Most who are around me know that my life verse and guiding wisdom is,

Those from among you will rebuild the ancient ruins;
You will raise up the age-old foundations;
And you will be called the repairer of the breach,
The restorer of the paths in which to dwell.

Isaiah 58:12

I almost always add that reference to my book signings, particularly my first book as the title, Repairing the Breach, comes directly from the verse.

Well, yesterday, through an odd set of circumstances that can only be described as Providence, I wound up in a rollicking conversation with and Israeli-American observant Jew. While most was in English, my faux pas began the conversation in Spanish and we moved quickly to Hebrew. Ultimately, we had an exceptionally warm conversation about the lost tribes, the Mashiach, and our respective viewpoints of eschatology.

In short, delightfully exhilarating.

I offered a copy of Ten Parts in the King, something I had been prompted to put in my bag that morning, and he welcomed it on the condition that I sign and give him my telephone number.

In my excitement, I had a brain cramp while signing and wrote the wrong Isaiah reference, 52:12, but immediately caught the error and easily altered the formerly written ‘2’ into an ‘8.’ But curiosity being one of my character traits, before I even left the conversation, I flipped open my phone to see what the errant passage was and what international incident was averted.

Imagine my surprise after our discussion on the tribes and eschatological expectations of return when I read,

But you will not go out in haste,
Nor will you go as fugitives;
For the Lord will go before you,
And the God of Israel will be your rear guard.

Isaiah 52:12

I read the whole chapter and then had Ted Pearce ringing in my head until I satisfied the ‘voice’ singing ‘Awake!’, taken from Isaiah 52.

Enjoy!