I have to confess my addiction to music

It has been so long since my last post that it is ridiculous! I guess my only excuse is that I am a lazy bum, and I know that if I post something, I want it to be worth your time. I have had a crazy past two weeks. On Tuesday, Craig and I met up with a fellow PBU student, Doug, who is actually teaching in a school here. We hung out with him in the Old City, on the Eastern Hill, known as the City of David. When we about to part ways he offered to bring us to dinner at his friends' apartment. I was somewhat hesitant to oblige because of the test I was going to take the next morning in Physical Settings. But hey, an I going to live like this is the last time I'll ever be in Israel, or what? So we went and had a kosher meal in a Jewish home. It was absolutely delicious. I also met a man named Duncan, a believer who happened to be living with Doug just below the Jewish family. He later told us that he lived in Galilee and offered for us to come over sometime. Talk about a sweet connection. He seemed like a cool guy regardless of where he lives. After dinner, against my better judgment, we watched Amazing Grace, an absolutely incredible movie! This was Duncan's idea, and he proved himself to be quite knowledgeable on the surrounding political context of the movie.
I ended up doing rather poorly on my exam. I might not have a thorough knowledge on the land of Samaria, but at least I do know how the abolishment of the slave trade came about. I am not worried about the grade anyway; I will pass, that is what counts when my transfer credits will not carry their GPA into my home school haha. Rock and Roll!
The weather has been absurdly beautiful in Jerusalem. As a result, I have been spending a lot of my time outside, walking through the Old City and making friends with the people there. I have also become deeply acquainted with white chocolate. Oh my goodness it is delicious. They have ice cream bars here with a solid bar of white chocolate in the center of a layer of milk chocolate ice cream and another thin layer of white chocolate. It is by far the best ice cream bar known to man. I have been trying to embrace the culture here as much as I can, but mostly with my appetite. I thoroughly embrace the great food here.
I have to confess my addiction to music. Alright, its not that bad, I could live without it if I wanted to. Isn't that the typical excuse of an addict? That's okay, I love good music in beautiful weather. There is something about the smell in the air, mixed with the comfort of the warmth of the sun, and topped with a well-written song that I just cannot get enough of. It is like a rush of endorphins into my inner-most being. I sound like a hippy, minus the drugs. Which reminds me, I had some white wine while I was eating with the Jewish family. It was still unappealing to me, but it was better than the stuff I drank on the plane over here.
Well, I love and miss you all. I hope you are all doing well and that you are constantly seeing God's grace being poured out into your lives!
Grace and Peace!

The Land of Benjamin

(A look over the Judean Wilderness)

Jericho is a paradise in the midst of a barren land. The oasis lying just north of the Dead Sea is a refreshing sight for desert-sore eyes. The sturdy palm trees are in bountiful supply throughout city of Jericho. We first overlooked the Judean wilderness just off of the Ascent of Addumin, allowing us to view the vast sun-scorched senonian limestone hills. I was reminded that as a child I assumed limestone was green; it is an honest presupposition - limes are green. But this land was a pale stone color. The monasteries in the land enticed me, giving me a desire to seek dependence on the Lord as they were forced to have. I was astonished at the beauty of the oasis in the Wadi Qilt as we arrived in Jericho. As we considered the strategic location of the city in accordance with the rest of Canaan and the trade routes, it was apparent that Jericho was an essential part to the militaristic, political, and economical good of the Israelites. (Jericho)

Traveling across the Benjamin Plateau to Nebi Samwill furthered my understanding of the intrinsic importance of that part of Israel. Jericho was a backdoor to the land of Benjamin and the city of Jerusalem, but more importantly, it was a back door to the entire Canaanite land. If the Israelites had gone up from the south into the Promised Land, they would have faced (literally) numerous cities. This attack on Jericho was ingenious, allowing the Israelites access to Ai and the following conquered cities.
Nebi Samwill allowed for a view of this infamous plateau. Mizpah, Ramah, Gibeah, and Gibeon were all accessible in our line of vision, as well as Jerusalem and surrounding major cities. The Sorek wadi system hooked its tentacles around the site and aided in the distinctive shape of the land. When we went over the story of Joshua’s conquest, I was captivated by the utter importance of the plateau. It truly was on of the key locations throughout the entire land of Canaan, though we were sternly reminded that the Jezreel Valley was the most important crossroads in the land.

(A view from Nebi Samwil over the land of Benjamin)
We journeyed onward to Gezer, a name which I am guilty of frequently mispronouncing geezer. The old man, rather, the old land is refreshing to just about every sense that I have. The sight, the smell, the touch, and sound were all so wonderful after being through such desolate land as the Judean wilderness. If the pear cacti would have had fruits, I would also be able to include taste in the senses blessed by the splendor of the land. For the first time since I arrived in Israel, I saw a land absolutely covered in green. Reflecting on this, the Israelites must have been overjoyed as they approached the fertile and well-nourished land. I thought Jericho was paradise before we came to Gezer.

