Every now and then I am asked, “Was there a day or an event that changed your beliefs?”
November 29, 1973, time: 12:50 local time. In all of the time from that until you read this, I have never changed my opinion about WHO IS MY GOD.
I trust that you understand how powerful that statement is. There is no doubt, no faith(faith: just doing it on faith with out facts or evidence, but because you are told to.), no misunderstanding, not since then. My primary concern is am I doing it right. Or more to the point, am I keeping the Law so that HE may find me more acceptable today than yeaterday.
Many things have happened in my life since then and before that time, but a decision I made that day changed my life forever. If you read “My Path to Judaism” you would get a more detailed description of that day, but what I am going to tell you here is: What the decision was and why I did it!
Some back ground on the event. I was in the U.S. Navy, on board the USS Oriskany, working as blue shirt on the flight deck, Fly II. Waiting for the last F-8 Fighter jet to come back, to be placed in spot as 15 minute alert Fighter. It is load with fuel and munitions, ready to perform its tasks.
The moment I realized that my foot was caught by the right main mount, my life changed.
Up until that time I was a person who knew the New Testament, could and did hold my own with anyone spouting statements of untruth about that body of information, ready to correct every misstatement made. As a result I was no longer an active participant in following that text and what it represents. I would not follow a system of faith that was less accountable to Honor and Truth than I expect of myself.( If I say I will do something or commit my self to something, I must up hold my word. What honor have you?, and How can anyone trust you, if you will not keep your word?)
No I will not tell you now, what I know on those issues. Rather let me continue on the path of this telling.
Christianity and most faith systems declare, ONE GOD, it is a persons relationship to that GOD which is different.
So, here I am 18 years of age, my left foot is on the downhill side of the flight deck with 33,000 pounds of fighter jet rolling over me – slowly. Something tells me to stay calm. Wait!, Don’t move! Don’t speak! DON’T PULL! Be Calm and wait. I realize that I will not have a foot, at least the portion being turned in to liquid in this process. I am too young to become so disabled by this.(Self-centered at the moment. My dad lost the left leg up to and including part of the hip in a lumber mill accident about 3 years later.) I went Directly to the MASTER OF THE UNIVERSE, The Creator of the Heavens and the Earth, The GOD of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. If there was any help for this situation, HE IS GOD, HE can help, HE can heal me. I was not polite to MY GOD. Why have you allowed this to happen to me? To destroy my future? Will you be my help? Will you be my GOD? Please do not let this be the end of my life. . . . Thinking of those questions I am ashamed even today.
The aircraft carrier was going to the Indian Ocean, Subic Bay Philippines is in the other direction and I will not get to that hospital for more than 60 days.
When I got to sick bay on the ship(placed in a metal basket, handled by ship personal, handed from person to person through man holes all the way to sick bay), the boot had to be cut off, the steal toe was flat, sticking out both sides of the boot like it never had a curve in it. From the shin to the tire tread on the remains of the foot was less than an inch. What remained appeared to be a bloody pancake, little resemblance to the Size 11.5 foot of earlier this day.
Lots of recovery time needed. NO Operations. A cast was put on, only until it dried and then taken off –it was not help. Pain killers had no relief, so I did not take them after the first try.
When the ship returned to the Philippines, I was sent to Cubi Point to see the Orthopedic Surgeon, who was on his way with a colleague to play golf. On the steps leading up to the Hospital is where I found him, x-rays in one hand and a cane in the other. He grabbed the x-rays, glanced at them in the South Pacific Sun and declared that aspirin and one day of rest is how he treats such fakers. I watched him go off, I guess to play his game, angry that I was treated so poorly by him(a NAVY Commander).
I was there, I felt, saw and experienced this event. I was not faking anything. How dare he say such things to anyone, even a sailor?
Years later I recognize that he was simply declaring that GOD had answered my talk with HIM, November 29, 1973 at 13:05 local time. I finished that enlistment, and in the 80’s went back for a couple of years in the U.S.Navy, I dance, play baseball, basket ball and once in a while suffer a floating bone chip that contacts a nerve(a reminder that I have a foot).
So, I did make a decision a long time ago, to only talk to MY GOD, no one between HIM and me. HE has taken care of me even when I was not worthy. HE saved me, now I try to be what HE wants, for HE deserves that of me, and has already given more that I can possibly repay.
So what do you think? Was this a time that changed my life and understanding?
I am still learning, still growing and still discovering the blessings I have had and the ones I am still receiving. How can I ever doubt The Living GOD Of ISRAEL?
Yaakov
Please Donate, if you Can, use the button in the Left Column. Thank you.