shout outs...

As i round the corner to head home I thought it was important to take some time for shout outs:

first - my Dad. Thanks for financing my endless curiosity and thirst for knowledge and first hand experience. I'd sit at home all the time and be really lame if you didn't love me, encourage me and allow me to explore the world.

second - windbreakers. I've always kind of wondered about windbreakers. They're not really waterproof, they're really thin, what's the point? My windbreaker was my NUMBER ONE article of clothing this trip. Rain, snow, sleet, cold, wind, wet, sun, sea... the windbreaker kept me warm and dry. I usually wore it as you see it in the photo above. Thank you windbreakers.

third - my brothers shoes. Andrew, thanks for going to college and needing those ridiculous hiking shoes. Thanks for giving them to me. I am convinced my shoes kept me on my feet ALMOST the entire trip. One fall in three weeks could be an Amy world record.

fourth - James and April. My Israel bffs. They were so kind to me and took me under their wing and let me travel with them, eat with them, learn from them and enjoy their company. They are super cute and such great friends. I am thankful that we go to the same seminary in different cities and got to share this experience together.


finally - Herod the great. Thanks for building awesome stuff that I delighted in looking at and exploring over the past three weeks.

With better internet and more time to reflect I'll have more to add - TONS more pictures, many more stories to tell. Thanks for reading : )

ancient toilets

there is only one decapolis city west of the Jordan river whose remains we have found and unearthed - the magnificent Scythopolis. You come over the hill at tel Bet She'an and it's right below you and suddenly it looks like you're in Rome.

my favorite thing about this city are the perfectly preserved toilets. And my favorite thing about the toilets is my toilet story: really wealthy men in the city lived up on the hill in houses. In the morning it was quite cold and the exposed stone where you would sit to do your business would be very chilly to touch. So men would have their slaves go and sit on the stones in order to warm them to prepare for their arrival. Best slave job ever.

The man, the myth, the legend... Herod the Great

Herod the Great was a crazy person who did crazy things. A serious megalomaniac he was torn between the world of the Jews (his father was a convert) and the Romans (he was entranced by their glamor and splendor). While serving as the king and supervisor of the holy land areas during the first century Herod took very seriously the idea of making His name great.

Where the land was flat he built a mountain (the Herodium). Where there was nothing he built a Harbor and a magnificent city on the sea (Ceasarea). Where there was desert and rocks he built a lush green palace garden (Masada). To appease the Jews he rebuilt their temple into one of the largest most lavish buildings in the world. I think Herod would be quite pleased that we still speak of him today. He died a horrible gruesome death (seriously, look it up, it's super gross) and was so distressed that people wouldn't mourn his passing that he gathered together 500 of the most prestigious leaders and teachers of the land and locked them in a coliseum with orders to the guards to kill all of them upon news of his death so that the people would all be in mourning. (dont worry, after he died the guards let all the innocent men go).

My favorite of Herods achievements in Ceasarea Maritime. On the plain of Sharon in northwestern Israel there was a tiny fishing village. Herod flattened it and built a harbor in a place with no natural resources to make it easy. His engineers discovered a new way of building and figured out how to make concrete that would harden underwater. They built a magnificent palace that stretched out onto the Mediterranean Sea and in the middle of it was a huge rectangular FRESH water swimming pool. There was a hippodrome where there were races and a theatre for entertainment. Mosaics, roman baths, beaches. Besdies a great city, Herod also had great aquaducts built - because there is NO natural source of fresh water anywhere near Ceasarea. If Ceasarea was in Texas, I would live there... it's AWESOME.

Not to mention its beauty. This is one of the prettiest places I've been. It had rained ALL day long when we came to Ceasarea and upon our arrival at the coast the clouds broke up and the sun shone through and it was magnificent. This is the city where Paul was held prisoner at the end of Acts. It was the Roman seat of government for the whole levant region after Herods death.

Enjoy these lovely photos of this most lovely city.

One of my absolute favorite parts of the Bible is Luke 5. When I was feeling ultra homesick a few weeks ago I sat down in the sun and opened Luke 5 and felt like I was at home again - it's comfortable, it's familiar and it's fresh and new every time I read it.

within the world of Luke 5 I particularly enjoy the story where Jesus heals a paralytic. It goes like this:

"On one of those days, as he was teaching, Pharisees and teachers of the law were sitting there, who had come from every village of Galilee and Judea and from Jerusalem. And the power of the Lord was with him to heal. And behold, some men were bringing on a bed a man who was paralyzed, and they were seeking to bring him in and lay him before Jesus, but finding no way to bring him in, because of the crowd, they went up on the roof and let him down with his bed through the tiles into the midst before Jesus. And when he saw their faith, he said "Man, your sins are forgiven you." And the scribes and the Pharisees began to question saying "Who is this who speaks blasphemies? Who can forgive sins but God alone?" When Jesus perceived their thoughts, he answered them, "Why do you question in your hearts? Which is easier to say, 'your sins are forgiven' or to say 'rise and walk'? But so you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins" - he said to the man who was paralyzed - "I say to you, rise, pick up your bed and go home." And immediately he rose up before them and picked up what he had been lying on and went home, glorifying God. And amazement seized them all, and they glorified God and were filled with awe saying, "We have seen extraordinary things today""

There's a great rendering of this story carved into the wall of a church in Capernaum - the city that served as Jesus' surrogate home on the Galilee. The church supposably marks the spot of the house of the Apostle Peter. We can't say for sure one way or another, but it's a nice spot either way.

