in Egypt, they would have shot that boy with live ammunition instead of being so considerate.”

In short, these photos that our august media gatekeepers thought so important as to make international headline news were ultimately “much ado about nothing.”

Want more news from Israel?
Click Here to sign up for our FREE daily email updates from ISRAEL TODAY.

IDF Looks to Bible to Prepare for Future Threats - BIN

IDF Looks to Bible to Prepare for Future Threats

By Ahuva Balofsky July 23, 2015  Breaking Israel News

“And the LORD said unto Gideon: ‘The people that are with thee are too many for Me to give the Midianites into their hand, lest Israel vaunt themselves against Me, saying: mine own hand hath saved me…’” (Judges 7:2)

(Photo: IDF)

The Israeli Defense Forces is preparing for a possible future which includes a nuclear-developing Iran, a senior defense source told The Jerusalem Post. According to the paper, the IDF must assume the worst to properly reshape the military, improve training and cut costs.

New IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Gadi Eisenkot and a team of military planners spent four years developing what they have termed the “Gideon Plan” for streamlining the IDF over the next several years.

It calls for significantly increasing the power of wartime multi-arena combat divisions; restructuring the army to create specialized brigades and battalions that focus exclusively on border security, leaving the main fighting to the divisions; and improving weapons and training.

The Gideon Plan was publicized Monday, ahead of the results of the Locker Commission, which calls for significant reductions in the Israeli army’s operating budget. The Locker commission, ordered by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to examine the military budget and headed by Major General (Res.) Yohanan Locker, has received considerable criticism from defense officials, who claim it undermines the army and delegitimizes career officers.

While the Locker Commission calls for sweeping cuts to the budget, as well as to personnel, the Gideon Plan has its own recommendations for reducing waste and improving efficiency. The plan is named for the Biblical hero Gideon, who reduced his army of thousands to a mere 300 men to fight against the Midianites.

The Gideon Plan cuts the number of reservists by 100,000, eliminates four major-general positions and reduces the number of high-level administrative positions by six percent. Unlike the Locker Commission, it preserves the pensions of career officers, but limits the number of those who remain in the army long enough to be eligible for such pensions.

image: http://www.breakingisraelnews.com/wp-content/uploads/useful_banner_manager_banners/171-LIBI%20iran%20iaf.jpg

“To intercept [an Iranian arms smuggling ship like] the Klos C doesn’t take 20 personnel, it takes thousands of people working around the clock, including non-combat personnel. To say that only battalion commanders or air force squadrons should receive pensions is a joke,” one senior official said.

According to Eizenkot, “Harm done to those who serve causes unnecessary harm to the IDF’s ability to meet its objectives and lowers the public’s trust in the IDF. The attempt to delegitimize those who serve in the IDF is an existential threat to the military’s ability to retain professional, committed and proud employees.”

The senior official quoted by The Jerusalem Post laid out the scenarios facing the IDF in the coming years. “Iran will be a central challenge for the IDF during this time,” the official said. “It will be a mission for Military Intelligence to [continue] monitoring intelligence and [providing] alerts. The intelligence will focus on Iranian [nuclear] efforts and [the regional] influence.”

“The working assumption is that they [the Iranians] will try in the near future…to go for a basic [nuclear] capability. The assumption is that there will be an Iranian pattern of action in the covert [nuclear] channel,” he said.

image: http://www.breakingisraelnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/idf-iran-missile-rocket-.jpg

An IDF officer stand next to rockets seized by Israel on a ship near Cyprus, Nov. 4, 2009, that was carrying hundreds of tons of weapons from Iran bound for Hezbollah guerrillas, the largest arms shipment Israel has ever commandeered. (Photo: IDF Spokesperson/FLASH90)

Furthermore, he said, “There’s no doubt that lifting the sanctions will enable Iran to activate its influence in the region in a discernible and significant manner, more so than today.” Iranian spending on proxy terrorist states and agencies today runs $4-5 billion, a number limited only “economic limitations,” the official added.

Meanwhile, “Hezbollah is the most significant enemy in our first circle” of countries directly bordering Israel, the official explained “Hezbollah has 100,000 rockets, although it is in the most difficult crisis point since its founding. It lost 1,300 fighters in Syria, and sustained more than 5,000 injuries.”

In addition, the army is working to keep Hamas at bay, and the threat from the Islamic State in the region is growing.

The level of preparedness required by these potential threats “costs money”, according to the official. The Gideon Plan calls for a multi-year spending commitment of NIS 61-64 billion. That, along with the personnel cuts which will save billions, will mean “those who are left will be better trained, equipped, and ready for war.”

In addition to the cuts, the Gideon Plan calls for a restructuring of combat training to create two levels, one group of soldiers with a higher level of combat readiness, and another group, the majority of soldiers who would remain at the usual level of combat readiness.

Read more at http://www.breakingisraelnews.com/45672/idf-looks-to-bible-to-prepare-for-future-threats/#xOhkZ931VQ3R0BBE.99

Top World Generals: No Israeli War Crimes in Gaza

Monday, June 15, 2015 |  Israel Today Staff

RELATED STORIES

• Knesset decries Jerusalem's de facto division
• Israel tries to shed light on Jewish refugees
• Dramatic Rise in Ultra-Orthodox Joining IDF

Topics:

Israel

Israel at the weekend published the findings of 10 of the world’s top generals who concluded that, contrary to widespread allegations, the Jewish state had not committed war crimes during last summer’s Gaza war.

The delegation, headed by Chairman of the NATO Military Committee General Klaus Naumann (pictured), said in a statement that its “mission to Israel was unprecedented. We were the first such multi-national group of senior officers to visit the country. We were granted a level of access to the Israeli government and Defense Force that has not been afforded to any other group…”

After vigorously investigating the Israeli army’s conduct during the war, the group found that “Israeli forces acted proportionately as required by the laws of armed conflict and often went beyond the required legal principles of proportionality, necessity and discrimination.”

In fact, the foreign generals noted that on many occasions “the measures taken were often far in excess of the requirements of the Geneva Conventions.” For instance, Israel repeatedly put off a major military response despite escalating terrorist rocket fire. And once war had begun, the IDF routinely paused military action to spare civilians, even though doing so allowed Hamas and its allies to re-group and replenish.

Addressing the high number of Palestinian civilian casualties, the generals said this was the sad, but inevitable reality of conducting war from such a densely populated area.

“We recognize that some of these deaths were caused by error and misjudgment… But we also recognize that the majority of deaths were the tragic inevitability of defending against an enemy that deliberately carries out attacks from within the civilian population,” read the findings.

Earlier this year, Israel invited two leading American legal experts, Michael Schmitt and John Merriam, to likewise probe its conduct during the 50-day conflict that devastated much of Gaza.

Both Schmitt and Merriam lecture on the law of armed conflict at the US Naval War College, and Schmitt also advises on the topic at NATO, Harvard and Exeter.

Their survey took a sympathetic, if not uncritical, look at Israel’s “siege mentality” and the various other factors that create the “specific operational and strategic environment in which the IDF must fight.”

And while Israel’s aggressiveness in some scenarios and the resulting collateral damage might be viewed by some as excessive and contentious, the authors determined that Israeli military policy and practice fell within legally acceptable boundaries.

“While there are certainly Israeli legal positions that may be contentious, we found that their approach to targeting is consistent with the law and, in many cases, worthy of emulation,” read the survey’s concluding sentence.

Want more news from Israel?
Click Here to sign up for our FREE daily email updates from ISRAEL TODAY.