Wednesday, July 22, 2009

Just wanted to let you know that I'm back safely from our trip to the West Bank and the wall of separation.  Very interesting situation.  This is where the settlement homes are for the Palestinian refugees.  If you Google Palestinian refugees, or West Bank you can find some more information about the situation there that we were right in the middle of. 

Here's what happened on Wednesday.  We split into groups of four and were each given assignments in a specific quarter of the Old City of Jerusalem.  Old Jerusalem is split into four quarters, not that they are evenly measured as a quarter of the city, but rather, a quarter as in living quarters for four specific groups.  The groups are the Israeli quarter, the Muslim quarter, the Christian quarter, and the Armenian quarter.  

We were to find our way to these quarters through one of the seven gates that are entrances into Old Jerusalem.  While there, we were to locate the significant religious or spiritual site, locate the boundaries of the area, find the highest place of observation in the quarter, talk to someone and find out what life is like in the quarter, eat in the quarter, purchase something that would be a symbol of the quarter, and several other things that I can't remember right now. 

We went through the Damascus Gate (I'm now familiar with this gate since we walked in and out of it last night under cover of darkness).  Traveled through the Muslim quarter, then the Christian quarter to the Jaffa Gate.  This began the Armenian quarter.  Armenians are Christians from Armenia, which was somewhere in northern Turkey.  It was supposedly the first country to come to Christian faith. 

We worked our way through the city, making contact with these Turkish/Armenian people and then winding up at the Mount Zion Gate on the southern end of the Armenian quarter.  We ate at a restaurant called the Armenian Tavern.  The food was excellent, and a very interesting surroundings.  We talked with the restaurant owner and his son about what life is like in the quarter and they shared that the Armenians are very isolated, almost feeling rejected by the other faiths that are all mingled in the area.  It was very interesting. 

We then wandered through more streets and wound up at St. Marks church, this appears to be the first Christian Church in Jerusalem, started by the Mark of the gospels.  It also may be one of the sites for possibly the upper room, which is still accessible by going down.  Everything from the first century is down because things have been built on top of ruins. 

The woman showing us the church was very filled with the Holy Spirit, and spoke of many miracles and manifestations of the Holy Spirit that have recently taken place.  It was very interesting. 

We finished our quest, headed back through the Christian quarter, then the Muslim quarter, through the Damascus Gate and then back to the school.  It took about 7 hours.  We then spent an hour with each group sharing their experiences from the different quarters and their uniqueness.  It was great.  

Peace and Love, 
PT

Thursday 7-23-2009  

Today was different from any day that we have had so far.  It included a bus trip to Holy Sites and times of reflection, scripture reading and songs.  I have been kind of skeptical of these places in the past, simply because they have become so ritualized by the church.  I have always felt that it robbed the spiritual places of their simplicity, and sense of the ordinary that God used to bring forth the extraordinary.  

So with that groundwork laid, let me reflect on what I saw, smelled, touched, tasted and heard.  The first place that we went was Ein Kerem.  It is south and west of Jerusalem.  Not far, but very mountainous.  It’s interesting that the places that we read in the Gospels about are all fairly close, within 100 miles of Jerusalem, but very difficult travel because of the mountains all around Jerusalem.  King David wrote, “Like the mountains surround Jerusalem, so you surround me, oh God."  Now I know what he means.  

El Kerem is the place where Mary (Jesus' Mother) visited Elizabeth, who was pregnant with John the Baptist.  Tradition tells us that they met at a well just outside of the town of El Kerem, where Elizabeth and Zachariah lived.  The well is still there and housed inside of a Catholic church to protect its integrity.  We then went to the cave dwelling place (Israelites often lived in caves, not houses like we do) of Elizabeth and Zachariah.  This is the place where tradition tells us that John the Baptist was born.  

How do we know that this is the authentic place?  Beginning about 70 AD Christians began to search out and mark significant spiritual sights in order to protect them and to draw some sort of Spiritual strength from them.  When the Romans overthrew Jerusalem they began to destroy many of these places (Mount Calvary, the resurrection tomb, etc), and build idols on top of them.  When the Byzantine Empire overthrew the Romans, they built churches on top of these sites in order to preserve them as a place for Christian worship.  

When the Persians overthrew the Byzantine Empire, they destroyed all of the churches that were over these sites.  When the Crusaders came along and pushed out the Byzantines, they rebuilt huge cathedrals over top of these sites in order to protect them.  When the Muslims pushed out the Crusaders, they burnt many of these places down.  Do you see where I’m going with all this? When the Crusaders came back again, they rebuilt churches on top of the ashes of these spiritually significant places.  Many of these stand today.  

This is how these significant places have survived, and why they were saved.  Is it exactly where Mary met Elizabeth?  Is it exactly where John the Baptist was born.  Could be.  What is most significant I think is that these are the general areas in which these significant events happened.  And I found that if I looked beyond all the Icons, and Cathedrals, and glitz and glimmer; in my spirit I know that something significant on which I base my faith has happened in these areas.  It is color that I can bring to a canvas that paints a picture of my faith journey and seeing, hearing, touching, smelling and tasting them is something very significant to that.  

Ok, from there we went to Bethlehem.  It is on the West Bank, or the place where Palestinian settlements and refugees have been since 1967.  You can Google Palestine settlements in Israel, or Israeli West Bank, if you want to read up on this.  What it comes down to is something similar to the Berlin wall that divided East and West Germany.  You can’t cross back and forth unless you have permission.  Bethlehem is on the Palestinian side of the West Bank.  We had to go through two military check points to get there.  Bethlehem is no longer a sleepy little town like the Christmas song paints.  

Once there we went to a place where shepherds have tended sheep on the hillside for ages.  It has been set apart as a significant place to pause and reflect on what took place between shepherds and angels on our Lord’s birth.  To be perfectly honest, this was quite a significant place for me.  

I looked out over the mountains and valleys of Bethlehem, and in the silence of a mid day sun, imagined what it would have been like to be a shepherd in that field, when the sky suddenly broke into light with a multitude of the heavenly hosts, praising God and saying, "Glory to God in the highest, and good will to all mankind."  I don’t think I’ll ever again tell that story without remembering my reflections on a hillside just outside Bethlehem.  

After a tremendously adventurous lunch for me, we then went to the place where Christ was born, according to tradition.  What once was a small cave stable is covered by a huge Cathedral built by the Crusaders.  It is the oldest operating church in the world.  Timbers and tapestries that were 1500 to 1800 years old.  Again, the site was identified in the first century, where a church was built, destroyed and rebuilt, and now remains to this day.  

I saw this place a significant place in the history of our faith and enjoyed the moment of reaching through a rock to touch the place marked as the place Christ was born.  

After scripture, prayer, meditation and song, we then returned to the college.   

After supper and prayer and communion, someone asked if I would be so kind as to guide a group down to the Western Wall through the Old City of Jerusalem.  I said I would, and so I grabbed the prayers from all those at church that had talked to me or sent me emails of prayers to take to the wall.  

I had purchased a skull cap the day before for use the next time I went to the Wailing Wall, so I grabbed it as well, said a quick silent prayer, and off we went.  We wound our way through the Damascus Gate, the market places of the Old City (I have pictures of this area, and it is incredible.  It’s completely different from anything that we have ever experienced in Iowa.)  We went through the checkpoint, and then around a corner and there was the wall lit up with huge flood lights.  You could hear the rumble of prayer, you could feel the presence of God, you could taste a desire for answered prayer, see the black coats and tall black hats of the Orthodox Jews. I asked a friend to take a picture of me while I was at the Wall praying for our church.  She said she would, and I wound my way through the crowd of men that were there to pray.  I found a place with a large crack in the Wall and began to pray.  It was something incredible.  I could hear the prayers in Hebrew around me, out of the corner of my eyes I could see the Orthodox Jews swaying back and forth, maybe a hundred of them.  It just increased my passion to pray to God for the prayers that I held as well as others.  I remember praying for my brother's church in Tucson, I remember praying for my family and my marriage, I remember thanking God for my father, I remember praying for Adventure-Life Church and her leadership, and all the prayers that I had taken with me that night.  

As I stepped away, walking backward, facing the wall till a safe distance away (out of respect), I turned and heard the Orthodox Jews reach a fevered pitch in their prayers, now all maybe one hundred fifty of them swaying together forward and backward, forward and backward, praying with passion, tears, and hope that God would restore the temple to the Jews once again.  I heard someone blow a shofar nearby, and the passion and intensity increased to another level.  I stood for what seemed like a half hour watching, listening, overcome with emotion, wanting to dance and praise our great God for loving us.  

I knew that we had to tear ourselves away and head back to the college.  As difficult as it was for all of us, we returned.  All the way back we were recounting that exciting experience.  I must stop now.  I’ll write later.

Monday, July 27, 2009  

Today we went to the Temple Mount in Jerusalem.  King David wrote: “I was glad when they said to me let us go to the house of the Lord”.  This is how I felt today.  We entered the Temple mount through a gate that I had not yet enter through before, the Dung Gate.  The meaning is pretty easy to understand just by the title itself.  It is on the southeast corner of Jerusalem.  

We entered through this gate because it will take us directly to the “Dome of the Rock” as well as the Al Aqsa Mosque.  The Muslims have control of the entire temple mount except for an outside portion of the Western or Wailing wall.  I was in awe of the size of the temple mount itself.   

We took some time to talk about the Koran because written all around the dome of the building in script are quotations from the Koran.  The Koran is said to be the Word of God (Ala) given by the angel Gabriel to Mohammed.  There are 5 pillars of Islam.  I noted the similarity of these pillars to Judaism and to Christianity.

1.  God is absolute.  They believe that there is one God (Ala), and Mohammed is His prophet.  This is chanted 5 times a day from the pray towers throughout the Middle East as they call the people of their faith to prayer.  This leads us to the second pillar.

2.  Prayer.  Public prayer 5 times a day.  There is a call to prayer from the towers that I mentioned and all devout Muslims are to stop what they are doing and face the East to pray.

3.  Fasting.  The Muslims believe that fasting is a way in which they show their hunger for God.

4.  Hajj.  This is the Muslim word for “pilgrimage”.  Once in a lifetime every Muslim is required to go to Mecca, their Holy city on a pilgrimage.

5.  Alms giving.  All around the temple mount you will find the poor begging for money.  Giving to help these poor people is one of the pillars of their faith.  

I thought of the Christian faith, and my faith in particular.  Is God absolute in my life?  Or do I sometimes compromise faith for the consensus of our culture.  Prayer & fasting have always been a huge part of the Christian faith, but am I dedicated to a regular regimen of both fasting and prayer.  These pillars, or I call them “disciplines”, are bedrock to my relationship with God and how I view the world and embrace other people.  

I could relate to pilgrimage as I am on one now.  Here I am in the Holy City, a pilgrim seeking a deeper understanding of my faith by walking where my Savior and Lord walked and standing where God has revealed Himself to the ancients of our faith.  Lastly, there is giving.  This has always been a big deal for me, and I think for our church as well.  It’s why we have the food pantry and Simple Suppers.  It’s why we have Community Day of Service.  It’s why serving the world is a part of our vision for living the Christian life.  

I walked around the Dome of the Rock.  It is truly beautiful.  It was built in 691 AD, and was originally built as a shrine, not as a Mosque.  The plating on the dome at one time was steel, but within the last 20 years has been replaced by gold.  The rock which is inside the dome itself is the one where Abraham almost sacrificed Isaac.  

As I stood on the Temple Mount, I couldn’t help but remember what I had learned from NTC – Life of Christ.  Court of the Gentiles (where would that be now on the mount), outer court of the women, court of the Jews (men), Priests' court, Holy of Holies.  Yes, I can see it now.  It would have been much larger than I had been imagining.  As I moved around the mount I found my self saying “Wall of separation would be here.  Here’s where the Gate Beautiful would have been,  Over here, Solomon’s colonnade where the Sanhedrin would have met when they tried Jesus.  That means that over here would have been Antonia’s fortress, where Pontius Pilate and the Roman soldiers would have been when they tried and beat Jesus.  Yes, I can see it all now, I can feel it all now, I can hear it all now, I can taste and smell it all now."  

It’s time to leave this mount and head to a pool where we know that Jesus was, and it is excavated to the level of when Jesus would have been there.  I’m speaking of the Pool of Bethesda.  “Now there is in Jerusalem by the Sheep gate a pool in Hebrew called Bethzatha…” (John 5:2).  Bethesda means “House of Mercy” or “House of Protection”.  It is this pool, where the water was stirred and then the sick would try to be the first in the pool in order to be healed.  The Romans built this pool as way to pay tribute to their god of healing.  Some say the waters were stirred because it is in the lower part of the city, so any rain in the upper part of the city would run through the city and into the pool, disturbing the water.  We don’t know.  

What we do know is that Jesus was here.  He asked a man why he was there by the pool and the man replied that there was no one to help him in.  Jesus told him to get up, pick up his bed and leave.  He did, and was healed.  I walked around the pool, imagining what it would have been like to see Jesus there at the pool talking to this lame man, and then to see the lame man get up and walk.  I thought about what I believe concerning healing and the way that God heals today.  I believe that God is still a God of healing through His Son Jesus Christ.  He has healed me many times, and I have see miraculous healing with my own eyes.  

"Yes I believe you were here Lord, I believe you showed yourself as the God who heals to humankind, through the miracle that took place here."  

We had lunch after Bethesda at a French convent in the Old City called Ecce Homo (behold the man)  It sits where the Antonio Fortress would have been.  The front porch and steps of the Antonio fortress is where Jesus would have been tried by Pilate and where He would have said the words “Behold the Man” Ecce Homo in Latin.  

It was very refreshing to eat there.  Roast beef, vegetables and mashed potatoes.  Wow, this is my kind of meal.  I had seconds at this meal.  I wasn’t going to let it pass.  We went up to the roof of the convent, and we could see all across the city, it was a great view.  

After lunch we went to the Western wall.  Even though I had been there before, I was looking forward to being there again, and taking some pictures.  I put on the Kippah or yarmulke that I had purchased for my visits to this sight, and made my way down to the wall.  It was not as crowded as it had been where I had gone in the evenings.  After prayer at the wall (and I asked someone to snap some shots of me there with my camera), I turned and a Jewish gentleman, an older Hasidic or Orthodox Jew was standing by me with a big smile.  He asked me where I was from and I told him Iowa.  I also told him that I was praying for peace for Israel.  

He smiled and asked if he could pray a blessing on me and my family.  I was extremely moved as he asked God to bless me and my family.  I thanked him, we embraced and then parted ways.  It was a wonderful encounter.

