Pastor's Blog
One Israel Memory Posted 4.30.2010
Note from Pastor Jim - it is Friday and I am back from Israel/Jordan. It was a fantastic trip!! Really. I wrote the following from Amman a couple of days ago. Have a great weekend!
Every trip to Israel has a highlight and we have had many. It has been a pilgrimage of the heart. For me, one of my favorite moments took place last Saturday. It was a transition, and movement of a few feet that changed everything. We had spent an hour trekking to and through the Church of the Holy Sepulcher. It was a hectic journey.
The Church of the Holy Sepulcher is like it always is. Crowded. Busy. Dark. Pungent with incense. And did I mention crowded? I think so. It was full of people scurrying here and there. Not very sacred to me.
Soon we were headed back toward the Damascus Gate and the short trip outside the Gate to the Garden Tomb. Nothing would be easy on this walk. It was a busy day of shopping for the locals on Saturday afternoon. We rubbed shoulders with just about everyone on that crowded Old City labyrinth which is the Moslem Quarter. The sights and sounds and smells were not normal Southern California sights and sounds and smells.
After we left the Damascus gate behind and climbed the stairs leading away from the Gate we headed toward the Garden Tomb. Because it was Saturday –the street to to the Garden Tomb was just as packed with makeshift stalls selling fruits and vegetables and toys and household products.
As we approached the Garden Tomb, the parking lot across the street was absolutely jammed with buses and the accompanying diesel fumes wafted up in the air. From incense to diesel, not sure which I actually preferred. We turned the corner and up the alley to the Garden Tomb. And then it happened. It was stark and very obvious. As we passed the gate we came into a very different world. As the gate closed behind us, the noise was gone. The smells were gone. The hectic pace and jostling were gone. We were in a sanctuary. Maybe not a holy place, but a place where truth would touch our souls.
Soon a friendly voice with a thick British accent greeted us warmly and we were on our way to one of the best 90 minutes of the trip. We were at the Garden Tomb, ready to take off the tourist hat – and put on the life hat. What a refreshing transition – the best 90 minutes of the tour. Even our guide joined us as we shared the Lord’s Table together. Truth refreshes. It is truth which changes everything. And we were refreshed. Rejuvenate your soul with the wonderful truth of God’s Word.
"Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be silenced and the whole world held accountable to God. Therefore no one will be declared righteous in his sight through the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of sin. But now a righteousness from God, apart from law, has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe.”
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