Israel-Final Thoughts

At the beginning, I tried to soak in as much as I could on this one time trip, but halfway through I knew I had to come back. It was an amazing place to visit on so many levels. Just to give you an idea, I would move there in a heartbeat. The only other place I visited where I felt that way was New Zealand. Thank God the New Jerusalem will be there. I am so excited about that now, but I do hope to get back before then! I never felt unsafe. Maybe it was God, maybe it was because it felt so much like the US-familiar. It's a melting pot like the US. I couldn't tell who lived there b/c they speak American English. I only ran into one person who didn't speak English. Most of the immigrants are from America.

We are asked to pray for the peace of Israel. Which seems silly if you've read revelation. But peace means something different than what we think. Peace means fullness, completion, restoration.

It's an extremely kid friendly place. I saw parks everywhere and of course chicken nuggets and french fries. Kids and kid noises are very tolerated.

There's always something I experience in a different culture that I wish we had here in America. That one thing was how the older kids watch out for and take care of the younger kids. It was so neat to see them holding their hands and leading them around. We separate so much here. Lake has his own 3 year old class at church and gets little exposure to bigger kids. Yes, safety is an issue, but older kids can learn to be mindful of little kids as I saw in Israel.

I'd say the one disappointment in the trip was how little time we had to sit and soak it in. I mentioned how we whizzed through Israel. I would really have enjoyed a day to wander in the hills by the Sea of Galilee (they just call to you to walk and walk on them), or sit on the shore of the Sea of Galilee, or take a boat out and float around for awhile. Shoot, I would have been happy to wander in the desert. We did have some time once we got back to the hotel but that wasn't the same as being at Peter's Primacy.

The last day was my toughest day. We didn't go at our normal pace and I was REALLY missing my family. Up until then, I did great. We were able to communicate through the week a lot more than I anticipated and that helped.

So, should you visit? YES! And take me with you. :) It was nothing like I imagined and I couldn't even begin to explain it to you (though I tried). The pictures I took won't help either. You will be amazed at how God's word comes alive with new and deeper meaning because you get more of the context. I loved seeing where places were in relation to each other. It makes reading/studying the Bible so much more fun. One word of warning, if you visit Israel and are not a believer, please don't visit the Church of the Holy Sepulchre and think that's what it's about. Instead, know that believers REJOICE that he is risen.

God bless you and thanks for reading about my adventure!