Yom Kippur & Sukkot

We left for Bible Camp a day late so we could stay in Nondalton and celebrate Yom Kippur (Day of Atonement). It is a day of fasting, prayer and repentance.

The day after we got back from Port Alsworth was the first day of Sukkot (Feast of Tabernacles). Last year we made a Sukkah (temporary shelter or booth) in the basement and slept in it. We couldn't do that this year because I'm teaching GED classes there. The Bible tells us to build a Sukkah and dwell in it for seven days. Nehemiah 8:16 describes building Sukkot on the roof, in the courtyards or in the courts of the house of God. In true Alaska fashion (it wasn't snowing yet, but it was wet and cold) we built our Sukkah right in the living room. It made it very easy to dwell in all week.Leviticus 23, Deuteronomy 16 and Nehemiah 8 all tell us to rejoice with gladness during this festival as we remember how God brought the Israelites out of bondage in Egypt. So we gathered together and praised and worshiped God and did a little dancing. The Martin's have some dance costumes they use in their ministry and we all dressed up for the occasion.

In Jeremiah it says that at the end of this age when Jesus returns, God will bring His people out of the countries where He has scattered them. It will be such a miraculous event that it will overshadow when He brought them out of Egypt.

Jeremiah 23:7&8 "Therefore, behold, the days are coming," says the LORD," that they shall no longer say, 'As the LORD lives who brought up the children of Israel from the land of Egypt,'

"But, 'As the LORD lives who brought up and led the descendants of the house of Israel from the north country and from all the countries where I had driven them.' And they shall dwell in their own land."