From the wall we went to see some southern wall excavations that have taken place recently.  We were by Robinsons Arch.  Below the arch they have discovered the street that would have been there at Jesus' time.  We know that Jesus walked on this street.  Built under the stairs of the arch were four shops, and behind the arch some Mikvah or ritual baths.  I stood in the depth of one of these Mikvah, it was so exciting.  I have taught about them, and shown pictures of them, and created pretend ones for so long.  Now I was standing in the real deal.  What a feeling.  When I stepped out, I began to walk the section of street that has been uncovered where Jesus would have walked.  There was a prayer and rejoicing in each step that I took as I walked in the steps of the Rabbi Jesus Himself.  "Lord, may I be a disciple who is like His master."  

As we followed the excavations, we wound up on the southern steps of the temple.  I knew where we were.  I had delighted in thoughts of standing here since the first day that I have arrived.  I had seen them from a distance when we were near the Mount of Olives, and now here I was.  They have restored many of the steps, but some still are the original rock from the steps that Jesus would have walked on, or stood preaching from.  These are the steps that I believe Peter stood on, on the day of Pentecost, and said “These men are not drunk as you have supposed,…but this is what was spoken of by the Prophet Joel.  In the last day’s I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh.”   

I can hardly contain myself even in this writing.  I have been to the center of my faith in Christ, and have embraced it with open arms and weeping, desiring an even deeper walk with my Lord.  We had a time of devotion, and then we were invited to find a spot on the steps that had some original stone, and just be in silent meditation.  I found a wonderful spot right at the bottom of an arch that would have taken me into the Temple.  You can no longer pass through because it is sealed up.  But this is where disciples, and the Messiah Himself could have passed, or maybe Jesus might have stood here teaching.  I sat down on this stone, beneath this arch and touched the stone and remembered my love for Jesus Christ, and how thankful that I was here; and I wept.

After our time of silence,  I walked along the wall to more steps that were being excavated.  In the center, between the sets of steps were the Mikvah.  Just as I had seen them in the hand out for NTC.  They were covered with a room then, at Jesus time, but now they laid open for me to see.  My heart leapt.  Yes, they are here, just as I had taught.  I can see them with my eyes, I can touch them with my hands, I can step into them with my feet.  I wept again.  Lord, wash my mind, and my heart, and my feet, that I might be pure in your sight and in your service as your disciple.  

This, had to be the high point of the day.  I weep now, even as I am recounting this.  And I look forward to experiencing it again with Joy when she joins me in Jerusalem.  This will be a day that I will never forget.

“Praise the name of the Lord; Praise Him, O you servants of the Lord!  Who stand in the house of the Lord, in the courts of the house of God, Praise the Lord…” (Psalm 135:1-3)  

“I was glad when they said to me, Let us go into the house of the Lord.  Our feet have been standing within your gates, O Jerusalem!” (Psalm 122:1-2)  

The Lord be with you in all you do today.

PT

Tuesday, July 28, 2009  

The morning was a time of study and meditation at the college.  I began the day with a time of prayer.  During my time of prayer I thanked God for creating this beautiful land that I am seeing, I thanked him for those who have supported me financially in order to make this trip, and I thanked God for Adventure Life Church’s desire to keep their pastor healthy physically and spiritually.  

During the times of solitude it’s difficult not to miss Joy.  I’m used to traveling with her and if I’m honest, she is the one that gives me the courage to experience life to the fullest.  I’m looking forward to her joining me next week in Amman, Jordan, but I miss her incredibly right now.  

I meditated on scripture for a while during my time of prayer and solitude this morning, and as always I was amazed at how God can use his Word to comfort and challenge all at the same time.  It’s my birthday today, and I’m used to spending it with family and friends.  There is always a lot of laughter and fellowship.  God has once again reminded me that there is a reason why he has called me through this open door for this portion of my pilgrimage, and it’s to recognize that He is all that I need.  I opened my heart to different scriptures that talked of God presence ever with me, and His desire to be to me “a friend who sticks closer than a brother”.  Together we will continue this journey through the door that He has opened.  

After about an hour of silence we gathered at St. George Cathedral for communion, and I once again, through bread and wine, felt the reality of His presence always with me and in me.  

Back at the college we had a lecture on “Encountering Jewish Spirituality”.  We looked at what spirituality looked like from a Jewish perspective.  There were 8 points to understanding Jewish spirituality that Father Andrew mentioned.

1.  Creation.  Celebrating God’s creation, and understanding that spirituality effects all of life.  When we lie down, when we get up, when we go out, when we come in.  And this recognition of God is to be in every aspect of our being; with all our heart, soul, and strength.

2.  Covenant.  Jewish spirituality understands a marriage between God and His people.  And the Law is how it’s found in the Torah-written law, and the Mishna-oral law.

3.  Continuity.  There is order to their faith.  We find it in the phrases they use like Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.  There is order to that.  And there is order between the past and the present.  The Western Wall connects them to the past.

4.  Community.  Here we talked about the various communities within the Jewish faith such as the Kabala, the Hasidic movement, Jews from Spain, Ultra Orthodox etc.  Each community has clothes or areas that connect them together.

5.  Celebration.  Keeping time sacred with the feasts throughout the year.

6.  Connection.  Spirituality for the Jew is connection with God, or ascent, and connection with life or struggle.  The name Israel itself is given because Jacob struggled with God.

7.  Combat.  Jewish spirituality has to do with surrender to God and there is an inward struggle with life itself.

8 Challenge.  This has to do with the challenges that come in our relationship with God and others.  

Much to think about in this in the way that I approach my spirituality.  Some of these elements are in my own walk with my Lord and Savior, only in different ways.  We are not so different.  We are all in a journey to understand how we live life in a way that honors and respects God with every moment and at every turn of our passage.   

After lunch we headed off to the Chagall Windows.  This was a very interesting Jewish Synagogue (Orthodox).  The Torah closet was clearly visible as was the Bema, and it was laid out as I would have imagined.  What made this synagogue interesting were the stained glass windows around an elevated ceiling.  They were created by Martin Chagall.  There were 12 large stained glass windows, one each for the sons of Jacob and portraying the blessing that Jacob gave each one of them.  

We then went to the Model of Jerusalem.  This is the same model that I have shown pictures of during New Testament Challenge.  It was great to see the expanse of this model, and explore how the city of Jerusalem was laid out at Jesus' time.  It was also great to locate where in the city we have traveled on this pilgrimage so far, and share memories of what we have experienced.  

At the same sight, they also had an excellent display of the Dead Sea Scrolls and tools, and pottery, etc from the Essence’s at Qumran.  Some of their encoding of scripture included the book of Isaiah and more.  

After Dinner at the college, we had a special guest for a lecture on the Peace Process – an Israeli perspective.  He admitted that the prospects for Peace with the Palestinians would be at the least difficult.  He gave us a brief history of the conflicts in the area, and the fear that they live under today from Homicide bombers.  He also shared that occupying another people is not good for the occupied nor the occupier, and that redemption is gained through sorrows.  It was very interesting.

Wednesday, July 29, 2009  

Today was a free day for me.  The rest of the group took an optional excursion to Masada and Qumran at an additional cost.  Since I’m going there with Joy next week along with the other Study Tour that I’m taking, I opted not to go.  Instead I decided that I wanted to shoot some video for a church greeting on Sunday morning, and maybe take a shot at some short devotional videos.  

I spent the morning doing some laundry (by hand) and hanging it out on a clothes line on the roof.  While the clothes were drying, I put some thought into places and things that I wanted to say on the video.  Two hours later my clothes were dry and I slung my computer bag over my shoulder and went out for an adventure.  I decided that I would also like to locate Mount Calvary today.  

I did a test video in one of the gardens here at the college, and it didn’t turn out too bad.  So I headed off to the Damascus Gate to shoot a video greeting for the church on Sunday morning.  I’m not feeling very good physically, so I’m hoping to get back to the room and lie down for a while before the rest of the group gets back.  

I headed to a place that is an alternate Garden Tomb; it also is near an alternate site for Golgotha.  It was a beautiful place, very peaceful.  I sat and meditated a while on what it would have been like on that resurrection morning to run to a place like this to find a stone rolled away.  I went inside the tomb, and looked around imagining grave clothes on the stone where they laid Jesus, but no Jesus there.   

Now He lives in me!  Praise the Lord!  He is risen!  What wonderful news to my heart.  I knelt there in the tomb, and thanked God that He is more powerful than death, and because of what Jesus Christ did for me I am now in relationship with God.  

Around a corner in the garden is a cliff where there used to be a stone quarry at the time of Christ.  On the side of the cliff you can make out eye sockets, a hollow nose, and a mouth in the rocks.  It’s for this and other reasons that some believe that this is Golgotha (the place of the skull).  I sat there for a while and then began to call out the names of friends and family that had been given me by our church.  I thanked Jesus Christ that He died for them as well, and prayed that He would bring them into His kingdom.  

The side track turned out to be a wonderful experience.  I will have to come back here.  

This Garden Tomb is only a few blocks away from the Damascus Gate.  I found myself a place away from others, took out my computer and recorded a greeting to Adventure Life Church.  I’m hoping they’ll be able to sense the different atmosphere through the things they see in the background of this video, but also know how much I miss them, and am praying for them.  

I then traveled a bit through the Old City, to the Christian quarter to look for the Church of the Holy Sepulcher (the other sight of the garden tomb).  From there I hope to find the other sight (more reliable) where Calvary or Golgotha is located.  After wandering for an hour in circles, I finally found it.  There is a HUGE church on top of this sight.  On the ground floor there is a place where there is a slab of rock believed to have been where they laid Christ as they prepared His body with spices.  

Then you enter a very large room where you go down to the tomb and can touch a piece of the rock that had been rolled away.  The line was very long that day, and I knew that we were going to be there on Saturday, so I passed on that one.  Around one of the corners of this huge church is a staircase that takes you up to a place where tradition tells us was Golgotha.  Again you can touch a piece of the Mountain.   

I once again prayed for those friends and loved ones that need to know Jesus Christ here at this sight of Christ’s crucifixion.  

I then headed back to the College to lay down and rest in hopes of feeling better.   

After dinner, there was a group that wanted to walk the ramparts of the Old City Wall.  It’s something that I wanted to do, so I joined them.  When we got to the Jaffa Gate, the rampart walk was closed.  There seemed to be a lot of people coming into the city, and we noticed more of a military presence than we had at other times.   We asked one older man and his son what was going on.  He told us that today was a day that they remember and mourn the destruction of both the first and the second temple.  It was on this date that the Romans in 70 AD tore down the temple walls and destroyed the place.  It has also become a day that they remember the establishing of Auschwitz.   

It is a very sad day for Israel.  We decided that we wanted to see what the Western Wall looked like on this day, so we followed some Hasidic Jews to the temple mount (they knew a faster route that we did).  All along the way you could see a military presence.  Once to the wall, it was packed with Jews.  They had gathered in groups to read the scroll of Lamentation and to pray.  I could hear a shofar blowing at the wall, and I could really hear the voices of those reading and praying.  Again, it was packed.  Security was very tight.  The Israeli army and police force were everywhere.  

We left the wall, and went to our favorite tea place by the wall.  They serve tea with mint, very good.  When we sat down, we could see police putting on Kevlar vests, and putting their automatic weapons on.  We sat and watched as police on horseback appeared on the scene.  We were wondering what was going on.  

Up the street to the east toward the “New Gate”, we could see flashing lights, and they had stopped all traffic on the street in front of us.  We could see people walking down the street.  Was it a parade?  No, they are carrying signs.  What is this we began asking people around us.  

The signs read “What Change”, and “We don’t need American money”.  Turns out we were right in the middle of a march by Jewish settlers who were protesting Obama’s (America’s) decision to stop all new settlements on the West Bank.  We decided to pretend that we were Canadians and Brit’s for the moment.  It seems that there are three American representatives of the Obama Administration in Israel this week, to talk about negotiating peace.  This was to make a statement to them.  

We finished our tea, and decided it would be a good time to head home.  I was ready for bed when I got back.  Maybe tonight I’ll get a good night’s sleep.

Thursday, July 30, 2009  

Today we begin a journey of Christ’s last steps the week of his crucifixion.  We began with a lecture on the Last Supper.  The lecture compared Jesus to a type of Moses.  I liked that.  Moses led his people out of slavery and into a promised land.  The lamb in the Passover meal is about liberation, exodus, escape from the domination of evil.  

Jesus, our Passover lamb and His death on the cross is a new Exodus, a new deliverance of God’s people.   

He talked about the word “remembrance” or “memory” that Christ used when He said  “Do this in remembrance (or memory) of me”.  The word “memory” in the Greek means releasing into the moment the power of the past.  It’s the joy of living in the present because of the past.  That’s a good thing to think about whenever we have communion.  

Christ was looking forward to the final deliverance, and so do we.  Father Andrew also talked about Covenant.  Jesus said, this is the new “covenant” in my blood.  A covenant is a two- way relationship.  Our part is a readiness to follow Christ, to take up our cross, to die and rise with Him.  

From the college we bussed to the Syrian Orthodox Church of St. Mark.  Some believe that this church is built on the Mark's mother’s house, and it is in this house that the last supper took place.  Some also believe that it is this same place where the Holy Spirit was poured out in Acts 2.  

Justina was the woman in charge of explaining the story of this location and of the Syrian Orthodox church.  She was very interesting to listen to.  At the end of her explanation we went down into what some feel is the upper room location.  We spent some time in prayer and song, and then moved on to lunch.  

For lunch we went to the Lutheran Hospice in the Old City.  We had passed this Hospice a week ago when we were on a mission for class work at the college.  The food was very good, I could identify most of the meal.  That’s a nice change.  It was good to rest, as we have been doing a lot of walking and there was more to come.  I’m a little weak today because of not feeling well.  My throat is a little worse, very scratchy, hard to eat most things without pain.   

After lunch we when to the Cenacle on Mount Zion; it’s here that most tradition says was the location of the upper room.  Again, and we have talked about this before, it’s merely a place with which we can identify with something significant from our past.  I enjoyed the chapel that was built there, and we sang a hymn and spent some time in prayer and silence, thinking about what had happened here, and what it means to us.  My thoughts on where the upper room is can be found in the teaching from New Testament Challenge, Life of Christ.  It may be neither of these locations.  I do want to identify both of these locations on an ancient map to see where they were at in the ancient city of Jerusalem.  

