GCR Women

Fall in Virginia!  What a wonderful time to visit this state! The highways and byways wind along following the path of a creek or river as it works its way through the mountains.  Every curve and rise reveals new breathtaking vistas of red, yellow and orange against a backdrop of green.  In the rainy weather we've been having here, the clouds hang softly along the tops of the ridges floating like smoke between the peaks.  It's so beautiful, it could make you cry. Driving these roads is challenging.  Things look different and you need to pay close attention.  Unlike home, the roads aren't straight and you can't see very far ahead. They're narrow with little or no shoulder along the sides. Instead, there are ditches and drop offs to keep you on your toes.  At night, it's incredibly dark - very few street lights to guide you, just the stripes and reflectors on the roadway. The highway signs and markers are indispensable.  Side roads and turns ar...

This coming Saturday, October 4, is Yom Kippur - the Day of Atonement. In the Torah, this day was set apart as holy, a lasting ordinance.  Leviticus 16:30 teaches "...on this day atonement will be made for you, to cleanse you. Then, before the LORD, you will be clean from all your sins." My knowledge of the Jewish holy days and how they were and are celebrated is kind of thin, but if I understand them correctly, even to this day, Yom Kippur is a day when Jewish people around the world believe they can before God and receive forgiveness and be sealed in the Book of Life for the coming year.  There's a lot more to it than that, of course, lots of preparations and traditions, but I think that sums it up. Reading about Yom Kippur and the way this holiday is celebrated and the meaning it holds to them reveals the deep love and respect the Jewish community today has for the LORD and His Torah.  They do not take Him, His Torah and His commands lightly.  While I believe...