I Felt God Move Me Today as I Walked Where He Walked

Today was a profound day. Now the way this trip is organized we are trying to follow the life of Christ. Today we took a detour to take advantage of the opportunities we have right here in Jerusalem before we travel north to Galilee. So we got up early and headed to Jerusalem, the City of David. 

First a quick orientation thing; as I've said Jerusalem is a city on a hill. It's a big hill, a steep hill surrounded by valleys. When David invaded and took the city from the Canaanites, he set up the city so that the Temple (which his son Solomon built) would be at the highest point and going down the hill would be his palace, and then residental areas below that and beyond. Well we start at the ruins of his palace that overlook the city!

Of course that means he could look out on the rooftops of the homes below him in the Kidron Valley. Guess what he saw when he did that? Well, read your Bibles on that.

Anyway, the valley today (which you see here) is of the Muslim section of the city, and I enjoyed watching children play along the hill. That's what I saw! Another note, the upper right corner is the area where Jesus entered Jerusalem on a donkey, and it's totally visible from the palace (including the acoustics!). We could hear roosters and people from far away like they were next door! The priests and scribes would hear the cheering of the crowds on Palm Sunday and freak. It's starts to make sense...

Now when David invaded the city he did so by having his armies invade through the tunnels the Canaanites dug to reach the water spring below the city. A sneaky way to attack, no? So when the Israelites settled, they didn't want other armies to attack the same way, so they dug a new tunnel, channeling the water to flow directly under the city, which was more convenient anyway! So we got to climb through the tunnels and even go through old the Canaanite one!

After going through winding tunnels going down, down, down, we popped up in the Kidron Valley, right next to the Pool of Siloam. The Greek Orthodox Church owns the site, and this is the very place where Jesus walked, talked, and healed the blind man! See John 9. The pool is a square. We sat on the open end, the rest is under all the green and trees.

Now while many religious sites here hold serious traditional significance in the life of Christ (like the Church of the Nativity), knowing "actual" spots is exceedingly rare. This is a beautiful exception! Jesus was HERE! We paused to reflect, have worship, and sing hymns. God's Word held new life at that moment, and it got better from there too.

We then went to the Church of the Upper Room. Now was the Last Supper held here? No. No way. It's a Crusader church. When the Crusaders from Europe invaded they would basically pick spots where Biblical events happened and start building. People worshiped here though, so it mattered.

Now when Saladin the Magnificent recaptured the city and kicked out the Crusaders it became a mosque. They took out the images of people, worshiped there, and in one spot they put a notch in the wall. Why? So during prayer they would face Mecca. The notch is in the dead center;

Next was something unique. We went to the Church of St Peter in Jerusalem. It is built on the possible ruins of the House of Caiaphas, the high priest whose palace Jesus was held in the dungeon while Peter sought information on him in the courtyard and denied him three times before the rooster crowed.

It's recently built (1930s) but there are ruins underneath the church that show that an old church from centuries before was there before, 4th century I believe. In it is a suspected dungeon where Jesus was kept before his trial that morning. As we approached the dungeon we heard Korean pilgrims singing hymns. Unreal.

As we crowded in the sad and lonely tomb our bishop read Psalm 88. Read it. It's a cry to God like one we don't read in church enough. At the end those Korean Pilgrams sang another hymn, so sweetly. And when we left the church, through the doors, a rooster crowed. I'm not making this up. The video of the 1st hymn is on Facebook. 

After that we were presented with a treat, going to an excavation dig that's being done by UNC Charlotte. So cool!

The dig is uncovering a 3 story house from the priestly quarter of the city. The lead archeologist is Dr Shimon Gibson, who is like a rock star. So knowledgable, so passionate, and so gracious was this gentleman.

He later took us to the Armenian Museum (which is under renovation) to see a wall mosaic just uncovered in the priestly quarter and to actually hold artifacts they've found. I'll share those nuggets in person, maybe at church since these discoveries are unpublished (better in person and not here, sorry). 

Now hang on, it gets better! He then took us to the western wall of the city. It's very pretty and wall is HUGE, while most of it was below ground until the 1970s when he started working there at age 17. As they got to the original bottom they found there was a city entrance that had been bricked over, but the steps and pathway was still there. Well with careful analysis of the evidence, studying the historians of the time, and carefully analyzing John's description of Jesus's trial and crucifixion, he has concluded (and I think he's solid) that there, on these two steps here in this picture; JESUS STOOD.

The trial took place here he concludes, and as Jesus would walk and stand for the trial, it would be here. I almost can't breathe thinking about it. He coming out with a book backing his conclusions, or maybe it's out, but I'm convinced. As usual there is a "traditional" spot that the tour groups will lead you too, but this strikes me as more authentic. I have his presentation on video, and I may share that at church but not here. Same reason as before, sorry.

