From Calm to Chaos...

Today has been great, but I'm not feeling like there is much to say. Probably it will look differently to you once I get going and there is another page of text to read through...

We left the calm of Galilee and entered the chaos of Jerusalem – and had some fun along the way. It was so wonderful to say on top of the mount of Beatitudes, The peace of the gardens, the undeveloped beauty of the Sea of Galilee, and now we are in the city – and I mean really in the city. Our room overlooks the bus station for buses heading south, out the front door of the hotel is the wall of the “Old City” of Jerusalem, and the hotel is on a street that is lined with shops more reminiscent of Bolivia than Lark Street (and definitely not any strip mall in the USA). However, before we leave Galilee I want to share one more thought.

We were in the small geographical area where Jesus lived, taught, hung out with friends, worked and became a man. Even once he began his ministry, this area of a few miles in radius was where he could be found most of the time. He was from a rural area on a major thoroughfare. He occasionally was surrounded by crowds, but primarily he focused on 12. After his death, and even after his resurrection there were not that many followers of his “new teachings.” Maybe there were 120 to 200 total. All of them were Jews, from Israel.

But as we went to where he lived in Caperaum, where he taught crowds and called followers just down the shore, visited his mothers town, etc... we were not alone. Far from it! Some of these sites witness a constant flow of tour buses. Each bus can hold aprox 50 people – each bus holding more than 4 times the number of his disciples! Parking lots typically had 5 to 10 buses in them – think about it, at any given moment, on any given day, at any given major site from his life there were more people than the total number of people who followed Jesus before Pentecost (when the Holy Spirit really got things going!). Talk about incredible multiplication. But Wait – There's More!

Jesus was a Jew from Galilee – but that's not who is one these tour buses. They are Gentiles – people who now follow this Jewish man who are not Jewish. They ain't from around these here parts. In fact every group that goes by seems to be speaking a different language. I could recognize the French of the groups from France, and the Italian from Italy, but then things got more challenging, Where were the various Spanish speaking groups from – well one guide said, “Guatemalans this way” (in Spanish), and I'm pretty sure the Asian group was speaking Japanese, but then I can't tell the difference between Polish, Russian and other languages from those parts – but they are here too! Oh, not all the English speaking groups have an American accent, and even the Americans vary in race. Who am I forgetting – I'm pretty sure those were Indians at the Chuch of the Annunciations in Nazareth, and there was the tour bus with the flag of Brazil in the front window identifying the tour group....I missed the Portuguese, but I'm sure if I had listened hard enough I could have found it at the site. Do you get what I'm saying? This is amazing! Once we visit Bethlehem tomorrow I will have been everywhere that Jesus visited with the exception of his toddler years in Egypt – and yet now he has devoted followers from all over the world – literally!

I don't think it is because we was so smart or cleaver. He didn't figure out something amazing – it is because of who Jesus is – Emmanuel (which means God with us), and because of God's power working through the church. Yes, the church isn't perfect, but it is how God has chosen to reach the world, transform the world, and offer you something better through His son Jesus. WOW!

Sites of Interest – Qumron & Dead Sea.

Above the Dead Sea - by Qumron

Qumron is the site of a separatist religious sect which lived away from Jerusalem by the Dead Sea – they put copies of the Jewish scriptures, and other writing from the times in clay jars up in caves in the cliffs along the lake. These were discovered by a shepherd boy in the 1940's and are the most significant spiritual find this century. We saw the site, and then hiked up to the top of the cliffs for an amazing view (and a good desert hike). Yep, it is drier and more desert like here than up north where we have been. (as we traveled down following the course of the Jordan the topography definitely changed).

Then after lunch it was time for a float in the Dead Sea. I am now way long on this entry (I was right in my opening) but briefly, this experience was more unique than I was expecting. For example, I was completely vertical in the water (it got deep quickly at one point). I'm not moving my arms, my legs are straight down and motionless, and my shoulders are out of the water! All the salt and minerals in the water increase the buoyancy that much! It was really a strange feeling – as was the clay mud which is on the bottom which you dig up, and use as a rub/mask. My skin is nice and smooth now. It was fun and different – but the water is NASTY. You don't drink it, and you don't even want it on your lips – this is not ocean salt water, it is every mineral available water. They don't let you put your head under water (and you don't have any temptation to try) but at the same time it is really nice on the skin...

Why “Dead Sea” because all the water flows into it – but there is not outlet. Nothing lives in the water. Remember, if all you do it take, and never give – it makes you NASTY. After showers we were off to ascend from the lowest place on the planet to Jerusalem – the holy (and conflicted) city.

More about here later – we are staying here for 7 nights.

Good Night – Thank you Veterans.

Jerusalem