After time at the Cenacle we then went to the Church of St. Peter in Galicantu.  Most all of these important religious sites have a church built on them in order to preserve their location and authenticity.  

This would be the place where Peter denied Christ three times.  It also means that it must be very close to Caiaphas’s house because Peter was just outside the gates while Christ was being questioned by Caiaphas.  This was a very meaningful place for me.  First in had deep into the ground a cell area where Christ would have been held before questioning.  A kind of jail if you will.  We were able to go down into this jail and see, and touch the cell where Jesus most likely was held after being arrested in the Garden of Gethsemane.   

Next to the church is an excavation of what I believe would be Caiaphas’s house.  This would make sense if Peter was here to deny Christ.  What was significant to me is that steps have just been uncovered in the past couple of years, that led from the traditional site of the upper room, way down to the Kidron Valley that goes to Gethsemane.  

Jesus would have walked these steps probably many times, as they are the only steps leading down to the Kidron Valley from that part of town.  He would have walked them both as a freeman, and as a prisoner.  I walked up and down some of the steps that Jesus took.  If the upper room was where tradition tells us, then he would have walked right past Caiaphas’s house on the way to the upper room.  

These are very steep steps because the Kidron Valley is very rough, deep terrain.  It was interesting for me to think about the fact that the temple mount can always be seen in this area, whether upper room, Kidron Valley, Caiaphas’s house, Gethsemane, or Mount of Olives.  

After dinner, we had a lecture on the peace process from a Palestinian perspective.  The gentleman who talked to us is a Catholic Christian with the PLO.  He gave us the history of how this area once belonged entirely to the Palestinians, and then since 1947 has slowly been taken away from them.  He explained all of the peace agreements from 1967 until now, and how the lines have been drawn between Israel and Palestine.  They are now pretty much prisoners in their own land because they are surrounded by a wall of separation that Israel has put up and the Palestinians are not allowed to leave freely, or sometimes not at all.  There are 1.5 million Palestinian people living in the Gaza strip, and this is not good.  He explained that for peace to take place, Refugees would need to be freed, homes would need to be returned to them, compensation for losses would need to be made, and recognition of statehood would need to be included.  

They also want to make East Jerusalem their capital.  He was very interesting, and helped us to understand his situation.  There have been a lot of bombings, most recently December 2008/ January 2009 with missiles fired by both the Palestinian's and the Israeli’s at each other.  It is a most difficult situation, and something will need to be done soon.  This is the situation that President Obama is looking at, and it is the reason for the protest march the other night.  

That’s all for now.  I need rest.  Tomorrow we go to Gethsemane and the Mount of Olives, and the Antonia fortress.

Friday, July 31, 2009  

We began the day with my now normal breakfast of tomatoes, a small cucumber, and a slice of toast with strawberry jam.  My throat is very soar and the coarseness of the toast hurts my throat when I swallow.  The vegetables taste so very good and refreshing for breakfast, I’ll have to carry on the tradition when I get back to Iowa. 

After breakfast we boarded a bus, each taking a sack lunch with us, and we headed for Bethphage, the Mount of Olives.  The location that we were headed for was the place where Jesus wept over the city of Jerusalem.  On the traditional location there is a beautiful “tear shaped” church built by Antonio Bellucci.  The view from the property is magnificent, and I took some great pictures of the Kidron Valley that divides the Mount of Olives from the City, and also pictures of the Eastern wall of Jerusalem.  

We had a reflection while there in which the question was asked, would Jesus still weep today when looking upon our lives?  There were a number of reasons that Jesus wept as He looked at Jerusalem, and I wonder about the similarities in my own faith walk.   

Luke 19:41-42  “ And when He approached, He saw the city and wept over it, ⁴² saying, "If you had known in this day, even you, the things which make for peace!”  

Jerusalem was missing the important things in their lives that would bring them peace, and I miss opportunities many times to bring peace as well.  I don’t seek peace when I don’t reach out to the poor and the imprisoned, and the hungry and the sick, etc.  

And Jesus doesn’t ask me to bring an answer of peace to every situation, but sometimes all that Jesus asks is that I offer a “presence” in difficult times.  I asked myself; Who’s suffering am I most aware of in my life?  And then; How can I be more like Christ in responding?  

When it says that Jesus wept “over” the city, that certainly is the case from this mount.  This is the area, and I'm sure the view that Jesus had as he wept over the city of Jerusalem.  I sat in silence for about a half an hour just looking out over the city and being alone with my thoughts.  

We walked to the Garden of Gethsemane, and as we did we imagined Jesus traveling down the road on a donkey, the triumphal entry we call it.  Palm branches were waving, people were shouting "Hosanna"?  I imagined myself on that road and in that crowd on Palm Sunday, wanting a deliverer, a prophet, a king!  We sang a processional psalm as we traveled down the road together.  What a coincidence.  There’s a man with a donkey as I look down this winding Mount of Olives road.  I snapped a quick picture and we continued on singing.  

There were two triumphal entries that day, one was Jesus, and the other was Pilate.  He also came riding in, only not on a donkey but on a large, magnificent horse.  He had traveled from Caesarea Maritima, where he stayed most of the time, to Jerusalem, because it was Passover and he wanted to make sure that order was kept amongst the two to three million Jews that have traveled to the city for the feast.  

Yesterday I wrote of the upper room,  Now, since I am at the Mount of Olives, I’ll go to the Garden of Gethsemane.  Here there is a large rock in a Church that is symbolic of the rock at which Jesus prayed the night he was betrayed.  Luke 22:39-53.  The Garden is nearby to the Eastern wall, it’s just down the Kidron Valley.  You can see the Temple Mount from where Christ prayed.  The Olive tree that Julia has me standing in front of on the Web page is still there, and I stood near it, and took a picture of it.   

I thought of Jesus traveling to the upper room for the Passover meal and what we call the last supper, then through the temple mount area for evening prayer, out the Eastern wall Gate, down through the Kidron Valley which is red with blood from the sacrifices for Passover week, to Gethsemane.  Then taken by the soldiers across the Kidron Valley to Mount Zion to the south, and to Caiaphas’ house (which can be seen from Gethsemane), and then to the Temple for his trial with the Sanhedrin.   

What a treat next.  We went to an area of the Garden of Gethsemane that most people do not visit.  It is still in it’s quite original state with some worn paths and some rocks to sit on.  It’s here that we had a picnic lunch.  Did this really happen?  A picnic lunch in the Garden of Gethsemane, overlooking the City of Jerusalem.  My brother Ted, who I very much wanted to join me on this pilgrimage, is very jealous now.  He told me his dream for something like this is to just sit in the Garden of Gethsemane and look out over the landscape.  Well, we spent an hour doing just that and the view and the atmosphere is extraordinary.  Olive trees everywhere, the smell of pine as well, and the view is unforgettable.  

After lunch we walked a narrow road (most of the roads through the city are very narrow) down to the Kidron Valley, across the Kidron Valley, up the west side of the Kidron Valley and through the Lion Gate, or Stephen’s Gate.  They call it Stephen’s Gate because it is the Gate in which Stephen was stoned in Acts.  

We walked past the North side of the temple mount and through the streets to a place called Ecce Homo (behold the man).  The convent which sits here sits on a portion of what was the Antonia Fortress.  The Antonia Fortress is where the Roman Soldiers stayed, and where Pilate probably stayed when he was in Jerusalem.  That means Jesus was probably tried and beaten here before taking his cross and going to Golgotha.  

In the basement of the convent there has been excavations that have uncovered a good section of the original “Lithostrotos” or floor of this fortress.  We wound down many steps into the depths of Jerusalem.  My heart raced as I thought of what we were going to see.  Could this be the place where my Savior and Lord was wounded for my transgressions?  Could these be the stones that Jesus stood on as Pilate questioned him?  My heart began to beat even faster with each step down into the darkness of the what once was the old city of Jerusalem.  

Then, there it was, a large portion, lit by lights, excavation still taking place off to one corner.  Large pieces of stone worn by the many soldiers feet that had walked across them.  We stopped and shared scripture.  

Then the governor's soldiers took Jesus into the Praetorium and gathered the whole company of soldiers around him. ²⁸ They stripped him and put a scarlet robe on him, ²⁹ and then twisted together a crown of thorns and set it on his head. They put a staff in his right hand and knelt in front of him and mocked him. "Hail, king of the Jews!" they said. ³⁰ They spit on him, and took the staff and struck him on the head again and again. ³¹ After they had mocked him, they took off the robe and put his own clothes on him. Then they led him away to crucify him.  Matthew 27: 26-31  

We sat in silence for a long time.  Is this what took place on these rocks?  Is that the story that these stones would tell?  I knelt down and touched one of the rocks of this floor that at one time Christ may have walked on, bloodied for my sins, mocked and spit on.  Thank you Lord for enduring the worst of human kind, that you might redeem whatever might be good in us to bring us back into reconciliation with the Heavenly Father.   

I felt so inadequate of His great love and sacrifice.  I could barely move.  Jesus gave up his heavenly throne, to take on our flesh and the position of a servant even to His death on the cross.  “He took the fall, and thought of me.  Above all”.  

What a day this has been.  What a road I have taken.  What a pilgrimage I’m on.  I thank God for opening the door for me to be here, and that I had the courage to step through.  

Feeling a bit week from whatever it is that my body is fighting, I began the walk back to the college.  Through the streets of the Old City of Jerusalem, out through Herod’s Gate, through the busy marketplace streets and finally to the college.  Some sleep will hopefully help my body to fight this.  Rest, and thinking of all that I have seen, and heard, and tasted, and touched, and smelled today.  

Tomorrow the Via Dolorosa.  

Saturday, August 1, 2009  

This day began early.  At 6 am we gathered out in front of St George’s College to begin a silent pilgrimage to the Church of the Resurrection by way of the stations of the cross.  We had a five foot tall by three and a half foot wide wooden cross that we would be carrying through the streets of the Old City of Jerusalem.  We would take turns carrying the cross as we stopped at each station along the way.  Brother Mark, a monk with the Society of Saint John the Evangelist, would lead the group along with Father Andrew.  

At each station Brother Mark, dressed in his monastery garb, would announce the stations, we would sing a liturgy, read the scripture from the Bible that pertained to that location and  have a prayer and a response.  The rest of the time was to be in silence.  

The streets of Jerusalem were silent at this time of the day, although we knew that they would get busier throughout our hour and a half pilgrimage.  The garbage from the night before had all been cleared off of the streets and a few early risers were opening their shops along the street, but not many.  We walked through Herod’s gate on the North side of Jerusalem and walked east until we reached a corner of what would have been the Antonia Fortress.   

“Jesus is condemned to death” Brother Mark proclaimed to split the silence of the morning.  We responded with words of thanksgiving sung to Christ for going to the cross to redeem the world.  The scripture from Mark 15: 1-15 was read.  It felt good to hear scripture read aloud in these once sacred streets where Christ walked.  There was a prayer and a response by us all.  

The cross changed hands and we moved forward.  Here are the stations that we stopped at to read scripture and thank our Savior Jesus Christ for His redeeming sacrifice:  

·         Jesus receives His cross
    Jesus falls for the first time
    Jesus meets his mother
    Simon of Cyrene helps Jesus carry his cross
    Jesus falls the second time
    Jesus speaks to the women of Jerusalem
    Jesus falls a third time
    Jesus is stripped of his garments
    Jesus is nailed to the cross
    Jesus dies on the cross
    Jesus is taken down from the cross
    Jesus is laid in the tomb  

As we moved from station to station, carrying the cross, reading the story, there was a sense of walking it with Him.  Some people would stare at us as we moved along the streets.  But we were focused on remembering what the Lord had done for us, remembering His passion, remembering His pain.  

The Via Dolorosa, the way of suffering.  I have now walked it, slowly with a cross, and remembered My Lord and His suffering for me each step of the way.  We ended this walk in the courtyard of the Church of the Resurrection.  There is a fascinating story behind this massive church that is well worth googleing.   

This church holds the most reliable tomb of Jesus as well as a reliable section of Mount Calvary including the very top of the mount.  There was quite a line at the tomb of other pilgrims wanting to poke their head in to experience this place.  So we instead went down a ways into a area where there was another excavated tomb cut into the side of this mountain so that we could get a feel for what the tomb would have been like.  It was very interesting, and very dark.  

From there we climbed quite a few stairs to get to a room in which you could reach down through a hole in the floor and touch the top of Mount Calvary.  I now have touched Mount Calvary, the place where they crucified my Lord and Savior.  I sat for a moment after stepping away from the hole in the floor, and took in the moment and my surroundings.  

Have I really just done this?  Touched the mountain on which Christ was crucified?  Yes I had.  I will have to sort out my feelings later, for now I’ll just be in awe of this moment.  

After our time at the Church of the Resurrection we were free to explore the city, and my family since the second day (Jodi, Grace, Mark and myself, along with Joy a woman about to graduate from seminary in Florida) decided that we wanted to walk the ramparts of the city.  It’s about a four and a half mile walk.  The ramparts are the tops of the huge wall that surrounds the Old city.  

It cost sixteen shekels to get in to the ramparts.  We paid it and entered at the Jaffa or Joppa Gate on the West side of the Old City.  The view was spectacular at times and we could see most of the city as we traveled down the west wall, then the North wall, over the New Gate, then the Damascus Gate that we have entered many times, then over Herod’s Gate which we have also entered many times, down to the Northeast corner, then turning east we worked our way to Stephens Gate or Lions Gate.  From there we came down exhausted.  It was quite a walk, and by now it was afternoon and we needed to find a place to have lunch.  

We had passed a place in the Old City called Pizzeria Basti many times in our walks through the City and to the western wall.  We would always comment that we should stop and eat there sometime.  Today was the day.  The Pizza was great, and it felt good to sit down.  

After lunch, we walked back to the college, ready for some down time.  After a short nap, I got up and did some journaling from Friday.  I noticed that John Pursell was on line, and so we skyped for a few minutes.  It was good to see a familiar face.  John and I both share a passion for History and the Bible, so I was anxious to share with him how my morning had gone.  It was a good conversation.  

I did some more journaling and then noticed that Joy was on line, so I spent a good length of time talking with her face to face.  It was wonderful.  I’ll soon be able to experience many more sights on this adventure with her when I meet her in Amman, Jordan, on Tuesday.  Together we will walk where patriarchs of the Bible have walked and sit where significant Biblical and Historical events have taken place.  It will be a whole new chapter in my journal.  

