Bishop Greg Rickel is the 8th Bishop of Olympia. The Episcopal Diocese of Olympia is geographically made up of the western third of Washington state running from the peaks of the Cascades to the Pacific Ocean and from Canada to Oregon. Greg was ordained/consecrated bishop on September 15, 2007.
Well, this morning we left St. George's College, all twelve of us, in a much smaller bus, with luggage all around us, but comfortable. The AC worked! St. George's is a fabulous gem in the Anglican world, something we should cherish, build up, and utilize. If you ever get a chance to travel to Jerusalem I would highly recommend the accommodations at St. George's. There are connections all over the campus to Olympia. I had breakfast with John Peterson this morning, former Dean for 12 years through the early 80s and 90s and he echoed this. He brought up Janet McCully especially and her great impact on him and this marvelous place. There is a museum on the grounds given by Ed and Barbara Benshoof, and the cornerstone itself was laid by Bishop Stephen Bayne, the third bishop of Olympia. The Dean, staff, and faculty took excellent care of us all.
And so we left Jerusalem behind, as so many pilgrims have done, with many memories in our hearts. We traveled to Tel Aviv, and a nice hotel just off the beach. We could not check in right away so we went to get lunch, and we then walked to Ben Gurion's House, which is a museum now, watched a very good film about his life and impact on Israel and then we walked to the Rabin Square to the site where Rabin was assassinated in
By then we were able to check in, and we did, quickly donning our bathing suits and heading down to the warm waters of the Mediterranean. We had so much fun! After some down time and freshening up, we headed out for a nice dinner together followed by ice cream, a stroll along the beach and then in for the night. I packed and prepared as I am leaving in the morning. The pilgrims stay on one more full day and return on Friday. Below are the final videos of the Stations of the Cross and catching up with our last full day in Jerusalem.
Blessings,
+Greg
Catching up on videos! This is July 20th, the end of the Stations of the Cross, Church of the Holy Sepelchre
Leaving Jerusalem, arriving in Tel Aviv, Ben Gurion's House, and our final dinner!
On this, our last full day in the youth course, we began very early, I awoke at 5:15 a.m. The youth were supposed to as well, but alas some of them found it very difficult to do. But, even with that, they made it out for us to begin the Via Dolorosa, what we often call the Stations of the Cross, at about 6 a.m.. We do this early so that the busy and narrow streets of Old Jerusalem might be less crowded. I filmed some of this silent walk, and you will see just how quiet it is. If you saw it at its peak, as we have this week, and would later this day, it is indeed good to do it this early. It was very moving, every young person and leader took part in some way. We end at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, yet another place of contention, and boundaries, contrasts and contradictions. Here you will see several things, the spot where they laid Jesus' body after he was taken down from the cross, the tomb, and a hole under the altar in one chapel where we all lined up to stick our hand down to touch the rock of our salvation, the rock of crucifixion, as thousands have before us. This was all moving, and it was clear that it is an active church at the same time. One of the most fascinating stories about this place, which I have used often in sermons, and other venues is the story of the ladder outside one of the windows, and the idea of the status quo. You can find lots about this online; this below from Wikipedia.
The primary custodians are the Eastern Orthodox, the Armenian Apostolic and the Roman Catholic Churches, with the Greek Orthodox Church
having the lion's share. In the 19th century, the Coptic Orthodox the Ethiopian Orthodox and the Syriac Orthodox acquired lesser
responsibilities, which include shrines and other structures within and
around the building. Times and places of worship for each community are
strictly regulated in common areas.
Establishment of the 1853 status quo did not halt the violence, which
continues to break out every so often even in modern times. On a hot
summer day in 2002, the Coptic monk who is stationed on the roof to
express Coptic claims to the Ethiopian territory there moved his chair
from its agreed spot into the shade. This was interpreted as a hostile
move by the Ethiopians, and eleven were hospitalized after the resulting
fracas.
In another incident in 2004 during Orthodox celebrations of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross, a door to the Franciscan
chapel was left open. This was taken as a sign of disrespect by the
Orthodox and a fistfight broke out. Some people were arrested, but no
one was seriously injured.
