As we left, after sharing an evening last night, my new Jewish friend talked about an old fellow he knew in Sydney (whom he was probably going to the birthday party of next weekend) who was about (or over) 80yrs, very sprightly, and creative, when he gets knocked over he gets going again, it’s like he is a model of persistence, innovation and creativity in his approach to life, and he has a personal trainer. That got me thinking later the next morning about how good it could be to have a personal trainer..
How helpful the gymn has been for me, and how I've been kept at it. It’s almost like each person in our LTG has “a personal trainer” (or small group trainer) in the others, and my times in the nights and mornings with my heavenly father, where he acts as a personal trainer for me. Then I realised that I HAVE A PERSONAL TRAINER ALREADY! And therefore I understand the goodness of it - and the need for manifesting this principle on Earth (it’s not, “So I don’t need one.”) because it’s “as in heaven so on Earth” [seen in Noah’s experience of building the ark (to make it like the one God had already shown him - in principle, in plan, in a vision of the mind), and in Moses’ experience of building the tabernacle (where it was to be made like the one God had shown him already*), and Jesus’ teaching in answer to the request (of his talmudim) to teach them to pray, and Jesus’ personal practice of going away in the busiest times (e.g.Mark 1:21-39) to be alone with the creative KHESED-love that made the Universe, (not as our flat materialistic or monistic view of it communicates in that word “Universe”; but) as is communicated in the title “the heavens and the earth” (Gen 1&2) . It almost looks to me like he was modelling letting that creative KHESED-love be his personal trainer!
An appreciation of culture, meant as a support for the growth of Human beings to maturity, in security, like the scaffolding around a building while it’s being built (till it is built). Then the disassembly of it and storage of the scaffold - till a new building needs to be built.
This (along with a general journey I have been on*) made me want to understand “Jewishness” for its capacity to perform a beautiful and actual scaffold-making function.
as seen in the extraordinary lives of this Jewish couple, who are only the second, third, or fourth Jewish people I have personally met, & started to get to know, who stand out, and then later we find out that they have a Jewish heritage.
As seen in the extraordinary life of my master, boss, Lord, Anointed Leader, Yeshua [who grew up as a Galilean-village Jewish builder, in the days when Israel was seen as (maybe a recalcitrant) part of the Roman Empire].
Footnotes
y* - Ai generated response on 02/05/2026: According to the Book of Exodus, Moses constructed the tabernacle (or Tent of Meeting) with meticulous detail, strictly following a divine blueprint or "pattern" (\(tabniyth\)) shown to him by God on Mount Sinai. This instruction, repeated seven times, ensured that the portable sanctuary exactly mirrored the heavenly reality intended to house God’s presence among the Israelites. [1, 2, 3, 4]
The Divine Pattern Revealed
The Vision: Moses spent 40 days and nights on the mountain receiving the revelation, seeing not just a verbal description but a detailed model or "vision" of the sanctuary and its furnishings.
The Command: God commanded, "See to it that you make everything according to the pattern shown you on the mountain" (Exodus 25:40; Hebrews 8:5).
A Heavenly Copy: The earthly tabernacle was a "copy and shadow" of the true sanctuary in heaven. [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]
