It’s beginning to dip into the 40’s at night. WAHOO! I’m loving it. I pulled out a duvet and threw the bedroom windows open. Glorious! I’m not a hot weather fan, even though (play on words coming) hot weather requires fans!

Archie, one of my cats, darted out the door last night despite my best efforts to keep him. He stayed out (‘cause no way was I chasing after a cat that bent on FREEDOM in a nightie) until 3:30 when he launched himself upward onto my bedroom screen. Darn cat! It really ticked me off. A simple "Meow" would have sufficed, with less damage to the screen and my subsequent dreams of breaking and entering. Grrr…
Oh, well!

I’m working ahead at work so there won’t be any clients for the other copywriters to deal with on Friday when I’m out. And tomorrow morning early I have a dental appointment, so I worked ahead for tomorrow, too. This way I can catch up quickly if I’m a little late getting to work. (Doubt it.)

Wrote copy for five new clients in the past two days. Yippee skippy! That’s my favorite part of this job! I’m blessed because 99 out of a hundred times the client absolutely loves what I write, so there’s not much re-writing that needs to happen – which is great because the client gets their on-hold program quick as a bunny that way! Lisa is always wondering how I turn clients around (get them going) as fast as I do. Giving it the best I’ve got the first time is a good start, I reckon! Usually only a few words here and there need changing, if at all, so it all comes together pretty quickly…

Tomorrow I’m in charge of the production sheet in the afternoon. I’m really getting the hang of it these days and kinda enjoy it now. It was a fearful thing to contemplate doing it at first, like most new skills, but now that I understand its dynamics, I don’t fret at all. And I have a new skill, to boot!

I don’t know that it’s a transferable skill, but I don’t plan to transfer, anyway, so I’m good with it! I have a less-eager attitude about learning new skills that are non-transferable to another job or to life. If the new thing doesn’t seem it has long-term value, I prefer not to have to learn it. It’s all I can do now to keep what I do know in shape and growing! J I’m getting wise as I age: If it doesn’t have considerable value to help or to revolutionize a particular aspect of one’s work or life, why the heck invest time and trouble learning it? I’m an inveterate learner, but some stuff just doesn’t hit mt passion button.

I’m in touch now with a Messianic Jew, who just sent me an AMAZING dissertation he wrote titled TORAH (God’s Law) VS. GRACE ??? In it, he details why God’s Law (The Ten Commandments and many of the Jewish holy days) ought to be a continuing part of all believers’ worship activities. Many Christian denominations teach that not only did Jesus come to fufill the law (as a sacrifice) but that he came to abolish it altogether; that the law was placed there by God simply to show us what sin was and what we could do to avoid being ensnared by it – and to show us that there was no way we could uphold the Law perfectly (the tenth commandment makes it utterly impossible), which is why a Messiah was needed who could (and did) uphold it perfectly and who could die as a perfect (without blemish) sacrifical lamb to open the way for us to have fellowship with the Father again.

My new friend, Tod Sherard, argues that throughout the Old and New Testaments there are many, many references to the commandment to keep the Torah (God’s Law) – to keep the holy days ennumerated by God to the Jews sacred. Then he goes on to show that although Jesus either completely (regarding animal sacrifices) or partially fulfilled the law (regarding other rituals), in no way did He intend for the days that God set apart as "holy" (Sabbath – Saturday, the Feasts, Festival of Lights, etc.) to be forgotten or "overwritten" by Christian holy days. In fact, Tod shows that the meanings of the feasts and the holy days ALL were either wholly or partially fulfilled by Jesus when He was on earth the first time, and that the rest will be fulfilled when He comes again! I was reading it and thinking, "WOW!"

I hadn’t realized that! Messianic Jews now celebrate all the Jewish holidays but they do it with the knowledge that these days were all symbolic of what God planned -- since the foundation of the earth -- the Messiah would do/arrange/complete when He came in the flesh, while more traditional Jews still don’t know why, for example, they celebrate using some of the tools or articles they do. Every article used in the feasts and holy days relate in some way to Christ! The Tabernacle itself is a study that bears this out! It’s undeniable that the Old and New Testaments fit together and complete each other the way skin "completes" our bodies!

I need to re-read Tod’s essay a few more times to really understand the intricacies of his argument, but already I intuitively "know" it’s sounds very, very right. He invited me to attend some Jewish holidays at his Messianic Jewish temple/church. I will study a little more about the different feasts and holidays so that when I go, I will be aware of the meaning of each of them – both as traditional Jews experience "the meaning" and as Messianic Jews experience them. It has to be different.
Traditionalists are still waiting for their Messiah – while "completed" Jews are anticipating His return! So the holidays are anticipatory in both cases, but one’s a longing that seems long-denied while the other is a longing to reacquiant oneself with a Messiah they didn’t get to meet the first time but "know" well already. The former must feel like a fantasy; the latter feels much less theoretical and much more imminent!

My realtor will be by tonight to re-list my condo for another month.