Spring Break

For the first time in...8 years, I had a spring break! So even though I should've stayed here and completed my 2 statistics midterms and a rough draft proposal, I decided to go to Israel. Sadly, pictures don't even come close to capturing the experience, driving and walking and touring over a thousand miles around Israel and Palestine. Trying to encapsulate the grandeur of the freshness and beauty of the Sea of Galilee from atop Mount Arbel, for example, just ends up looking like fog...

And how do you capture the feeling of walking along the Via Dolorosa? Or sitting by the Garden Tomb?

Or feeling the Dead Sea by your side?

Or walking along the Mediterranean Sea?

Or touching the waters at the Sea of Galilee?

Or walking through Hezekiah's tunnel and feeling the workmanship of 701 BC?

Or touching the Western Wall? Or hearing the story of Elijah condemn the gods of Baal from Mt. Carmel?

And stories of healing while sitting in Capernaum?

Or holding the Dome of the Rock in your hands? :)

I can't really. To be honest, it definitely wasn't what I was expecting. (Don't ask me to explain what I was expecting--I probably couldn't do that either.) I never had some overwhelming "this is the place" feeling rush over me, no unforgettable witness from the Spirit that Jesus was here. But there were quiet ones, just intermittent, in random churches, at seemingly random moments, that resonated with a part of me that I think I don't know very well yet. I'm not trying to sound too cryptic or deep or weird--it's just that, I think I expected, in a place like this, to receive some great spiritual manifestations, to gain some kind of witness beyond that which I already have. But I'm realizing more and more that God just doesn't work with me like that. My mind is always miles ahead of where my heart has the capacity to reach (not that I'm even remotely good at retaining facts...I had to keep asking Breanne where we were, and what happened here or there...), but I think sometimes He gives me moments where it's the other way around, so that I can feel more than I understand...and unfortunately for you, that lack of understanding also leads to this really strange paragraph that also fails to capture my experience...

which makes me feel like this palm tree. I mean this partially in jest, but mostly seriously--which is why I had to stop and take a picture of this tree on our way back from Capernaum. 

So, enough of my incoherent bumblings. One day, I'll figure out what I mean, and then I'll be able to write about it so that you can actually make sense of it.

I also loved this contrast...church at the Jerusalem Center and church with the Bethlehem group. Coarse as I am, I need a lot of things stripped away before I can really feel the Spirit and remember the importance of the heart of the gospel, as I did in this tiny group of maybe 8-9 members.

Probably the thing I learned most was about Palestine and Israel. How things aren't so cut and dry, how people are still people and we fight because we're scared. I also learned that friends are great, especially because they put up with you even when you stress them out :) Thanks Breanne!!!