We then broke for a brief lunch and headed to Ein Karem, the birthplace of John the Baptist. It was refreshing; there were trees, lots of trees!  Everywhere else has been stone, cement, and desert. This was wonderful.

There are 2 churches there; one for his birthplace, and one for where Mary told her cousin (John's mom) Elizabeth about the angel's visit and her becoming pregnant by the Holy Spirit. The first church was nice, but honestly I wasn't wowed. Those steps Jesus actually stood on still had my attention. So I can't say much there...sorry. Then we went to the Church of the Visitation, of where Mary met Elizabeth (again, tradition). 

Well it's a massive climb of stairs. Our guide Deeb said, "Who wants to run it?" Me and two others take off, reach the top (and it's a LONG climb) and start singing Rocky!

Well here it is. It's run by the Franciscans, and it's built to honor the all women of the Bible.

This place was so peaceful, so beautiful, and the monks greeted us warmly. Did Mary meet Elizabeth there? At that exact spot, probably not. But faith matters! This place was intentionally and lovingly made to worship God and honor our women saints, and I felt the touch of God. The Holy Spirit moved me profoundly here, just like at the Pool, the Dungeon, and Steps, and now here. I'll shut up and give you some of the images that moved me here; of what women of Biblical times meant to God's Kingdom, and the sacrifices they have made;

After that, what can you do? Celebrate the women clergy of our group. Our church is richer and better because of them. A group picture was in order, and I am so honored to get to know them on this pilgrimage and call them my friends.

After this emotional rollercoster; we deserved some gelato! We enjoyed the delicious gelato and headed back to the hotel for the day. There is actually more I want to show; of the people, the sights, the observations, but I'll save that for a final rehash blog at the end of the trip. It's forming in my head. Till then, it's midnight (5pm for my east coast family and friends), and I pray God's blessings on all of you. Thank you for reading, seriously. You make it worth it. Love to you all.

Day 3: Death and Life in the Desert

Today was a day of powerful significance, and a little fun. First after a quick breakfast we headed to the desert. To get there we had to go through much of the old city of Jersualem. Now Jerusalem is humongous in land size. Seriously, it's everywhere on these steep hill tops. The Old City refers to where the holy sites/archeological sites are located. So we drove by it (we visit it later) and we quickly saw the contrast. We've been in the West Bank of Bethlehem for a couple of days now and seriously it's lovely. Some friends and I walked the streets of it last night and felt safe and relaxed. It's great. Now going into Jerusalem, it sharpens; looks cleaner, fancier, and wealthier. Looks aren't deceiving; the West Bank is impoverished (35% unemployment), and it's a different story in Jerusalem. Something to ponder. 

Well for starters we are going into the desert, the wilderness. It's desolate and downhill as we near the Dead Sea, which is the lowest point on the planet. My ears popped severely. 

Our 1st stop is the St George Monastery. It's built into the cliffside of a deep canyon from the main source of water (which is Jersualem, this the importance of the city is recognized). We didn't go to it exactly, we came to a lookout point across from it. Meanwhile we were followed by vendors. The truth is when your only source of income comes from religious tourists, I get it, but it was unwelcome too. So we moved on.

 Our next stop was to the Jordan River. Getting there was interesting as we drove down a road with massive minefields on both sides stretching forever. It's a leftover of Israel's war with Jordan for this land (which Israel won in 6 days), and this section of land to the river was only opened 10 years ago. The tiny red sign here warns of the mines;

Then we arrived at the river. There was a small gift shop and restrooms, but was otherwise quite serene. There we came to a place of flowing waters in the desert, reeds, life, changing the desert around it. Scripture described such a place where John baptized thousands of people filled with hope, and later Jesus. We took the time to remember our baptisms with a service and prayer. Powerful stuff. A couple of notes; the water is COLD, and the flies love it too. Not many, but they're the 1st bugs I've seen so far. 

After Jesus was baptized, he went to the wilderness; the harsh desert he had visited 1st. I said to a colleague, "Can you imagine living here for 40 days having to constantly outdebate the devil?" He replied, "People do it every day." Point taken.

After that we went to neighboring Jericho, the oldest city on earth. Yeah, that's it, dating back to 10,000 years ago!!! Same place as the walls came tumbling down to Joshua's armies, of Zacchaeus the tax collector, all that. Now the walls of Joshua's time haven't been found, but a lot has.  Check out this stone tower deep underground this excavation (bottom right, kind of circular). It's 10,000 years old!

The city has been rebuilt upon the ruins of others over and over, 25 times! Why is Jericho a hot spot? It's fertile land, still growing bananas, strawberries, oranges, dates, and it has great Dead Sea access. It also has used the same water spring for thousands of years.

