Evidence and Experience

Today was our last day in Israel. We participated in an active archaeological sifting, saw the Pool of Bethesda, walked the Via De La Rosa, visited the site of our Lord's crucifixion, saw the empty grave, and climbed the Southern Steps. The day ended with a farewell dinner at a restaurant in Downtown Jerusalem where we enjoyed a meal as a family and shared what God has been doing in our hearts, minds, and souls here in Israel.

As I write this final blog the one thing that keeps coming back to me is this: We spent ten days in God's Holy Land and learned and discovered much about our Jesus. We encountered our God and walked the steps of his son. We saw evidence after archaeological evidence of God's love letter to us, His Holy Bible. But this trip is not just about us and our experience or what God has been doing in our hearts. It doesn't stop here. Because on the Southern Steps of the Temple, the disciples began the movement of telling people about Jesus, and we are to continue that movement. We are to go back with boldness in our faith and evidence in our hands and our GOD in our hearts to share with everyone we know and everyone we meet the love and grace and power and might of our SAVIOR. The land and history of Israel has lit a fire in me that I've never known before. After 30 years of following Christ, I have never known my Jesus the way I know him now, and I cannot - I will not - keep this to myself. We are commanded to go and tell the good news and now more than ever we are equipped to share our stories of this land, and our Lord.

"You will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth" (Acts 1:8b).

"Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age" (Matthew 28:19-20).

Written by Ashley Serin