This morning before we left home for our congregational service, the sirens went off, and we went down to our bomb shelter.  The rockets from Gaza this morning, and also on Thursday night, fell not too far from the section of the city in which we live, and on one of the rocket falls, the house shook from the vibrations of the impact.  This evening we have had twice to go into shelters while we were visiting friends from the kehila (congregation) who lived within sight of what we were hearing this morning.

The missile interceptor system, called Iron Dome, has been brought back to the city after being taken out a couple of years ago.  It has successfully taken out some of the rockets which have been fired these past days.  Hamas has taken responsibility for these attacks, after denying any for what took place in Eilat a few days ago.

Sadly, this evening a grad rocket hit in a neighborhood, destroying a car and seriously damaging the house.  Worse, one person was killed, seven seriously injured, at least one mortally.  All of these remained outside during the attack, rather than get inside under cover.  Very likely, they were curious to see the Iron Dome work to intercept the missiles.  It is interesting to watch, but dangerous:  curiosity killed the cat.  The guidelines the news and the security authorities are stressing is to get into shelters, and remain there for some minutes after the alarm finishes.  We also know that not all neighborhoods have bomb shelters prepared to use, and many complaints are being heard for the city and the state to do something about this, which has been very clear since the Gaza War.

During the war in Gaza in 2009, no one was killed over a month in Beer Sheva.  One young boy was seriously injured.

I do not believe that any believer is exempt from being harmed, either directly or indirectly.  What will distinguish us is our reaction and response in the event of personal suffering, and how we relate to others who do suffer:  the issue is glory to our Father in Heaven, and honor to the name of the Lord Yeshua Messiah/Jesus Christ.  Before the event, it is difficult to ‘plan’ for our reaction, but the Holy Spirit within us wants to steady us as quickly as possible on The Rock of our salvation.