I sat in front of this piece of art for a while and was seized with amazement upon recalling this story. From the way the friends loved the paralyzed man and did all they could to put him literally at the feet of Jesus. The wicked pharisees who were more concerned with the law and their tradition than the miracle before them. The man who got up and walked away changed forever. And the people who saw extraordinary things and were seized with amazement.

Even here in this holy land it is easy to forget the extraordinary love of Jesus. We are paralyzed in need of his healing. We are sinners in need of his forgiveness.

It's hard to put faith to words and i know that i am struggling to express the depth of significance of this story and of this salvation but also the sweet simplicity of His love. Look at the picture for a while. I feel thankful for those friends and thankful that God lets be one of them to sweet paralyzed sinners.

kittties!

Have i mentioned the stray cats?

Everywhere we go in Israel there are stray kitties there to greet us. I always say "kittttiiieesss" when i see them. Apparently they allow them to stay hanging around in the Old City because they keep the rodent population under control. Someone needs to keep the kitty population under control though - we were at the Western Wall (the most holy place for Jews to pray) on Shabbat last week and the sounds of the kitties meowing was louder than the sound of people praying!

sweet kitties...

no walking on water

i know this picture is telling people not to swim or wade through the water, but to me it looks as though the good people on the shores of the Sea of Galilee are forbidding you from walking on the water. I giggled for a solid 10 minutes at this.

diversity?

You know how they say the United States is like a melting pot because so many different people come together and live together. Israel is nothing like that.

Lots of different people live here, in the same city, but they live very separately. It's more like a mosaic I think.

I was super creepy and sat outside one of the city gates for a while this afternoon and took pictures of all the different people who live here:

i would never make it as a soldier in the IDF

one of the more startling things about wandering around in Israel is the extreme military presence that is everywhere you go. Soldiers carry their huge automatic weapons everywhere - into restaurants, around on the streets, shopping... they're huge guns that the little 19 year old girl soldiers have slung over their shoulders like purses.

Then there are the more elite soldiers who guard sites and people who literally keep their finger on the trigger at all times.

The IDF (Israeli defense force) is for real. They are a huge military power and they are fierce. I was talking to a friend at home that said the US should adopt a military style like Israels because there would be no invade and occupy, it would be burn this to the ground and claim it as our own (i'm not sure i'm advocating that position... it's certainly effective for Israel though).

There has been a major war in this country for every decade since it claimed independence in the 1940s. One of the more horrifying wars was in 1973 - here it is known as the Yom Kippour war.

Yom Kippour is the most holy of all Jewish holy days... there is NO work done, no cars are driven, televisions and radios stay off, people barely leave their houses. So it was on this day in 1973 that Syria decided to cross the Northern Israeli boarder to try and take back their disputed territory, the Golan Heights.

The IDF has a huge outpost up on a volcanic cone in this region where they have extremely strategically placed tanks and bunkers. So even on this most holy of days where nobody was meant to work, let alone fight, the IDF held the line in the northeastern most part of the country and even pushed Syrian troops all the way back to Damascus while the rest of the country had no idea what was happening because their radios were all off.

We went and visited one of these bunkers yesterday. We happened to go during a major rain/thunder storm. We raced through the parking lot and down underground into where this bunker was. It was so cool - tiny and metal and wet and dark, these soldiers are bad a for living down there for weeks at a time. Because of the storm, thunder kept clapping above us and the doors were slamming open and shut with the wind. I screamed outloud everytime this happened which brought the boys I was traveling with a lot of joy in the form of hilarious laughter. They thought it was even funnier to turn all their flashlights off and stay silent and in hiding. it was horrifying. like a scary military haunted house.

I wouldn't cut it as a soldier...

Jesus walked on this water

Traveling in Galilee has been an extra treat for me this week. As we've explored so much of Old Testament history and geography over the past two weeks in Jerusalem and in the desert, it's really neat to be in the region that Jesus called home. Cities I've read the names of 100 times in the Gospels, familiar sites, sounds and scripture coming to life before my eyes. It's been fun.

A huge part of the tourism industry in Israel is people wanting to stand where Jesus stood. As locals have caught onto the fact that tourists with pay a lot of money to do this so much of this area is little towns or shops claiming to have some unique piece of Jesus' history that you just can't miss. The truth is there are precious few places that we can say for sure Jesus stood. We know the vicinity and general idea, but here exactly is a hard science to master (there are in Jerusalem even two tombs that claim to be THE tomb where Jesus was buried and resurrected).

For all the places where we can't say for sure "Jesus stood for sure on this land" it is so neat to know that looking out on the water of the sea of Galilee we CAN say, Jesus FOR SURE stood here. The sea is breathtaking... it's small and simple and beautiful. It's the perfect place to picture the life of Jesus.

