HEADING TO THE HOLY LAND


Today begins a journey that just a few years ago, I beleived to be "once in a lifetime." In 2006 I traveled to Israel with a group from Columbia Seminary. Four faculty members and 28 pastors made up that group. That trip was life changing, ministry changing, like taking spiritual vitamins. This afternoon I am privileged to begin that same pilgrimage again this time as tour leader with 8 folks from Moorings Presbyterian Church, two friends from Park Ridge,IL, Sam #1 from Ohio, two soon to be friends from Texas and Sam #2 my husband.

Anita and Stuart[Park Ridge] are already on the ground in Tel Aviv and have reported beautiful weather and the celebration of the Israeli Memorial Day -- including having a ringside seat to a practice 'fly-over' of the Israel equivalent of the Blue Angels. We'll meet up with them at the airport in Tel Aviv when we arrive, be joined by our Israeli tour guide and driver and be off to Tiberias on the shore of the Sea of Galilee, our home for the first four days of our trip.

As I am able to get online in Israel I'll be posting updates of our pilgrimage. If you have a comment you'd like to pass along to a friend or family member here... I'll be sure to get it to them.

Mostly, I hope to share with you not only what we saw on a particular day, but what it meant to us. We'll be seeing things that most of us have heard about our entire lives.... Jerusalem, Capernaum, Nazareth,Moriah. However, standing on the Mount of Olives, seeing the Jordan River, looking down into the Kidron Valley or standing on the hillside of the little town of Bethlehem is different than reading about those places. I am hoping and praying that the experience of these pilgrims is like mine was, and they'll realize a cosmic shift in their very souls as the Holy Spirit adds meaning as they experience the places we've traveled so far to see.

That's the difference really between sight-seeing or vacation, and a trip such as this. On pilgrimage we expect to be changed in the very core of our being for having gone down this path. Pray for us, won't you, that this will be true for each traveler. JOY AND BLESSINGS, THE CELTIC MONK P.S. The photo is of Tel Aviv from my trip in 2006.

Comments

  1. John ArnoldApril 20, 2010 at 12:19 AM

    My prayers are with you and your group. By the way, you were greatly missed in New York. Safe and Blessed travels in the Holy Land. :)

    ReplyDelete

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