Shalom Friends,

It’s no joke or typo...it is for real.  I have been selected to compete for the two most grueling and popular Olympic sporting events of our modern generation.  The Olympic Cycling Time Trial and the Olympic Distance Triathlon competitions for the 3rd largest sporting event in the world!.  If you are wondering where did all this come from when the bulk of our communiqués this last year have been centered around spiritual warfare against Islamic jihad...well let me fill you in on one of our many secret projects we have been working on here.

(It is amazing how interested Israeli’s are in endurance sports)

Last July I began training with a special elite counter terrorism unit and found myself surrounded by a bunch of young men who could run like deer and swim like porpoises (LOL).  I was carrying a lot of excess weight (near 40 lbs.) and would return from these night training ops just worn out and nothing left in the tank to give to help my family.  So one night after eating some really horrible pizza, I began to ask the pizza delivery man about exercising (so ironic isn’t it), and he referred me immediately to his cousin who had just taken up the endurance sport of triathlon (swim, bike, run), and was ecstatic about the results he was seeing.  I knew of the sport from the races in Kona Hawaii on TV, but had no idea how popular it had become here in Israel.  So I called the phone number and was subsequently warmly invited to participate in some early morning training sessions with the local college triathlon team.

(Look at the drive in these Israeli’s!)

I arrived at this team the next morning and noticed right away that not only was I over my head and was the oldest person there, but all these young bucks were outpacing me just like the special forces I was hanging with!  I was so embarrassed and disappointed that I just wanted to quit and go home.  Over the course of the next few weeks they became rather amused at my lack of cycling skills (did not know how to shift gears on the bike), and the way I ran (or should I say rumbled and shuffled).  But never once did they look down with disdain or reject me for being so overweight and out of shape.  The only thing they wanted to see was that I would not give up and that I would be more Israeli than another soft Westerner in their eyes.

(Last year’s race in Eilat, Israel with many of the ladies going for it!)

I was just training with this team a few mornings a week to get back in shape when something totally unexpected happened.  The local Israeli Triathlon coach of this team (who I would later find out is a legend here in this sport), took me aside and said I had the ability and race times to compete in this Summer’s Maccabiah Olympic Games.  I was shocked but shortly later began to notice in the training sessions a supernatural empowerment of the Holy Spirit to swim, cycle, and run at distances and speeds I never dreamed possible before!  I literally at times can feel the hand of Abba come upon me to go fast!  It is like a mysterious tailwind that manifests suddenly!  Not only was the excess weight the last few months melting off (so far I have lost 37 lbs), but my endurance and strength is at levels I have never seen before even when I was 18 years old playing collegiate soccer!  The members of the team, the special forces community, and others who know me are shocked at how fast Abba has propelled me into this international stage.  In just a few days will begin the opening Ceremonies of the 18th Maccabiah Olympics with the largest record of over 9,000 athletes from over 60 nations!  This is the 3rd largest Olympic sporting event in the world after the Summer Olympics and the Asian games!

Stay tuned for more reports to come soon!  Let us hear from you soon!

In His love and service,

Scott and Dalit