Bye bye Jerusalem.  Hello Galilee!  Today marks the move into the fourth and final phase of our journey.  Syria done.  Jordan completed.  Tantur finished.  Galilee, go! Continue reading →

Our final day in Jerusalem began with a tour of the Mount of Olives.  Our bus drove us to the top, which is truly a watershed location.  In a spot clear of buildings, one can look down the slope into the Kidron Valley, on the other side of which is the Temple Mounts and the rest of the Old City.  A swivel of the head has one looking down the east side of the mountain, where the elevation fades out of sight on the horizon, eventually reaching the Jordan Valley, and ultimately the Dead Sea.  From this peak, we wound our way down, beginning in a Palestinian neighbourhood and passing along the way multiple churches and the major Jewish cemetery here.

Besides offering some of the best panoramic views of Jerusalem, the Mount of Olives is the site of numerous significant biblical moments—Jesus’ frequent retreats to pray, his triumphal entry into Jerusalem, his sadness as he gazed over the city whose history was filled with its rejection of the prophets, and his arrest as he prayed his sweating-blood prayer on his final night.  Tradition also holds this as the place of Jesus’ ascension, despite the Scriptures’ silence on that detail. Continue reading →

In Isaiah 56:5 in your English Bibe, you find the phrase “a memorial and a name”.  In Hebrew, those words are “yad vashem,” and they’ve been taken as the title of this Holocaust memorial and museum.

Architecturally significant and surrounded by carefully landscaped memorials, this place provides a very moving experience.  Quite frankly, I found it absolutely silencing.  What is one to say or even think when absolute devastation is placed before you in a flood of images, stories, and descriptions?

Even now, twelve hours after leaving, I don’t know what to write. Continue reading →

If you’re in Jerusalem someday, plan to hike the countryside some.  And if you don’t know where to start, make it Wadi Qelt.  The first time I came here, it was one of those things that was on my list but ended up getting cut as time ran down.  Today, I crossed it off my “travel Bingo card”, and it was a greater pleasure than usual.

Why the fuss?  A number of reasons!  Continue reading →

Last time I visited Jerusalem, it was Easter Sunday.  This time, Pentecost Sunday!  Only three times per year does are prayer services held in the Upper Room, the traditionally held spot of both the Last Supper and the falling of the tongues of fire (Acts 2).  One of those times was today—where better to “go to church” on Pentecost Sunday?! Continue reading →