Wilderness, Camels and Mud…Living Water, Dead Sea and Trust.

As we drove to our location, we saw that “desert” can mean very different things. It’s best to know what kind of desert you’re talking about before agreeing to go there. As we began our time in the Wilderness of Zin, we learned about flint rock and how the Israelites used it to make fire and to fashion tools, weapons and knives. We got a better understanding of what the Israelites experienced as they journeyed through the desert and had to trust God for food, water and shelter, and that sometimes He provides in unexpected ways, like “Living Water” springing forth from a rock.

After a strenuous hike, we sat in the shade of trees planted by a stream of water and listened as Psalm 1 was brought to life. We saw that sometimes the trees have to reach for the water with their roots and also trust that water will come again when enduring times of dryness, something we too experience in our own lives. Like the Israelites, we can feel forgotten by God, but it’s possible that we are the ones who have forgotten God’s faithfulness to us in the past, and we too must “Remember, don’t forget.” Perhaps our desert times are to teach us not to grumble when God only gives “just enough” and to know that through perseverance the trial can result in proven character and hope.

On our next stop we experienced the goodness of Bedouin and Biblical hospitality, so different from our Western ways, to welcome guests and give them food and shelter for three days, no questions asked. Then our hosts treated us to a short camel ride where we tested our ability to mount our saddles in unison and learned that the lead camel sets the pace, or not, as he may be more interested in stopping to eat. We ended our day where we began, at the Dead Sea, or as the locals call it, the Salt Sea. We had a hilarious mud treatment followed by the traditional floating which we all agreed, “We could get used to this!”

Sheila and Greg Bair