Jesus Boat

In the 1980's there was a for real drought in Israel and as a result the levels of the Sea of Galilee were drastically lowered. This gave archeologists and treasure hunters an excellent opportunity to find ancient things buried in the mud at the bottom of the lake, the coolest of which is called "The Jesus Boat"


Over the course of 11 days then dug out and pulled up a fully intact fishing boat from the 1st century. It was this huge task that included dozens of people and extreme care because of its age and how long it was under water and mud. The wood from the boats sides was so waterlogged that if you left it out of water for very long it would crumble... like wet cardboard. And the joints were falling apart. To transport it they came up with this crazy foamy substance that they covered the entire boat in then floated it up and out to safety. It's a crazy story. the result is really cool - a fully intact 1st century boat.


the boat being floated to shore in its foam enclosure

So many of the gospel stories, and so many of my favorite gospel stories, revolve around the fishing industry in the sea of galilee... Jesus taught from boats, he called disciples out of boats, he slept in boats and walked on the water past boats. To see a real life one is such a treat for my imagination - it barely has to work at all to get a picture of Jesus in the boat with Peter and all their pals.

There is of course no way to know if this was actually Jesus' boat. It may have been used in the great sea battle with the Romans in the 60s or it might have just been a boat. But it's a cool boat. I loved it.

Asians, Nigerians... tourists of all kinds

What's been really funny for me as I've wandered all over this land is the number of huge tourist groups that are also wandering around this land. Tourism in Israel is a HUGE industry... people come from literally all over the world to glimpse certain holy sites and to stand in the very footsteps of Abraham, Jesus or Mohammed.

They travel in big groups and ride on big buses and usually wear some sort of matching article of clothing (hat, vest, tshirt...) and they all wear cameras, those stupid money protector necklace things that you tuck into your shirt (but you can OBVIOUSLY see it under there) and are constantly pointing and giggling. I'm altogether entertained and amused by them. there are super charismatic ones who weep uncontrollably at certain sites. there are super nonchalant ones who try and look cool and blend in with their surroundings. there are old groups, young groups, groups of priests, rabbis, you name it, they have traveled to Israel this January.

Up in Galilee for the week I had some of my best encounters with them. First, on a boat ride across the Sea of Galilee. Fun Fact... did you know in Israel they don't call it the Sea of Galilee, that is purely a biblical term and everyone here the lake the "Chinnereth" (pronounced kin-er-it). So one morning I got up early and rode a boat across to see what I could see. I ended up on the Nigerian tourist boat, which at first smelled funny and made me nervous, but immediately because AWESOME when they put a CD of really up beat really cheesy worship music on. They all gathered in the middle of the boat and started lifting hands and singing (in english) and dancing. I didn't pay any attention to the boat ride but watched in awe all of them instead. I was extra delighted that many of them took pictures with me since they don't see many white people.

THEN we were up in Ceasarea - a sea town that I will have much more to write about later - and as we walked into the ancient theatre a HUGE group of asian tourists were standing in the middle singing and waving scarves around. A small group of my classmates and I gathered and watched and loved it. When they noticed this, they all turned and waved and then did a choreographed dance while singing "father abraham" in another language. It was a truly joyful moment for me. It's like disney land here... but much older with many more emotions.

Temple Mount Archeology

Last weekend we volunteered at the massive dig through the dirt expelled from underneath the temple mount 10 years ago. I spent all day sifting through sand and dirt discovering hidden treasures from centuries past- it was extremely adventurous and awesome.

I think I've written a bit about the situation on the temple mount before but I learned so so SO much more about it during my time at the dig site so if you would indulge me and let me share;

The story really starts with Bill Clinton. Okay, actually it starts in 70ad when the 2nd temple was destroyed then the 600s when it fell under Islamic control and they built a mosque there- but modernly this is a story about President Clinton. While he was president he commissioned a whole ton of people to get together on little think tanks and come up with a solution to the Israel/Palestine conflict. One of those proposed solutions was that in Jerusalem at the temple mount the Muslims- specifically the waqf, their spiritual police who secure their holy sites- would have control of everything above ground on the temple mount and the Israelis would control verything below ground. A horizontal border line drawn if you will.

At the same time as this idea was leaking out president Clinton allowed yassir Arafat to return to this land and he became the leader of the Palestinians.

So, with great fear and anticipation that the horizontal border may be drawn at the temple, the Muslims and the waqf led by arafat started furiously building on the site. Where one mosque and one monument once stood now three mosques- including one that can accomodate up to 10.000 people at one time for prayer- and the holy site of the dome of the rock are.

As a side- the horizontal border makes little to no sense. How can a building be in one country and its plumbing in another? Or how could Israelis explore the ancient temple remains while the access points to these remains belong to Palestinians. Bad plan mr president.

Back at the temple mount, one of the new mosques wanted a fire escape. Israel conceded to let the waqf supervise the building of one. Rather than build a small stairwell as one might expect they dug a hole that contained over 400 truck loads of dirt and debris all while paying no regard to the deep history they were destroying in the process.

It's horrifying to look at pictures of the building project- they leveled 4000 years of history and knocked down crucader era archways that stood and literally threw out with the trash soil filled with the history of the temple. Muslims do not acknowledge that there ever was a temple that stood on the temple mount so to them this wasn't a problem. To any reasonable human being it was a tragedy. Forget the deep religiOus meaning- a major piece of the history of civilization is burried under there. The wrecklessness of the waqf in this act was criminal and their trying to cover it up by first dumping the debris in the dump outside of the city then by burrying human corpses on the piles of that were identified (because The Jews think human remains are especially unclean and contaminating) is deplorable.

