Israel Blog

DEC 2
Overwhelmed. I am going on a journey that has a lot of question marks. Can I endure sitting on a plane for 12 hours? How will I overcome jet lag? WIll I capture everything needed on video? Will I make it through customs? I am humbled by the experience that awaits me. I am thankful that my travel companion: God’s reassuring prescience, is with me.

DEC 3
+I am soaring 33,000 feet above the Mediteraean Sea, 84km from Rome. The clouds have mysteriously covered any sighting of the ancient city. And so it remains…hidden

+Just ready all of the youth group student’s prayer requests for friends to know Jesus and dreams they have for their future. Overwhelmed by their depth!

+Just wanted to give you a quick update that I am here. Had a good flight…bumpy to Toronto. Flight over Atlantic wasnt too bad (bigger boat!). I actually stayed still and it went quick. Got a little bit of sleep. Am exhausted now.

+Tel Aviv airport is like Miami…everyone speaks another language, its warm, and there are palm trees. Got a brief tour of Jerusalem. Had dinner at this trendy Mediterranean restaurant with field director couple and andrea….ended up having seafood pasta…so good! (yes I came to Israel and had Italian!) Got to walk through old city to see Joe and Timmy. It is the strangest place.

DEC 4
+Just got in to my bungalo. (I am staying at the Alliance guest room in an Arab neighborhood in Jerusalem.) What a long day…my brain is fried from taking in so much info!
We left around 8a. Drove through west bank toward dead sea (saw a glimpse of it). We were about 300m below sea level (enjoyed 70 degree weather). Saw valley where Abraham and Lot chose land (including country of Jordan). Explored last Crusader fortress/castle. Saw where Jesus cast out man with demons, where he fed 3000, where he walked on water, where he was baptized, where he preached Beatitudes, where he met most of his disciples. Saw Mary Magdalene’s home town (Magdala), Mary + Martha’s home town, Peter’s home, and ruins of a synagogue Jesus preached at. And lets not forget, Joe and I reenacted Peter (played by Daniel) grasping Jesus’ hand (played by Joe) as he fell back into the Sea of Galilee. Most favorite sight was Mount Carmel (where Elijah called down fire)…it was the most reflective scene throughout the day (no tourists!). Broke my habit of never eating at McDonalds (in Israel of all places).

+Lots of conversations about Israel: the Jews (orthodox, moderate, Kabbalah many other sects), the Palestinians, the Messianic Christians. The saying is: “Stay in Israel for a little while and you will end up becoming angry at someone.” I might have thought in the past that there was a protagonist and antagonist, but now I am beginning to see both sides of the conversation.

DEC 5
+Today was a day of contrast. Leaving the fertile lands of the north, I traveled to the middle of the Negev dessert. I left the tourist areas and spent time with the people who call this land their own. I met believers from Russia and from Israel. I experienced two styles of worship and two styles of preaching. I may not have known what they were saying, but I felt connected to them. No matter our ethnicity or family history or even our home country’s policies, we came to sing, learn, and participate in the same communion table because our belief in the hope of God’s Son united us. This was but a small glimpse of the reunion in heaven we will one day experience.

+On the way home we toured Tel Beersheba. This is the place where God proclaimed His covenant to Abraham (Gen 15) that a great nation will come from him and they would be God’s people. How powerful it was to be in this historic place and know that God continues to keep His promises.

+Sayings I have learned so far (with Americanized spelling!):
-Hutzbah: having the guts to speak your minds
-tel: city
-ben: son
-aliyah: the right to return to Israel
-betkartov: good morning
-lilatov: good police
-meshalamash: how are you
-Shalom: Hello/Peace (Hebrew)
-Salim: Hello (Arabic)

DEC 6
Why I love this land.
Today I saw the old city from the Mt Scopus viewpoint. History was before my eyes as I saw a wall containing 2000+ years of different building phases. I saw a land of religious diversity: a city containing the crucifixion, burial, and resurrection of Jesus; the Dome of the Rock, and the Wailing Wall. I worshiped with Arabic believers. I walked through the cobblestone streets of the old city. I saw the sunset over this wonderfully strange place. And then I shared a meal with friends who have a calling on their life to share hope in this land.

DEC 7
+What an experience to wander through the narrow streets of the old city today. This afternoon I was joined by an international worker friend who has made it his hobby to study history. In this land almost every placed stone, column, broken pottery, and crevice is living history. My friend gave me an inspiring historical and cultural tour of all of the sights and sounds we experienced (as I captured it on film). I thank God for this strange, wonderful land and for a friend who could interpret what I saw and heard.

