The sixth day of Abib in the 2729th year of our dispersion.

Work is going very well. However, it has not left me much time to do anything else. There are some things I can write about, though.

There is no substitute for rigorous physical activity, outdoors in the beautiful sunshine. My mind feels very fit, partly because I spend my days hiking about. Exercise is also a wonderful antidepressant. I haven't felt this well in a long time, and when I'm not at work, I miss it. יהוה said, "By the sweat of your face you will eat bread." Ted told me a long time ago that accepting a curse was better than fighting against it or trying to work around it.

Second, there is no substitute for real food. For one week I gave up my healthy plant-heavy diet for cafeteria food. I didn't touch any unclean meat but the quality of the food was awful and my body felt it. I'm back to eating plenty of good stuff now and that combined with the exercise I'm getting makes me feel like I'm riding on clouds much of the time. (Not all the time, though.)

Third, it appears that my workplace is in fact "haunted," or more precisely, a wellspring of spiritual activity. On my way home from work I actually saw a black shadow - like a floating cloak, but it looked like a hole in space - cross the road in front of me. Other incidents such as the copier coming on randomly and voices in the lodge when no one is there (plus many other eyewitness accounts of strange phenomena) lead me to believe that my workplace is home to several spirits of some variety.

Fourth, I am getting many opportunities to spread what I like to call the "Good News" of the Torah - that יהוה has laid out what is right and wrong and that we are not to depart from it. I am like Spurgeon in that I hope everyone comes to the knowledge of יהוה and His plan and will for them, but I also believe that only those who are called and whose eyes are supernaturally opened will come. Aware that the truth only serves as an indictment to those who hear and reject it, I still plug the festivals of יהוה and the Torah to my coworkers whenever I can.

I am hoping to be able to start updating more often, as I get more used to my job and get a little more free time. I don't have a lot of time to think anymore, but I think I got a lot of theologizing out of my system and ended up with a worldview and belief system that needed to be tested by actual practice. My job now gives me the ideal opportunity to do what I know is right - everything from asking for the two Unleavened Bread sabbaths off to avoiding the ever-present junk food - and to work out the Torah in the environment of actual employment. It's actually harder to rest on the Sabbath when it's one of only two days you can spend in your own home. Of course, being employed precludes trying the Lunar Sabbath out...

I have been wondering exactly how many are in this remnant of true Israel who believes in the Messiah and also keeps יהוה's commandments. I used to think the movement would grow exponentially. But did it ever do that in the past? Or was the whole nation blessed during the times of the good kings because of the few who believed? Would it help if some of us wielded political power and enforced a Torah-based system of government? Or would a grass-roots call to repentance affect a more sincere and lasting change? What can individuals like me do?