Our final day in the land

Our final day in the land. We left our hotel and drove down the ridge along the top of the Mount of Olives to the most amazing panoramic view of the Old City of Jerusalem. We oriented ourselves on the geography, the history, and then were challenged from the Word of God from Acts 1. This is where Jesus ascended back into heaven and will one day return. We are born into this generation, at this time, for this purpose to continue the work that “Jesus began both to do and teach”, according to vs 1, and what the Apostles established and grew in the early days of the church. And, here we are today followers of Jesus going home to do greater work than we’ve ever done before. We are inspired and challenged!

We walked around the Old City from the pool of Bethesda, to the Via Dolorosa leading up to Golgotha (the place of the skull), where Jesus was crucified, buried, and rose again. We visited the church of the Holy Sepulcher and were reminded of the great sacrifice of our Lord and Savior. We are humbled but glad that He is not here.

Our group has blended so wonderfully and the friendships we have created are going to last a very long time. We are thankful for our guide Ronen, our driver Meir, Joey our facilitator, Rich our GTI director, Pastor Randy one of our Bible teachers, and the rest of the team supporting us behind the scenes from GTI. We walked through the Old City to a wonderful restaurant with an amazing view of the Temple Mount and there we had our farewell dinner. We shared our stories and insights and gave thanks for what God has done for all of us.

We will wake up early and head for Ben-Gurion airport near Tel Aviv and our journey home will begin. We love this land and it’s people, but now we return to where we belong to do what God has called us all to do. Maybe some of us will return and bring others but all of us will be forever changed by this amazing experience. To God be the glory!