On Palm Sunday, in April 2008, a brawl broke out when a Greek monk was
ejected from the building by a rival faction. Police were called to the
scene but were also attacked by the enraged brawlers.A clash erupted between Armenian and Greek monks on Sunday 9 November
2008, during celebrations for the Feast of the Holy Cross.
Under the status quo, no part of what is designated as common
territory may be so much as rearranged without consent from all
communities. This often leads to the neglect of badly needed repairs
when the communities cannot come to an agreement among themselves about
the final shape of a project. Just such a disagreement has delayed the
renovation of the edicule where the need is
now dire, but also where any change in the structure might result in a
change to the status quo disagreeable to one or more of the
communities.
A less grave sign of this state of affairs is located on a window
ledge over the church's entrance. Someone placed a wooden ladder there
sometime before 1852, when the status quo defined both the doors
and the window ledges as common ground. The ladder remains there to this
day, in almost exactly the same position it can be seen to occupy in
century-old photographs and engravings.
None of the communities controls the main entrance. In 1192, Saladin
assigned responsibility for it to two neighboring Muslim families. The Joudeh were
entrusted with the key, and the Nusseibeh,
who had been the custodians of the church since the days of Caliph Omar
in 637, retained the position of keeping the door. This arrangement has
persisted into modern times. Twice each day, a Joudeh family member
brings the key to the door, which is locked and unlocked by a Nusseibeh.
In fact, in one meeting while at the college, while John Peterson, former Dean of St. George's was presenting to us, his cell phone went off several times, and when he checked it, it was one of these families calling him about opening parts of the church.
All of it fascinating. We then had breakfast, and were released in our groups, with adults to spend the day in Old Jerusalem which we did. We went to the City of David Museum, had a great lunch, shopped, and discovered this wonderful baker, which I had heard about , and had tried to find. When I found it I was so excited, and went in. He came out, looked at me and said, tomorrow! And I said, no tomorrow, I will leave, so I said thank you, smiled and walked out. He shortly came running out the door, looked at me and said, "you leave tomorrow." "yes" I said, he motioned to follow him, which I did, and he proceeded to hand make, as he always does, these fabulous pastries. I have a video of this wonderful man just below. One fun fact, his bakery used to be the front door, and the only way into the courtyard of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.
The rest of these videos of our Via Dolorosa and the rest of our day. The first video of the Via Dolorosa goes for about 6 minutes just showing our walk. I do that trying to give you a feel for what it was like. After that initial showing the clips go much faster and are of our contingent reading and praying. I will post more of that tomorrow. Tomorrow, we move to Tel Aviv and then I fly home!
Well not exactly, but almost! The forecast here is consistent, it reads, nearly every day, very very hot! And the weather here lives up to the billing! Today was no different. So we said goodbye to Pilgerhaus and the Sea of Galilee and that was sad. I think the youth loved this more than anything so far, and I have to agree. But, we had many more fun and interesting places to see, including Mt. Tabor, which was our first stop today. Mt. Tabor is the site of the Transfiguration. It is a beautiful mountain, quite high and standing alone some miles from Nazareth. You have a choice to either hike up it or take taxis up a steep, winding, switch back road. We took the cabs, for which I was glad, but as we began the ascent I had to wonder. The road itself is narrow with hairpin turns, and the cabs tdo not really go slow. It as if they all have a sixth sense about what lies around the next turn. I was glad to make it to the top, and the ride down was even more daunting, and I was even more glad to be down there. The basilica on top of the mountain is beautiful as well, and there we celebrated Eucharist, and we toured the church, and we had espresso, and talked to the monks, and then it was time to leave. From there we traveled on to Beth Shean, which is basically a great ruin, perhaps one of the best preserved and most extensive, what was once one of the ten city states of the Decapolis. Well that is all fine and good, and JR especially wanted us to see this site. I am glad he did but this is where the "hell" part comes in. It must have been 110 on this day, and there is no shade in beautiful Beth Shean. We were sent on a Scavenger Hunt to find out clues about the city. Our prize for winning out of our 8 teams was ice cream, purchased by JR. So, I have to tell you, just as we were making our way down the wonderfully preserved main street, I looked back to find three of our Olympia youth and one of the adult sponsors hunkered down in a small nitch that provided stage. Of course they were laughing about it, but I could see why. I finally said, "Let's read about this in the shade up at the entrance, and I will buy you all ice cream!" And that was the end of our exploration. To top that off, the air conditioning on the bus decided to slowly stop working on our two hour trip back to Jerusalem. But, we made it, and that was it for the bus. Tonight we said goodbye to our wonderful guide Gilbert, who we affectionately called Cue Ball, because of his bald head, and our bus driver who amazed us continually at the way he could maneuver this bus through the narrow streets of this country, and back it up into the tightest places. They took good care of us.
