No work today, in the traditional sense of the word, but some of us loaded up in a bus and raced off to Jerusalem! Going to Jerusalem has always been on my '50 top things to do before I die' list, so it was amazing, AMAZING to be there.
Security getting across the border is insane. If you think that the US is tight at airports and borders, you should hit Jordan and Israel. Of course I understand their hesitation to let people traipse about freely, and I respect their amazing checks and rechecks. This is what the border crossing looks like, bare and desolate.
It reminds me a lot of no mans land in Europe when we were kids, except for desert rather than forest. The King Hussein Bridge is new and crosses over the Jordan River, or what may best be called the Jordan Trickle. We flew by it so fast I didn't even have a chance to snap a shot of it, it's so small. With the shortage of water in the area the river has been severely depleted from its former grandeur. The children of Israel could easily step over it now...
Once arriving we checked into our hotel and hit the road to see the old city. The walls that stand today were built in the 1400's and it's amazing to see. Mostly the roads are slick due to wear, and the creamy walls make you feel very surrounded and even a bit claustrophobic in spots where the roof covers markets and shops
and crowds of swarming people.
This is a shot of the Via Dolorosa, right by the church of the flagellation and the church of the crown of thorns both where Christ is thought to have been whipped and crowned with thorns. There are old paving stones that have a gambling game still etched into them which is similar to the game the soldiers would have played to win Jesus' robe. We did encounter group after group of pilgrims who were walking the entire Via Dolorosa and on this stretch even ran into a Korean group singing the well known song in Korean.
Being so excited to be in the city we went straight to the Western Wall, the last remaining part of the structure built by King Herod in the 1st century. It is a very tall wall, very well worn with white slips of papers slipped into cracks. Men and women are separated and a large divider marks off new excavations that are happening off to the right of the wall, under a tall wooden ramp that leads to the Dome of the Rock mosque.
We walked around the old city all afternoon, strolling past bagel shops, buying yarmulkes, peering into dark churches filled with lanterns and 'holy' sites. Inside the Church of the Holy Sepulechure, the location that is most likely truthfully where Christ was laid after his death, was dark and smoky filled with candles representing prayers. It was very ornate and filled with incense inside the building, but the candles flickering, so many words and pleas and thanks being shown visibly flying heavenward, was humbling. Humbling to know that God hears all of those prayers and all of those that are never lit on a candle, and He answeres them too.
We greeted Sabbath at the Western Wall (formerly the Wailing Wall, though renamed in 1967 when Israel was named a country and a Jewish state) with much celebration and joy. It is amazing to hear shouts of joy and see dancing to celebrate the Sabbath start. What joy! I can only imagine that heaven will be such a celebration x 10!
Field D at Pizza Hut celebrating being cool. Yep. "Field D -We find stuff." From L - R Amanda, Stephanie, Me, Sean, Dustin, Scottie, Young and Jen. An awesome team.
Figs. Lots of them. And I was reminded that Christ cursed a fruitless tree not far from here. But this tree was throwing caution to the wind and the ground was littered with figs. A blessing for the day.
And here is what the pools look like now. Not so wet, not so healing. More like a wreck of a city in a desert.
It reminds me a lot of no mans land in Europe when we were kids, except for desert rather than forest. The King Hussein Bridge is new and crosses over the Jordan River, or what may best be called the Jordan Trickle. We flew by it so fast I didn't even have a chance to snap a shot of it, it's so small. With the shortage of water in the area the river has been severely depleted from its former grandeur. The children of Israel could easily step over it now...
and crowds of swarming people.
We walked around the old city all afternoon, strolling past bagel shops, buying yarmulkes, peering into dark churches filled with lanterns and 'holy' sites. Inside the Church of the Holy Sepulechure, the location that is most likely truthfully where Christ was laid after his death, was dark and smoky filled with candles representing prayers. It was very ornate and filled with incense inside the building, but the candles flickering, so many words and pleas and thanks being shown visibly flying heavenward, was humbling. Humbling to know that God hears all of those prayers and all of those that are never lit on a candle, and He answeres them too.
