November 9, 2009

We visited St. Mark’s church, an Assyrian church with a cute little lady named Sister Justina. St. Marks church is known to be built over the Upper room where the last supper took place and Pentecost. It was incredible going down to the upper room we sang “We are standing on Holy ground.” God’s spirit filled the room while we were singing that song…that song was perfect for that moment. What was Jesus thinking when he recline in the upper room with his disciples knowing full well what is going to happen next. He knew the torture and persecution he was going to face, and yet he still went through with it. He could have easily run, but he loved us so much he wanted to die for us.

Okay, Sister Justina was sharing with us a testimony of The Holy Spirit filling up the church when Russian man came, and they spoke to each other without knowing each others languages. What is great though she did not know that he was speaking Russian until he came back months later and they could not communicate. She had prayed earlier for her experience the Holy Spirit coming, so she can experience a similar situation from the day of Pentecost. She was saying that the day of Pentecost happened in the upper room. A couple of people I know have said the same thing. I just read the passage in Acts 2 that addresses where they were at for the day of Pentecost. In Acts 2:1 it says, “When the day of Pentecost had arrived, they were all together in one place.” Well, it does not say the upper room like it says in Luke 22:12. I know Pentecost happened…and I guess it should not matter where it was located…I just had that thought that it did not happen in the upper room.

Anyways, Justina’s testimony and passion for God is incredible! She refired my spirit, and encouraged me to be on fire for God all the more. I have two videos for you of Sister Justina…the first one is when she was first talking to us as we arrived...this was right before her testimony…her testimony is too long and wont fit on my blog…later I will put I will put it on Picaso...then the other video is her singing the lords prayer in Aramaic. Aramaic is the spoken language of Jesus day. She is such a cute old woman, and her voice cracks me up. I really enjoyed being at that church…you can really since the spirit of God is on that place.

God allow me to be a light in other lives, just like Sister Justina displayed today. She was a light in my life…and I am thank that she was placed in my life just at the right moment. I love you and praise you!

November 8, 2009

Drove to the city of Akko, pronounced “acre.” It is an ancient city from the crusader period that was buried in the ottoman period. In the 1950’s Akko was discovered under ground. Akko is very well preserved…it was cool walking through old tunnels and the rooms of the beautiful city. When I arrived I did not know that Akko was on the Mediterranean. When we went outside the city walls there was the Mediterranean Sea. That was very beautiful seeing that. On our way outside the city walls I noticed that people still lived inside the city…you have a tourist attraction on one end of the city and then you have Arabs and Muslims living on the other. The walls of Akko cascade down into the

Mediterranean. There are spots on the wall where cannons use to be where you can climb and look over the wall at the Mediterranean.

What topped off the day was going to Caesarea! Herod the Great inherited the city and built it into a beautiful city. Caesarea became the major seaport. This is where the Olympic games started. We had our own Olympic game on the Chariot racetrack. Of course we did not have any chariots, but we did have our running legs. I did not run in the Olympics. When we were at Caesarea we got to see a beautiful sunset, and I put my feet in the Mediterranean Sea.

My time here in Israel is almost over…and I am amazed at how much history is here. The ancient world did not start in the USA or Europe it began here in Israel. It just blows my mind. This is God’s Holy Land. He started it here and he will end it here. I have seen things that I had dreams of going to see. It will be a bittersweet goodbye leaving this beautiful country of Israel. May peace come into this land.

November 5, 2009

Today was great day out, but many of the people missed out because they were sick. We had about 6 or 7 people sick today. We spent the whole day in the Jewish quarter. My favorite place that we visited today was the Temple Institute. The people in the Temple Institute have been doing lots of research on what the 2nd temple looked like so that they can build the 3rd temple. They research what the temple looked like inside, the traditions in the temple, how many priests there are, what each object in the temple looked like and how it was constructed. So, many items inside the temple mount are gold plated and then there are two items that are solid Gold. They have a manikin that has the traditional dress of the high priest and his solid gold crown. The other solid gold item is the Menorah. The people inside the Temple institute are so passionate about the idea of rebuilding the third temple. They were saying that God would destroy the Dome of the Rock; they will have no part of destroying the Dome of the Rock. Everything inside the Temple Institute will go into the third temple when it is built. Also, they believe the Ark of the Covenant is buried under the Temple Mount. They believe there is no need to make another Ark.

Show bread is miracle bread. If you look at the picture to the left you will see that it looks like a fig Newton with the inside taken out and cut straight down the middle. If it was regular bread the bread would collapse, but the showbread is not suppose to collapse and it suppose to stay warm as though it was just taken out of the oven 7 days prior. If they actually build another temple, I can’t wait to hear that their showbread has fallen and it is not warm after a full week of being inside the temple.

Their passion for rebuilding the Temple was getting me all excited though for a new temple. I know though that we no longer need a temple to give a sacrifice. Jesus came here to be that perfect Sacrifice. Praise the Lord!

The idea of a third temple is very controversial. There are Jews that believe that a third temple will be built, there are other Jews that believe they do not need a third temple because the messiah will come to earth and save them. The Muslims are threatened by the Jews for wanting to rebuild the third temple. They do not want them to destroy the Dome of the Rock for the purpose of rebuilding the temple.

