Living Water

Today started with a two hour bus ride southwest from our hotel on the western coast of the Dead Sea to a site called Ein Avdat (a.k.a. Wadi Zin) in the heart of the Negev. The Negev (Hebrew for both “south” and “dry”) is the southernmost border region of Israel. It’s vast and beautiful and consists of fairly treacherous wilderness terrain. The drive out was breathtaking and the bus was filled with laughter. It was a really great way to start the morning. This group is so fun and full of life.

We arrived at Ein Avdat and hiked about twenty minutes into the wadi. In case the word “wadi” is unfamiliar to you, as it was to me before my first trip to Israel, a wadi is a deep, narrow valley, usually with a shallow or dried up riverbed at the bottom. Ein Avdat is no different. It’s very deep, very narrow and incredibly beautiful. The first part of the hike was flat, easy and filled with selfies. Truly, you’ve never seen a group of adults who owns more selfie sticks than this one.

About twenty minutes in, the wadi dead-ends into a small pool, fed by a tall, but less-than-powerful waterfall. We sat near the pool for a while and Wes taught about the Israelites wandering in the wilderness and complaining to Moses about their lack of water. We also discussed again the significance of living water in Scripture.

After his teaching, most of us hiked up a long, steep, narrow set of stairs hewn out of the canyon wall. It was fairly physically demanding, but worth it for the incredible view along the way. When we reached the top of the canyon, Wes and Ronan led us out into the wilderness a ways to give us a little taste of what it feels like to wander seemingly aimlessly. The terrain was still flat, but extremely rocky and much tougher to walk.

After about a 20 minute hike, we stopped at a bedouin outpost where Wes and Ronan had arranged for everyone to go for a camel ride. The bedouins had probably 30 camels, all tied in a single file line. We partnered up and mounted the camels and were led around the wilderness for 20-30 minutes before heading back to the outpost. Much laughter ensued. Good times were had by all.

When we arrived back at the outpost, we went into a massive tent, sat on cushions on the ground, and were served coffee, tea and dessert by our new bedouin friends. Ronan taught us about how important hospitality is and always has been to Bedouin culture. It was a great moment.

Afterwards, we loaded back up on the bus and drove an hour or so North to our second site for the day, Arad. Arad is an ancient ruin that sits at the foot of the Judean mountains in the Negev, about half a day’s walk west of the Dead Sea.

We ate a picnic lunch, then headed through the remains of the city, up a hill to what’s left of a nearly 3,000 year old temple. We gathered up just outside what would have been the Holy of Holies and discussed all that was unique about the site. When we were done, we drove about 45 minutes back to our hotel.

We arrived back at around 4:00pm, and most of the group changed clothes and headed across the street for a quick, laughter-filled swim in the Dead Sea, then cleaned up and headed to dinner at the hotel.

After dinner, we all gathered up outside, near the hotel pool, and spent some time worshipping together in song. It was a fitting end to a really wonderful Day 2. Now, we’re off to sleep to prepare for another full day tomorrow, when we’ll visit Masada and Ein Gedi before heading north to spend a few days around the Sea of Galilee.

Thanks again for following along, and for your prayers as we explore this incredible land of our Hope and heritage! More tomorrow!