After dinner, my “family” decided it would be good to go to the Western Wall one more time in the evening.  I grabbed my video camera, because I wanted to catch the sights and sounds of the prayers to remember this time.  It was good to be there one more time, and we all decided that our trips to the Wailing Wall has been one of the more significant places spiritually for all of us.  There is a sense of life and presence at this Wall.  And I will miss it when I am gone back to the states.  

Tomorrow is Sunday, and nothing is planned.  Perhaps a day just to rest and get my health and strength back.  

Sunday, August 2 2009  

Today is going to be a day of rest.  In part because it’s Sunday, but also because I haven’t been feeling very good and I just want to take it easy.  The good news is that I do feel a little bit better today; in fact, I think today I’m going to turn the corner.  I am really feeling the prayers of friends and family members.  There are just a few things that I want to accomplish on this the second to last day with St. George’s College.  

I want to be able to affirm all the friends that I have made here at St. George’s, because I have made some really deep relationships that I hope to stay in contact with through the years to come.  Secondly, I want to go to church somewhere.  Third, I want to find the Gloria Hotel in the Old City by the Jaffa Gate.  It’s the hotel that Joy and I will be staying in when we come back through Jerusalem.  Fourth, I will be skyping with my brother Ted and his church in Tucson, Arizona.  They are praying for me, and I have taken his church in Tucson to the Western Wall in Prayer as well.  Lastly, I want to skype with Joy before she takes off, and make sure that we have all the last minute details worked out before we lose contact with each other for a couple of days.  

Ok, so it sounded like it was going to be a day of rest when I started.  Actually, it’s not too bad.  To tackle the first one, some friends from St. George and I have decided to do something a little different for church this morning.  There is a small Christian Arab congregation that meets for church in the college Cathedral.  There was some mention earlier in the week that they would be encouraged if some of the English- speaking group would come alongside of them.  It would strengthen their dwindling numbers.  

We decided that this was something that we wanted to do.  Almost the entire service was in Arabic, only hymn numbers and a brief synopsis of the message were done in English so that we could follow along a little bit.   

I did recognize a couple of the hymns, one was “Stand up Stand up for Jesus”, and the other one was “Just as I Am”.  Us Americans sang out strongly in English and the rest of the group sang in Arab.  They didn’t seem to mind.  We were warmly greeted during the passing of the peace by all.  I believe they were encouraged by our presence, and I know that my heart was warmed by worshiping with them in their unique way.  

After lunch I rested for a while and then walked with some of my new friends down to the Old City of Jerusalem, I went with them as they were looking for a few last minute items to share with friends, and when we were in the area of the Jaffa Gate we went our separate ways.  I located the Gloria Hotel and went into an inner courtyard and then to the front desk.  It looks like it will be a nice place to stay, not far from a very ”Old City” shopping market that I know that Joy will enjoy.  Alright, my list is moving quickly now.  It was a good walk down to the Old City and back, and the exercise was good for me.  Once back, I took some time to rest, then I got things ready for greeting my brother's church.  

It was great to join them.  I could hear them singing some familiar songs in English, and sang along quietly.  After singing, there were announcements and greeting, then one more song, and then my brother introduced me.  I was up on the big screen so that everyone could see me.  Ted and I did a Q & A about Communion and it’s significance to me now that I have been to things like the Upper Room and walked down the Via Dolorosa.  It was good to share with his congregation, and I enjoy doing things with my brother.  

We had a departure briefing  in the lecture room that I needed to attend, then I’ll chat with Joy.  The briefing was good.  The airport in Tel Aviv is always on a high military security.  The Dean of the college’s wife (Jill) explained to us what to expect. 

·     Locate your flight and go to the zone that is marked for your flight.

·     At the zone, they will take your passport and your ticket and ask you a series of question:  Where were you, what did you do, did you buy anything, did you talk with any Palestinians…  If they don’t like your answers, they may take your passport and ticket and walk away, don’t panic.  They will talk to their supervisor and they will come back.  They may detain you more, or they may let you through.

·     Next, all you luggage will be scanned.  Then if you pass, you may move to the ticket counter for your airlines and check in.

·     Check in at your airlines

·     Go through another scanner, like what we have in the states.

·     Head for your gate, you're almost through

·     Go through 2 more scanners and you're at your gate where you can relax.

I would be very thankful for the information from Jill when I went to the airport the next day.  

A reminder from the college that there is a farewell barbecue at the college on Monday, and each “family” is expected to perform some sort of entertainment.  Since there are a lot of rooftop walks in Jerusalem to see the city, we decided to perform our own rendition of “Up on the Roof” and modify the words to fit our situation.  

Finally, an opportunity to skype with Joy.  I saved the best for last.  We chatted for a half hour or forty-five minutes and it was so good to see her.  I let her know about a few last minute things to pick up.  She let me know how the services went.  She was very blessed that the church prayed over her at the end of the service.  

Time now for some journaling, organizing of pictures and then sleep.  It was a good day.  I thank God for giving me this day in Jerusalem.  

Tomorrow we go to the road to Emmaus in Moza and walk the road for a while.  I like that idea.

Monday August 3, 2009  

Today is a happy day, but it also is a sad day.  The two week course has come to an end and it was a good course, but also, it will be a day of goodbyes to all my Episcopal and Anglican friends that I have made and hold so dearly in my heart.  It has been a wonderful pilgrimage that we have taken together as we’ve looked at the question “Who is Jesus?"  

First, a lecture on the theme the "Road to Emmaus".  We read the passage from Luke 24 that tells us about this event.  Two men are walking on the road to Emmaus, Jesus joins them.  They talk about the events that took place in Jerusalem, and Jesus explains from Scripture why this all had to happen according to scripture.  Jesus stays with them for something to eat, and as He breaks bread and gives thanks for it, the scripture tells us that “Their eyes were opened and they recognized him.” (Luke 24:30)  

The passage tells us the name of one of the two travelers is Cleopas.  Luke does not give us the name of the other traveler.  Luke is a master storyteller.  In thinking on knowing Cleopas as one of the walkers, and in talking with the lecturer, he brought up an interesting thought that I think of still today (Tuesday).  He told me, perhaps Luke left out the second person's name because he wants us to come into the story as the other traveler.  Maybe Luke is intending for us to join Cleopas in walking along this road and being joined by Christ.  That is an interesting thought, one that I’ve really enjoyed meditating on.  

The other thing that I drew from the lecture was that in the scripture it tells us that “He looked as though he wanted to go further.”  This is not the first time in scripture that we find Jesus going before a group of people.  It still happens today.  Jesus goes ahead of us.  He’s still wanting to take us further.  He calls from ahead of us, “Come follow me”.  

In the Song of Solomon the lover calls to his bride to get up “Arise” and come with him.  We, the church must constantly be called to “awaken ourselves” and follow where Christ is taking us.  

We don’t know exactly where Emmaus is and maybe it’s because God is saying to me “Emmaus is where I live!”   

There are four different locations that are speculated to be the Road to Emmaus. We are going to walk one that was discovered a couple of years ago.  It’s an old Roman road, and has had no restoration or excavation so it is still in a rugged condition.  

We got on a bus that took us out of the city and into a pretty remote area where he dropped us off.  We began to walk down a gravel road that got narrower and narrower. 

Eventually it turned into a path with some old Roman pavers.  Difficult to walk because of an earthquake that hit the Jerusalem area a long time ago, some of the Roman pavers are heaved up.  Although difficult to walk, it did give us some idea of what this narrow road would have been like.  We walked a ways down the road and then paused for a time of reflection and silence as we imagined ourselves as that unnamed person on the road to Emmaus.  What is it that Jesus would say to me as we walked together down that road?  Would I recognize Him?  How far would I walk with Him?  How far will I walk with Him?  Do I allow Him to go on before me?  

We returned to the bus, and headed back to the college.  The rest of the afternoon was spent in packing for me.  I head to Tel Aviv at 7:30 this evening, and then fly out to Amman, Jordan, at 11:45 tonight.  Before leaving though, there would be a graduation, a celebration, and then a barbeque dinner to enjoy with my new friends.  

My Sheroot was late, but arrived in enough time to pick up ten other passengers and then head to the airport.  What a busy place.  Security is very tight, but I passed through without any event.  Boarded the plane on time and enjoyed the short flight to the airport in Amman.  From there a taxi took me on a 45 minute trip to the hotel.  By the time I got checked in and to my room it was 1:30 a.m.   

I couldn’t sleep, so I sat by the pool for a while.  I’ll see Joy tomorrow evening.  I can’t wait to see her and to begin the second part of this amazing adventure that God has called me to.  I’ve learned so much already. What adventure lies ahead for Joy and I?  I would soon find out.  For now, off to sleep, in Jordan.

Tuesday August 4, 2009  

After a late night getting into Amman, I decided to sleep in.  Add to that the fact that I was finally beginning to feel better and the rest would do me good led to skipping breakfast and just taking my time.  Today I join up with the second leg of my Sabbatical adventure and meet up with Joy, and George DeJong who is leading the Study Tour.  They are due to arrive at 6:30 p.m., so I have plenty of time.  What to do for dinner?  Someone told me there was a Kentucky Fried Chicken up the street; I’ll try to find it.  

Well, that was more of an adventure than I wanted, and after walking about 4 miles I finally located it, only to turn around and walk back because everything was in Jordanian, no one appeared to speak English, and I didn’t see any prices in dollars, only in Denair, of which I had none.  

So, the surroundings didn’t seem very friendly, people shouting at each other a lot, perhaps, it would be best just to head back to the room.  Good idea.  Four miles back, I got my exercise.  I had a jar of peanut butter in my room, and some crackers.  This would be a good time to get those out.  I also brought along some Old Wisconsin Summer Sausage, perfect.  Sounds like a PT meal to me.   

A brief time of rest after the meal, and I’m ready to do some reading for the Study tour I’m about to begin.  I headed down to the lobby of the hotel so that I could study and watch for Joy and the rest of the group to arrive.  

I jump up for every bus that pulled up to the hotel, about 4 until Joy’s group pulled up.  We had a long hug in the lobby of the hotel.  I met the leader and some of the participants, and was told we had some time to take our bags to the room and then head down for dinner.  Great idea, I’m starving (ok maybe not, but peanut butter on crackers and some summer sausage isn’t going to last long).  I discovered that I had a family with this group as well, Ann and Linda, Joy and I.  We would get to know each other well over the coming days.  

The meal was very good, and then we met out on the patio for a time of devotions and instructions before turning in for the night.  

As we began our time together, suddenly, the Muslim call to prayer rang out, something that I have become accustomed to because I hear it five or six times a day.  I knew I was going to appreciate our leader George when he said as the prayer call rang out; “When we hear the Muslim call to prayer it should remind us that prayer is not just for the Muslims.  We should be reminded to pray as well.”  And that is exactly what we did at that point.  

George then began to share with us our theme for this experience.  He told us that God is sometimes based on a theology that is based on system instead of relationship.  And we think that one pattern will work for everyone (That’s something that I have called “cookie- cutter Christianity).  But God is a Father with children and He longs to be in relationship with His children.  And there is a battle for His children and His children have been injured.  Someone has stolen them and God is willing to risk everything to get His children back.  It’s this “Father’s love” that is the theme.  In our Heavenly Father’s love, God has a part and we have our part.  We will learn what was God’s part, what was Israel’s part, and who is the enemy.  

And then he said something that will really stick with me, he said, “We learn with our feet”.  In other words, it’s not enough to read books, it’s not enough to sit and listen to someone else, we are to actively learn about our faith, and live out our faith.  I’m really looking forward to this, and I’m so glad that Joy and I will be able to share this together.

Wednesday, August 5, 2009 

The day began all too early with a 6:00 a.m. wake up call, breakfast at 6:30 and we need to be on the bus at 7.  We hit the road and headed north out of Amman.  This was the area where the Ammonites lived.  This was Edom named after Esau.  Down toward the Jordan River is the area where Lot settled when Abraham gave Lot first choice of land.  The tribes of Gad, Reuben and Manasseh took this land after conquering the Promised Land.  

Moab is also in this area and Gilead.   It was somewhere in this area and in groves of trees that we were looking at out the window, that David’s son Absalom got his hair caught in a tree and was killed in battle.  I remembered King David’s response to the news of Absalom’s death.  2 Samuel 18:33 “And the king was deeply moved and went up to the chamber over the gate and wept.  And he said as he walked, 'o my son Absalom, my son, my son Absalom!  Would I had died instead of you, O Absalom, my son, my son!'”  

Suddenly, the bus pulled to the side of the road.  Our leader said “come” and we all got off the bus (this is something that we soon learned would often happen).  We walked up the side of a tall hill.  George told us, this is where Jacob tended sheep, these are the same hills that Jacob would have walked up.   

As we looked out over the steeply sloping hills I noticed the winding paths that appeared going across the sides of these hills.  The ancients called these “paths of righteousness”.  These are the paths that the sheep would make as they wander across the mountain side.  We all sat on the side of this rugged mountain thinking about our own paths as we follow our Shepherd Jesus.  We don’t all take the same path in following Him, because we are not all the same.  We have different weaknesses, we have different gifts, we have different backgrounds and desires.  Our paths look like the paths of righteousness that the sheep take across the mountainside.  

We had a prayer, and then we were back in the bus.  

We headed for one of the Decapolis cities of Jordan called Jerash.  It’s one of the cities that were located on the North-South trade route.  At one time Decapolis had 18 cities as part of it.  When we got off the bus, the first thing that we saw was Hadrian’s Gate.  Hadrian was one of the Roman Emperors, and the center arch of this gate is only for the Emperor and his dignitaries.  

In the ancient world there would have been statues of deity’s that would have filled the knishes of this arch.  In fact there are knishes all over this city that would have been filled with statues of their gods.  To pass through this gate a person would first have to give allegiance to the Emperor and to these gods.  

We stood outside this huge gate wondering what it would have been like for the early Christians to come to this city to trade their goods and have to pledge allegiance to the gods before you got in.  What do you do to get to the Agora or market?  Then it hit us.  What are the Hadrian’s gates of our culture?  And how do we remain true to our Savior and Lord in the culture that we live in?  Hadrian’s gate could be our job, or our neighborhood, our school, even our church.  Lord, may I never compromise my commitment to you in order to satisfy our culture.  

The streets of Jerash were incredible.  The entire city is being excavated and it is huge.  There is a temple to the Greek and Roman god Zeus here that is being restored.  As I looked at the temple to Zeus, I remembered that God no longer lives in a temple made by hands, but that I am the temple of the Holy Spirit.  

