By Stan Goodenough
Feb 08, 2008
Israelis in Sderot have been tormented for nearly seven years by almost daily rocket fire from the Palestinian Arabs in Gaza.
During that time, more than 7000 Kassams have fallen on the town. Twelve people have been killed, and dozens more have been injured.
Yet numerous reports from the Negev town reveal that its people are in fact experiencing a level of miraculous protection.
Time after time, these inaccurate but lethal weapons have slammed into areas in or adjacent to which, just minutes before, groups of children had been assembled for lessons or games.
Rockets have exploded right next door to gas (petrol) stations, shattered windows in health care clinics out of which people walked unscathed, penetrated and detonated inside houses which family members of flat mates have just left, and even blown up right next to children, wounding but not killing them.
Pondering these events, a Sderot rabbi by the name of Chaim Pizen was reportedly inspired to exclaim in early December that "the miracles we are seeing in Sderot have revealed themselves more clearly than the miracles we witnessed on Mount Sinai itself."
Despite this, the strain naturally wearing down the locals, many of whom have left the town for safer havens, prompting the terrorists in Gaza to crow victory over their powerful Israeli enemy.
Many of those who have chosen to stay are desperate to at least give their children some time out from under the danger and tension of the barrages.
Last week, Christian and Jewish organizations responded to appeals to sponsor such a trip to the north, where busloads of kids will enjoy some hours of rest and relaxation under the spring sun on the Golan Heights, which are lush green at this time of the year.
Among those who responded was the director of the International Christian Zionist Center, Jan Willem van der Hoeven, who last October took 500 Christians from around the world to Sderot to encourage its people and pray for their safety.
As terrible as the rocket attacks are, Van der Hoeven said Thursday, when he hears reports of the miracles, he remembers how they prayed over Sderot, and believes that God is shielding the people from what could easily be far more casualties from the terrorist attacks.
The ultimate answer to prayers, though, will of course be an end to the rocket firings, the healing of the nerves and emotions of Sderot's people, and the vanquishing of Israel's enemies in Gaza and wherever they perpetrate the terrorism from.