PIZZA + NEW NAMES

Aug 23

Along stone-paved Jaffa Street in Jerusalem sits one of the best pizza establishments I’ve ever experienced: Rony’s Pizza. To my son Nicky, there’s none better.

*Nicky’s delicious custom pizza in 2019!*

When Nicky was ten, I took him to Israel for two weeks with the Fellowship of Israel Related Ministries (FIRM) and a bus full of pastors from around the world. Nicky had been severely allergic to dairy and eggs since he was 15 months old, so his very life was in my hands at every meal. The first time we walked into Rony’s charming little shop, there was Rony himself, making the wood-fired pizzas. He fixed the best “Nicky-Safe” pizza I’d ever tasted: topped with garlic, olive oil, and balsamic. Rony took good care of my boy and I loved him for it. I told him we’d be back and gave him my name.

His face lit up, “That’s MY name!”

I was confused. “You’re...Rony, right?”

“Yeah!” he smiled, “Rony’s short for Aaron!”

***Meeting Rony Jr.***

*Three years later I met Rony’s son: Rony Jr!* *The nicest of people!*

Friends, I cannot tell you how badly I have wanted a nickname my entire life.

A Michael could be Mike…

A James could be Jimmy…

I was so excited to learn this news, I could have hugged the man!

*Jerusalem’s Light Rail running down Jaffa Street near Rony’s Pizza*

In his book The Ultimate Intimacy, author Charles Shepson journeys through progressive degrees of relationship we can experience in life, but each chapter closes declaring that it isn’t the ultimate intimacy. Shepson says there is something even more intimate than meeting Jesus! In Revelation 2:17, Jesus promises, “To the one who conquers, I will give him a white stone, with a new name written on the stone that no one knows except the one who receives it.”

One Day, we not only get new starts, new names, and new reputations, but we get new bodies! Praise the LORD! No more food allergies for anyone!!!

And if Rony’s Pizza is open in the New Jerusalem, like I pray it will be, I’ll meet you there for a slice…