The whole experience was very interesting…it was great hearing and see the passion of the people. We can look at their passion and relay it back into our lives. Sometimes the passion for God and his people can die if we do not seek after him. Seeking after him can definitely rekindle the passion.

I wish you could see all the beautiful things that are in the Temple Institute, but they had asked us not to take any pictures. Maybe someday you can go see it for yourself.

November 4, 2009

Today was very interesting...we had another long bus ride into the Desert. Spent the whole day at a variety of different places. We were in the Northern Negev Desert. There we had visited a Bedioun museum. We basically relearned the culture of the Bediouns. We did get to see more of how they dressed and had pictures of women who were dressed differently according to their status in life. Whether they were single, married, old, divorced, widowed, and young. All I got to say is I am so grateful that I can wear a t-shirt and shorts whenever I want. Those women just look so hot wearing their traditional dress and head coverings. I remember reading how they determine if someone is innocent or not is by getting a hot iron rod or spoon or something that can get hot from the fire. Then they have the hot rod placed on the convicted person's tongue. If his tongue gets scorched he is guilty, but if it does not get scorched he is innocent. I wonder how many convicted Bediouns got away with having their tongues not get burned. I bet everyone was guilty according to their practice of convicting someone. That just sounds so painful!

We also went to a huge crater in the Negev Desert. I forget the name, but I enjoyed looking out over the edge. Eli our tour guide was explaining how that crater was made, but I totally lost him. He did use a hard boiled egg, I give him the credit trying to explain the crater. All I now is geologist go nuts at this crater. There is many different soil and rock types.

While we were there we saw fighter jets. Apparently the military loves to use the Negev Desert as a training ground for bombs. So while I was standing over the edge of the cliff…the three fighter jets were going through the crater…they looked so far away and yet we were close. The crater is huge! Those fighter jets were probably the cause of me not listening to well because I could hear them in the air, and so I would try to look for them while Eli was talking.

That evening there was a beautiful sunset in the desert. We watched the sunset near Ben Gurions grave sight. It hid behind some beautiful mountains. My favorite time of the day is probably at sunrise or sunset. I rarely get to be up for a sunset, but I always think there beautiful when I am up for one.

Today was really a day of reflection and a catch up on sleep. Which has been very refreshing. I get an overload of information everyday, and so it was great having a chill day.

November 3, 2009

Today was a cold rainy day! Here in Israel it has not rained for awhile, so it was great to see and experience rain in Israel. We learned a lot about Israel Government. Eli, our tour guide for the week, did an excellent job explaining how Israel governments works. The Israel government is similar to England's parliament...instead of Israel having a king or queen they have a president. It's funny...Eli had said "the only thing the president does here is cut ribbons." The president does not make any executive decision within the government it is mostly his Knesset and his prime minister that he appointed. The prime minister and the Knesset does the dirty work, while the president cuts ribbons. That is probably not the case, but from the sounds of what the prime minister and Knesset does much of the decision-making. Okay, when deciding on a new prime minister they will have candidates that give different view points to make Israel better. The Knesset will vote on which candidate they like better. Once Knesset has voted then there is negotiating going on.

We also visited the tomb of Theodor Herzl on Mt Herzl. Apparently he was a journalist in Vienna, Austria in the 1880’s. As a means of protecting himself, his approach was “let’s assimilate into the culture, the Jews need to blend in.” Then in the 1890’s he was sent to Paris to cover the Dreyfus Affair. When he was doing that he got blamed on Dreyfus because he was a Jew. When that happened, he changed his position and began to campaign the idea of Israel becoming a nation again. He predicted that it would happen in 50 years. 50 years later Israel became a state…he made a really good prediction.

Today was a lot about politics, which is very interesting but very boring to read or write about, so I won’t bore you any longer. All I got to say is praise the Lord for the rain.

November 2, 2009

What a day it has been! It was our first experience in cold and extremely windy weather here in Israel. When I say windy I mean if you had a bed sheet and a skateboard you could go down the road without even having to use your feet for momentum. One of the places we had gone today was Herodian. This is one of the many palaces Herod has built. He is buried at Herodian and his palace is on a huge hill. I thought down in the valley of this hill was windy…we climbed to the top and thought we were going to be blown off the top as if we were feathers. It was hilarious seeing PJ and James going against the wind. This picture of them does  not even do its justice. Anyways it was so beautiful over looking the surrounding landscape on top of Herodian. I would have loved to see Herodian in its hay day. Because Herod was known as a great Architect I bet his palace was beautiful and unique for that time period.