Today, 10 years after the initial incident, after 4 years of grappling with Israeli beurocracy to get the proper permits to sift the dirt and 6 years after the temple mount antiquities recovery project began, there remains 15 years worth of soil to sift through.

Some of the things they have discovered are incredible. Coins dating back to the time of king hezekiah. Potery pieces from the first century. A piece of an oil lamp that dates to the time of the Hasmoneans (aka the time of the first hannukah). From the time of the prophet Isaiah to crucader era finds to modern day coins it's a teasure trove. In my little sandbox I was sifting through found pieces of the old dome of the rock (it was refurbished years ago) I found some pieced of 1st century pottery and a handful of bone fragments (ewww).

It was really really cool. Gabi Barkay, the israeli archeologist who runs the dig, has to be one of the most interesting people on the planet. He is on a crusade for the truth and for history. Before starting to sift we sat and listened to him give a complete overview of the history of the temple and why what we were doing was so important. It was a privilege volunteering with him on such an important project.

I wish had pictures of this experience to post, but we weren't allowed to take any. It was as awesome as what you're picturing in your mind though... promise.

Israel Mountain Bunnies!

Loooooooook at these cute little Israeli mountain creatures. I found them hiking and fell in love (except with the last one, he was kind of mean and hissed at me).

Masada. Israels Alamo.

One of the things I was MOST excited about seeing and experiencing while in Israel was the ancient site of Masada. Masada really has two stories –the palace that Herod the Great built there and the story of the last stand of the Jewish zealots.

In the first century Herod built a spectacular palace in the middle of nowhere atop a giant rock formation. It’s literally a rock island in the middle of a giant desert canyony area. Scripture refers to it as the “stronghold” because you can perch yourself on top of it and see everything all around you and be safe from all enemies because they would have to climb a giant hill to get to you.




(we hiked up this giant hill to get to Masada)

Herods palace was a testimony to his opulence. In an area where there is no water, he created a lush garden paradise on top of a hill, complete with Roman bath houses and two separate palaces and living areas. His southern palace stair stepped down the south side of Masada – in the picture you can see there are three tiers to that side of the mount and he suspended his residence there overlooking the Dead Sea and modern day Jordan just to his East.

He plastered all of the walls of the palaces and painted exquisite frescos on each of them – some of which are preserved to this day. He also had marvelous tiled mosaic floors everywhere; many of those also still stand.



After Herod’s death, Masada fell into the hands of one of his four sons. This son was a moron and somehow found himself exhiled all the way into France just a few years into his reign leaving Masada abandoned. In 60AD the Jewish zealots revolted against the rule of Rome in their land. Rome decisively squashed this rebellion in Jerusalem killing thousands of people and destroying the temple. It is said that the sounds of the stones of the temple walls coming down were so loud and so horrific that the people living in the hillside outside of Jerusalem could hear and spend days weeping over it.

A small band of this zealot revolutionaries fled to Masada around the time that the temple fell. They lived comfortable on top of the giant hill with supplies left behind by Herod. Rome wasn’t content to let them stay though and ordered one of their generals, Silva, to go find and wipe out any remaining zealots.

Silva arrived at Masada and was certainly puzzled as to how to capture or kill the thousands of people living on top. They set up bases on either side of Masada in order to make sure that nobody escaped and then went to work building a siege ramp that went straight up the western side. When we were at Masada this week we hiked up that siege ramp in order to get to the top and explore the remains. It was a serious hike straight up hill. This pictures shows the snake path that winds it way upwards.

The story goes that Silva and his men made it to the top of Masada and set fire to the city wall. For the first few hours of this battle the fire burned outward and actually destroyed a lot of the siege rams and killed many Roman soldiers. The Jews took this as a sign that God was on their side. Near nightfall the winds changed and the fire started burning inward, towards the zealot stronghold.

I could tell the tragic story of what happened next, but ancient historian Josephus does it best;

“Atop Masada that night the Zealots were despondent. The incident of the changing winds convinced the zealot commander, Eleazar ben Yahir, that God had abandoned them. He saw only one possible course of action – self slaughter. “Long ago we resolved to serve neither the Romans nor anyone else but only God” he declared. “We must not choose slavery now… Daybreak will end our resistance, but we are free to choose an honorable death.” The men were moved by pity for their wives and families and by the prospect of their own end. As they exchanged glances the tears in their eyes betrayed any reluctance they may have had.

Each man took responsibility for killing his own family. With streaming eyes, they embraced their wives and took their children in their arms and in the end not a man failed to carry out his terrible resolve but one and all disposed of his entire family, victims of the cruel necessity who with their own hands murdered their wives and children and felt it to be the lightest of evils”

The men then set about destroying the citadel so the Romans would find nothing to loot. They heaped all their belongings up and set the whole top of the mountain ablaze. They pointedly spared enough food to show the Romans that they perished not through want but because they choose death rather than slavery.

The last men wrote their names on potsherds and cast lots to decide which 10 of them would execute the others. Each man lay down beside his wife and children and all were unflinchingly slaughtered. The 10 executioners cast lots a second time to determine which man would kill the rest then summon all his strength and fall upon his own sword.

