The Heart of God Tour

November 24 - December 3, 2022

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Day 06 - Old City Jerusalem, St. Anne's, Western Wall, Israel Museum, Mt. of Olives, Church of the Holy Sephulcher,

George has a saying, a George-ism, that he repeats often on trips: “We’ll see what God gives.” It’s a posture of expectancy and trust, obedience and deference. It’s a recognition that we receive our moments and days from the hand of our God who is sovereign over all. Somehow today felt like God gave us a week’s worth of memories in a single day! We wandered through the busy streets of the Old City of Jerusalem, stopping to try new foods and fresh juices. The church of St. Anne was just opening when we walked up, and we had the place to ourselves as we sang and listened to the pitch perfect acoustics. We explored the Western Wall, the men on the left and the women on the right, watching and praying. It was a busy Bar Mitzvah day and we stopped to clap and dance along with a passing parade of smiling family members celebrating their young teenage son. At the Israel Museum we walked around an enormous model of what Jerusalem was believed to have looked like, which helped us when we looked down on the modern city from the Mount of Olives after lunch. That’s right, that was all before lunch!

But wait, there’s even more that God gave this day! We walked down the Mount of Olives, wondering about how Jesus might have felt walking along this way either on his triumphal entry or when the temple guard brought him from Gethsemane to stand before the high priest. From there we visited the Church of the Holy Sepulcher and imagined Jesus’ staggering down the crowded Jerusalem streets carrying the crossbeam across his shoulders.

All this would be a lot for any single day, but we had a full evening itinerary, too! God also gave our participants a surprise visit from a representative from the office of the Israeli Ministry of Tourism. She gave everyone on the trip a certificate which states that we are all “Goodwill Ambassador[s] of Israel.” She didn’t just hand us certificates, however, she also brought live music to help us celebrate the event! We jumped, clapped, and danced to the music of a saxophone and an accordion! It was quite the party. But it didn’t stop there. After we’d taken pictures and said our goodbyes to our surprise guests, our participants put on a talent show for our group. They’d been rehearsing during our evening activity time all week and tonight was their time to shine. There were singers, an artist, Bible memory recitations, and a sports trivia announcer!

God gave so much it’s hard to get a good grip on it (especially as exhausted as we are!), but that’s good. This kind of abundance is made for open-handed sharing. Thank you for your continued prayers as we wrap up our final touring day tomorrow and then make our way back to Tel Aviv to prepare for the long journey home.

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