Filed under: Jerusalem
Well as everything that is bound by time comes to an end, my time here is coming to an end. It seems ending are of the theme this week. Doing all my ending papers; getting ready for the end trip; studying how Jews practice the end of life; I had to end the life of a monster spider…, this chapter of my life is now ending. The people here I know so well, are going to be again but smells and pictures. I had written before about this idea of the past being only, when it comes down to it, something we smell and then have a picture in our heads. It will be like that, though wull see what differences the Lord will bring from what I had done here. Perhaps this time I will miss people; perhaps not… I come to the conclusion that I am not good as missing people. I don’t fully know why yet, but when it comes to being somewhere else where people that I usually am with are not there, I don’t get that feeling that so many people describe as missing. Sure it would be great to have people around, the more the marrier, but I really wonder about this. Am I born with it? Is it a gift? Or a curse? Maybe being somewhere in the middle is best… Because when it comes down to it some of the people here will be like they are dying. I will never see them again, never talk to them again, never experience things with them again… They will be but a picture in my head and perhaps later on in life I will wonder what a smell reminds me of, and it will be them, then the pictures of what he experienced together will come back. Then I will have the decision before me, to want those experiences so bad again that I act in a way that promotes them, or I will decide to accept them as they were and look forward to having new ones like it…
Jordan Entry
We had our last trip for learning the land of Israel. It was a 4 day trip that I will never lose smell of! The picture will play back in my head over and over because it was something that I will most likely never experience something similar to. It was a rare thing, and rare things I remember well. We went to tones of places that no one would know, because they are mentioned like once or twice in some place in the Old Testament. Those names or places that you say, “I’ll never remember”… I’ve been there! haha. I remember them well because I have a test coming up on them and I need to know them for a different purpose. I got pictures and 360 video shots of basically all of them. See if you recognize the names: Dibon… Bozrah… Ammon… Rabbah… They are place in the Bible, I promise… But I’m sure all who read this will know of the place Petra. Maybe not by the name Petra, but by the movie Indiana Jones. Quite the experience of a movie to remember, even though I didn’t live it, I remember that one well. I went to that place where the Holy Grail is kept! That place where the Old guy says, “You have chosen… … … … Wisely”. You know what I’m talking about.
I followed the Map that Indiana had, and this is what I found...
But as well as being an amazing trip, it was somewhat emotional at the end. We finished out last stop at Mt. Nebo, the place where Moses was told by God that he was to die and not enter the promised land. You could tell our teacher had planned all this talks out wisely in the way that his speeches were so polished and appropreate for what was happeneing in our lives. It was quite the emotional ending. It seems my missing has already been done. I felt sad and realized that this section of experience will end. I wont be able to see these people, do the same things, experience the same lifestyle… This chapter is ending. I miss it now so I don’t have to later I guess. I get home then 5 days later have to move to another chapter. Home it seems has been the preface for each new chapter of my life. I go home for a month or two to add to the confusion of how I fit in there, then leave and restart the process of meeting new people, having the beginning times where people don’t like to have akward silences. I get to have those talks where I give my life story in a nutshell. I don’t mind… I actually really love the new. But I don’t know how I would experience the non-new anymore. If I were to stay somewhere for more than a year, I wonder how I would cope. I think Tsawwassen should be the next chapter of my life. Experience the life of working for money sake, eating for my stomach sake, sleeping for my sleepiness sake, and hanging for desires sake.
"The edge of the World", as the sign said...
It seems the end of this part of the world is coming to an end for me. Maybe it does not actually exist once I leave… I’ll never know. Do tree make a noise when they fall when no one is around? hmmmm? Anyways… All that to say, I’ll be coming home in about 3 weeks. But until then, I will continue to add to the amount of smells that remind me of things. I love you all at home, and hope all is well. God Bless
Look out to what Moses saw as he was told he wasn't to go to the promise land...
