Wednesday February 13, 2013

Travel Day

Today we packed our vans and left Beit Bracha, beginning our journey up to Jerusalem, the Holy City of God.

On the way we made a stop along the Jordan river at the approximate location where John the Baptist was Baptism his followers for the repentance of sin. There is a Baptismal site located there also.  Minus the catfish that at the site just at the end of the Sea of Galilee. (This will only mean something to you if you have been baptized at that site and the catfish have nibbled your toes.)  As we walked down to the Baptismal site we were well aware that just 100 feet across the river was Jordan. Signs were posted all around us warning to stay on the path because of the danger of land mines.

Dan gave a teaching on when Jesus came to John, his cousin, at this site and asked John to baptize him.  Most importantly this was where God said "This is my beloved Son in who I am well pleased."

Continuing on, we drove to En Gedi, in the Judean Desert.  Most of the group hiked to the waterfalls.  There were several ibex running around in the parking lot looking for handouts.

The trip down the Jordan river valley was beautiful.  I have never seen it so green and lush.  The country has certainly been blessed with abundant rainfall this year.

We now started our ascent to Jerusalem. Our devotional reading today was Psalm 120-134, the Psalms of Ascent.  It is always wonderful to come up into Jerusalem.  We went to the Mount Scopes overlook, and had a time of prayer for Jerusalem.

Our residence for the next 2 days is at ChristChurch, which is located in the Old City Just inside the Joppa Gate.  ChristChurch is the oldest Protestant Church in the Middle East.  We unloaded the vans and Dan and Sharon returned them.  The next few days we will be on foot.  Driving in Jerusalem is a nightmare.  dinner was own our own tonight so we walked down to the square and had BBQ  and no it was not like our BBQ.  It was really just Schwarma meat on a bed of Humus piled on a Pita.  Construction is in full swing in Jerusalem.  We passed places where they were working by lights in the dark.  The last picture is of a tub of Concrete that they mixed up by hand just on the side of the road.

At 8:30 we continued our Bible Study of James.  James is really in your face about following the will of God, not the laws of man, and about taming our tongue.  We all agreed to use more restraint in our speech, texts, emails, Facebook posts, etc.  I decided I just needed to keep my mouth shut, and listen more.

Terry was not feeling well after dinner and did not come to the bible study.  When I returned, she was really feeling bad, so I took her to an urgent care clinic.  We walked in and the lobby was packed, but it was amazing how quickly they moved people in and through the clinic.  After an EEG, Xray, and Blood tests, it was determined that she had Pneumonia.  The doctor wrote several scripts, and we jumped in a taxi, and went to the closest pharmacy still open at midnight, and got the medicine, then home to bed.  I was really amazed, the clinic bill was only $200 for all of that.  The only question that remained unanswered was how she got pneumonia so quickly.  We are afraid that it was from the Bomb Shelter that we worked on that had been very wet inside.  A few others were beginning to feel bad, and there is some concern that it might be legionnaires.  So please keep us in your prayers, for safety, and good health.