(Pillars at Gezer)

(Veni Vidi Vici)
I thoroughly enjoyed putting into perspective the benefits of Solomon’s actions in gain of land/wife in 1 Kings 9. Egypt was sore and desperate, slowly making progress to regaining their imperial strength, while Israel had become a prominent power in the land. Gezer being a gateway to the imperial highway and the Mediterranean was a great gain for Solomon. As I review my notes right now, I realize that the other two cities mentioned, Hazor and Megiddo, are extraordinarily important to the entire Land Between. It was truly a defining moment in the history of Israel.

(Sunset over Gaza)

...It Is Only the Beginning

Mediocrity is not what I'm here for. A mundane lifestyle in the Holy Land is a waste of time. Tonight was a new experience; one of intensity and conquering adversity. I am skipping my adventure in the desolate wilderness of the Makhtesh ha-Katan; you'll have you talk to me in person for that one. Oh, but this story.. this story is worth telling everybody. Tonight, Craig and I went down the Eastern Hill with one thing in mind: Absolom's Pillar. The picture to the right is one that I took about a week ago. That entrance enticed me; it called my name, taunting me. We arrived at the site at about 21:30, finding absolutely no way to climb into that hole towering above us. We looked around for about a half an hour, even considering finding a tree to climb across in the back (not our best idea, for it would have been a 15 foot stretch over 50 feet above the ground). Instead, we decided to stack limestone blocks on the right side of the pillar. If you look carefully, you can see that there is a ledge above the initial one - it is like that on the side, which is where we stacked about 10 limestone blocks, including broken tombstone blocks. Limestone is quite heavy, and it was a hike from the top of a hill, maybe 100 yards.. but it was worth it. We stacked them up about 4 feet high, giving us enough leverage to shimy ourselves into the hole. We carved our initials into the side, and placed our initials in rocks at the highest ledge to which we could get. The picture to the left is the stack of rocks... You can see the niches in the wall that aided us in gaining enough leverage to throw ourselves up into that little hole. The picture below is of me hiding out inside the Pillar the next morning. Thanks to Craig's poor photography skills (of which I am pulling the card frequently to make him feel bad), that is the best I got.

On the way back last night, we were stopped by some friendly police who wandered why we were dressed in all black, carrying big sticks, and I had my head lamp around my neck. Good times.

Jerusalem Approaches Field Study

A breath-taking view of Jerusalem can be found on Mt. Scopus, a modern name for the Mount of Olives. The city that rests in the cup of the Judean land is well protected by it’s geographical surroundings, and this view of the city accentuates these features. The haze distracted our journey today. As we gazed into the land far off, a thick fog in the air clouded our view of the distant Nebi Samwil north east of Jerusalem. As we moved on to another area on the Mount, we could see the chalky senonian landscape that had a small amount of green covering it.






One would assume that wind from the east would bring a dry, oven-hot blast from the nearby desert as we stood atop the mountain. Contrary to that assumption, of which I was a culprit of having, the desert blows a brisk air over the land west of it in the morning hours. During the night, it gets much colder in the desert, this being to my dissatisfaction as I tried to write my notes with frigid hands. I’m thankful, however, that I am getting a brisk wind from a desert rather than the frozen chills of the Poconos. On the other side of the mountain, the heat of the sun was warming up the tremendous graveyard on the Mount of Olives, where we went next. We were given another thorough view of the city of Jerusalem and moved on to locations thought to be the Garden of Gethsemane. I was particularly fond of the Russian Orthodox Church on the Garden sight; the golden onions with crosses on top were truly captivating.









(outside a Russian Orthodox Church building marking the Garden of Gethsemane)(Inside the Church building)




(I don't even know, it is beautiful though isn't it?)


Perhaps my favorite part of the trip was visiting the Herodium. As we walked around the towering, fortress of Herod, we were able to view the desolate, “valley of the shadow of death,” where David wrote the well- known Psalm 23. I was awestruck at the beauty within the rugged terrain of the Judean wilderness. Unfortunately, we were unable to view the Dead Sea through the dense haze, but regardless, the land was enough to thoroughly satisfy my interest in the land. It was truly amazing to see the transition between the terra rosa soil and the infertile land of the wilderness. The life of a shepherd must have been a terrible challenge. During the winter, which is the rain season, the herds of sheep and goats go to the local wadis that flow into the dead sea. There they find enough grass by the streams to suffice throughout the winter while the wheat and barley crops grow and are harvested. The sheep and goats return when the rain season ends, and the crops are no longer in danger of being consumed by hungry livestock. This system is an extraordinary example of the balance within the land. Why would God lead the Israelites away from the fertile land of Egypt into this type of land? Dependence. How awesome is that?

(I don't have time to post more pictures, add me on facebook and you can view literally hundreds of pictures I've taken)
Within the Herodium, we looked at the remains of a once magnificent palace. I stood on top of a five foot pillar and posed with a few friends. It was an all around fun time. We went into an area that was supposed to be off-limits, but it was well worth our disregard to the signs. A cave was found and we journeyed into it blindly; only a flash of a camera lit our way. On the outside of the cave were new archaeological finds: most importantly, the tomb of Herod.

