Israel - Thirsty in a dry and weary land 6/9/2017

We began our day visiting the site on the Jordan River very near where John the Baptist did his baptizing, on the Israel/Jordan border, and possibly where Jesus was baptized.  As we posed for a group picture, a white dove flew overhead.  They are quite common in the area, but was still a unique experience.

We drove further south along the Dead Sea through the Judean Wilderness and soaring temperatures to Masada.  It is a mesa rising high above the sea, and was the location of one of Herod the Great's palaces.  The location in the arid wilderness was even possible because of the cisterns built within the palace complex that would capture the area's rare rainfall - 2 inches per year - and store it in caves and basins carved within the plateau.  Herod never lived there, but the cisterns enabled over 900 Jews fleeing the Romans to withstand a siege for nearly a year before they chose death over slavery.

We also visited Qumran, where many of the Dead Sea Scrolls were discovered.  Temperatures here reached nearly 108°!  The Qumran residents of the 1st century also used cisterns to capture rainwater to meet their needs.

Our last stop was the Dead Sea itself where we floated - bobbed like a cork is more like it - in the very heavily salty water. It was hot, crowded, and the salt and mud felt odd to the skin.  It was fun.

All the while we drank several liters of water to stay hydrated.  

But despite the heat and lack of rainfall, it is amazing to see how much still grows there.  Through the millennia, humans have found a way to meet their thirst needs in this dry land.  And one man in particular wrote of what this need was like:

"O God, you are my God;

I earnestly search for you.

My soul thirsts for you;

my whole body longs for you

in this parched and weary land

where there is no water." (Psalm 63:1)

This picture was taken in En-Gedi, the area where David once hid.

Israel - Oh, What a sip of water can do 6/7/2017

We had quite a few "Wow" moments on our trip, but the biggest for me so far was one year ago today.

I stood in the Jordan River and witnessed 14 of my fellow pilgrims reaffirm their commitment to Christ through immersion in the river.  It was a great moment.

Later we drove along the River Road, the same road Jesus and his family and disciples would've traveled between Galilee and Jerusalem.  We entered the Palestinian Territories and drove through the hills and canyons of Samaria, and had a feast of a lunch at a restaurant on the side of the hill where the Northern Kingdom capital of Samaria once stood.  

We descended through the Judean Wilderness back to the Jordan Valley to Jericho.  There we saw the spring tradition says was made pure by Elisha.  We walked up the Tel, the hill created over multiple civilizations, of Jericho where the people of Israel and Joshua achieved their first victory in the Promised Land.  From the Tel we could see the Dead Sea and Mount Nebo in the distance. And we could see the traditional site where Jesus was tempted atop a mountain.

It was moving when we caught our first glimpse of the towers of Jerusalem and our first look at the Holy City.

But for me, the biggest "Wow" so far in this trip was in the city of Nablus, the ancient site of Sychar, between the two peaks of Mt. Ebal and Mt. Gerizim.  There sits a Greek Orthodox Church, St. Photini Church at Bir Ya'qub.  Previous churches have existed at the site since the 4th century, and even long before that the site was known to pilgrims.  Because at that site is a well long attributed to Jacob, grandson of Abraham and the father of the 12 Patriarchs. And if this is indeed the well dug by Jacob, it is the same well Jesus sat at when the Samaritan woman came to draw water.

"Jesus had to go through Samaria on the way. Eventually he came to the Samaritan village of Sychar, near the field that Jacob gave to his son Joseph. Jacob’s well was there; and Jesus, tired from the long walk, sat wearily beside the well about noontime. Soon a Samaritan woman came to draw water, and Jesus said to her, “Please give me a drink.” He was alone at the time because his disciples had gone into the village to buy some food." (John 4:4-8)

We entered the church and descended into a room beneath the church.  A small stone well was there.  The well was deep - when water was poured back in, it was a few seconds before we heard the splash.  A bucket was lowered and a few of us took towards tuning the handle to crank the water back up. We drank from the water in the well, likely the same well Jesus ask for a drink from.  

WOW.  For the first time this trip, I was moved to tears as I helped raise the bucket and tasted the cool sweet water.  A moment I never dreamed I would have the opportunity to experience.