This evening we had dinner here at the college and in our reflection time talked about what we do with all we have learned. These youth are exceptional. I am proud of all of them and have been honored to travel with them. The adults with them, just the same!
So, tonight for videos, I am catching up, so you have two days worth here. There was not much filming on this day, my camera melted, so no video but videos will be in for tomorrow! I do have some still shots from today! Tonight we are back in Jerusalem where there is a great breeze and it is almost cool! Blessings, +Greg
These kids are tired!
Eucharist on Mt. Tabor
Church of the Transfiguration on Mt. Tabor
Beth Shean (where it felt like hell)
July 18th, and July 17th below, read those days blogs to more fully understand! Sorry they are late!
After a great moonlit evening on the Sea, and a good night’s
rest, we began with a visit to Capernaum.It is literally within walking distance of Pilgerhaus on the Sea of
Galilee.Even closer, in fact next door,
is the purported sight of the loaves and fishes, and the also not far away the
sermon on the mount.Capernaum is impressive, and as in all of
these sites, you are struck by the survival of this, and always in wonder about
who and what might have happened along these paths, who lived in these houses,
what all has been seen and experienced there.It was really good, on this Sunday, to walk through Jesus’ synagogue
while listening to the chants and singing coming from the Mass being celebrated
in the church built directly over the house of Peter’s mother in law.(there is no need to email me about the fact
that many of these sites are disputed, I get that)no matter, they are old!And most would not dispute the stones, and
columns were around when Jesus was.My
best moment here was when I walked around to the other side of the church,
along the banks of the Sea of Galilee and just sat on a rock and looked out to
the waters, as the choir practiced just behind me.
We traveled from there to Caesarea Philipi, where we looked
into the Temple of Pan, and saw some more incredible ruins, and imagined what
all had happened there.It was here that
we ate lunch, and I bought a chalice and some oil to use at the baptism later
in the day.This is also a head source
for the Jordan River and so it was good to touch that.We left there and traveled to the Golan
Heights, and some fabulous waterfalls at Banias, which are even more amazing since they
are hidden in this land that seems so arid and hot.We enjoyed the cool mist coming off the
falls, built in air conditioning on a usual hot day.Again, these are head waters for the
Jordan.In fact, the Golan Heights are
considered Syria by most of the international community.It is occupied territory by Israel
currently.
From there, we made our way back to the banks of the Sea of
Galilee, gave the youth thirty minutes to get their bathing suits on, and get
down to the bank for our Eucharist and Baptism, which we celebrated right on
the shore.Emily Talberg of St. Benedict’s,
Lacey was baptized and there is a video just below to show it.It was also Riley Germanis’ 18th
birthday.Riley attends St. James’,
Kent.I asked him to preach and he did,
very well.You can see that in the video
below too.Emily’s baptism proved to be
moving for all of us.Tonight, as the
youth shared their highs and lows of the past day, the baptism was a high for
most.And it was for me too.You can see below.
After the baptism, everyone relished the water and had
fun!JR and I decided to hike over to the
Benedictine Monestary , the site of the loaves and fishes parable, only to find
it closed on Sunday.The walk was worth
it, nonetheless.After we got back, I
went back down to the sea, this time all alone, and I bobbed in the water where
we had just baptized Emily an hour earlier, one of the newest Christians on the
face of the planet, and I thought about those waters, that the apostles and our
Lord and fished them, sat by them and talked, about great things, things that
now brought me here, that brought us all here.
That evening I gave Emily the chalice I had bought at Philipi, and that
she had shared with all of her friends by bearing it during the Eucharist.I gave her the oil, and a small bottle of
water I had taken from the Sea just after her baptism.