The next morning when the Romans climbed through the breach in the walls they found no enemy but dreadful solitude on every side. They did not exult over them as enemies but admired the way in which so many had shown an utter contempt of death”

This is a crazy tragic story. And an incredible symbol and rallying cry for the nation of Israel. Just after the war for Israeli independence in 1948, one of the generals received permission to dig the site of Masada. Rather than pay Bedouins as cheap labor to help with the excavations he advertised and asked people to pay to come have the privilege of digging such an historic site. He really rallied the country around the story of the zealots and their bravery.

It’s not a story of overwhelming military success, but it’s a principal of freedom and bravery in the face of impossible odds that people admire and rally behind. Our professor said we didn’t really have anything like it in America and I quickly interjected my deep love for Texas and said yes huh, we have the Alamo. This was a popular comparison. I wandered around Masada the rest of the afternoon saying “come and take it” under my breath.

It’s an incredible place to visit. We spend about three hours on top and it was one of the coolest things I’ve ever done. The ruins are impeccable, the story is incredible and the view is outstanding. It’s easy to be moved standing in a place with such rich history and that means so much to the Jewish people.

The saying goes “Masada will never fall again” and the Israelis take their responsibility to this very seriously. At Masada soldiers are initiated, boys celebrate their Bar Mitzvahs, every time a plane flies by it dips a wing in respect to this sacred site.

Ancient Wine Makers

I think in my post about life in the desert I talked a little bit about the Nabateans. In case you need a refresher though, the Nabateans were this crazy people group who lived out in the middle of the desert and survived there without the possibility for agriculture or shepherding because of the roughness of the terrain and elements. They are the only known people group in the history of civilization to have lived and even thrived in the deadliest parts of the Negev.

We visited their house at Avdat a few days ago and I discovered the secret to their success: wine. There is a fully preserved only slightly reconstructed ancient wine press in the middle of their city. I was obviously delighted by this.

The ancient city of Avdat is really beautiful with spectacular views across the Negev and beautiful archways and caves dug into the side of the hill. I would have liked being a Nabatean I think.

An ancient Israeli house

Be’er Sheba is a city in the Negev with remarkably well preserved ruins. We got to hike around the ancient city and ended up in the residential part of it. As I learned about the houses where families would live together I stood inside the partially reconstructed walls and thought “this seems similar in size to my house.”
I asked Cydni, the greatest archeology professor in the history of the world, how many square feet she thought the house was. She found this to be a ridiculous question and glared at me for a few minutes before saying “I don’t know, around 350 or 400 probably” SAME SQUARE FOOTAGE AS MY HOUSE!! But the ancient Israelis lived in their little houses with their entire family and in the winter they would bring all their sheep and goats in the house too in order to keep them out of the elements and their body heat would keep the family warm.

That makes it seem like me and JD are living in a palace : )

We love to swim

While down in the Negev all week we had a few opportunities to go swimming – first on Israels southwest coast where folks had a chance to stick their toes in the in Mediterranean and then in the Dead Sea.

I’ve swam in the Mediterranean before, so I just stuck my toes in the sand there. And a dug a hole, a really deep hole. After hiking up tels all day long it was a great method for spending some contemplative time to myself. I also took some pics of people surfing and having fun in the waves.

The Dead Sea on the other hand is crazy town. It is over 30% salt content in the water there (whereas the Pacific Ocean is around 2%). It is so salty in fact that you can’t sink in the water… you jump in and you float. It’s the strangest sensation ever - it was like I had to unlearn everything I knew about swimming. You step in the water and then sit down but you don’t sink, you float up onto your back. It was as though I was lounging in the water without a floatie.





Besides floating, the Dead Sea is also useful as a mineral rich water that will supposedly heal all wounds. I tried sticking my ankle in it to see if it might help – not so much, it’s still swollen and sore. We did purchase lots of mineral rich lotions, soaps and muds to bring home though. The mineral spa supplies is a HUGE industry here and people come from all over the world to sit in the healing powers of the waters of the Dead Sea. We had great fun enjoying the sun and water after some long hikes this week.

Ouchiesss.

In case you don’t know, a few days before Christmas I fell down the stairs at my little mouse house and twisted my ankle really bad. Here’s a super sick picture of how swollen it was:



Now here’s some sweet pictures of the hills I’ve hiked up this week:




It’s been a little rough on the ankle. I’m taking advantage of my day off by icing and elevating and not climbing any mountains. Pray that it is not sore or in any way debilitating going into next week as I get to go up to the Galilee and hike around the areas of Jesus’ ministry and miracles.

Wadi Hiking

Today we thought an adventure was in order while we are exploring this barren Negev area... So we got dropped off at the very bottom base of a canyon - a finger of one of the "wadi" systems that drains water to the plains- and hiked out. 

It was a HARD hike- sweet mt crystalite holds no flame to today's experience. It was a terrifying hike- we literally had to climb ladders out some places were so steep. And it was awesome. One of the coolest things I've ever ever ever done.  Much like in hezekiahs tunnel I was terrified/uncomfortable most of the time so I took precious few pictures- but the view from the bottom, the hike up and ultimately the top where we arrived about an hour before sunset was INCREDIBLE.  



We read psalms 90 and 91 at the top- those attributed to Moses who lead his people through here.  He famously says that God IS from everlasting to everlasting. Looking from horizon to horizon as the sunset in front of us His majesty was clear to see. There was really only one thing to say: good one God.