Our trip was topped off with a visit to Bethlehem. The Church of the Nativity was the sight to be seen, filled with beautiful art work, even on the pillars. The sanctuary was long and, of course, had amazing acoustics. There are few churches in a land of limestone that have poor acoustics. A towering organ was featured in the front, as well as in the back overlooking the large room. One of the focuses throughout the day was the Central Ridge Route, which was more narrow through the town of Bethlehem. All in all, the land ceases to amaze me in its intricacy.

In the Tunnel

The weather here has been consistently beautiful. Every day, I've been presented with the options of doing homework or enjoying this extraordinary weather. Of course, the latter being much more appealing, I've been doing my homework outside (sparingly). On Wednesday, despite the copious amounts of homework that we have to do, Craig, Joel, and I revisitted the City of David and went through Hezekiah's Tunnel. It was quite an experience - about 1750 feet in length under the hard limestone of Jerusalem.

I came down with a small cold on Thursday, and thoroughly whooped it with oranges and rest. I think I slept for about 15 hours. I had to prepare for an amazing weekend, with a field study and a student activity of a hike into the Negeb. I'm going to post this, and then post a log that I wrote for the field study, and hopefully, I'll post a little blog about the hike through the desert.

...like ice cream with hot fudge on it

This city is absurd! Last week, we had a good day's worth of snow. The brisk air was stinging and bitter on my face, and my lips were chapped beyond reason. I actually still feel the sweet taste of a wound on my lips from the cracks that I got in the process of stuffing my mouth with a falafel - delicious. Actually, that was only 2 days ago, which is exactly my point.

I was enjoying a nice stroll through Cardo Road two days ago, wearing an almost unnecessary light jacket and baffled by the beauty of the city. Shlomy, J.E., Daniel, and I ascended the stairs to the top of the incredible Lutheran Church of the Redeemer tower, finding a view of the city that we had yet to see. The narrow stairset spun around what seemed to be an unending pillar to the first two stories of the building. I thought we had finished when we got to a room with windows. Anxiously looking around, I felt as though I got ripped off for my two sheqels. The windows were fogged up; I could barely see through them. Right around that time, I looked to my right and saw the last stair set, thinking, "...Seriously?" After feeling like I had acquired a hefty case of asthma and got to know a couple of men (way better than I ever wanted to) who were descending the narrow stairset as I went up, I finally got to the top of this glorious tower.

Ha, that sounded entirely too dramatic. The view was beautiful (of course). The tops of the houses, on one side in particular, resembled a large pizza with olives covering it - hundreds of satellite dishes... HUNDREDS!! It was ridiculous. I think there were more satellite dishes than there were religious symbols, and that is saying something. It was a great view of many of the famous religious buildings and the entire landscape. Descending the tower wasn't too bad - though I did get to know two other men just as well as the first two... I mean, it wasn't even our first date and we were practically hugging.

From there, I got my falafel and proceeded to tear my lip open biting into it. Last week, my lips got terribly chapped from the blistering cold wind; this week, I am currently wearing shorts and a T-shirt and I am completely fine. It's like ice cream with hot fudge on it. You face the sun and you get a tan while the other side of you is actually so cold that you could have worn a jacket. Best of both worlds - rock and roll. Damascus Gate -->

Yesterday and today were the best days so far. I woke up at 6 a.m. yesterday to eat breakfast and start my first field study throughout Jerusalem at 7. We walked around from 7 until 6 p.m. I won't go into every detail, or much detail at all actually, but it was amazing. There is just so much to say that I wouldn't know where to begin. If you would like to know about it, tell me and I'll send you the impression report that I wrote up after it.

OH! Before I forget!! I got to play a guitar!! It turns out that the Wright's have a son who plays and he left his guitar here - they let me play it! SOOOO stoked! Funny story about it too.. Last week, my friends Ben and John were preparing to lead vespers on Friday. I volunteered to play the guitar... Actually, both me and J.E. volunteered saying, "... but we don't sing." I thought little of it, I anticipated them to put me on bongos or something while J.E. played guitar and they sang. John gave me the tab for the songs on that day, some of my favorites - Shout to the Lord, Great is Thy Faithfulness, and How Great Thou Art. I have only played the first one, and the others I sang before. They aren't hard to play on the guitar at all, so I was prepared fairly quickly. The funny thing is that when vespers started, J.E. didn't have a guitar, and Ben and John were sitting down as I got up to play. So there I was.. standing there with every insecurity I've ever had and always had, expected to lead this group of believers in worship (singing and playing guitar to songs I barely knew) when I myself don't even feel competent enough (in any way) to have that honor. I should start a facebook group called, "Not all Christian guitar players aspire to be worship leaders." Good times though, it helped me break out of my shell a little. Ah.. if you have read this.. you are a trooper... way too long haha. Much love!