Jerusalem

What an incredible place to be. Jerusalem. I have never been to or experienced the atmosphere of a place like this. It’s amazing in every aspect of the word. Incredible to walk the land knowing Jesus walked the very same land. The bible has become alive to me in a way like I never thought it could. Our first night we were staying on the 10th floor of our hotel which is near the centre of the new Jerusalem. When we woke up in the morning and looked over the city, you can almost see why Jesus looked over the city and wept for it. Luke 19:41. WOW.

We had a day off yesterday before everything gets rolling in the morning. When Marty and James arrived we took a trip over to the Dead Sea via Jericho. We had a very entertaining tour guide, who described various things to us on the 45 minute trip. Security was heavy as it was the public holiday acknowledging the 60th Anniversry of Isreal becoming a State.

The Dead sea is nothing like you have ever experienced. You literally have to float, you simply don’t have a choice. Weird. We had a great time together catching up before heading back to Jerusalem.

After dinner, a couple of Marty’s friends from Ohio, from his executive committee for IWT and I cruised down to the old city, the real deal! What a place full of history! The atmosphere was intense, with security guards everywhere. We walked around for an hour or so fairly lost, before we ran into a a guy who used to be a tour guide, whoi ended up giving us the most comprehensive tour of a lot of the city. We went to the the churches where they say Jesus was buried, cruxified etc….even though people are skeptical of the sites accuracy, I was overwhelmed as we walked into the tomb, a very sobering and intimate experience. Just knowing that it was close enough to the real site was enough for me. Our guide then took us on the walk from where Jesus was tried and beaten, and where he carried his cross all the way up to the hill where he was killed. We stopped at all the significant sites representing the key moments of his walk up the hill. That also was very sobering.

The evening finished with a stop by the wailing wall, which is the last remains of the original temple. They say it is the retaining wall. Incredible!

The whole hotel is choka with people that have come for the God TV tour; I think there are over 1,000 people here from all over the world.

We’re all looking forward to our meetings which kick off today. I’m sure we’ll be spending much more time in the old city after the meetings wrap up. Pray for us if you think about it. Much going on here.