Tamir Ziv
read Tamir’s bio
Background:
My name is Tamir Ziv and I was born and raised in Israel. I grow up in a secular Jewish home. We celebrated the Jewish holidays, but never practiced the Jewish religion. We were mainly focused on Jewish heritage/tradition, and we made sure to maintain our Jewish identity.
At the age of 18 I joined the Israeli military and served in the military for three years. A year after I completed my military service, I moved to the US to start a new life. At this point in my life I did not believe in God, and being Jewish was only a word used to identify my race. After six years of being in the U.S., I graduated with a B.S. in Aerospace Engineering degree and got my first job at Cessna in Wichita, Kansas.
The Search for the Truth:
After working at Cessna for couple of years, and having two beautiful kids, I realized that my life was empty. I was focused on my work and on how quickly I could advance in the company. I decided to search for the truth: Does God Exist?
I read the Tanakh (Old Testament) and any scientific material I could find that would explain to me if God exists, see being an engineer I was looking for scientific proof, a mathematical formula. After about a year of reading and researching, I came to the conclusion that there is no scientific proof that God exists, but there is no scientific proof that God does not exist. I decided to take a leap of faith, and change my point of reference to the existence of God. Once I decided that, a chain reaction started, Yeshua tells us in Revelation 3:20:
"Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me."
Once I was comfortable with the idea of God and His presence, I needed to know if Yeshua is real and if He is the Messiah, as many people claim. So I started reading the New Covenant scriptures, and I was talking constantly with Christian friends. The more I read, the more I felt that Yeshua was the real thing, but I had a lot of mental blocks to overcome. Growing up in Israel, Yeshua has a bad reputation. But with the grace of God, I was able to open my heart and overcome these barriers. One day Steve Hamlin, a good friend of mine, gave me a movie that shows Yeshuas life as it is presented in the book of Luke. So when I got home that day, I went down to the basement and watched the movie. When the movie ended, I went up and told my wife that I believed in Yeshua, and that Yeshua is the Messiah, our Savior. The one scene that sticks in my head from the movie is when Yeshua, after being beaten, abused and then crucified says, "Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing."(Luke 23:34). He was asking for forgiveness for us and after all that He had gone through, he died for our sins.
Searching for the Burning Bush:
After watching the movie I realized that Yeshua is the LORD, but being an engineer I needed a solid proof. I needed a burning bush to fully give my heart to the LORD.
So, the first time I prayed, I said, "Lord please give me a burning bush-"like" sign."
When I came back to work the following day, I turned my computer on and went on CNN to check the news. One of the side advertisements was "Jesus Sayings--- sign in and receive a saying from Jesus everyday." I thought to myself, "That is interesting", so I signed in. That night I had a fight with my brother who lived with me at the time, and I did not know how to deal with it. So I turned to God and I asked God to help me. When I got to work the following day, I received my Jesus Saying for the day, which explained how to treat a brother. Through that week I received my Saying from Yeshua via e-mail, and whenever I needed help, I prayed and sure enough the answer was waiting for me the next day on my inbox. That was my burning bush, which was what I needed to fully give over my heart to the LORD. And since that day, I try to walk with the zeal of the LORD day and night.