Immediately after Herodian we got to experience Bethlehem. When you go to Bethlehem people who are considered Israeli citizens can’t go inside unless you are an Arab Israeli. As a tourist you are able to enter Bethlehem, but only if you switch buses and have an Arab tour guide. I thought that was totally bizarre. I really love our bus driver Albert and our tour guide Eli, but unfortunately we had to lose them to go into Bethlehem. Bethlehem is just 20 to 30 minutes outside of Jerusalem and you enter a totally different culture and atmosphere. Bethlehem is inside the West Bank. The West bank is neither a country or apart of Israel, Palestinians run it. It acts like a territory but is not a territory of Israel. Why can’t people come together from different cultures and make peace with one another, but like Dr. Waddell told us for someone to truly have peace with one another is to have Jesus Christ resonating in their hearts. They had Jesus Christ at one time reside in their home land of Bethlehem, but resonating in the hearts of the people is coming to be a rare find. We got to go to the Church of Nativity where they basically have built a shrine around the place it is said Jesus was born. The church was built around the cave that has been recognized as the birthplace of Jesus. You enter the church through a small door and it smells old inside and you walk to the back of the church and you start smelling lavender incense and oils that have been burning to recognize that Jesus Christ was born there. People were pushing and shoving to get a glimpse of where Jesus was born inside the cave. I know there is a chance that this is not the right place where Jesus was born, but knowing that our Lord and Savior was born there, and then later down the road in his life he died on the cross for us. Then he beats death by coming back to life three days later. Through the hustle and bustle inside the cave I was overwhelmed with God’s love for me. A child so helpless in that manager grows up to save the world. That sacrificial unconditional love is something that is hard to do towards others. My love can’t even compare to the love God has for us…but that does not stop me from trying to love all who are in my life.

My prayer is to continue to have God’s love pour out of us as Christ followers onto his beloved children. May peace come into the hearts of the people in this beautiful country. My biggest desire is for people to see that Christ loves them so much, but it saddens me to know that not everyone will know and come to realize that. Let us be light in this dark world.

November 1, 2009

Today was a day that rekindled a passion of mine. A passion to love on those who have gone through emotional and physical trauma form war or violence. Going to Uganda last year ignited that passion because I had never in my life seen the effects of what war or violence could do to a person or group of people. It makes me cry seeing people depressed, belittled, feeling unworthy to live because their family was killed right before their eyes, women/girls being raped because some man wanted to have a few seconds of pleasure, little boys who were forced to become a soldier, kids brain washed in thinking a certain way or being forced to use drugs or alcohol so they are not in the right state of mind. Then those people survive and they have to live with that hurt. Then those people who have survived do not know Christ and they live with feeling not wanted or loved. Satan gets the best of them. What rekindled this passion was going to the Yadvashem Holocaust museum. What those Jewish, old, young, mentally/physically handicapped, gypsies, and polish people had to go through because a man named Hitler wanted to wipe out people who were not willing to follow him in his revolt or who were not like him. The millions who died for being different...the deception the people faced...disease that swept through the camps...the women who were raped...the children who lost their innocence...the smell of bodies being burned...the separation from family...the desire to be free from the Nazi's..the humiliation they must have felt...they were being devalued as human life. I can't even fathom what they were going through...it breaks my heart seeing people suffering. Despite the consequences the Jews would have faced they kept to their laws and religion.

I want to help those who were victims of war or violence. I want to be used by God to be a light into their life. I want  to be used to break down barriers and have Christ resonate in hearts of the people who are victims. I have seen the depression war has caused to people, the life style people live after war. The pictures in the museum had made me cry...seeing the destruction and lives being thrown away as if they were garbage. The children and parents wanting to be free but can't because they believe differently, or they have different color skin, eyes, or nose from the rest of the so called "normal" people. People say all the time to learn from our history so history does not repeat itself. Well, apparently we have not learned from our history because it is still happening today in our cities with gang violence, marital issues, schools, jobs, and homes. Yeah, we are not killing millions of people, but we can dehumanize someone through our words, persecute people, judge, kill, and belittle someone. There is even genocide in other countries between tribes, or other people groups. People thinking that they are better than the other. This can cause hurt in a person's life and traumatize them. 

The big question is how can you stop this kind of behavior? Well, very simple to say but so hard to do...have Christ take control of our hearts and mind. That definitely is not an easy task, but if you helped change one life for the better how much better is their world going to be. Especially their reward in the end. Have God's love pour out of you onto the people around you. I am not calling anyone to go to Sudan and rescue people from the civil war unless God calls you to. What I am saying is go to your co-workers, spouses, children, teachers, students, youth, and whoever you come into contact with on a daily basis to pour God's love onto them. This is something I struggle with is going out of my comfort zone to pour out God's love on those who are hurt in my community...yeah God calls me to go to places like Sudan or Uganda to share love to those who are hurting, but my ministry needs to start here in my home town. You would think because God has given me that passion I would take it and run with it. No that is not what I do I let opportunity after opportunity to pass me by because I have no time, or too scared...what do I say...they won't listen why bother telling them that. All those thoughts can play into my mind. Time after time I have to learn that God is going to provide what is needing to be said, I just have to trust him. Only God can make someone whole again...and i pray that I can gather up the strength and courage to be that salt and light to all who i encounter who is hurting. I encourage you to do the same. As Christ followers we are to be salt and light to this dark and flavorless world. Pour out God's love onto others. People are searching for answers and what if your co-worker finds that answer when you tell them about a God that loves them so much. It is so rewarding to know that person aregoing to spend all of eternity with God. There will be rejection no doubt, but do not make that stop you from doing God's will.