Joy and I stood in the Agora of Jerash, I know that my NTC students would have loved to have stood where we were standing.  And it was all so real, as it was in the first century.  The temple of Zeus towered over the Agora as if to say that Zeus was the one watching over and controlling the market.  

We learned that Cardo are north/south streets and Decarpo are east/west streets.  At each intersection of the cardo and decarpo there would be a knishes at each intersection and in each knishe would be a god that they worshiped.  

There was a giant “Nymphaum” that water came out of in the center of the city, and a huge bronze bowl that water collected in.  Artimus (?) was the deity of this  city, and the temple to Artimus is a main focal point that has many steps leading up to it.   

It was amazing to think that this is the world that Jesus lived in and dealt with.  It’s the world that Paul lived in and dealt with.  It is a world that is similar in many ways to the world that I live in and need to learn to deal with in a way that is full of the love of God but also in an uncompromising way.  

Jesus said that He wanted His disciples to go to the ends of the earth, that term is a way of saying He was sending them to that which is most distant from God.  Are we reaching out to the ends of the earth for Jesus Christ in our culture?  

One more stop, and then we stop for the night.  We are making our way to the city of Madaba in Jordan.  As we travel we are told to put on sandals or water shoes, and we were told last night that today we would need to wear clothes that would be alright to get wet in.  We weren’t sure what that meant, but we were about to find out.  After a long drive from Jerash, we pulled in to Wadi Arnon.  A wadi is a river that forms when it rains.  It’s like the washes in Arizona.  They are very dangerous, because the water does not absorb into the ground, but moves along on top of it with great speed in the rainy season.   

This was not the rainy season, but Wadi Arnon is also fed from a fresh water spring.  We made our way on foot up the wadi.  It was ankle deep, then knee deep.  We zigzagged up the wadi for quite a ways and then stopped on a sand bar.  George picked up some of the sand on this sand bar and explained that this fine grained sand is only found in a few places; the Mediterranean sea, the Dead Sea, and a wadi.  When Jesus told the story of the man who built his house on the rock and the house on the sand, he would not have meant on the sea, but would probably have meant in a wadi.  And that makes sense because he says the rains came down, and the floods came up, which is exactly what happens in a wadi.  Since the house on the sand is on low ground, it is swept away.  The house built up on the rocks will survive because it safe from the raging wadi.  

I’ll have to show this when I get back.  Joy took some great pictures of this.  We moved further into the wadi and it became more and more difficult.  The water got deeper and swifter.  We needed to help each other to navigate the rocks and the water.  The older, weaker ones needed the help of the younger ones in the group.  There were times when it seemed too difficult to go on, but we continued.  Climbing, pulling ourselves on a rope line, pulling each other up rocks to get to the past the rapids of water.  

Finally we reached where we were headed.  There was a beautiful waterfall coming right out of the rocks about one hundred feet above us.  In fact there was a convergence of three waterfalls there.  It was amazing.  We stood under the waterfalls allowing the water to cool us down and refresh us.  We stood behind the waterfalls and looked through.  We rejoiced that we had made it to the end and gotten the prize.  

Wait a minute.  Is there a lesson here that we need to recognize.  Of course!  It took team work.  It took all of us working together, helping each other through each obstacle so that we could all enjoy the reward.  That is what community is all about.  That is what the church is supposed to be all about.  

All of us working together, helping each other through obstacles so that we all might enjoy the reward of our labor.  Lord, may I and may our church be a church that pulls together.  That sees the value that comes when we move together using our individual gifts toward a focused, unified goal that we all may enjoy the reward of our labor.  

Amen.

Thursday, August 6, 2009  

Today would be a great day, and an exhausting day.  It began with us traveling to a mountainside nearby.  It was in the wilderness, overlooking the Ammonite Wilderness.  There we stood in silence.  And then, there it was.  A gentle breeze.  Do you feel it?  There it is.  It’s the Ruach of God.  The breath of God.  Jews say that when you feel the wind it is the breath or the wind of God.  He still sends that wind to us today.  We feel it in our most difficult times, we feel it in our deepest sorrow, and we feel it at our greatest triumphs.  God, letting us know that He is there, by breathing His life to us.  We would become very thankful for the ruach of God as the day continued on.  

Our first of three stops today will be the Jordan River and a place that is a strong candidate for the location of John the Baptist baptizing.  It’s also the place where John would have probably baptized Jesus.  We drove down through the mountains, past Bedouin tents with their camels and goats, to the plains of Moab.   

When the Bible tells us that John was baptizing at the Jordan, it doesn’t have to be in the main Jordan River, but it refers to the area of the Jordan River and its tributaries.  It’s in one of those tributaries that we found John the Baptist Springs.  We relived Jesus passing by, and John looking up to say behold the Lamb of God.  John must have saw the way that Jesus lived his life as the Lamb of God and recognized it.  

So there in a miqvah (which means hope) in a tributary of the Jordan River, the Son of God gives all that He is and can be to God and marks His commitment to the ministry that God’s called Him to.  

And then He is launched into the wilderness by the Holy Spirit.  The wilderness is not far away.  I remembered my baptism vows as I stood there.  Lord, I give my mind and my heart, and my hands and my feet to serving you.  Help me O Lord, to do this to your glory.  Amen.  

Stop.  Pull the bus over.  Everybody come follow me.  That’s how it happens.  And now we are walking up the side of a steep, rocky mountain.  What are we looking for?  These are grape vines, being grown in the ancient way of a vineyard.  The vines grow on the ground.  The danger is that a branch may try to put out roots for itself, and then it will no longer take it’s life from the vine, but from its own roots.  So what happens is that the gardener takes the branch and lifts it up, maybe places a stone under it, to prevent it from taking root.  That way its life comes from the vine, and the fruit produced is a joint effort of the vine and the branch.  

So it is to be with us as believers.  We cannot produce fruit on our own; it will be for our own glory.  We are to let our lights shine and draw our lives from the vine so that our Father in Heaven is glorified.  

Back to the bus we go, thinking about our dependency and partnership with God the gardener and His Son the vine.  

We traveled down the road a ways more, and the bus stopped again.  This time we all got out with plenty of water and ready for a climb.  We began to make our way up a very tall mountain, rocky, steep.  It’s Mount Nebo.  Nebo means prophet.  This is the mountain that Moses climbed to see the Promised Land, knowing that he would not enter it, and knowing that he would not return down the mountain.  

According to the end of Deuteronomy, Moses was 120 years old when he climbed Mt. Nebo.  He was 3 40’s the number of completeness.  40 years in Egypt, 40 years as a shepherd, 40 years leading the people.  It was a long hike up the mountain.  We stopped a number of times along the way.  We had to help each other over some of the difficult parts.  But finally we reached the top of the mountain.  There it was, the promised land.  We could see the Dead Sea, we could see the green Jordan Valley, we could see Jericho and the land beyond it.  Wow!  We could see quite a ways.  We soaked in the moment.  We thought about Moses' obedience to God, we thought about the value of community, we thought about God's plans for our own lives, knowing that He who began a good work in you will be faithful to complete it.  Israel would enter the promised land.  We thought about the great men of faith who have gone before us and shown us the way to serve God.  

One more stop today, even though we are weary of the long, hot walk up Mt. Nebo and the walk back to the bus.  We wind up at Machaerus.  Machaerus is the 3^rd of three mountain fortresses built by Herod the Great.  Josephus wrote about this mountain fortress.  And up we walked.  A long, hot, steep rocky journey.  But it will be worth it.  This is where Herod Antipas spent a lot of his time.  There was a palace here.  He would entertain his guests here.   

There was also a jail here, and Herod Antipas had a thorn in his side named John the Baptist.  Herod Antipas had taken his brother's wife, Herodias.  John the Baptist spoke out against this very strongly, so Herod Antipas had John the Baptist arrested.  One day Herod was holding a party at Machaerus, his mountain fortress, and he got quite drunk.  His step daughter Salome danced for him, and because she did he said that he would give her whatever she wanted.  After talking with her mother Herodias, she asked for the head of John the Baptist.  This was where this happened.  We all sat quietly in the hot sun.  Suddenly this seemed like a sacred place to all of us.  George took us down to the overlook that would have lead up to the fortress in the ancient days.  Then he led us on a steep slope around the side of the fortress and under it.  He showed us something he discovered a couple of years ago.  

Underneath this fortress we found some caves, and inside one of the caves you could see it had been carved out with rooms, and a very narrow window with small holes that could have held bars.  In one of the walls were the holes that were left behind from anchor bolts for chains.  Could this, yes I think so.  This is where they held John the Baptist and where he was probably beheaded.  What an awesome moment when we all realized the significance of this place.  

There was silence, Then we began to sing the chorus, I have decided to follow Jesus, no turning back, no turning back.  

One last thing before I put this day to rest.  I remember John's question, probably spoken through that narrow window to his disciples; “Ask Him if He is the one, or we should expect someone else”.  

The disciples asked Jesus and brought back this reply; "The blind see, the lame walk, the dumb speak..."  Jesus was quoting a scripture. But there was another part that He did not include in His message.  That part was; the prisoners are set free.  When John’s disciples brought back the message without the quote about prisoners being set free, John new that he was going to die in prison.  

Oh, that we all would have the strength to do what God lays before us, even if it is not what we want to do.  May we be faithful to our Savior Jesus Christ at all costs.

Friday, August 7, 2009  

We’ll I’ve discovered that this part of my journey is going to be far more demanding physically than the last part.  George pushes our physical stamina to the limit each and every day.  The reward is great, but it certainly is difficult on both Joy and I.    

We began the day with breakfast then we all said the Schema and then a devotion to get our minds focused on God.  George used the verse from Ephesians that says that we are God’s workmanship.  The word “workmanship” in the Greek means poem.  God is writing a poem with each and every one of our lives.  What a wonderful thought.  Each poem is unique.  Each poem has God’s imprint in the words.  I will carry that into the day, as I trust what God is writing in my life.  

We are still in Jordan, and headed for one of the main sights to see in Jordan, the city of Petra.  We headed down the King's highway.  This was a trade route in ancient times that the Children of Israel would have walked through from Egypt; through what is now Jordan, to the city of Jericho.  This would have been inhabited by the Nabataens who are Bedouin or Nomads.  Our guide on this trip is Bedouin in background so he would be very helpful today in knowing the Bedouin or Nabataean culture.  

He informed us that the Bedouin knows what rock and where to hit a rock and make water come out of it.  The Nabataen’s had become very wealthy because they were on the trade route and so they could provide frankincense and myrrh from Egypt to other countries in the worship of their gods, and provide from the north what was needed in Egypt for embalming.  All religions would trade with the Nabataens.  

Subsequently they became the economic giants of the ancient world.  We arrived at the ancient city of Petra, and were met with horse drawn carriages with people being transported down sandy roads at a gallop to the ruins of ancient Petra.  There are also men on horseback, and people being carried on donkeys.  We walked the streets of this ancient city.  The part of Petra that is the most extravagant is their Necropolis, or City of the Dead.  This is what all visitors come to see.  There is something that we can learn from this and so we walked through the sometimes narrow streets, tall canyon walls on either side.  Look out!  Carriage coming through being wildly driven.  

Carved into the solid rock canyon walls of the street were Knishes used in their pagan worship.  Even some carvings of the deity of the Nabataen’s Durasau (?) was carved in a rock.  They were not very good artisans, they just made a lot of money on trade.  In the sides of the canyon walls you could see what were immaculately carved caves, also carvings of camels going to and from their city led by ancient traders.  Finally you could  a large opening ahead.  Magnificent.  This is what was called the Treasury in one of the Indiana Jones movies.  It was simply awesome.  A huge structure carved into the wall of a red stoned canyon.  Carvings of deity all over it - Zeus, Pegasus, Isis, and others were portrayed.  This city of tombs lies right in the canyon walls of Wadi Mousa, or Wadi Moses.  Tradition tells us that this canyon was cut into the solid rock when Moses struck the stone in the wilderness.  It formed a rushing river that cut this canyon.  Moses and the children of Israel would have been in this Nabataen area.   

In fact, it got the name The Treasury because legend has it that at the top of the treasury carving was an urn that held some of the gold that Moses had taken from Egypt. In fact what this structure really is, is a tomb for Artus IV.   

These were a wealthy people, an economic force, but they spent it on elaborate tombs.  This raises a question for us, Do we have wealth, or does wealth have us?  In 2 Timothy there’s a scripture that tells us that those that have wealth, should be using it to help those less fortunate.  They should be using it to be a blessing and furthering God’s kingdom, not their own.  Instead of building tombs, God would much rather we use our money to build His Kingdom.  

We continued to walk through what is a very elaborate excavation of the Nabateans who would also be in the area of Edom.  Israel would have walked through this area, Edom, on their way to the promised land.  We can know this because on a mountain, on the backside of Petra is one more tomb.  But this one is significant to us and our roots, up on the highest peak in this area is Aaron’s tomb.  You can just barely see it up on top of the mountain.  

A quick bite for lunch, and a chance to rest our weary bones, then a surprise.  Two by two we were whisked from our table and on to a pair of donkeys for a ride back up the mountain toward the bus.  Joy and I laughed with enjoyment as we worked our way up the dusty mountain road on these trotting donkeys.  It was really quite delightful.  

Once we were all up at the top, we had one more surprise before dinner and sleep.  Our Bedouin guide had arranged for the bus to stop a short way from Petra, there, a short way from the side of the road was a Bedouin tent and sheep grazing up on the mountainside.  We had been invited in for tea and to talk with Mousa, the Bedouin patriarch of this Nomadic family.  

What an honor to sit on mats, as a fire is prepared, and blackened tea kettles were placed on a small grill on the fire.  As the tea was heating up, and Mousa was sharing with us the life of the Bedouin, one of his wives (yes that’s right) was preparing fresh matzoth or unleavened bread for us.  After water and flour had been mixed, the rounded bottom of a large metal bowl was placed over a hot fire.  One more grain was added to the flour mixture and then shaped in a large pancake shape.  It was then thrown onto the hot bowl.  It began to bubble and brown, then it was quickly turned over, again and again.  After about a minute it was done and passed out.  Quickly another one took it’s place on the hot bowl, over and over until we all had our fill of both bread and tea.  It was delicious tea.  

Mousa assured us that it is the Bedouin way to protect anyone that comes under their tent, with their life.  We were reminded of two strangers that came up on a Bedouin named Abram.  His wife quickly went to make bread, and Abram had a calf killed and fixed for supper.  This is what it would have been like.  What amazing hospitality.  Psalm 23 tells us that “in the presence of my enemies, you prepare a table before me.”  David knew this life, as a shepherd, and he knew the hospitality that they offered.  He understood that God also offers that hospitality to us.   

