Shabbat Shalom
Grant here—
And I just want to say THANK YOU to all of our friends and family that have been cheering for us, praying for us and encouraging us on journeys in the middle east. I just turned in my last assignment and it is 1:55am IST at the time of writing. That means the fall semester at Jerusalem University College is a wrap. I don’t have any fancy words to say at this odd hour of the morning (that I have seen many times in my studies this fall). All I can say is, thank you. Thank you, God, Jesus and Holy Spirit. And thank you to each of you. To the professors at JUC and the friends we’ve made along the way, and even the strangers we don’t know by name that have helped light our path with joy. And of course, to my wife, Tayler, who made so much of this first leg of our journey possible and is immeasurably full of love.
We have the privilege of having some beautiful, deep conversations amongst community around the table here at JUC. The other night, we were talking about what salvation looks like (just a light weeknight topic). I’ll leave the details out here, but the humble consensus of that conversation was that recognizing Jesus begins with thank you. And perhaps, however simple that sounds, that is indeed all that is needed.
There are no crazy stories (they will come) or profound takeaways in this brief note—just immense gratitude. As well as the joy, hope and transformation that can unfold from beginning with a simple thank you.
We love you.
Grant & Tay