Our refuge. Our Living Water. Our loving God.

Someone in front/above, “hey look, it’s level here”
Someone in back/below, “haha, your ‘bubble’ is waaaaayyyy off”!

This is the ‘family’ our Lord brought together for this trip & they are AMAZING! The diversity of our family is just right. A great mix of Texas, Oregon, Michigan & Louisiana, young and older and in between. Each are life-giving! Let me tell you, this group of young, future leaders we have with us will no doubt be instrumental in changing so many lives to know the love of our Savior! They get what it means to love God for who he is and not just for what he can do for them! They get it! How awesome is that?!

We started Day 4 at the foot of Masada following straight off the bus after those famous words, ‘Follow me, please’. As we started up the Snake Path, (very appropriately named) one dares not to look up. Your final destination at the top is a challenge to say the least. We did whatever it took to get to the top though...pray, breathe, recite scripture, breathe, carry an extra pack, breathe, encourage, breathe, pray some more & 🎵‘Eye of the Tiger’🎵.

On the top was a fortress Herod the Great built as a refuge for himself in the desert looking out over the Dead Sea. It was all about him - to him.

Next stop...En Gedi....a literal mirage..in the desert! A picture of Maim Haim, Living Water. Where David hid out from Saul. A stronghold. Where we learn that God is our rock. Our refuge. Our Living Water. Our loving God.

If truth be told. this mirage of waterfalls of fresh water smack dab in the desert...the water we relaxed in could have been 2000 years old in its origins.....Now tell me we aren’t where we are supposed to be, right here, right now, loving God for who he is & not for what he can do for us!

Shabat Shalom - Ricki