One thing we learned is that you never drank the cup all the way gone, because it would soon be filled again.  This is what is known as an overflowing cup.  David in Psalms wrote “My cup runs over, or overflows”.  What this means is that the overflowing cup is the cup that is always filled again.  It is never empty.  

Wait, one more surprise.  They bring down a goat that is ready to be milked, and our leader George wants to milk it.  We roared with laughter and the Bedouin tried to hold the goat still while George tried to milk it.  He did get some milk in the pan, but the Bedouin very quickly were able to milk the goat.  The goats milk was added to the cup of tea and some tried this Bedouin way of drinking tea.  

I didn’t, Joy did, but would regret it later.  

What a day!  What an amazing cultural lesson of what life would have been for Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, as well as Moses and the children of Israel, and the shepherd boy who became king.  We were walking today, where our spiritual ancestors walked.  But will experience it in an even more significant way tomorrow.  That’s all for today, the bed will feel good.  Thank you God for this experience in Petra, Jordan. 

Saturday, August 8, 2009  

Is it Saturday already?  Wow, what a time we’ve had.  Today began with breakfast;  My usual bowl of cereal, some slices of cucumber, some slices of tomato, and a piece of toast with strawberry jam.  I think I’m beginning to like this breakfast thing.  We got on the bus and headed off into the Negev Wilderness.   

We had gone a few miles down the highway when the bus came to a halt and our teacher said “Come”.  We got off the bus and walked up the side of a mountain into what looked like a plot of land that is called a field.  Once there, we said the Schema in Hebrew.  We know it in English as “Hear, Oh Israel, the Lord is God, the Lord alone.  Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your might.  Amen.”  

We then sat on some rocks and felt the “breath of God” as it blew across the mountain side.  We could see from the side of the mountain the Negev Wilderness.  It looked very barren.  The field that we were in, as many small fields did, had boundaries marked by rows of rocks.  There are thistles that grow amongst the rocks, and you walk a path along side of the rocks to get to and from your field.  There is fertile ground in the field.  

Here we could clearly see the parable of the sower sowing the seed.  Some fell on thorny ground,  some on rocky, some on the path (that’s where people would walk to get in and out of their field), some on fertile ground.  What kind of ground do I have in my own life?  I’m sure that I have a mix of all these in parts.  Lord, help me to make my life with as much usable ground as possible, so that you can bear fruit in me.  

After a time of reflection and prayer we boarded the bus again.  Off into the wilderness and a place called Timna.  This area of wilderness is called in Hebrew “Yesheemo” (Phonetic spelling).  Yesheemo is where nothing grows, it is very barren.  If you look at what God did with the children of Israel in the wilderness, then you can see that the wilderness is where God trains His people.  

George had us take off our packs and take off a shoe.  Then he had us put on our shoe and put on our pack.  We moved a ways, and then he had us take off our pack and take off both of our shoes.  The floor of the wilderness was hard and hot on our feet.  Then he had us put it all back on.  We did this one more time, and then he said, that was what it was like for the children of Israel in the wilderness.  They would set everything up, then they would tear it all down and move.  Then they would set it all up for a time, then they would take it down and move.  Then they would…you get the picture.  God was teaching them to work together, God was teaching them to follow Him.

Timna was a place of mining copper ore for 4000 years.  Copper was used to make bronze, thus “the bronze age”.  We stood in an Egyptian slave camp where copper was mined, fired, purified, tin was added, and bronze swords, shields, spears, etc. were made.  

The Hebrew word for Egypt means shackles or bondage.  We are slaves to the evil of this day.  To Satan we are just slave labor to do his work.  But God sees us as something precious.   

From there we moved through the Negev Desert, up mountains, down mountains, across the hard floor of the desert for two and a half hours in 105 plus degree temperatures.  We got a good taste of the wilderness that the Israelites walked through.  And they would have come through the area that we were walking in.  God guided them with a pillar of cloud by day, and a pillar of fire by night.   

I began to understand a little bit better why the Israelites would have been so happy to see the promised land after being led through this wilderness.  The bus looked like the promised land to me, it had fresh water, and air conditioning.  After walking for 2 ½ hours in the wilderness, we came up on an reconstruction of the Tabernacle of the wilderness.  I had remembered seeing pictures of this when I was preparing some NTC material.  

There is was, in its close-to-exact dimensions.  There was the alter with the horns on each corner.  The bronze laver nearby.  Through the curtain of the Holy place, there was the Table of Shew bread, the Menorah which the priest’s kept trimmed and lit, the bowl of incense, and there’s the Ark of the Covenant.  The word for Ark of the Covenant is “Aaron”, it comes from the Hebrew word for light.  The ark is the Light of God.   

How wonderful to see this reconstruction, how wonderful to be in the wilderness where the children of Israel would have been.  We got on the bus, and headed out of Jordan.  We spent quite a while with the security between the boarder between Jordan and Israel.  The security guards had us take everything off of the bus, and pass everything through x-ray machines.  A lot of the luggage, including Joy’s and mine needed to be emptied, and run through the x-ray machines in smaller containers.  This took a long time.  

But eventually we walked across no man’s land between Jordan and Israel, and boarded a different bus in Israel with a different driver and different guide.  We were ready for a new experience.  We headed up from the intersection of Jordan, Egypt, and Israel, toward the Dead Sea. 

It was a long drive, but a good one.  By the time that we got to our location Joy was not feeling well.  I think it had to do with the goat’s milk tea that she drank in the tea at the Bedouin camp.  Al, a friend that we’ve met from Indiana, also is not feeling well.  Joy headed right to bed.  I went down to dinner and brought her back some bread, but she is not hungry at all.  All that she wants to do is sleep and visit the bathroom.  I’m praying that she’ll be feeling better tomorrow.   We’re heading toward the Judea Wilderness, and we still have a lot to learn about wilderness life, and there are no bathrooms cut by the hand of man in the wilderness, just bathrooms cut by the hand of God.  

It’s time for me to go to bed as well.  Tomorrow night we’ll be by the Dead Sea.  I can’t wait to take a swim in it.  I heard that your body is very buoyant and you can’t sink.  

Thank you God for a great day.  Thank you for the prayers of friends and family that are sustaining us.  Bless them Lord for their faithfulness to lift us up.  Be with Joy, and bring her health, and also me, as my stomach feels queasy as well.  Amen.

Monday, August 10, 2009  

We are in the Riff Valley which is in the Judea Wilderness.  Our destination is a walk back into Wadi Aregot, in the En Gedi.  As we entered the Wadi, we could see wild deer and Ibex.  This is where David flees from Saul and hides in a cave.  It’s in the En Gedi where David found Saul sleeping in a cave and could have killed him, but didn’t.  Joy and I were there.  In that same area.  We could see the caves high in the canyon walls of the En Gedi.  I imagined what it would have been like to be David, running from Saul, hiding in caves, sparing his life.  What a thrill to see it with my own eyes, to hear the sound of the water in the Wadi with my own ears.  

To be here was thrilling.  We read Psalm 63.  “O God, you are my God.  At dawn I search for you.  My soul thirsts for you.  My body longs for you in a dry, parched land where there is no water.”  

David thirsts and longs for God.  We must thirst for God if we truly want to know Him.  You need to know the Wilderness in order to appreciate the springs of water.  This, Joy and I are learning.  The wilderness is a very dry place, water is life here.  We sat quietly by the En Gedi water brooks in solitude and reflection.  

I thought; Community can be an En Gedi in the wilderness of the world.  There is nothing more refreshing than knowing you have friends who will walk along side of you, and be in fellowship with you, when hard times come.  We need to live and love in community at ALC more than ever so that people who are going through wilderness can experience refreshing.  

We walked for probably an hour and a half into En Gedi, but the walk was worth it.  Once there, there was a twenty foot waterfall dropping into a pool.  Our leader George told us that we entered this area like Westerners.  We tiptoed across rocks to make our way across the water brook as it weaved from one side to another.  He said, when King David came here with their soldiers, they didn’t care about staying dry, they were coming out of the wilderness, they would just….and with that he dropped his Bible and ran to the pool at the bottom of the waterfall and jumped in, shoes and all.   

I watched in amazement, and then thought, what am I doing sitting here, I ran and jumped in as well, and then we all began to run to the pool and jump in to the cool water of the pool.  Joy and I stood under the waterfall, and felt the power of the love of God pouring down on top of us.  It was tremendous!  

We all laughed and took pictures of each other, and enjoyed the community of being together, out of the wilderness and in the pool of living water, God’s gift to us today.  

After we all got out of the water, we spent some time in prayer and thanks and solitude and we thought about the power of God’s love for us, as we thought about wilderness, and as we thought about how wonderful community is.  We had another one hour walk out of En Gedi, but we remembered the coolness of the water, as we headed back out in the wilderness.  

We are to take the goodness of God’s love with us as we head into the wilderness of our and other people's lives.  We should be like a pool of living water to those who find themselves dry and empty from the world and it’s burdens.  Lord, help me to be an En Gedi to the people that I come in contact with, and in the process may they feel the power of your love.  

Amen.

Tuesday, August 11, 2009  

Early out of bed as usual.  Our normal routine is get up at 5:30 a.m., breakfast at 6:30, board the bus at 7:00 and hit the road.  And that’s what we did today.  Joy and I are feeling a bit better, and I’m looking forward to today.  I’m certain that if we are going to go to the mountain fortress Masada, it will be today, and I was not disappointed.   

Masada for David in the Psalms was “his fortress”, and Masada means fortress.  It was Herod the Great the Nabataean,  Edomean king of Israel at the time of Jesus' birth.  I’m remembering all of the fantastic architectural things that he did, too numerous to mention, but he’s probably most famous to Christians for the killing of all the babies after Jesus was born, so that Jesus had to flee to Egypt.  

It was this Herod that built a magnificent fortress, one of three, on top of Masada.  It gained fame after the first Jewish revolt against Rome in 66 AD.  After the Romans burned Jerusalem and destroyed the Temple, a band of zealots captured Masada, which was a Roman outpost.  They made it their base of operations.  In 70 AD and the second Jewish revolt against Rome, the remnants of the Zealots and a few Essene’s fled to Masada as their last stand.  The Roman army surrounded it with camps all around, you can still see them today from the top of Masada.  They also built a stone wall all around Masada, most of it still remains today.  And for two years they tried to take Masada from the zealots without success.  

Finally, they built a crushed stone ramp from the floor of the wilderness to the wall of the fortress Masada using Jewish slave labor.  Then they rolled a Roman battering machine up the ramp and began to pound against the wall of the Masada fortress. The Zealots built a wall that would absorb the blows of the battering ram, so the Romans tried to burn the wooden wall that the Jews had built.  Finally they broke through the wall only to find that the Zealots and Essenes had decided that they would rather die by their own swords than to watch their women and children abused by the Romans, and live their lives as slaves to the Roman Empire.  Some women and children totaling five are all that survived.  

Today the Israeli Army sends recruits up Masada to take a vow that Masada will never fall again.  You can google Masada for the whole story, or watch a 6 hour movie that was made in the 80’s called “Masada”.  

It’s a long walk up the snake path of Masada.  Since Joy and I were both recovering, we took an easier route of a cable car to the top.  What a magnificent place.  Herod’s Masada was all about dominance.  Slaves filled the giant swimming pool by hand, cisterns were filled by slaves to keep the wealthy happy.  People enjoyed pleasure at the expense of others.  We sometimes do that as well.  Not that we use slaves, but I wonder how many people I might consciously or unconsciously use in order to make myself look good, or get something that I want.  Jesus became a servant to all, that we might enjoy the grace and forgiveness of God.  I need to do the same.  

The story of Masada is quite a tale, and the story of the Zealots and their decision on Masada not to be slaves to Rome, made me pause and think, what is my Masada?  What line will I not cross even if it means death?  I hope there are many things in my relationship with God that I will never compromise.  

We spent at least half the day on top of Masada, and I’m so glad I saw it.  It was everything that I had hoped for.  After descending, we went to a place called Qumran.  Qumran was a village of Essenes.  These were a group of Priests who were discontented with the Hellenism that had crept into the priesthood in Jerusalem.  So they retreated to the desert to live holy lives before God, and to copy the scrolls of the Torah without mistake.  

A scribe would read a couple of words from the original text, then someone would check to make sure the words were read correctly.  Then someone would copy the words spoken, and someone would check to make sure the words were copied correctly.  When then came to God’s name, they would go wash themselves in the Miqveh before writing the name of God, and then they would go wash again in the Miqveh after writing God’s name.  

They were known for their ritual bathing called “baptism”, and for their desire and call to “prepare the way of the Lord”.  Sound like anyone you know?  They often celebrated a feast in anticipation of the Messiah in which they drank wine and broke bread.  They had a theme of the battle between darkness and light, and were strong advocates of repentance.  John the Baptist was one who came to prepare the way of the Lord.  He lived in the wilderness, and baptized people into repentance, and he was from a priestly line.  There’s a good chance that he learned these things from the Essenes . 

Shavuot or the feast of Pentecost was their favorite feast because it coincides with the giving of the Torah.  They also talked about the poor in spirit and turning the other cheek.  We know them best probably for writing and preserving what we call the Dead Sea Scrolls.  Qumran is just off the Dead Sea.  When the Roman army approached, the Essene’s put the scrolls in clay jars, and hid them in caves nearby.  Recently they were discovered.  

We walked through Qumran and saw the many ritual baths, the scribes room, places where they worshiped, places where they lived.  We then took a long hike into the wilderness around Qumran and had a time of prayer as we thought about the dedication of these people, and their commitment to the preserving the Word of God.  

We then started the long drive from the Dead Sea in southern Israel, to Galilee in the north of Israel.  We watched as the scenery changed from dry and desolate, to moist and fertile.  As we watched the Sea of Galilee come in to view I was anxious to share alongside of Joy some of the sights that I had seen a couple of weeks earlier, and so much more as well.

Wednesday, August 12, 2009  

After a hearty breakfast, we stood under the shade of a fig tree and recited the Schema.  We added another phrase in Hebrew to the Schema today, it’s the words “And love your neighbor as yourself”  There was our love others vision for our church.  George shared with us how pagan god’s cared only about how you treated them.  Our God cares about how you treat others.  In fact I have said often that how much we love others is a reflection of how much we love God.  It was a good reminder.  We had a word of prayer and boarded the bus.  

