What? And Why? And Maybe When?

This week I have finally begun working on the photo book of our most recent trip to Israel.  As usual, there are thousands of photos to sort through.  Thousands!  It's a daunting task, but one I enjoy so very much because it gives me the opportunity to remember and to reflect.  To remember the places visited.  To reflect on lessons learned there.

Every time we go to Israel we are asked the same questions.  One of the most frequently asked questions is why do you keep going back?  That's an easy question to answer, but at the same time it is difficult to answer.  It's hard to put words to an experience that is so wonderful, that has changed me so profoundly.  I can remember being told, before we had ever traveled to the Holy Land, that once I had been there, I would always want to go back.  And I have found that to be true.  Before I ever left Israel to come home the first time, I had a deep longing to return.  The longing is still there.  It likely will always be there, no matter how many times I return to Israel.  Going to Israel is like going home.  I'm drawn there like a moth is drawn to flame or like a piece of metal is drawn to a magnet.

Probably the most frequently asked question about our trips to Israel is what is your favorite part of the trip.  That is an impossible question to answer in just one sentence!  It's much like being asked to choose your favorite child!  There are too many "favorites" in Israel for me to choose just one.

EnGedi is one of my favorite places.  I think I have written about this before.  I love going there, sitting on top of that hill and looking out over the Dead Sea; watching the ibex run around as I reflect on Psalm 42; looking toward the cave where David hid from King Saul.  It's a special place for me, a place where I would love to have opportunity to sit quietly for hours and just worship the Lord.

I love the Sea of Gallilee.  In fact, I love the entire Gallilee region.  And just as I would love hours to sit at EnGedi, I would love to have days to explore the Galilee region.  Sailing on the Sea of Galilee is one of my most favorite things to do, even when it is very cold and windy as it was on our most recent trip. 

And Jerusalem!  How I love that city!  One of my very favorite memories comes from our first trip there, as we sat on the Southern Steps to the Temple Mount on a blustery Sunday morning and "had church"!  I love the Mount of Olives and the Garden of Gethsemane and the Garden Tomb.  Especially during this Holy Week, my thoughts go back to those places.  As I read the Scriptures about the events of this week, I am drawn back to the places where they took place.  They are vivid in my memory.  That is one of the very best, the most life-changing, parts about having traveled to Israel - that the Scriptures come alive.  To have been to the very places I read about in Scripture; to be able to more easily understand and picture the events as I read about them; that really answers both the what and the why!

When will I go again?  I don't know; perhaps next year or perhaps never again.  I'm not sure I will have the opportunity to take that trip again.  I would love to go again.  And I would really love to go to Israel with time to linger over those places that are most special to me, time to gaze on, rather than just glance at, the places that touch my heart so much.  If not, I'll always have the memories.  And my photo books!

Those three questions - what, and why, and when - are central to this Holy Week.

What happened in Jerusalem nearly two thousand years ago is central to our faith.  Jesus was in Jerusalem then.  He was tried and beaten and crucified.  He died.  But that wasn't the end of the story!  On the third day, just as He said, He was resurrected!

Why did all that happen?  He died to pay a sin debt that we owed but could never pay.  He died for me.  He died for you.  "Christ died for sin, once for all, the just for the unjust, in order to bring us to God, having been put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit."  (1 Peter 3:18 NASB)

The when question is one we can answer easily as well.  He died on Friday afternoon, just before Sabbath.  And on the third day, He was alive again.  "They put him to death by hanging him on a tree, but God raised him on the third day."      (Acts 10:39-40 ESV).

But the story isn't finished yet.  Jesus will return to earth, to Jerusalem, to the Mount of Olives.  We don't yet have the answer to when.  And so we wait.  But we know that He is coming.  Are you ready?

"And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself, that where I am, there you may be also."  (John 14:3 NASB)

"Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into heaven?  This Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven."      (Acts 1:11 ESV)

"On that day his feet shall stand on the Mount of Olives that lies before Jerusalem on the east."  (Zechariah 14:4 ESV)

"For salvation is nearer now than when we first believed." (Romans 13:11 ESV)