Every few years I remake myself. You probably do too. Sometimes, I cut my hair radically or even color it wildly, just to create a new start. And no, my hair’s not purple!

Change allows me to see myself differently, and maybe affords the opportunity for others to view me in a new light as well. A refreshed perspective breathes life into old bones for sure.

I started this blog, “culture vs content” in August of 2007! A lot of water has passed under my bridge, and yours too! We’re both different people with new passions. so… I have changed my website address to http://bonniewilks.com and have given my old stomping grounds a face lift, along with new digs, and hopefully new purposes.

This is a work in progress, because there is so much of the old that needs revitalizing, so be patient as I chisel a little each day.

Since my hubby and I still travel extensively, you will find slices of life from around the world here through prose, poetry, and photographs as you always have… most of the pictures are mine here unless otherwise stated.

I have titled this remake, “Hammered Gold,” and here’s why…

The Jewish Messiah — Yeshua in Hebrew and Jesus in English — Redeemer of all humankind, tears away the veil of blindness that keeps we who contemplate in the complexities of our minds the very existence of God.

Everyone does. And everyone has. Sometimes even those who have believed the most have deep questions.

You see…

When humankind sees Yeshua or Jesus, we see that indeed God exists. He is the very representation of the one true God on earth. There is no one else.

Yeshua is the Light of the World that shone from tiny Bethlehem. and His light is still shining today through those who believe in Him and carry on Yeshua’s works in this world.

We become a light of revelation or His revelation to those who seek truth.

Isaiah writes:

Arise, shine: for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you. For darkness shall cover the earth, and thick darkness the peoples; but the Lord will arise upon you. Nations shall come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your dawn. . The sun shall no longer be your light by day, nor for brightness shall the moon give light to you by night; but the Lord will be your everlasting light, and your God will be your glory. Your sun shall no more go down, or your moon withdraw itself; for the shall the moon give light to you by night; but the Lord will be your everlasting light, and your days of mourning shall be ended (Isaiah 60: 1-3, 19-20).

You see, the seeds of light that were first sown in the dark streets of Bethlehem reaped a harvest of glory on a cross that stood on Golgotha, just outside the gates of Jerusalem. The piercing of Messiah’s human body, the bruises, the blood and water that flowed from His wounds ignited a burning torch for the world. And the glory of that cross becomes evident in the miracle of His resurrection.

The splendor of that light is blinding as the sun at noonday. We can only barely squint at it, absorbing small amounts of Yeshua’s glory. Who among us can gaze with eyes wide open at the splendor and light of Messiah?

Those who sit in the darkness of human reasoning remain blind. Our perpetual questions and demand for answers keep us from seeing who He really is!

Jews demand signs and Greeks desire wisdom, but I proclaim the Jewish Messiah crucified and risen. He is a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, but to those who are called from all nations, Messiah has been granted heavenly power by His sacrifice to lead us spotlessly before God (I Corinthians 1:21).

Just as the menorah in the Jewish temples of Moses and Solomon displayed light from a hammered gold stand according to the specification of the LORD and shone perpetually, so we who carry the light of the LORD and shine His truth from earthen vessels of human frailty. We are hammered or molded into His image that His heavenly glory will reflect His perfection and purity through us.

This is the construction of the menorah: hammered gold,  from its base to its bowls, it was hammered; according to the pattern which the LORD had shown Moses, so he made the menorah (Numbers 8:4).

The days of my life are numbered accordingly as they have been pre-written in the Book of Life. And I am “hammered” by His hands of love into His imagine. Often a painful transformation. I yield as He yielded.

Whenever, though, they turn to face God as Moses did, God removes the veil and there they are—face-to-face! They suddenly recognize that God is a living, personal presence, not a piece of chiseled stone. And when God is personally present, a living Spirit, that old, constricting legislation is recognized as obsolete. We’re free of it! All of us! Nothing between us and God, our faces shining with the brightness of his face. And so we are transfigured much like the Messiah, our lives gradually becoming brighter and more beautiful as God enters our lives and we become like him
(2 Corinthian 3:16-18).