Some members of our group were absent this morning.  It was those who have had a difficult time on our longer adventures.  The bus pulled up to a valley pass between two mountains just west of where we were staying.  George told us that we were going to take a short hike.  We laughed because we knew that meant it was going to be a doozy.  We always know we’re going to do a strenuous walk when he tells us to fill both our water bottles and take an extra 2 liter bottle along in our pack.  This was what he told us this morning.  

We left the bus minus about 7 members of our group and walked through what appeared to be a cow pasture.  He quizzed us on what three things were needed in order to have a city; water, a trade route and fertile ground.  The cities of Galilee had all of these, and we were standing right in the middle of what was known as the Via Maris, one of the main north south trade routes.  Abraham would have traveled here.  Herod the Great would have passed through here, Romans would have passed through here, many peoples trading their goods would have passed through here.  

After joking about hoping that we were not climbing up the large, steep mountain to our west, George told us he would never have us hike up that mountain.  He turned to the east and said “come”.  Off we went with him.  Up, up, up we hiked up the steep mountain side.  This is Mt. Arbel.  We stopped after about 20 minutes of hiking about a 75 degree angle,  caught our breath, asked some questions so we could catch more of our breath, and then up, up, up we went again.   

We could see a series of caves above us, and figured that must be our destination.  It was about another 15 minutes of hard, rocky, steep hiking till we hit the caves.  We sat down in the shade just outside the caves.  We were told that just before Herod the Great came to power, there were some Pharisee’s that tried to stop the process of making Herod king of the Jews.  

When Herod found out about their plan, the Pharisee’s hid from Herod in these caves.  It was nearly impossible to reach them in the caves.  Herod devised a scheme to smoke them out using fire on the ends of ropes, and then, when they went to the front of the caves, he would swing large hooks down, which would penetrate them, and then drop them down the face of the mountain.  He killed over 1000 of them, and rose to power as King of the Jews.  

We began climbing again.  Steeper, rockier than before.  Our pace slowed, and the air was warming up as the sun got higher in the sky.  Drink water, drink water, don’t wait till you’re thirsty or you’ll dehydrate.  A half hour later we pushed through to the top of the mountain.  What a magnificent view.  

We rested for a while in the hot sun.  We could only see one shade tree up there, and there was a group of 3 people that had it.  I looked at my temperature gauge on my watch 97 and climbing.  George pointed in the direction of Capernaum, then Korazim, then Bethsaida.  He called this the triangle and said that it was known for being a place where righteous Jews lived.  Then he pointed to the south and Tiberius.  Herod built this city and it was the Herodians that lived there.  Then he pointed across the Sea of Galilee to where Decapolis was.  We had been to Jerash, one of the cities of the Decapolis the first day of our trip, it is now in Jordan.  Decapolis was also called “a distant country” by the Jews.  It was also called “the ends of the earth” because it was pagan.  The term the ends of the earth was used to describe people who are distant from God.  

Then he pointed to Gamla, an area between the triangle and the Decapolis.  He said this was where the Zealots lived.  The Zealots lived right between the righteous Jews and the Decapolis.  

As we sat the in the hot sun, the temperature now 108 degrees on my watch, he told the parable of the prodigal son.  And how he would look out over the countryside to see if he could see his son.  It was very meaningful to hear that story while on top of this mountain.  

Mt. Arbel was known as a Rabbinic place of prayer.  Jesus probably came up here to pray often.  Mt. Arbel means “God’s Ambush".  

We finally got the lone tree when some people left.  It felt good to sit in the shade.  George taught us some more and I listened intently.  Since this was a mountain of prayer, we took some time to break away individually across the top of this mountain and spend some time in prayer.  I read Psalm 145 and thanked God for who He was.  I lifted up Adventure Life Church and the people and families and marriages of the people who attend.  I lifted up the leadership of the church and thanked God for them, I lifted up all the volunteers who so faithfully serve Sunday after Sunday.  

Now it was time to head down.  Down was even more difficult than up.  There were places where we had nothing to hold on to but a guide rope while standing on a four inch section of edge for our feet.  Then climbed down an almost sheer wall of a cliff edge with just rod handles bolted into the stone to hold on to.  I was very proud of Joy.  She is a bit afraid of heights, and so this climb down really stretched her.   

Then we hit a part that was described as a controlled fall on a path of 3 to 4 inch round stones.  It took about an hour to get down from the top, and Joy and I had a tremendous sense of accomplishment where we reached the bottom.  Later I would discover that I had left my glasses up at the top of the mountain, on the rock that I was sitting on while praying.  I’m glad I brought a spare pair.  

We had lunch by the Sea of Galilee.  (Did you hear me brother Ted).  You would have loved it!  We had lunch by the Sea of Galilee, and then since we were there, why not a swim.  In Joy and I went.  Oh, the water felt so good.  I had to pinch myself several times to make sure that this was really happening.  I imagined those young disciples doing the same.  Enjoying the coolness of the water, splashing around and joking and sharing life together with Jesus and each other.  It was fantastic.  

We also stopped into a museum nearby that held the “Ancient Galilee Fishing Boat”.  It was discovered as the waters of the Sea of Galilee had dropped.  A 1^st Century fishing boat buried in the mud, many parts of it preserved by the mud.  We are sure that it was a boat like Peter, James and John would have had as they fished this sea.  

We then headed off to Korazim - part of the “triangle” of righteous Jews.  We know for sure that Jesus was here.  Joy and I walked the streets of Korazim where Jesus walked.  There was an amazing amount of excavation that has taken place here.  A huge part of the city has been uncovered, and you can see how homes and families were connected together in community.   

We all stood inside one of the rooms of an ancient home, and imagined what it would have been like if Jesus were there, and then a man was lowered from the roof, and received forgiveness of sins and healing.  

Then we went to Capernaum.  Another fine excavation of a large portion of this fishing town.  It’s here that Peter’s mother-in-law lived.  Jesus came to her house and healed her.  We stood at the door of this house, where Jesus would have stood.  The Synagogue at Capernaum is in great shape.  We stood in the main part of the Synagogue; Bema, Moses seat, Torah closet, Synagogue school, Miqveh.  It was great to remember where things were from NTC teachings.  We stood by an olive press, there was a millstone in it that was used to press the olives.  Rabbis would use the term “little ones” to describe their disciples.  Wow, that brought new meaning to when Jesus said, if someone harmed one of these little ones, it would be better for them if a mill stone was tied around their neck and they were thrown into the sea.   We turned and there was the Sea of Galilee, just off to the south of where we were standing.  Wow, that statement came alive.  

There was a mile marker.  Jesus said if they tell you to carry their pack a mile, carry it two miles instead.  

Then we went to Bethseda.  In the Old Testament it was known as Gesher.  King David built a wall around Gesher in 1000 BC.  Only about 600 to 800 people lived here in the first century.  It’s not far from Gamla / Zealots to the east.  Peter, Andrew, James, John and Philip all came from this fishing village.  By the way, those names were common Zealot names.  

From there, we had one more stop before being done for the day.  We went to an early church site that there is not much left of, that is believed to be the site of the Sermon on the Mount.  This is where Jesus not only said "Blessed are the poor, blessed are the meek, blessed are the peacemakers", etc; but he also said "You are the light of the world, You are the salt of the earth."  Interesting words.  God put these disciples in harm’s way so their light would shine.  Light shines best in darkness.  I’ll close with this thought.  God will put us in harm’s way.  Why?  Because our light will shine best in darkness and then God can do His greatest work in and through us.  

More tomorrow.

Thursday, August 13, 2009  

This morning we got up and had a good breakfast, recited the Schema, had devotions as a team, prayed, and boarded the bus.  

We headed to the northern part of Galilee.  Our first destination was Tel Hazor.  The three most important cities in the Old Testament for Israel were Gezer which connects with the East West trade route, Megiddo, the only pass in the Jezreel Valley that goes between the mountain ranges, and Hazor.  

Everything in the ancient world and even today, is moved along by economics.  The ancient world didn’t separate sacred and secular.  How you work is as important to God as how you worship.  We are the ones who tend to separate the two, but in the ancient world you did not separate them, and I don’t believe that God wants us to separate them today.  

Tel Hazor is an incredible excavation.  They’ve uncovered the gate system there and it’s very interesting.  Judges sat at the gate of a city to keep or judge riff-raff and keep them from coming into the city through the gate.  

It was the king of Hazor who rose up against Israel in the days of Deborah and Barack.  He’s the king who had a stake driven through his temple while he was sleeping.  King Ahab fortified the walls around Hazor.  

From Tel Hazor, we went to the foot of Mt. Herman.  We walked quite a ways through some hot, humid conditions to find what we were looking for, the Springs of Herman.  Springs of water flow out of the mountain.  There are beautiful falls.  As we moved further down the stream, we walked for about a mile and a half and found the headwater of the Jordan River.  Joy took off her shoes and cooled her feet in the cool mountain water.  

The tribe of Dan moved from the land that God gave them to the south, and moved north to this place filled with water and lush vegetation.  But they moved right to the gateway of every army that came through.  

Because of that, because they gave up the land and the calling that God had given them, and moved to a land of their own choosing, you won’t find Dan listed as one of the tribes in the book of Revelation in the Book of Life.  They forfeited what God had given them and called them to.  They chose not to deal with the Philistines which God was using to draw Dan closer to Him.  

We walked by some tares that were growing along the path.  George explained that tares look just like grain, but there is no fruit in the bud of the tares.  Read the story of the wheat and the tares that Jesus told, and it will make sense now.   

We continued to walk and turned a corner and hiked up a rise, and suddenly there was a clearing, and I recognized from NTC that we were standing in Caesarea Philippi, one of the most pagan places of worship there was during Jesus time.  It was just as I had imagined it, only much bigger.  The mouth of the cave where Baal and Pan worshipers used to throw their sacrifices was huge.  Water used to come gushing out of this cave because it’s springs came from Mt. Herman.  The pagan priest would throw the sacrifice into the cave where water came out.  If blood came out then the sacrifice was unacceptable.  If it didn’t then there would be water for crops, and the land would be fertile.   

Pan was a pagan god that was half man and half goat.  He was the god of the shepherds.  Herod Phillip built this place, and promoted the pagan worship here.  The place is a tremendous archeological site, and is a significant lesson to Christians about compromising our faith.   

It is believed that it’s here at Caesarea Philippi that on a cliff, just above all this pagan worship, Jesus asked his disciples who he was, and Peter answered, “thou art the Christ, the Son of the Living God”.  That’s important, because they were worshiping dead gods down below them.   How do we live out our declaration of faith in who Jesus Christ is?  Is He the one we worship, or do we worship other things.  There’s more teaching here, but I’ll save it till I get back.  

We then went to Tel Dan.  There are tremendous stone walls around Tel Dan.  Under the pavers in the Agora they found a stone that said “of the house of David”.  This is huge, because it gives us extra Biblical evidence for the existence of King David.  

As I said the walls are massive!  12 foot wide I would guess.  They’ve excavated where King Ahab would have sat in the gate.  This is the Ahab of Mt. Carmel and Elijah.  And I’m standing where he sat as he judged people coming in and out of the city.  Wow!   

I learned here that when I love God the way that He wants to be loved, He will give me what I need to be His light.  But do we love God the way that He wants to be loved, or do we love God the way that we want to love God.  That was the mistake of Ahab and the people of his time.  I don’t want to make the same mistake.  

Just a short half- mile hike from there is a Pre- Abraham Canaanite Gate.  I had to stop and pinch myself, because Abraham and Lot would have passed right by this.  Abraham may have stood where I was standing.  Can this be real?  This area has always been a key place on the trade route.  We’re talking gates that date to 4000 BC.   

Ok, we ended the day by thinking about this;  who get’s in the way of doing what God wants us to do?  Us!  I do!  Sad, but true.  I need to work on this.  

Jesus is a faithful example of someone who is loving God the way that God wants to be loved, and loving others the way that God wants us to love them.  

It’s been a long day, but a good day.  I know that God has plans for Joy and me, we need to love God the way that He wants us to love Him, and love others as He would love them.  In doing that, God will work His plan in us.

Saturday, August 15, 2009  

What a thrill to wake up in Jerusalem again.  To hear the sounds of the city, to look out over the landscape of Jerusalem, to smell the smells of the open market…it invigorates me once again.  I must admit, these second two weeks have been incredibly challenging physically for both Joy and I.  I’m not complaining, I love a physical challenge, and it’s not over yet.  Joy had to face her fear of heights coming down Mt. Arbel; I wonder what challenges we have yet to face before flying back to the U.S.  

I have to add an additional note from last night.  After arriving in Jerusalem, unpacking, and eating, we did one of my favorite things to do in Jerusalem, the group went for a visit to the Western Wall.  As many times as I have been there over the past few weeks, it’s still one of my favorite places to be.  It’s so organic, it’s a place that’s alive with prayer and God’s presence.  

We wove our way through the narrow Old City streets, and it was great to see all the familiar sites that I have come to know.  For this group it is a first visit to the Western Wall, and it’s the first time experiencing the dark, narrow alley-like streets of the Old City.  Some in the group are a bit nervous including Joy.  She’s sticking right behind our leader.  I remembered my first time through these streets, and how I felt I had probably made a mistake by traveling down them at night.  Now, the fear is gone, and for me it’s like visiting an old friend.  

We passed through the Israeli check point that is the gateway to the Western wall, and then there it is; all lit up, the furry dark brown hats of the Russian Orthodox Jews, the familiar black hats, black suits and long curly sideburns of the Hasidic Jews, the yamakas on the heads of the Jews who have come to pray, the wall itself that I have come to many times recently to lay hands on and lift up the requests of our church, and my brother's church, the requests for God to use us all in ways that will reveal His kingdom, the desire for unity within Christ’s body, prayers for family and friends, and of course the desire for peace for the nation of Israel.  

After a brief time of prayer at the Western Wall then it was a trip back through the dark, narrow streets of the Old City.  I could still sense the apprehension of some in the group, they will be glad to be back to our rooms and lock the doors.  This will change as they become familiar with the Old City.  

Ok, it’s Saturday, and after breakfast (tomatoes, cucumber, toast with Jam) it’s off into the city.  Things will look much different to the group by daylight, it will seem much more welcoming.  We went out the Damascus Gate and came to a place I hadn’t seen before called Solomon’s Quarries.  We stood outside the entrance which was closed, and talked about being living stones, fashioned for a spiritual house.  George gave us a Greek term which means “your life is your walk and your walk is your life”.  This is a good thing to remember as Christians.  