+I came to this land expecting the ancient historical sights and landscapes to bring a fresh interpretation of the Bible. It has. But what has struck me is how the people how brought new insight as well. I wonder how much has changed (and has not) from the time The Book was written.

+I visited the Church of the Holy Sepulcher today. It was both inspiring and repulsing.
Inspiring: etched as graffiti in the walls were ancient cross carvings (done by the Crusaders around 300AD!)
Repulsing: gaudiness. in my simplistic artistic style i just dont get the over the top decor
Inspiring: the possibility that this was the place of JC’s crucifixion and burial (and resurrection!)
Comical: in the front of the church stands a centuries old ladder that cannot be moved because no one can agree on who is allowed to move it!
Inspiring: beautiful 3D brass figurines of the stations of the cross in the Catholic prayer room

DEC 8
+In my smorgasbord of experiences this week I got to hear three stories from local believers today. It was incredible to hear how God shined light into the darkness that they were living in before they found Him. It was a privilege to hear their stories.

+We wanted a shot from a “cool” location to finish our short film. One of my friends schmoozed our way to the top of the Notre Dame hotel. It was a media blitz to take all of the shots I could get!

+When we were shooting on a hillside overlooking a remote city, a local school let out for recess. With their teacher’s permission we were able to capture the kids photos while they shouted “foreigner” in their foreign tongue.

DEC 9
+Not only am I getting to experience a new country but I am also getting to meet great God people. After taking a train through the countryside I met a friend named Dov in Tel-Aviv. We walked the streets past drug deals and prostitution rings. There was great despair and darkness and yet Dov graciously talked to anyone who would listen to Him about hope.

DEC 10
+Walls. The song “Oh Little Town of Bethlehem” is still melodically playing through my head as I reflect on a morning spent in Bethlehem. There are pleasant memories of the Church of the Nativity and Nativity Square filled with pilgrims and peasant shop owners. Yet there is also this nagging memory of a security wall that surrounds Bethlehem and two adjacent cities. I keep asking myself, how did I not know about this? I tried peering into my memory log of past Christmases singing carols, drinking eggnog, and thinking about a quaint little town in ancient Israel were there was no room in the inn. But not about walls. Therefore I wonder, if Jesus were to have been born today in that same town, would the scene be any different?

+I enjoyed a final afternoon with Joe, Andrea, and Timmy spent together in the old city. While doing our shopping together Joe and I worked together to get one shop owner down in price on an item I wanted to purchase for my fiance. After 25+ minutes of pretending to walk away and the shop owner dropping his price and doing it over again, we finally agreed on a price. But of course Joe and I ironically did not have enough shekels in our pockets. The poor shop owner thought we were just trying to shag him when we said we would be back with money. (Sometimes a set price at Wally World is just appreciated!)

DEC 11
+You have not experienced security until you leave Israel from Ben Gurian airport. Here was the procedure:
-Questions fired at you about who you are and where you visited and why
-Number given to you based on your risk (1-6). I got a 5 (single guy, non-Israeli, visited with Christians)
-All bags run through scanner
-All content hand-wanded
-Then you can check-in for reservation
-Passport control
-Carry-on bags and every item hand-wanded
-Then, after an hour-and-a-half of feeling like you are a criminal three magic words: “Enjoy your flight”

Final Thoughts (written somewhere over the Atlantic)
+Keeping an open-mind greatly enhances the opportunity to see what God wants me to see (ex: real issues in Israel)
+Israel’s Holy Land gave me new eyes to see the Bible, but it was the people who really helped me understand the Bible in context. (Not much has changed in Israel since Bible times.)
+God is crazy passionate about His people. (I saw this especially through Dov’s ministry in Tel Aviv.)
+My fiance, Amy, was and continues to be very helpful at helping me decompress any anxiety I felt (and I am really thankful for Skype!)
+Government religious intolerance greatly affects how we do evangelism.
+Human nature: the suppressed become the suppressors. (The Old Testament is filled with verses urging Israel to care for the foreigner since they were once aliens in Egypt.)
+There is such an overwhelming need everywhere that living a comfortable life and never helping people know the Messiah is such a wasted life!
+International workers (M’s) need friends from back home just to call and see how they are doing (talking about non-ministry stuff too).
+When you cannot say you are evangelizing, you have to be creative. Creativity is the most important ability in ministry.
+Life is an adventure when serving the Lord!