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.
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