As we were thinking about this, suddenly the proprietor of the Quarries came and opened his gates.  We decided to pay the admission and go in.  It was amazing.  It was a GIANT cave where limestone was quarried to the Temple that Solomon built.  As we walked through the quarry cave we could see where the stones were cut out of the rock and chiseled to size for the Temple building built by Solomon.  

We could see where stones were split away from the quarry walls, then chiseled to shape and size by the tektons (stone cutters).  I was reminded in this dark quarry cave that I am a stone and Jesus is the Tekton.  Sometimes I feel the chisel in my life as He fashions me into something that is usable.  I should never  reject the work of Jesus in my life whether pleasant or painful.  

We left Solomon’s Quarries and got on our bus.  Today we are headed for the Shephelah, which is a Hebrew word meaning lowlands, or foothills.  This is where the two cultures met – God’s people and the pagan Philistines.  Whoever controlled the Shephelah shaped the culture of that part of the world.  

The bus stopped, we exited with full water bottles in our packs and began to walk across the countryside.  We passed a Bedouin tent and his herd of sheep and goats in the field.  We continued our walk up the side of a mountain, and to some ruins of what appeared to be a small village.   

We were standing at the ruins of Beth Shemesh.  This means “house of the Sun”.  The sun was worshipped here.  Beth Shemesh is just across the valley from where Samson lived.  We could see where Samson probably grew up, from where we were sitting.  Beth Shemesh is where Samson lost his hair.  Beth Shemesh is where Delilah was born and lived, we know the story.  The story of Samson is a story of power out of control.  

Regardless of how strong we feel we are spiritually, we must never underestimate the strength of evil, and certainly never play around the edges of it like Samson did.  After spending some time thinking about this we went to a “Tel” that once was the Biblical city of Gath.  Gath is where the king of the Philistines and where Goliath were from.   

King David came to Gath twice.  Once when he was running from Saul and pretended to be a mad man (they didn’t take him), once with his mighty men as they sought refuge and were accepted.  

There’s an interesting parallel here between how Samson dealt with the Philistines, and how David dealt with the Philistines.  I’ll have to think more about this later.  We deal with Philistines every day.  We work with them, we shop at their shops.  

We then went to Beth Guvrin.  This is a community that produced a lot of olive oil.  We looked at a huge “gat shemen” or oil press.  It’s where we get the word “Gethsemane”, the place where Jesus prayed.  There was probably a large olive oil press there.  

There were Idumaean’s that lived here.  There was a large Columbarium here which would be the internet of Biblical days (carrier pigeons).  This Columbarium held hundreds of them.  The people who lived here lived underground in large bell like homes; very tall ceilings.  Someone famous came from Beth Guvrin which means “house of power”, his name was Herod the Great.  

From here we went to the Cave of Adullam.  2 Samuel 22 says that David hid in the “cave of Adullam”.  Today there are many caves here so it’s not clear which one or ones David used.  While he was here, 400 men who were in debt, distress, or discontent gathered around David.  It’s in these caves that David cried out to the Lord in his time of distress.  

In the cave that we were in, there was a snake cave; that’s a round tunnel that winds around through the rock, it’s only about 2 feet at the highest and 18 inches at the lowest, and  took 15 to 20 minutes to crawl through it.  I didn’t go, but Joy did crawl through the snake cave or tunnel.  I don’t know how she did it, I wouldn’t have gone near it.  

After this we went to the Elah Valley in the Shephelah.  This is a very important valley because an enemy, if they broke through here, could march all the way to Jerusalem.  We stood on a hill on one side of the Elah Valley, this is where the army of Israel would have stood.  On the other side of the valley was another hill.  This is where the Philistines would have stood.  

In the Elah Valley, between these two hills is where Goliath marched down to taunt Israel every day for forty days.  When David walked toward Goliath, he had no sword or spear.  He had stones from the brook that ran through the valley.  I could see it with my own eyes.  There’s where David slew Goliath, there’s the brook he picked up 5 smooth stones from.  I walked down the hillside with Joy to the brook; I carefully examined the stones in the brook, picked one up and put it in my pocket.  This stone will sit on my desk in my office.  A stone from the brook where David slew Goliath.  I’ll remember it when I face the giants in my own life.  

Just like David, God’s just looking for me to do what I can.  He’s looking for me to throw my stone.  Because it wasn’t the stone that killed Goliath, it was God.  

I’ll leave this day with that thought.  What a tremendous day it was.  We saw so many profound things, but I think the greatest thing to me today was standing in the Elah Valley and remembering what a shepherd boy did to save an entire nation.  

Lord, give me the courage to throw my stone at your command.

Two more mornings waking up in Jerusalem.  It’s time to make sure that I savor every moment.  The air conditioning in our room is not working, it makes it really difficult to sleep at night.  With daytime highs in the 90’s in the city, it really takes a long time for the room to cool down.  An interesting thing about where we’re staying is that it is a monastery that was originally built in the 11^th century.  Most of the present building dates mostly to the 1880’s.  It’s located in the north-western corner of the Old City of Jerusalem.  

Ok, it’s time for our day to begin.  We begin with a time of quoting the Shema, devotion and prayer.  George told us to bring along some water shoes, that means that we’re going to get wet today.  We boarded the bus for a trip half way around the city to a section known as King David’s City.  There’s a lot of archeological excavation going on in this part of Jerusalem.  We had to make a quick unload of the bus because there’s no place for the bus to park.  So we hit the ground running.  

Our destination is King Hezekiah’s tunnel.  Hezekiah’s tunnel.  The tunnel is talked about in 2 Kings 20:20.  When King Hezekiah learned that the Assyrian army was in Israel, he saw the threat to the water supply for Jerusalem because it was outside the city.  He dug a tunnel through the stone ridge that Jerusalem was built on and brought it out the other side, and brought water from the well on the outside of the city to the pool of Siloam inside the city.  This tunnel helped save the city of Jerusalem from the Assyrian siege.

The tunnel is 1750 feet long through solid rock.  Diggers started on both ends and met in the middle.  It’s an amazing thing.  The tunnel is shoulder width wide sometimes less.  There is still water that runs through this tunnel.  The water was cold and started knee deep then calf deep, then ankle deep.

We began at the Spring of Gihon outside the city.  It was dark, there’s no light in the tunnel.  We used flashlights that some of us brought and spaced them out.  We wound up after a long walk at the pool of Siloam inside the city.  They have very recently uncovered the original pool of Siloam of Jesus' time.  It was a huge pool.  There were steps that they uncovered that went from the pool up to the temple.  It’s this pool that Jesus sent a blind man he had healed to wash the mud off his eyes.  It was amazing to sit on the side of this newly excavated pool on stones that date back over 2000 years.  We were very blessed to be able to see this because it is an active archeological dig.

We were also told to bring our passport, we would need it because we headed for Bethlehem which is now a part of the West Bank which is Palestinian territory.  We would have to go through the wall of separation between Israel and the West Bank as well as a lot of security, and change busses.   

Bethlehem is no longer the O Little Town that we sing about at Christmas.  The present day Bethlehem is not what we came to see, and we have already looked at a Shepherd's Stable and that is the more appropriate look at what Jesus' birth would have been like.  

We had a different destination less than 5 miles away.  It’s the Herodion.  A fortress built by Herod the Great about 20 BC.  It was a fortified palace and just recently they have found that Herod was buried here.  There is some amazing excavation going on here.  As with all of Herod the Great’s fortresses the place is amazing.

They are just beginning to uncover what this huge palace and fortress looked like.  This fortress was very tall, it would be very easily seen from Bethlehem.  At Jesus' birth, the Herodion would have loomed over the entire event.  It may have been here that the Wise men came looking for the new baby that was born “King of the Jews”.   

We had lunch in Bethlehem, and then headed back to Jerusalem, back through the security and the Wall of Separation, back to our normal driver, guide and bus.   

Once in Jerusalem we headed into the Old City and walked through the Dung Gate and to where they are excavating part of the Western Wall down to the original 1^st century street. 

Some of the stones that Herod the Great used were huge.  We got 5 guys finger tip to finger tip and stretched across one of the mammoth stones.  These were quarried and then moved somehow to the temple mount.  Even today we don’t know how.  Some were 25 to 30 feet long.  Some longer.  

Then we went to the steps of the Temple Mount at the southern wall. This was one of my favorite experiences while in Jerusalem.  I wrote about this in my journal on Monday, July 27.  What a great day.  It was wonderful to sit on the steps of the southern Temple Mount again, and to see the Herodion was a real delight.  I’m glad that I’m getting to experience this now with Joy by my side.  It has meant a lot to me to share this experience with her.  

Tomorrow we will have some things to see around Jerusalem before we pack up and head for the airport in Tel Aviv and enter the final phase of this Sabbatical.  I hate to see this come to an end, and yet I’m ready to stop living out of a suitcase.  I will always remember Jerusalem and what I’ve seen in Jordan and Israel.  I’ve learned some amazing things and seen and heard and touched some amazing things.  I think I’ll stay up late tonight and soak up as much of Jerusalem as I can.

Monday, August 17, 2009  

Today begins the last day of my walk through an opened door that God has opened and called me through.  I pray that I have learned what God has wanted me to learn through this adventure, and I pray that Adventure-Life Church has been faithful to the open door that God has opened to them.   

This is not just a day to board a bus and head to the airport, there is much to see and do before Joy and I close this chapter.  There is still plenty for Joy and I to experience together in this City that Jesus wept over.  

Our day began with breakfast, the Shema; “Shema Israel Adonai elohenu – Adonai echad.  Ve’ ahauta et Adonai eloeikah, b’khol levavkah, uve’khol nephshekah, uve’khol m’odekah.  Ve’ahavta re acha comocha.”  I’m looking forward to teaching this scripture to ALC when I get back home.  George shared with us a devotion and prayer and then off we go.  

We walked to the bus equipped with packs, and water bottles full.  Our first stop was the Mount of Olives.  Its east of Jerusalem across the Kidron Valley.  Jesus entered Jerusalem through the Mount of Olives, gave his final teaching, and ascended to heaven from here.  Some scholars believe this may be the location for Jesus’ return.  

We talked about Jesus' burial in Joseph’s tomb, and also talked about the last supper and what it would have looked like in a Jewish sense.  I’m glad that we have done the Seder meal at ALC, it really made this teaching come alive.  

From there we walked to Gethsemane, which is derived from two Hebrew words: gat, which means “a place for pressing oil (or wine), and shemanim, which means oils.  Joy and I saw a great example of one of these earlier.  Heavy stone slabs were lowered onto olives that had already been crushed to squeeze the olive oil out of the pulp.  

Jesus came here the night before his crucifixion, and it provides a vivid picture of his suffering.  The weight of the world’s sins pressed down on Him like the heavy slab of the olive crusher.  His sweat, “like drops of blood falling to the ground”, came from him like olive oil.  

From there, we walked down the Mount of Olives, across the Kidron Valley, up through the Lion’s gate of the City, to the Church of St. Anne’s.  The acoustics in this place are fantastic.  Our group walked to the front of the church and sang “Amazing Grace”.  George had me solo on the second verse, and then we all sing the third verse together.  Just outside the Church of St. Anne’s is the Pool of Bethesda.  It’s here where scripture tells us Jesus met a man who was waiting for an angel to stir the water, then get in so that he would receive healing.  Jesus told him to take up his bed and walk, and the man was healed.  It’s such a strange feeling to stand where we know that Jesus was.  What a thrill to actually be where before I had only read about.  Now I’m standing where my Savior stood.  

After spending some time investigating the Pools, we walked toward where the Antonia Fortress would have stood. Then on to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.  This is a huge place, that I think I described before.  Located in this Crusader built Cathedral is both the quarry that we call Golgotha (where Christ was crucified), and the remains of the tomb where many believe that Jesus was buried.  These are probably the correct locations, maybe not down to the square inch, but certainly the general area.  It is considered a very holy place, and is one of the few places like this that our group went to.  

We grabbed lunch, very traditional Israel lunch; a bagel, humus, goat cheese, lots of olive oil.  The bagel is not the bagel that we think of.  This is an oval of bread about a foot and a half long with sesame seeds all over the top of it.  It is delicious.  

After lunch we walked through the Old City for one last time.  I tried to take in the sights and sounds and smells as much as I could.  Our destination was the Temple Mount, or what is now the Dome on the Rock, a Muslim sacred sight.  

We stood in line for a long time, and then went through a security screening.  Once on the temple mount we imagined it, not as it is now, but as it would have been at Jesus' time.  Royal Stoa over here, Gentile Court, Women’s Court, Court of the Israelites, Court of the Priests, Holy of Holies.   

Yes, I can see it.  Just like I showed it in NTC.  It would have been huge, and the Holy of Holies would have towered over every other structure.  It would have been twice as large as the Dome on the Rock is.   

Now it was time to head back to our rooms to finish packing and head for Tel Aviv.  There was time to pick up a few last minute souvenirs, and take a quick shower to wash the heat and the dust of the day off.  We walked one more time through the streets of the Old City, only this time for the last time.  I hope to return again someday, only not as just a student, but maybe as a teacher with a group from ALC who are hungry to experience some of the things that Joy and I experienced.  

I will hold dear to me the things that I have experienced in the last four and a half weeks.  I have made many friends in the two groups that I have been a part of, I hope to stay in touch with some of them.  I’ll have lots of time for reflecting and processing this time while I’m in Colorado.  I’m so glad that Joy was able to spend these two weeks with me and experience this with me.  It’s something that we will be able to share together for a long time to come.  

The bus came to a stop just outside Tel Aviv at a restaurant on the Mediterranean Sea.  Joy took a picture of the table of food, it was quite a selection.   

There were a lot of pictures taken, and the beginning of some good- byes.  George called us out to the ocean shore and we gathered around him with the ocean waves hitting the shore behind him.  He reminded us of all that we had been through these last two weeks, of the investment that God had made in us for us to be here, and of our responsibility to take this and share it with others.  It was very emotional, and the setting just added to the passion of the moment.  

With George’s words still in our hearts, we boarded the bus and headed for the Tel Aviv airport.  I’ll carry with me always some of the things that I’ve seen, heard, touched, tasted, and smelled.  I look forward to sharing many of these things with ALC, other things are for me to carry in my heart.  

Thank you God, for opening this door and calling me through.  Thank you for providing monetarily through friends, family, the church, and what we were able to personally save.  Thank you for allowing us to walk where Jesus walked, and be where great moments in the history of the Bible and your people took place.  Joy and I are forever grateful to you, Lord.  Now show us how to share all that we have learned and experienced.  

Amen