Later that night we had two birthday cakes for Riley, and JR
and Rebecca presented them with sparklers coming out of them!It was something else!This
is a beautiful place, and it has been good to be here.Tomorrow we leave it, to return to Jerusalem.
So, on Saturday, we got up and left St. George's College and Jerusalem and made our way first to Caesarea Maritima, along the Mediterranean Sea. Here the Amphitheater still is visible and has been rebuilt so as to hold concerts. Once covered entirely in marble during the Roman era, it is now stone, except for small parts. Most of the marble had been scavenged over the years. The hippodrome is still visible as well. Much of what was above water then, is now about 30 feet underwater. I would have loved to scuba dived here but alas, not in the plan. The sea was beautiful and the sea breeze highly welcomed.
We left there for much hotter climes and Megiddo, more popularly known as Armageddon. While I don't believe the last war will be fought there, it was interesting to know that in every major war there has been a battle at Megiddo. We did not explore a whole lot of this site but I was very glad we went there, we ate lunch, heard a great reflection by our own JR Lander, and then we boarded the bus to head for Nazareth and the Basilica of the Annunciation, which includes the cave believed to be Mary's home when she was visited by the angel announcing God's choice of her. This is a modern church and the cave is center stage. It was beautiful to see and Jasper of our group gave an excellent reflection here.
From there we traveled across the town to meet with the youth group, rector, and a few others at the Church of the Holy Family, Raineh, where JR had preached last Sunday, and our Olympia group attended, and where St. Andrew's, Seattle had a long and dear relationship, which was the seed of our diocesan companion relationship. We heard a stirring work from Fr. Sam Barhoum, and were greeted warmly with refreshments. The youth of that parish entertained our questions, and then showed us a You Tube video they wanted us to see entitled, Trusted Citizen. Quite interesting! We gathered in their church for a final prayer and blessing and then we had to leave. This was especially fun, since the three Arab young women are from this parish.
Youth at Holy Family
Rector of Holy Family, Sam Barhoum and his wife Susan. I don't know who the guy in the middle is.
Nonetheless, they, and we, boarded the bus and headed for Pilgerhaus, a great renovated monastery here where we are staying, right on the water, next door to the church of loaves and fishes, where that story was said to have taken place, and on a hill just above that the church which marks the site of the Sermon on the Mount and the Beatitudes, and then just beyond that, really in walking distance still, Capernaum. We will go there tomorrow.
Anyway, we arrived and headed directly for the water, swimming, and it was so refreshing!!!
Then, we had a great dinner, this place is fantastic, and then we were treated, by the Bishop and people from Western New York to a boat ride, on the Sea of Galilee, an open air boat, with a good dance floor, and a good stereo, and so for just over an hour, in the dark and starry night, the youth danced and celebrated life on the Sea of Galilee.
Youth on the boat on the Sea of Galilee
The boat is run by a Kibbutz, and the Kibbutz is also home to a fishing boat from Jesus's time, found here in 1986. It is sealed up in a very modern building. We did not see that but perhaps another time.
Then back to Pilgerhaus, for a good night's rest! As I said yesterday, the downloading of videos, and I have some great ones, has been curtailed a bit. I will attempt to put some of these up when we get back to Jerusalem. Until then,
As usual a very full day. It began with a visit to Yad Vashem, which means the Holocaust Martyrs and Heroes Authority in Israel. The name originates from Isaiah 56, which states, "And to them will I
give in my house and within my walls a memorial and a name (Yad
Vashem) that shall not be cut off" It was a powerful morning, with many of our youth very tuned into this museum You can learn more at the web address below. http://www.yadvashem.org/
We came back to the College for lunch and then back out again, this time traveling across town, however on the way we decided on an impromtu tour as we were able to see part of the huge wall that is being contructed in various parts of the city and country. We were taken right up to the wall in East Jerusalem. I did video this for today but due to internet connections right now might not get to put it in this blog today. Whenever I do get to put this video up, one thing you cannot see is when I pan into the panel, actually two panels, which has a big white "X" on it. It is faint enough that the video does not pick it up, but eerily when we stopped there, that panel states in graffitti, "Seattle supports Palestine."
It was good to see the wall up close, and it is indeed sad that any body would see a need for it. It is one reason for this pilgrimage in the first place.
