How did I arrive at this point? I believe in the God of Avraham, Yitzchak, and Yakov. I keep Shabbat, I eat kosher, I wear tzitziyot, I pray with tefillin on. I'm not Jewish! So....why? When did this start? How did I get here?

It started with Yeshua. Many English speakers call Him by the name Jesus, but I prefer His original Hebrew name, which means "salvation." He is the reason I'm alive, for He has saved me from death.

A few years before I was born my parents, Tom and Laurie Paul, became believers in Yeshua. I grew up knowing Yeshua, and being told the stories from the New Testament and Tanach,
so when I was three years old I asked Yeshua to come into my heart. I didn't know much theology at age three, but I knew that I wanted Yeshua to be a part of my life.

The teenage years were tough for me. Oh, I tried not to show it, and I never 'rebelled' against my parents or anything, but my heart was in so much torment. Suddenly I became aware of sexuality, my mind was opened to reason and philosophy like never before, and I became increasingly disillusioned with the Protestant Christianity that I had grown up in. I tried to put on a brave face, and during the day I could busy myself with this and that and keep a positive outlook, but I spent many nights in tears, begging Yeshua to help. I wanted to be pure and live the Christian life, as I was encouraged by the authors of the Scripture. But I had no idea what was required of me. The Church system showed me a Christian lifestyle which espoused emotional experiences at worship services and conversion of unbelievers. From every pulpit I was told to "get right with God." They told us to repent and teach others to do the same, but they never taught us what repentance truly meant! They told us to stop sinning, but they never taught us what sin is!

I questioned the Christian religion, but I never questioned the Messiah that it was based on. I kept on believing in Yeshua.

Two years ago Yeshua started to answer my prayers, in a huge way. Some friends of mine started keeping the Torah, and as I learned about what they were doing, the Spirit of God gave a hunger to learn more. I had been searching for the roots of my faith, and I had recently come through a infatuation with the Catholic church and all it's 'traditions'. But suddenly it became clear that my true roots went much deeper; as far back as Abraham, in fact. I started keeping the 7th day Shabbat, and it felt good! While everyone was running around like chickens with their heads cut off, I was at home resting! My parents and I took the HaYesod course, and I knew I needed to change my lifestyle. I started living my life according to the Torah, slowly making changes. I quit going to the Baptist church my family was attending at the time, and I started meeting with other Torah-submissive believers to study the weekly Torah portions.

Christianity is not the religion of Yeshua. Rather, it is a religion about Yeshua. What was the religion of Yeshua when He was on the earth 2000 years ago? He was a Jew living in Eretz Israel, He had faith in the God of Israel, and He kept the Torah and taught others to do the same.

He said "Do not think that I came to abolish the Torah or the Prophets; I did not come to abolish, but to fulfill. For truly I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or stroke shall pass away from the Torah, until all is accomplished. Whoever then annuls one of the least of these commandments, and so teaches others, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever keeps and teaches them, he shall be be called great in the kingdom of heaven." He lived the life of a God-fearing Jew, and encouraged others to keep Torah to the fullest.

But in addition to being a great Torah teacher, He also claimed to be the God of Israel. He was the one who created the world, cut the covenant with Abraham, rescued Israel from Egypt, and gave them the Torah at Mount Zion. How could He fail to keep to obey the Torah completely, seeing as He wrote it?

The nation of Israel failed to keep their part of the covenant made at Sinai. They committed adultery with the idols of the nations around them. Indeed, since Adam and Chava sinned in the Garden of Eden, no has lived without sinning, except the man Yeshua. What is sin? It is disobedience to the laws of HaShem. All men were slaves to sin, and the consequence of sin is death. But Yeshua came to save the world from sin. When He died on upon the tree, He paid the penalty for our sins, and when He was raised to life three days later by the power of God, the power of death was destroyed. He is the long awaited Messiah!

This is the good news of Messiah Yeshua. Repent (turn from your sin, do teshuva) and believe in Yeshua, and you shall be saved and have true life. Then, having been freed from slavery to sin, start being obedient to God and keeping Torah. For He has promised to give us the Holy Spirit, and the Spirit will write the Torah upon our hearts, and will help us to obey.

Ok, on with the story. After leading me out of the Church and into obedience to Torah, the Spirit of God taught me about my identity. If I believe in the God of Israel, then I am no longer a goy (gentile) but an Israelite. HaShem says many times in the Torah that there is to be one Torah for both the native-born Israelites and the strangers and aliens living among them.
Thus, just like Ruth, I declare, "Your people shall be my people, and your God shall be my God!"
I'm a child of Abraham! Halleluyah!

If I'm an Israeli, that means that Eretz Israel is my homeland! So a year ago my friend Yakov and I flew to Israel for the Chag HaSukkot (the Feast of Tabernacles). I spent ten weeks in the Land, and it was an amazing adventure. I got to see all the ancient places and meet so many wonderful people. It's a beautiful land. Now that I'm back in Canada, I look forward eagerly to going back there.

Now this fall I've been studying Hebrew Grammar, and reading through the Torah in Hebrew. I'm getting prepared for the next part of the journey that Yah has in store for me.

And that's the way it happened. No lie.