The Trip, The Experience, and If This Were an Overdue Library Book....

So... I went to Israel.

Didn't write a blog about it.
Haven't written anything in a while.
Sorry.

Sooo, here's my grasp of the trip, it's short, but this sort of trip is something that effects your soul. That cannot be put into words.
Elie Wiesel said "No one can go to Israel and leave the same way they came."

Truth.

We started in Egypt, saw the pyramids, spent a ridiculous amount of time staring at 5000 year old statues that look like stuff I can get at garage sales for a dollar. Evidently they're a big deal. Okay.
Can I shoot a mummy or something?

Next up was Petra in Jordan, there is a picture on my myspace. www.myspace.com/sirjason
It is a city carved into the rock cliffs. It's pretty cool. It's over a mile down a narrow canyon, very defensible (thus the Left Behind books saying Christians will hide out there in the end times. That is where I would be.)

I loved it, I ran around the cliffs high above the ground. Running as fast as I can-with the risk of falling including much pain, there I am very much at home. I loved it.

Then Israel.

We went to Ein gedi, where David hid from Absalom, there are pictures.
This was one of my favorite places.
It's an Oasis in the middle of the desert. There is a spring at the end of this canyon and the stream flows all the way down with waterfalls and lush greenery and all that kinda stuff.
It is beautiful.

Its a good hike to the top. The rest of my family turned back about halfway up, so I ran up the rest of the way so I could see it. I didn't bring a camera or anything. But that was fine with me.
The trail had been crowded the whole way up, but when I reached the top it was empty.
Quiet.
Peaceful.
Much like it was 3000 years ago when David wrote many of the Psalms. I sat down on a rock at the foot of the largest waterfall. Probably the rock David sat on.
Took a drink from the water.
Same water David drank.
Excuse me while I giggle.

It was a beautiful moment with just me and God in that fantastic little Oasis he created in the middle of the desert.

We drove through where Sodom and Gomorrah were. Look at the no drowning picture. The rock around that is all volcanic.
There is nothing vaguely reminiscent of volcano's for thousands of miles.
Volcanic rock covers nearly 100 miles.
God didn't just destroy Sodom and Gomorrah.
He tore up everything in between.


"Don't make me come down there."

We went on to Jerusalem.
Our Happy Home.

It's an interesting place to say the least. The old city is older than our country, and it's just neat to walk around and experience it.

It changes your perspective of the Bible when you see it for yourself. I haven't just read it.
I was there.

One of the most memorable moments was when we went across the border into Palestine. Which is only a country because they have guns and they say so.
So Israel built a wall in between the two, but it's more of a political thing, only the main roads have checkpoints, the back roads you can get in and out freely.

So we went to where Jesus was born.
There is a big church on top of every single place where something happened save one. We'll get to that place. So we go through the church, into the cave (the manger) where Jesus was born. As we wait in line to go in. (There is always a line.)
We are almost in and we hear singing.
Singing.

Away in a manger no crib for a bed....

Singing to Jesus about his birth.
Where it happened.

One lady kept trying to shush it.
Pharisee.

It was the only time I ever saw a priest smile the whole trip.
I was singing, and crying a little bit.
It was something I will never forget.

We went to all three places where they say he was buried. MY favorite is what the picture is of. It was so perfect.... And it didn't have a big church on top of it. It was how I'd imagined it, except better.

I came home a different person then how I went.
I can't put it into words. But now you've heard my favorite parts. If you want more stories just ask me.
And if you want me to write a blog about something ask, I love input.

Peace
-Jason