We moved from there to the Mt. of Olives. What a mysterious place this was. The prophecy and belief, especially among Jews is that the Mt. of Olives is the place where God will return, so many want to be buried there and the hillside is literally covered with them. I try my best to capture this in the video and pictures. There is irony that you look across the Kidron Valley to the Dome of the Rock, through barbed wire fencing.
We continued hiking down the Mt of Olives, to the Garden of Gethsemene. The Church there is very dark inside, and it is meant to be, a place to take in just the agony that Jesus suffered here, in fact the Church is referred to as the Church of the Agony. It is purported to be the rock where Jesus fell down in agony in the garden. I was moved by this stop very much, and I commented later that I did not believe I had ever remembered even seeing a picture of this before so it was very new to me.
We are so blessed to have four Arab Christians who live in Israel with us on this trip, they are Laura, Sally, Sema, and Sorie. They are beautiful, don't you agree?!
From Gethsemenee some walked back, but I was hot, and tired, and it was all up hill, so say what you will, I rode back. Also, it was Olympia's night to host the end of the day meeting and we had some work to do on that. So, JR, Rebecca, and I returned to do just that. Our surprise for the evening was to take everyone just outside the College gates, and down the street to the Alhambra Palace, which is a huge hall with a restaurant. We set all of this up ahead of time and had assurances that it would be fine, bringing 50 people in all at once. I noticed while there it seemed they were decorating for a wedding and I had to wonder how this was going to work. That night, we first broke up into small groups, and discussed the day, many discussing the Yad Vashem visit but other meaningful parts of the day as well. Then we walked to the Damascus Gate as it is really lit up at night and you have a great view of the Old Jerusalem City Wall. It was also Friday, so the Sabbath, and thus streets that just a few hours earlier required you to take your life in your hand to cross, you could practically walk down the center of. Also, when we got to the gate, synagague was letting out and so we got to see hoards of Orthodox Jews coming out of the old city. It was really something to behold. So, we did this, and then showed up at the Alhambra Palace, only to see hundreds of people present. It turns out there was not just one wedding, but two. We were going to be in on the tail end of one, and so there we came, to eat our dessert and milkshakes, and to mingle with these fabulous people, turned out from the US, who were being married. Some of the children brought some of us flowers, and smiles. It was a fun intersection of cultures.
I honestly must tell you there are minute stories in the midst of all of these days I am reporting that I will have to tell at some other time. For now, as busy as we are, I am going to do my best to keep highlighting the day, and I will keep track of the stories, the wonderful moments, of which there are many, that I can't find the time to tell you each day. For all that have loved ones on this trip, all are well, and they miss you too.
Well today was every bit as interesting, life changing, HOT! It is hot here right now, but so good. Our morning began with a trip to the Dome of the Rock, first to the actual Dome through security, and into the Muslim section, then, although only feet away, through security again, and into the Jewish section and a trip to the Western Wall, or also known as the Wailing Wall. I touched it, and prayed alongside the many Jews present. What a fantastic and powerful scene, prayers of lamentation, right alongside the joy of bar mitzvah and bat mitzvah, weddings, with the separate sides for women and men, with a fence to protect all of that, women standing on benches and chairs in order to see over the fence and to celebrate in such events with the men of their lives. It is all such a place of division and boundaries, a place where our differences are blocked by inches, and security is a worry at all times. It is a place of great contradictions, and yet a holy place; wonderous in how it all ties together with a history as beleaguered as any, and how seemingly it has stayed the same over thousands of years. Right here, on this ground in which we walked, stands the very epicenter of the three Abrahamic faiths, all taking different paths, living side by side, and suspicious at the same time.
We are broken up into "families" to keep us attentive, this is mine, and they are all from Olympia!
We then moved to the Southern Wall of the temple, what is called the Jerusalem Archeological Park, which contains much of the debris of the temple, stones that weigh two and half tons each, taken down by conquerors involved in the same disputes of today, and finished by earthquakes. We walked on paved streets that Jesus would have walked on, stood in the likely place where he overturned the table of the moneychangers that began the hastening of his demise here on earth. We climbed steps he most likely climbed many times. We walked these steps with the Muslim prayers sounding in the background over loud speakers.