The Desert

I've been out in the desert all week. Ive been trying to think of interesting things to tell you about being in the desert but besides running into a lot of camels and hiking up about 35 tels it was sort of three days of a lot of the same.

We traveled through what is known as the "Negev" the southern part of Israel that is extremely dry and arid where only one people group in all the history of civilization has ever permenently settled... And archeologists don't really understand how they did it.  They lived in the middle of nowhere, controlled the spice trade through this land and somehow thrived at their little cities dotted across the desert- one we visited even had a wine press!

It's barren down here though. It's the biblical land of the exodus. I'm feeling a lot more compassion for the Israelites who complained to Moses after coming into this land. From the lushness of the Nile banks to endless sand dunes and dry shrubbery. The psalmists use the inagery of the negev to illustrate what gets left behind when you come out of a dark or dry place and into grace or hope or redempion. Overall, It's not very inviting and certainly doesn't seem very promising. Let's be honest, I'd probably have complained too. 



As I navigate a strange time in my life though I am strangely drawn to this barren desert land.  Even though it seems lifeless and hopeless it was created by God and the route chosen by God for his people. As they wandered through the wilderness His presence didn't depart from them- instead it sustained them. They woke up to bread each morning, just enough to get them through the day and at the end of it they turned and praised.  It's easy to feel like this land is God forsaken. It's easy to feel like a life is God forsaken because it wanders through the wilderness that is so unviting, that scripture describes as thirsty and venemous, but that doesn't make it Godless nor does it make it hopeless.  For us, the hope of traveling in the Galilee next week is giving something to look forward to. For the Israelites it was the lush hillside of the Judean hill country and their promised homeland. For a life it's the promise that God doesn't depart from us and is moving us and building us up for good and ultimately hope of glory in heaven.

*** no pictures yet because I don't have my computer here to upload off my camera... I'll add then when I'm back in Jerusalem**

Yummmmyyyy

One of my travel companions is a huge food snob, which is funny and extra awesome when we travel around the different parts of the country and look for things to eat. Trying new food is one of my favorite parts of traveling... And by trying new food I mean enjoying food I'm already familiar with that is more genuine when made in its homeland, things like pita and falafel and hummus. Yumm. I'm not that adventurous of an eater, let's be honest. 

One of the fun things about eating in Israel is that nearly everything you find to eat- especially at restaurants- is kosher. That has meant practically for me that I have barely eaten any meat since I've been here. (Becca aren't you proud?!)  i have fruit and pita for breakfast, pita and hummus or falafel for lunch (falafel is chic peas and vegetables balled up and fried together in a little ball then served with cucumbers and peppers in a pita. It's awesome) and we've eaten a lot of pasta and salad for dinner.

James has an awesome guide book that is uniquely for finding delicious food and has taken us on many an adventure to culinary excellence... From the "king of falafel" to the Iraqi marketplace filled with fresh fruits, nuts and spices to a little Israeli restaurant that served the greatest goat cheese and pesto salad I've ever experienced all the way to the little carts on the street that sell bread and challah and date loafs- our stomachs are most definitly enjoying their stay in Israel.

Yesterday we spent the day in Bethlehem and surrounding areas... visitng the Herodium (which is one of the more awesome things i've ever done - i'll write more about it later on after we visit more of the sites of Herod the Greats opulence) and manger square and the church of the nativity. I thought second Christmas in regular Israel was awesome - second Christmas at the literal birthplace of Christmas was even MORE awesome.

It takes about 10 minutes to upload each picture I want to from where I am right now so I'm going to wait to upload pictures and tell stories from the church of the nativity until I have a little better internet situation and instead let everyone laugh at what a nerd I am...

next door to the church of the nativity (the historical and traditional place of the birth of Christ) there is a Catholic church that has a cave underneath it that is said to be the workspace of Jerome - the man who first translated the bible into Latin vulgate. Rather than wait in line one hour to touch the rock where Jesus supposably emerged from the womb, James and I made a bee line to Jerome's cave because we are lame and love the translation of the Scriptures. The carving from the picture is on the wall in the cave and I was very touched by it.

what a CUTE little PUMPKIN

i made friends with this sweet little bedouin kiddie muffin who was trying to sell my jewelry. I think he's presh and wanted you to see.

The Wall

What is easy to ignore about the state of Israel while enjoying life inside the Old City or West Jerusalem is that within the geographic borders of this country that is roughly the size of New Jersey there are two bitterly cut out regions that don’t belong.

Crossing into the Palestinian controlled territories of the West Bank or Gaza it’s as though you are leaving a western European country and plunging into the depths of the third world. It’s easy to have a lot of opinions about the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians and to easily fall in line behind Israel as I always have. My foundations of thoughts and feelings on the entire matter were shaken spending the last 48 hours in the West Bank.

Quick history: seven years ago during the second intifada (when Palestinian authorities authorized essentially terrorism and war at all cost against what they call the Israeli occupiers) there were a number of terrorist attacks in Jerusalem. Suicide bombers on buses, in coffee shops and in crowded areas just after Shabbat ended killed dozens of Israelis. The Israeli army pinpointed where they thought most of these suicide bombers were coming from and decided to literally build a wall to keep them out.

