Looking Back at Forty Years in Israel

On the 4th of July I completed forty years of residency in Israel. Josa has been here almost as long--since 1968, with an additional ten months as a tourist in 1966/1967.

It was on July 4, 1963--fifteen years after Israel's Declaration of Independence--that I landed at Israeli's international airport, located near Lod (Lydda). As the plane made its approach to the runway, I was busy looking out the plane's window for milk cows and bee hives--I wanted to be sure that I was landing in the right country! :-) And, by the way, before we touched down, I did spot them. There they were--black-and-white Holstein cows, and clusters of white, wooden bee hives.

Certainly, when I arrived in Israel, there could not have been anyone further from Israel and Jewish culture than I was, a Gentile hailing from a very small Oklahoma town with no Jewish population. During my forty years in Israel, I spent six years doing post-graduate studies at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and ten years directing Hebrew language schools for Christian university students and new immigrants. I also did seventeen years of Israeli army reserve service (in total time, about three full years). Could anything be more exciting for a Christian of non-Jewish extraction than serving in the Army of Israel?

The experience of living in Jerusalem--driving past the Hinnom Valley, standing on the Mount of Olives, or walking down the Emmaus Road--has never become commonplace. I still have to pinch myself each day. I say to myself, "Is this really happening to me, or am I dreaming that I am here in Jerusalem and the land of the Bible." I have never gotten over the thrill.

Mentally, I feel that I am still twenty-four, as I was when I first came to Israel. In fact, my poor body has aged a bit. (See the two photos below.)

Please pray that Josa and I will have many more productive years in Israel.

Before....I stand with Mr. Bar-Gur (then, in 1964, president of the Jerusalem Rotary Club) outside the Jerusalem YMCA where the Jerusalem Rotarians held their weekly meetings. Thanks to a post-graduate fellowship awarded to me by Rotary International, I was able to come to Israel. (I owe Rotarians a great debt!) When this photo was taken, I was twenty-four years old.

After....This photo (with Josa) shows how well I have weathered forty years in Israel. (Photo courtesy of de Vries Studio, Holland, Michigan.)