We left the Temple Mount area and walked a short distance to Hezekiah's Tunnel in the City of David. This tunnel was built in 700 BC because the walls of the city had been built with the water source spring OUTSIDE it, a perfect target for enemies. So Hezekiah built this 1750 foot tunnel, underground to move the water from the pool into the city. Today you are allowed to climb down, down, down, and then walk through the tunnel, which puts out in the pool of Siloam. The pool is smaller now, having been rebuilt after the Romans sacked Jerusalem in AD 70 and burnt it "as far as Siloam" according to the contemporary historian Flavius Josephus. Anyway, we were going to do this, in thigh deep water, in complete darkness, in very tight spots, some where you had to bend down just to get through. You can do it only in single file and it took about 40 minutes. I will tell you I am glad I did it, it was cool down there and the water felt good, but it is not something i have need to ever do again! The pool of Siloam was quite nice and the video below shows the children of the village playing and swimming in it. I also have a picture of some bit of the tunnel experience!
Hezekiah's tunnel when it was still very light!
In the evening, we ate dinner at St. George's College, had a wonderful impromtu visit by Bishop Suheil Duwani, Anglican Bishop of Jerusalem, which Olympia has a companion relationship with. This is a diocese which comprises seven countries, several of which that do not share diplomatic ties. He has quite a task and he is a good man. His Chaplain, Bob Edmonds, an American, joined us too. And then by a total stroke of luck, John Peterson happened to be in the building and he came to speak to our group too. John was Dean of St. George's for 12 years and has a love for Jerusalem that he was able to share.
Our contingent from Minnesota then hosted our night meeting and we debriefed together the experiences of the youth at the Church of the Nativity and the experiences of the night before when a Rabbi and seven Jewish students came to share with us. We debriefed this especially from our four Palestinian youth perspective. It was quite a good time. And then, Minnesota, St. Stephens, Edina to be exact, treated us to ice cream at the American Colony Hotel, just a few steps away from where we are. It is quite a swanky place, and was built and first owned by the woman who wrote "How Great Thou Art." It was a long, full, and rich day!
Blessings,
+Greg
The Dome of the Rock and the Western Wall (The Wailing Wall)
The Jerusalem Archeological Park, the Southern Wall of the Temple and the Pool of Siloam
What a day Wednesday was! And to think, my ride to the desert could have been missed. One idea was for me to at my arrival, go directly to my room at St. George's College in Jerusalem and just wait for our youth pilgrims to arrive. Had I done that I would have missed Joseph of course, but I would have also missed all you will see today. I am so grateful I didn't. So, today, a few images of our day.
Blessings to all of you.+Greg
And by the way the youth pilgrims have their own blog spot and are blogging at www.pilgrimsforpeace.blogspot.com. You should check it out!
Well, thanks to Continental Airlines I arrived about 10
minutes early into Tel Aviv.It was
about 88 degrees when we landed, at 4:10 p.m, (6:10 a.m. western Washington
time.)It was a flight without a
hitch.I got off the plane, realizing as
never before, that I was alone.But it
only took me a while to realize how ridiculous that statement is.I was surrounded by thousands of people.I was hardly alone.So, I should say I felt alone for a
time.I began seeing people with signs
for arriving passengers literally as soon as I stepped outside the plane door.I watched them intently to make sure it
wasn’t my driver.I found my way to
passport control center, stood in line, got through it.Again a barrage of people, limo drivers, taxi
drivers holding signs but not mine.I
was beginning to be a little worried since, at every new meeting of people the
crowds were getting larger and larger and I knew the task of finding the driver
holding my name was going to get more and more daunting.I walked through customs and finally into the
arrival center, where the crowd had indeed gotten larger, and there, in the
back of that crowd holding up a sign and having a worried face, was a young
Arabic man with a huge sign reading “Bishop Greg Rickel.”I made my way to him, pointed to the sign,
and said “this is me.”He seemed a bit
surprised, (I get this sometimes) but he quickly tried to grab my bags and he
welcomed me with a smile.His name was
Joseph. He helped me get to an ATM, but it was becoming clear he knew very
little English, and with my expansive knowledge of Arabic I knew this was going
to be interesting!
