By Tom Brennan
The 15 second apocalypse: what Christians can learn from Israel’s living with air raid sirens.
Just imagine, you are sitting in church listening to a well-researched and delivered sermon; or you are at the grocery store, picking up a week’ s supply of food and suddenly a loud ear piercing wail shatters the air. Everyone runs for the nearest bomb shelter. There are 15 to perhaps 45 seconds to find the nearest one, crowd in and get ready for the mindless, murderous missiles. This is a fact of life in today’s Israel.
What are your thoughts as you literally run for your life? What if death finds you outside? Yes, this is sobering and even frightening. But those of us who are Baby-boomers remember the under-the school desk drills in the 1950’s and 1960’s when a wooden desk was supposed to protect us from Communist atomic bombs and missiles. Today Israel expects 15-45 seconds of warning before Hamas sends their airborne hatred at innocent men, women and children.
Jesus (Yeshua) said “watch since you know neither the day nor the hour”. He was referring to the time when He would return after the time of trial and tribulation as a conquering King and not the way He chose to die, a condemned criminal executed for the crimes of His children and the most innocent Man ever born. He will return, the Bible teaches just as the Remnant awaits who stayed faithful and loyal and was ground into the dirt and yet endured. The victory will be a complete one. He also refers to our own death. We really do not choose or plan our own passing on. As many suicides fail as succeed. Many remain in comas or a between life and death stage after bullets or medicine overdoses. The Almighty has His way of making His point about life and death. So that 15 seconds could seem to take forever or end before we know it.
The Jew of Jesus’ time rose in the morning and repeated the prayer he had been taught first: “Shema,Yisrael..” Hear O Israel, Your God is One..” He repeated it before he closed his eyes at night, grateful for another day and everything in it. And he prayed for another. Today’s Shema has the added incentive of let me make that 15 second run a successful one if we hear the sirens.
How do we as Christians see that 15 seconds? Remember, Hamas does not meet and declare an act of war. They set up their launchers near homes occupied by the residents, village centers and even mosques so an eager, bloodthirsty media will have higher casualty numbers to report. Israel safeguards all its citizens and all who are in Israel with shelters. No one checks ID’s, visitors are squeezed in with rabbis, toddlers, nuns and tourists. There are shelters everywhere. Schools and kindergartens have cartoon characters and other cheerful distractions to cushion the emotionally impacting explosives. There will be ceasefires, truces, even agreements about stopping the attacks. But the evidence is there about what happens to people under constant stress, it hurts. Israelis are the sturdiest and most resilient people on earth. 3,500 years of exile, dispora, discrimination, pogroms and attacks have not destroyed them. There has been no surrender or compromise. They have stood alone most of the time against masked terrorists, endured the multiple horrors of bombs in buses carried by “students” in backpacks instead of books and out and out barrages of missiles. The missiles are increasing in range. And yet life goes on.
Think about what would be on your mind after the all clear on that church morning. What about the next time you hear that sound, will you hear it through a sound sleep, at work, playing with the children ?
From the ancient times the “Shema Yisrael” prayer has been the first verse of Scripture a child learned to repeat by heart. All too often we hear that the Jews of Jesus time were illiterate, that even Jesus Himself was unable to read or write. Careful searching of the Scripture discloses the opposite. Reading and writing were common, materials for those activities were not. The climate of the area has preserved the materials that were intentionally hidden, like the Qumran scrolls. Boys practiced their Aleph-Bet on shards, and there are millions of shards out there. The Shema began the day as the eyes opened and hands were reverently raised as the day was dedicated. The whole day was the Almighty’s until the same eyes closed at night , grateful for whatever had happened and praying for another.
In our ways we have learned how to “set aside” a small portion of our work day to remember who made the sun give its light and heat and the moon guide our evening steps. Perhaps if we understood that the 15 second sirens are the most time we may ever have if we lived in today’s Israel. Perhaps we should adopt the attitude of “Shema” and make every second of every day our dash for shelter.
Much can be learned from how our brothers and sisters in Israel function and grow under the rain of metal death and still shake it off. After the all clear it’s picking up where you left off and being grateful you can pick up at all. Israel has so much to teach us and we have so much to learn.
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