Filed under: Jerusalem
It has been an interesting week here in Jerusalem. The whole city is in crazy people mode. There is hundreds and hundreds of people walking around looking at stuff. It is passover week, plus the week of Jesus death, plus the week of the Samaritan sacrifice. Having Easter here has brought to life much of its importance. It seems that the North American practice of hiding chocolates around the house for their kids to find, just doesn’t regester to people over here. At times I can see why many consider the North American church as sleeping… Just as we North Americans would look kinda funny upon those that walk around with insence and worship to pictures of marry, they look funny upon our Christmas trees and chocolate hunts. They had a march of like 12,000 christians of all the world coming down the mount of olives. Many carried palm branches, others came down with music, others came down with whole marching bands. It is a skinny road so it takes hours for this march. The whole eastern side of the city shuts down for it. Hearing all the different languages singing as they came down made the idea of Jesus ruling the nations much more impactful in my mind. I heard mandrin singing, arabic singing, english singing, hebrew singing, you name it ever nation under God was represented… It was an awesome experience.
Mt of Olives decent
This week has been absolutly busy for not just the city but myself as well. Not so much with school work, but just with event after event. We went to the march, went of a 4 hour hike, then to a sheep sacrifice, set-up for a special old cultural dinner where we laid around a table and ate what people would have ate in the Bible times, and then it was today… The sheep sacrifice was interesting, it is that samaritan group that I mentiond before that only believe in the first 5 books of the Old Testament. It was a bit disturbing, but definetly and experience that I will never forget and will forever change my view of different ways of life…
Roasting Sheep Skin (It didn't smell good...)
Personally I have been doing really well. Perhaps this trip is not at all like my Germany trip in the sense of how I am learning and able to help other, but God is working in his suddleties… I am being challenged in whole new ways. This week was a challenge of taking the cross and Jesus life more seriously. It came to my mind that one of the greatest promises I continually remind myself is that I am eventually going to make it to heaven. In light of looking to heaven I am able to be joyous, loving, and not so worried about how I am percieved or how I do. I will eventually get old and live my life as an old person… I will eventually be like this lady I saw in the back of a church. It seemed as though she was an amazing artist because from a distance she was drawing to fast while looking at a garden sceen. She had loads of makeup on and had not a care for this random 21 year old coming up behind her. Little did I realize that her drawing was simply scribbles that had been drawn really fast. It almost looked like a tree that a 3 year old could draw… Eventually I will be there. Eventually I will be able to see God in the peace that heaven is coming up soon… This is how I look at my end, and still I am so disobedient to live how God wishes… I looked to Jesus, and what did he see… What has his promise? He had the cross to look forward to. In light of all those he was loving around him and all those that he helped, he knew he would have to eventually die in the most horrible way known to man. He knew from the start that his life was a living sacrifice upon a cross. He was to be like those sheep I saw get massacred and put onto stakes… Now if that was my promise… would I even still be obedient at all? I would run away… Just as all his disciples did… Yet this is was I deserve. I deserve the worst thing that man has to offer, in fact I deserve the worst thing God has to offer… I deserve to take up my cross and die… Yet we are called to something greater… we get to now follow Jesus. That comment in the Bible where Paul says, “take up your cross and follow Jesus” has a much deeper meaning to me now. I have the promise of going to heaven and that is what keeps me going… Jesus had a promise of the cross… how did he keep going? Going through those temptation of Satan, Jesus knew he would have to be on the cross; Going through his childhood, Jesus knew he would have to be on the cross; Going through the constant tiring 3 years of non-stop ministry, he knew he would have to be on the cross. Yet he was always obedient. Never once did he fade from the objective God had given him. Man… I am not worthy. It is even too much of an honor to be able to carry my cross with Jesus. My life is to be be in light of that as well. It is to realize that in the end it is but a sacrifice. It is God’s for the sake of his doing on earth. I’ll get my time in eternity… but until then God should have the right to use my life in anyway he pleases. I did in fact commit my life to him in baptism. It’s not mine anymore. Weird that that actually is a source of complete joy. That takes every worry and leave it with God. If my life truly is his, then what do I have to worry about besides trying to take it back?
I also went to Elot
I forgot to mention but I went for three days to a place with clearn blue water! It was awesome… We did snorkling and all sorts of things. It was a trip not with the school, but about 12 of us went down for three days and had an awesome hot time. It was really hot. I saw some really colourful fish.
Holding up a tower in Elat