We finally made our way to his car, got in it, and he turned
to me and said, “OK, ask it.”I looked
at him quizzically, “Ask it?” I said, “ask what?”“Ask me where I am going”he said.Of course I was at a loss as I knew where he was going, he was taking me
where I needed to go, We finally figured out he was trying to say “tell me
where WE are going.”And although we
reveled in getting that figured out, it turned more somber rather quickly when
I said, “I don’t have a clue.”“What is
this?” he said, “ no clue?”I told him I
didn’t know where we were going, that I thought he would knew where we were
going.He said he had not been
told.I told him the group was in the
Negev Desert.He knew these words, he
said, “the Negev is a big place!”Yes, I
surmised this.But, much to my concern,
he took off for the Negev.We used
lifelines along the way, he and I.We
phoned a friend a few times, used a shout out more than a few times to those
passing by, some who looked at us and kept walking.I had to admit, who could blame them?
We would find out later that some of our “friends” had sent
us to places we did not really need to go, but I am sure they had the best of
intentions, and I, well I got to see much of this country that I probably would
not have.We went to Beersheeva, which was
not on my itinerary anywhere, and it turns out was much farther than we needed
to go.But, I was glad to at least have
been there.I had wanted to see the
Bedouin market there someday, on Thursdays when the nomads come out of the
hills to buy and sell their produce and such.It was not Thursday.Instead I
got to witness Joseph stop the car in the middle of traffic to jump out and ask
people about this place we were trying to get to; Kfar Hanokidim.No one knew that, but they did know they
were very angry about the car blocking their way.Finally, another cab driver, helped us.All along this way I found other cab drivers
to be a band of brothers, and they were all brothers, helping each other.We were, two hours into our journey, hot on
the trail of our group.By the time we
made it to Arad, a town that even Joseph commented seemed to be strangely
devoid of people, we knew we were getting closer, a few of the mostly invisible
citizens helped get us on the right road, a lonely one, one of the loneliest
roads I have ever been on, you could see it go over the barren hills for what
seemed forever, but we knew we were making our way to Masada, and we hoped to
the Bedouin tent I was to stay in that night.Finally, we topped a hill and we could see the Dead Sea, and a true
Oasis, palm trees and lots of folks, a bus or two, in the middle of the valley
below and we surmised that must be it.Turned out it was, actually swarming with young people, mostly
Birthright Jewish Youth on their pilgrimage, and it took me another 20 minutes
to locate our group, but I did, and I was so glad to see them, but sad actually
to let Joseph go.
I realized then how privileged I had been to travel this
holy land, with Joseph as my guide.He
had said to me several hours into our journey, with a smile, “If we don’t find
this place,you stay with my wife and I
tonight.”And he meant it.He told me he was newly married, for only 30
days, and I told him the last thing he needed was me at his house tonight!But, knowing him now, that would have been
fun too.
I gave him my card, and a fine tip as he had surely done
more than his job today.He asked and
wondered if we would ever see each other again.Only God knows this I told him.And he smiled and said, “God is great”And I replied, “Indeed God is, and today, in you, I saw God. Thank you
my friend.”He understood that.
Blessings,
Greg
The wonders of modern technology, our youth watching a You Tube video on Palestinian Youth in a Bedouin tent in the middle of the Negev Desert.
Two young vendors who sold me one of their creations!
Dear Ones,I have not been blogging much lately.There has been a lot going on, and I have
been, out of respect, honor, and grief allowing Carl Knirk and his wife to
grace the front page of the blog.I
finally deleted the last email Carl sent me, did the work he asked me to do in
that email, and offered up a prayer of thanks for all he gave to me as friend
and guide, something I will do many more times along the way.I hope you will continue to keep Susan, his
lovely wife, and family in your prayers.
As I write this I am flying over the Midwest of our country,
on my way to Tel Aviv and soon to Jerusalem to join our youth contingent
already there.I am thinking of my wife
who has had to say goodbye to her son, as he left of China, and now to her
husband as I head off to the Holy Land.She has many friends visiting to keep her busy, not to mention her work,
but it is difficult to have our family so spread out, and to leave my best
friend!I do, however, look forward
with great anticipation to all I will see and who I will share it with in these
next days. I hope to blog about the trip here and should you desire to
follow along, I hope you will.If all
goes well, I should be meeting our group, and hiking up Masada in less than 24
hours.Until then, blessings to you
all!
