Near the beginning of the cantata tomorrow, there is a song based on our Hymn of the Month, "O Come, O Come, Emmanuel." It starts out with Latin and is in a minor key. In fact, it sounds a lot like Middle Eastern or Jewish music. It is written as though its origins were before Christ came.

As we sang it today at rehearsal, I was overwhelmed with mental pictures from Israel right now. Young people slaughtered as they attended a concert, families taken from their beds in kibbutzim and killed, a war no one but terrorists wants. Three of the hostages accidentally killed this week by their own Israeli forces. Sadness everywhere.

A friend from my first squadron private chatted me this week about current events. He was our only Jewish officer. For a while, I was our only female officer. We only had two Black officers, too, so sometimes the four of us could joke around about standing out in the crowd.

Jim is a religious Jew; he actually considered being a rabbi before going in the Navy as a flight officer. On some smaller ships, he would do the rabbi/chaplain function for the enlisted Jewish people.

He reminded me again for about the 20th time that he is happy with Judaism and not interested in Jesus.

However, I decided to probe his beliefs further and found out he literally believes the entire Old Testament (they call it the Hebrew Testament) just like we do. I did not yet ask him about whether he believes a literal Messiah is still coming. I was astonished because I do not think I have ever met a religious Jew who believes the Old Testament miracles all actually happened.

Please pray for Jim to have the veil removed that Paul mentions in II Corinthians 3. I cannot imagine the despair a religious Jew must feel at least 4000 years after Abraham when the promise still seems so unfulfilled and the music still seems in a minor key. The key change Jim needs is Christ. Please pray that he will see.