A fifteen foot high cement barricade now snakes its way through the countryside blockading off the West Bank areas (which are located on the west bank of the Jordan river and dead sea). Israel says this policy is working and there have not been as many terrorist attacks since it went up (it’s about 80% complete). Palestinians say they have created a ghetto that further ostracizes them from their societies, culture and land. Indeed, while Israelis call the separation barrier “the fence” most Palestinians call it the “ghetto wall.” For the purpose of this I’m going to call it the wall – because when you’re standing on the ground looking at 15 feet of cement that cuts its way across the country, sometimes straight through the middle of neighborhoods, it looks like a wall.

To cross from one side of the wall to the other you have to go through Israeli controlled checkpoints. Israelites are not permitted into the west bank areas and most Palestinians have greatly restricted crossing privileges. When we went across into Palestinian controlled territories we were waved straight though, on our way back to Israel it was a different story. Our car was stopped twice, the first time just to ask who we were and what we were doing then a second time an Israeli soldier stuck his head and AK-47 through our window and asked us all to step out and show identification. Once our US passports revealed that we were harmless we were allowed to pass. The woman in front of us was not so fortunate. They searched her car and belongings and after finding nothing they turned her back anyways.

Crossing the wall is strange. Experiencing life on either side of the wall is even stranger. Israel restricts electricity, water and municipal services within Palestinian controlled territories… and by restrict I mean they basically cut them off completely. Most Palestinian homes have a large black water tank on their roof both to collect water and to heat it in the sunlight. They don’t have trash services and so they literally just throw their trash out on the street – the West Bank is filthy dirty. They live in rundown apartment buildings and old mishmash homes and can’t get permits to build new ones.

I don’t mean to sound overly sympathetic towards the Palestinian plight, because they certainly are not without fault. The answer cannot be terrorism and blowing themselves and other people up. But don’t we get the command to love God and to love our neighbor from the Torah? I don’t see a lot of that happening between the Jews and Palestinians.

It’s difficult to understand the height of emotions than run through this conflict. As a Christian my hope and promise from my God is glory in heaven – a new heaven and a new earth. For a Jewish person, their hope and their promise is in this land, this physical land where I sit right now. God gave it to their fathers Abraham and Moses and the patriarchs and kings of Israel fought to keep it. In their eyes all other peoples who settle here are the true occupiers because no human law trumps the promise of God. If that was my hope, I think I’d fight to keep this land too.

The political situation ultimately stems from this. There is no separation of church and state in Israel – the politics and policies are based on the Jewish faith. To expand their borders and claims on the land Israelis build what they call neighborhoods (what Palestinians call settlements) in Palestinian controlled areas. From buying up properties on the hills of East Jerusalem to creating small cities to its south that hold hundreds of thousands of residents, establishing “facts on the ground” is a big part of their policy. Some Rabbis here even go so far as to say it is unlawful to work on Shabbat BUT it is permissible to build settlements on Shabbat. The purpose of these is to push out the borders of Israeli controlled land so that if a two state solution happens the borders of the Israeli state are larger and larger - it would be too hard to displace the hundreds of thousands of people who live in the settlements. (As a side note, you might remember the news from a few years ago when Israeli authorities tried to pull Jewish settlers out of their homes to cede control of the land to the Palestinians. It was a mess. People literally chained themselves to their rooftops to avoid being moved. Most everyone feels that passionate about their claim to this land).

It seems like a two state solution is what most people want – although I did speak with a Jewish woman just outside the walls of the old city who told me she thinks all Palestinians should just move to Egypt or Jordan and she doesn’t understand why they stay here anyways.

It has been a whirlwind for me as my sympathies have shifted from Israeli to Palestinian depending on which side of the wall I happen to be on. The fact that the majority of Christians in this land happen to be Palestinian adds a whole new dynamic to my thought. Ultimately it’s hard to see a peaceful solution. In manger square outside of the Church of the Nativity in Palestinian controlled Bethlehem earlier this week I spoke with a Muslim man about what he thinks. His name was Yousef and he was a delight and made a point of telling me that in Palestine the Muslims and the Christians live together in peace, he told me that he loves his Christian coworkers and visits their homes often (a sign of true friendship here in the middle east). He has seven children and works three jobs to put them through school – including three through University in Jerusalem. While he certainly had a bias towards his people and his claim to this land, he shed a lot of light on Palestinian thought for me. I asked him what he thought the future would hold and he said; “I look forward and all I see is black. There will be no peace.”

Western Wall & Bar Mitzvah

This afternoon we were visiting the temple mount area and while standing near the western wall - the portion of the original retaining wall from the second temple that still stands where Jewish men and women stand day and night to pray and remember. While watching the incredible sight of hundreds of people gather to pray and sing and wail we saw the most extraordinary thing: a Bar Mitzvah!

Apparently it is quite common on Tuesdays and Thursdays for Bar Mitzvah processionals to come up to the wall. During the one we witnessed today the 12 year old boy (isn’t he precious?!) was hoisted onto the shoulders of his father and uncles and marched from just outside dung gate (near the temple mount area) through the streets to the western wall. Throughout this procession one male relative was blowing a large horn and two were playing drums while everyone shouted and sang. Once they arrive at the wall they all listened as the young boy read aloud from the Torah and interpreted it (with the help and prompting of his Rabbi) for the first time.

I remember going to Bar Mitzvah parties when I was a kid in Oregon. We would have party at the country club and eat lamb and have awkward gender segregated dances. The procession I saw today seems like a much better way to celebrate.

