I came to faith in Jesus as the Messiah in 1973 through the prayerful witness of a Lutheran layman. He cared enough about me and my salvation that he prayed for me daily for three years and introduced me to a Jewish book my rabbi did not want me to read. That Jewish book was the New Testament. For the first time in my life, I read of the hope and promises of the Messiah. I grew up surrounded by Christians, but until the age 23 not one of my Christian friends had ever spoken to me about Jesus.

Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, your servants, to whom you swore by your own self, and said to them, “I will multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven, and all this land that I have promised I will give to your offspring, and they shall inherit it forever." (Ex. 32:13, ESV)

Know ye not that they which run in a race run all, but one receives the prize? So run, that ye may obtain. And every man that strives for the mastery is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a corruptible crown; but we an incorruptible crown. (1 Cor. 9:24-25, KJV)

Shalom aleichem! I pray all is well, you are in high spirits, and that this letter is a blessing both to your soul and your life.