SHABBAT SHALOM

Good Shabbos to those of you for whom it's relevant. I for one am happy that it's almost Friday night. I guess I really can't complain; I spent two hours outside at the park with my daughter, enjoying the sunshine with a girl friend of mine, while many are anticipating snow. And, really, if my daughter is happy at the end of the day I feel good. I feel like I've helped accomplish something really great and special. I've really been running on faith this week, using the Torah portion (which is about the exodus from Egypt and the parting of the Sea of Reeds) as an example of how God does miraculous things in our lives but sometimes we can't exactly see that he is doing something good when we're in the middle of all kinds of bad stuff. Moses was in the ocean all the way up to his nose before God told him to raise his staff and parted the sea. This tells me how important it is to have faith, to keep walking forward even when the situation seems dire and we're not sure what is going to happen, to have the faith that things are going to turn out okay. I believe God wanted Moses to raise his staff because in life God wants us to take an active part in the things that happen in our lives and to make the conscious choice to trust Him and to move forward. He could have parted the sea without Moses raising his staff, after all, He is God! But, I think it was important for Moses to take an active role in what happened next, to show God that he trusted Him and was willing to press forward even against seemingly very bad odds. And that's what we'll do!!