It's a beautful place and we ate lunch here too. We saw old sycamore trees too (sorry I have no picture), but they looked climbable! And here's a snapshot of the city (and that's Palestinian policeman on the right);

After that we went to Qumeron. This is another rocky desert mountain area overlooking the Dead Sea. The people who lived here around the time before and after Christ were the Essenes. These Jews believed the world was very evil (including the priesthood) and they were children of the light, followed Yahweh and purified themselves daily with ritual bathing. There's a good argument to make that John the Baptist was part of this group. Well they went to extra lengths to protect the ancient holy scrolls in their possession and hid them in caves. You guessed it, or deduced it, this where the Dead Sea Scrolls come from, the oldest scripture known today. Here is one of those caves. Try accessing it (for the nerds out there this is Cave #4). Even here people lived.

Now it was time to float in the Dead Sea. First off, it has a sulfur smell (not strong like Yellowstone, but it's there). Also, you can't swim in it AT ALL. It's incredibly buoyant. If you try to stand, it will push your legs so you are floating either face up or down. And that's another thing, it will burn your eyes hard if you get some in your eye. So we get in, I'm one of the 1st, and it's cool, but oh so weird.

Your stomach muscles work to keep your head up but that's it. There is no effort to float and you'll float forever! And the mud is supposed to soften and purify your skin. Seriously, even with just the water we felt our skin was softened and oily. Check out my Facebook page if you want to see me get in, it's funny.

After that we rode back through Jerusalem....in a rushhour traffic jam. It doesn't matter if you're in a traffic jam in the holy land, it still sucks. And that concluded the day. Tomorrow we see some of the Old City and recently discovered ruins. Till then, peace out and God Bless.

Day 2; Herod, the Nativity, and Today

Day 2; 

Good news, jetlag is conquered! After a full nights sleep with a quick wake up to chat with my family who were enjoyjng the afternoon I woke up fully rested! I had a wonderful breakfast that included fresh olives again! Seriously, the world is a great place because of olives. 

After that, we boarded the bus to head to the Heroidan fortress outside Jersualem. This is the same guy who tried to kill the infant Jesus, rebuilt the temple, the paranoid but powerful ruler, that guy. To build his fortress he literally moved half a mountain to this one to build it. And all you need is a mustard seed, right (it's a religious joke, one Jesus was serious in making). Here you can see it from far away. The hump in the middle is it.

Well we get there and it's steep. This is a steep country people! 2000 years old too. Obviously I'm stoked and we climb to the top. I'm excited!

This is also the place where the Jews fought the Romans in the uprising of 66 AD (or CE), where they fight hard but lose and the Romans destroy the temple as punishment.

So within this fortress are tunnels, lots of tunnels. The 1st were made for the aqueducts, the later ones were made by Jewish rebels who would sneak around to attack Romans and sneak away. Here we are checking it out. It's all made of soft limestone like chalk, so digging was easy.

We then left to go to the Town of the Nightwatch (in other words, shepherds). Here is one we spotted traveling today (the shepherd is dead center wearing green):

This Nightwatch place is where shepherds were told of the coming of the Nativity, according to tradition. Well, this site has been honored since the 4th century, so there is that to consider. Interesting to note, shepherds who were nomadic (like Abraham) used caves a lot to shelter their sheep for the nightwatch and storms. So guess where the worship space is?...in a cave dating back to that time!  This church is run by the Franciscans. We spent time there for prayer and meditation:

After a lunch break we went to the Church of the Navitity in Bethlehem, the traditional site where Christ was born. It was originally built in the 4th century but was destroyed, and was rebuilt in the 6th. Oldest church I've ever been in for sure! The church is "shared" by the Armenian, Greek Orthodox, and Catholic Church.

I say that in quotes because it is an uneasy sharing, but I admire that they are doing it. Ask me in person for details.  Inside the church is a tiny cave which would be the ideal place to keep animals, perfect for THE manger. We happened to get there when the Armenian priest blessed this holy cave with the chanting of prayers and the burning of rich, pungent incenses. I took video of the blessing which I may share later, but here we are with our tour guide Deeb with the mic;

Next door to the church is the church dedicated to St Catherine. The Catholics just sort of added it on... Underneath it are the caves where St Jerome lived; the guy to translated the Bible from Greek to Latin, the most used translation for over 1000 years! Dude, amazing. He is worth googling; 

After this stop we went to the Bethlehem Bible College, a school in Palestine dedicated to equipping and supporting pastors of this land. An interesting footnote; Christians who live in the Holy Land (who aren't tourists or missionaries) are Palestinian. Palestinian is both Arab and Christian, and while the population of native Christians is declining fast as most are leaving due to the political, economic, and military strife, they are the Christians who can trace back their ancestry to the 1st century converts. Wow! These guys are fighting this trend, and I wish them luck. Here is an amazing mosaic inside the college (it's 3 dimensional, and is made of local clay).

