In my continued quest to write about interesting people and stories of people I meet at the Western Wall, I wanted to share the fascinating story of Sandra. Sandra just turned 60, was recently widowed, and lives in Houston, Texas. She was part of a private tour group comprised of her family that made its way through the Holy Land looking at several Christian holy sites.
This was her first visit to Israel, but she had longed to come for several years. She is a devout Christian and attended a very pro-Israel church. She told me how her church has run fund raisers to help the poor in Israel and how she housed some Israeli students for the summer 2 years ago as part of an exchange program.
However, what got her so interested in coming to Israel over the past few years was the religious choices of her children. Her daughter's marriage to a Muslim man 3 years ago finally made her decide that she had to make this trip. While she admitted that she was not thrilled that her daughter married a non-Christian, he is a good man and a good father, and that is what is most important to her.
To make the story even more unique, she told me that she has a son who converted to Judaism six years ago and is now living in London. Her third child lives in Dallas and is a devout Christian as she is.
Given the unique representation of all three of the world's major religions among her children, she thought that there would be no better way than to spend her 60th birthday than with all of her children and her four grandchildren in Israel; the birthplace of all three of these religions. I ended up talking to all of her children and found it fascinating how they all get along so well and respect each others choices even though they have such vastly different religious outlooks.
Sandra taught me a great lesson that day by saying "We may argue, we may disagree. In fact, there may be very little we agree upon, but we are family, and families can work through any problem without fighting just with talking."
So here's my call to action: I ask of all of you to look around you and look at the relationships you have and how they can be repaired or improved. Look at how this wonderful Christian lady has embodies the words of Christ by accepting the differences in people and always striving for peace among them. If she can do it, so can we.
God bless,
Sol
www.holylandprayers.com
This was her first visit to Israel, but she had longed to come for several years. She is a devout Christian and attended a very pro-Israel church. She told me how her church has run fund raisers to help the poor in Israel and how she housed some Israeli students for the summer 2 years ago as part of an exchange program.
However, what got her so interested in coming to Israel over the past few years was the religious choices of her children. Her daughter's marriage to a Muslim man 3 years ago finally made her decide that she had to make this trip. While she admitted that she was not thrilled that her daughter married a non-Christian, he is a good man and a good father, and that is what is most important to her.
To make the story even more unique, she told me that she has a son who converted to Judaism six years ago and is now living in London. Her third child lives in Dallas and is a devout Christian as she is.
Given the unique representation of all three of the world's major religions among her children, she thought that there would be no better way than to spend her 60th birthday than with all of her children and her four grandchildren in Israel; the birthplace of all three of these religions. I ended up talking to all of her children and found it fascinating how they all get along so well and respect each others choices even though they have such vastly different religious outlooks.
Sandra taught me a great lesson that day by saying "We may argue, we may disagree. In fact, there may be very little we agree upon, but we are family, and families can work through any problem without fighting just with talking."
So here's my call to action: I ask of all of you to look around you and look at the relationships you have and how they can be repaired or improved. Look at how this wonderful Christian lady has embodies the words of Christ by accepting the differences in people and always striving for peace among them. If she can do it, so can we.
God bless,
Sol
www.holylandprayers.com