The Temple Mount

The most politically, emotionally and spiritually charged area in all of Israel is the temple mount area which sits atop the Western Hill in the middle of Jerusalem. For the Jewish people this is the place where both the first and second temples sat and where the presence of the Lord dwelt on earth. (The temple was destroyed in 70 AD by the Romans.) For Muslims, two of their holiest sites sit upon it; the Al Aqsa Mosque and the magnificent Dome of the Rock. The mosque is a really old place of worship that can accommodate up to 5000 people for prayer at one time and the Dome of the Rock is a monument that marks the spot where Mohammed and his horse flew off to heaven.

Today, under the negotiated rules of the land, Islamic authorities control the top platform of the temple mount (where Al-Aqsa and the Dome of the Rock sit) while Israel controls everything around it.

This area is a historical and archeological gold mine. The excavations that have been done around the temple mount have found extraordinary things; the roman road that was built all around the base with huge slabs of stone and the damage it suffered when the temple was destroyed from huge rocks flying off the top and literally crushing it. Evidence of the archways that held up elevated walkways and provided shade for the merchants who sat below to change money and sell animals to be sacrificed. The southern steps which lead up to the grand archway entrances to the temple area where Rabbis would sit and teach. Indeed Jesus most likely taught many people from these very steps. Even looking up at the rebuilt walls, the sheer size and scale and grandeur of the building is awe inspiring.

To dig inside the retaining wall which remains of the temple mount would undoubtedly cede even more extraordinary finds. Unfortunately, Muslims deny the existence of the temple at all, specifically on that piece of land and claim their holy sites are the only thing that ever sat there and will not allow any investigation into what might be found beneath them. This is both frustrating and offensive to archeologists and religious leaders alike.

At the southeastern tip of the temple mount area sits an underground Mosque. A few years ago Muslims got permission from the Israelis to build a fire escape coming up from the mosque to the temple mount platform. Instead of the small escape stairwell you would expect to find, they build a lavish wide staircase adorned with lights and gold and all sorts of splendor. During the process of building they literally just bulldozed downwards and took the piles of dirt and ancient remains they were finding and dumped them.

An archeology student in Israel noticed one night that full dump trucks were leaving the temple mount area in the northeast corner and heading out into the Kidron Valley (the valley that cuts east of the temple mount) and dumping piles of dirt. He saw this night after night and decided to tell his professor, famed Jewish archeologist Gabi Bar-kai. Bar-Kai received permission from the state of Israel and hired his own dump trucks to go pick up all this dirt from the floor of the valley and moved it up onto the Mount of Olives where a HUGE sifting project is now underway. Students and really anyone who wants to can go up and help his team sift through all this debris a tiny bit at a time looking for fragments of ancient remains. Next week we will head up their for an afternoon to try on our modern day Indiana Jones hats – I’m super excited.

Minarets, Shabbat & living in the modern middle east

Save for within the city walls of Old Jerusalem, traveling around Israel and the Palestinian territories we have found that life here is very contemporary. Israelis in particular fancy themselves to be very modern and western and all the amenities you would find in any large western city are also available here. If I had to pick out two things that makes this land different than any other I’m used to it’s the Muslim call to prayer five times per day and Jewish Shabbat (Sabbath) from sundown Friday to sundown Saturday.

Scattered all across the country are tall thin towers with round tops called “minarets.” Many are attached to Mosques but they don’t necessarily have to be. At the top there are large megaphones attached and give times a day they light up and an imam sings out as far as the ear can hear the call to prayer. When this happens, all practicing Muslims within earshot stop what they are doing, turn to the east, remove their shoes, lay down a rug and pray to Allah. From cab drivers pulling over in the city to men on the hills at sundown, everyone stops and prays when the time comes. Even as I write this I can hear the echoes of a few nearby minarets and the voices rises from them calling the faithful to pray.



The other noticeable religious practice that takes place across this country is Shabbat, or Sabbath. On Friday evening when the sun goes down (5:36 officially tonight) a large horn blows and the Jewish faithful stop work. Their shops close, they don’t drive, they don’t cook. They stop everything. Truly devout Jews go so far as to sleep all day Saturday. Then, Saturday night when the sun goes down the horn blows again and the streets are filled with celebration as shops open back up and everyone goes out into the city together. It’s packed. We went out to dinner after Shabbat and left just as it had ended and were surprised at how few people were out. By 8:00 the city was filled with people eating, shopping and socializing. It’s super unique and really a neat part about life in the modern middle east.

Travel companions

A lot of ya’ll have asked who I’m traveling with. I’m moving about the country with a historical geography class through Jerusalem University College. There are about 40 undergrads taking the class and 5 of us graduate students taking a little more extreme version of it with a lot more freedom to wander and travel and learn. It’s been great – from the history and the land to the physical geography and geology and rainfall – we are learning a lot all day long. At night we wander the “new city” or west Jerusalem which is a very modern western European type city with all kinds of interesting food and adventures to be had. These are pictures of the boys who take me on these adventures: the first picture is of James – an Englishman who studies at Westminster in Philidephia. He’s good fun. The second is Kwon and Jordan – Kwon is taking his last credit hours before graduation with an M.Div from Gordon Conwell in Massachusetts and Jordan studies at Liberty University in Virginia.