Much more vivid

Shalom from Israel! Our plane flights went by quickly thanks to sleep and sharing stories with each other. Praise the Lamb! We arrived past midnight, Israeli time, to our hotel where the hotel staff had stayed up to serve us a special welcome dinner. We woke up bright and early the next day, today, and ate even more food so that we could head out to the first of our six locations of the day. To start off our tour, we went to a biblical garden called Kiriath-Jearim where we learned all about olive and wine presses.

Next we went to a tel which is an ancient lasagna kind of city where people would conquer, destroy and then build on top of the old city and eventually over centuries of conflict, an artificial hill would form filled with ancient artifacts and cultures buried below. We went exploring on the tel and then went into a cistern which was where people used to store rain water. There we went through the story of Samson because we were in the villages where he lived. What we did next was what helped sell me into the program. Our class saw where David fought Goliath! Just that alone would have been worth the trip for me! There is something so powerful about experiencing the sights, sounds and smells of scripture rather than just reading it.

It completely changed how I viewed the faith and trust that David had while going into battle. It is difficult for me to gather the words to describe to you how much more vivid the scriptures have become in only one day. I mean come on, we got the opportunity to climb through the tiny tunnels and caves that David used to flee from King Saul. How cool is that? I feel so blessed and honored to have the opportunity of experiencing the goodness of God through ancient Israel and the Old Testament, or as Hebrews call it, The Tanakh. I can’t wait for what God has in store for us next as we continue on our tour of Israel!

Written by:
Nathan C.