Hi friends!  How about keeping it on the light side today!  I love Israel and am intrigued by the capability of her people and the blessings of the Lord.  One area in which Israel is especially blessed is computer technology, so I thought I would share a few fun facts with you!

Did you know…

• Cell phone technology was developed by Motorola in Israel (one of its largest development centers in the world).
• Voicemail technology was developed by Comverse, an Israeli company that later relocated to the US.
• Intel has at least four major development centers in Israel, where they take advantage of the highest concentration (per capita) of engineers in the world. The Intel Pentium MMX Chip technology was designed in Israel.
• Most of the Windows NT operating system was developed by Microsoft-Israel. Both Microsoft and Cisco built research and development centers in Israel…the only ones outside the US.
• ICQ, the predecessor to AOL Instant Messaging, was developed in 1996 by four young Israelis at Mirabilis (in Israel).
• The Israeli company M-Systems (in partnership with IBM) developed and manufactured the first USB flash drives available in North America.
• Babylon, a single-click computer translation, dictionary and information utility was developed by an Israeli.
• The first PC anti-virus software was developed in Israel in 1979.

Despite the pressures of constant threat and harassment of enemies throughout her brief history, Israel has consistently been a world leader in computing technology.  The tiny nation oozes brilliance, and Israelis effectively apply themselves in pursuit of excellence.  This is only a short list of accomplishments in the field of computer technology.  Israel is also a world-leader in medicine, agriculture, and defense.

Ezekiel 36-37 describes Israel’s re-birth in the land God had promised.  Indeed, the dry bones have come alive and Israel is prospering, just as Ezekiel prophesied.  But let’s not lose sight of the context.  The very next chapter of Ezekiel warns of end time events that are sure to come.  Israel is alive physically (as a nation), but is yet to have the breath of God breathed into her.  So, let’s rejoice in Israel’s prosperity, but let’s also pray for God’s exceedingly great mercy to open the eyes of Israel to her Messiah.  May God breathe the breath of life into them very soon!