This day we got a real taste of what the Israeli/Palestinian conflict is about. It's about neighbors who have a hard time trusting one another and have a great deal to fear of one other (and that's on both sides, and the fear is well realized). That brought me to another question, is security a Christian doctrine? We long for safety and security, but really, isn't love being in a state of complete vulnerability but you do it anyway because you trust the other? Jesus abandoned safety for the Gospel...where does that leave us? I think we have much to learn from what Israelis and Palestinians can teach us, and I hope to encourage these conversations when I get home. 

Well, till then, enjoy the photos and stories, and the pilgrimage continues tomorrow! Peace;

Day 1; Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, Bethlehem, and bloody jetlag

Well we hit the ground running! After we all got our luggage we boarded our tour bus. This bus has wifi. Dude, wifi!!! Now I won't do something data hungry like Netflix, but I can blog, email, and text my family, so I'm stoked!

Our tour guide is named Deeb, an incredibly smart and kind dude with a lovely English-sounding accent. He has promised to keep us on our toes in regards to Biblical knowledge, so I better be on guard. Since we got here so early we went to the city of Jaffa, which is basically merged with Tel Aviv. This is the main economical hub of the nation, and it showed with impressive skyscrapers and sprawling markets. 

We stopped in Jaffa for an hour break. We first entered a church 100 years old, beautiful, dedicated to St Peter when he received the vision of the clean and unclean food.

The funny thing though is that when we entered the church a group came out and one of them was wearing an Atlanta Braves hat. HERE?! Talk about a small world. 

We were also stopped right next to the Mediterranean Sea. The waves were thrashing! Some friends and I took the long journey down from the street level to check it out. Some braved the water itself. I'll save my insanity for later. (Something to note, this is a very hilly country).

We then took a walking tour of some of the markets. Hearing the sounds, the languages, filled with Hebrew and Arabic, it's truly a rich sound to behold. I didn't buy anything, but as he headed back to the bus the loud speaker from the nearby minaret began chanting the noon prayer. It was so reverent, so rich in sound and flowing music, piercing the sounds of the market, it was beautiful. 

We then boarded the bus to head toward Jerusalem. It's an uphill drive; my ears kept popping. You know all the songs of rising up to the Holy City, all the elevation talk? Guess what, it's more literal than you realize! (That tiny gold speck is the Dome of the Rock, a great marker for the Old City).

The countryside, the air reminds me Malta a lot. On the way I also saw my 1st McDonalds....it's like the Braves hat. We stopped by a panoramic view of the old city, beautiful and WINDY and COLD! Amazing, but the bus called us back quickly. We will spend a lot more time there later in our trip.

Afterwards we took our bus trip to Bethlehem. That meant going into the West Bank, which meant going through the security barrier, or gigantic wall that separates Israel and Palestine. While looking at it, images of the Soviet era in Germany came to my mind. We are going to learn more about the wall (which is called different names) thoughout this pilgrimage. A complex situation without easy answers for sure. Well, we went through, no problem, and headed into Bethlehem for a late lunch.

Our lunch was at the Christmas Tree Restaurant. Seriously, who couldn't love a place like that?!

I had a chicken shwarma. Don't ask me what was in it (I know, chicken), but it was delicious! The spices and sauces kind of reminded me of Greek food. Good times. Then we went to the hotel run by a Christian family here in Bethlehem. We were given an opportunity to check out the city but this is when I raised the white flag. This cold of mine was giving me a fit, as well as the jetlag, so I took an extended siesta and felt a lot better afterward. Here's the view from my room; wow.

This evening we had dinner at the hotel. I was hungry and eager to try it out. A buffet! Check out this smorgasbord; 

Included in here is the creamiest, tastiest humas I've ever eaten. They tasted wonderfully with the neon pink radishes (they're soaked in beet juice and vinegar). Also in there is beef and potatoes, chicken, creamed corn, and a "sausa" (the red stuff on the green lettuce) that was hotter than the hottest jalapeño I've ever had. Like a fool I took a big mouth full and it felt like my whole mouth was burning, like if you take a big spoonful of really hot soup and you feel the inside of your mouth incinerate. Fortunately, it was all spice, no after effects. An important lesson was learned.

Now we have been given an early bedtime which we are all taking advantage of. Tomorrow, more of Bethlehem, and a bunch of other stuff, can't quite recall at the moment...brain...failing. 

God Bless all of you, and as I hear, enjoy the snow!!!

(The shore of Jaffa by the Mediterranean, and the waves were intense! This shot was carefully timed, thanks Luke!)