Day 5

Tina Huber

Reflections Day 5

January, 7 2012

On the road again...I just can’t wait to get on the road again. We headed to the east to get an upclose and personal view of the wilderness. From afar the wilderness area looks a lot like soft sand dunes. In reality they are nothing but rock. Hard, chalky overlay of senonian crust. They looked beautiful to me, but I think us city folk tend to romanticize going to the wilderness. Sometimes it’s just fun to say, “ya, I roughed this weekend and slept in my hard shell camper, on my queen sized bed.” I know I like to camp and explore nature, but living there is a totally different story! It is hard work to live off of the land, especially one as this. There are very few patches of green and the canyons are deep. A very hard way to survive. We sat on the side of one of these wilderness hills and started our day with a devotional reading of Psalm 139. Our devotion led into our discussion of how the only thing seperating Jersualem and the wilderness was the Mount of Olives. Being in the dessert and seeing the wilderness to the east, surely made Israelites appreciate their promise land. We too can experience wilderness in a way that makes us appreciative of what God has given us. I have experienced this in my own life and have witnessed it in the lives of others. I am an oncology nurse and take care of people who are, in this moment of their life, “in the wilderness.” It saddens me to think of any of my patients going through such a thing without drawing near to God. I also have witnessed, especially on this trip of young adults, people trying to make it sound like they’ve experience more wilderness than they actually have (the hard shell camper). I’m not sure why it is so hard to be aware of the blessings you have been given and that you have chosen to use them to glorify God. Not everyone has to have a hardship testimony! Ok, stepping down from my soapbox and climbing on a camel. Yep, I got on one on the top of the hill and road it for 10 shekels or in US $2.66. It was totally worth it. We headed from the hillside to go hiking. We started at an area called the Ascend of Adummin and hiked all the way to Jericho! Here I go again with my exclamation marks. I hope it truely captures my enthusiasm!!! I loved the trail. It took us into the Wadi Qelt. We hiked past St. Geoge Monastary. This monestary exist in a rememberance of Jesus’ temptation in the wilderness. Unbelievable how they built this into the side of the hill. I seriously have a new appreciation for those who lived in the wilderness, like John the Baptist or Elijah when he fled from Ahab. The views where breath taking and the hike was along a very narrow path with no siderails. You could see caves above you and canyon below you. It was marvelous. As we came out of the wilderness, Jericho sat at the foot of the hills as an oasis. I was so excited when we could see the city from the hills and imagined how those who had spent refuge in this area must have felt when they too could see it in the distance. We saw another one of Herod’s palaces. This guy had a serious ego. This one I believe was his winter home. It was at a hill called Cypros. His presence would have been know in Jericho. On our walk from the wilderness to these ruins some Palestine boys on the hill were throwing rocks at us. One came kind of close to hitting me. At first this freaked me out a little. You know we are in Palenstine and Americans get a little nervous when rocks start being thrown. =) However, this was just boys being boys. Nothing political just onriness. They came and gathered around the wall of the area we were teaching and I prayed from them and their nation. Jericho was a good time. The city, from what I saw was nice and the people were very friendly. As we would pass them in our bus, people on the street would wave. I felt very welcomed. They are smart. Hospitality is good for tourism. Jericho is an intresting archeological site to visit. There is a lot of conflicting data on dating this site, but that didn’t really bother me. There are always new discoveries but the bible remains the same. My faith isn’t dependant on any evidence found in these sites. The city has a tropical feel. As we sat at the site it struck me as a little bizarre to see the extreme contrast. The wilderness, dry, desolate, and dusty. Jericho with fertile farm land, a spring to give them water, and color. We ate lunch here. Jericho was truley our oasis today. After our time of refreshment and getting a great deal on a scarf, we went to an area called Nebi Samwill. Here we looked at Gibeon. Gibeon was a strategic area for Jerusalem to have to protect them from Egypt and Phillistines. From here we quickly headed to Gezer. Gezer is located near Alijalon Valley in the Shephelah or lowlands. It was an important city for Jerusalem to control because if someone started to invade from the coast they would know. This city was given as a dowery to King Solomon from an Egyptian king. Who gives their daughter a city? I wondered if that pressured other kings in the area. Maybe their daughters were jealous of this extravagant gift. I had noticed over the past couple days that you could see the moon in the sky during daytime. Its reflection was bright and seemed to follow us. As we ended our day we closed with a reading from Joshua 10:12. “Joshua said to the Lord in the presence of Israel: Sun stand still over Gibeon and you moon over the valley of Aijalon.” It gave me chills to see this full moon in front of me in the day sky and the sun behind me getting ready to set. I have so much to ponder and store in my heart on my day off tomorrow. I look forward to attending worship services in Jerusalem at Christ Church off of Jaffa Gate.