New Experiences In Old Places

I've found that there are very few places that get old as you visit them repeatedly. Even if there is nothing new in the place itself, there are always interesting, new people to watch. Besides, the beauty of God's creation never wears out no matter how often you look on it. When Dave, a Marine friend of the Dukes from NC, came to visit a couple weeks ago, we took him to all the "must sees": the Galilee, Capernaum, Jerusalem, En Gedi, the Dead Sea, Masada, etc. But we also added in some very interesting places to which I had never been before.

Our plans for touring stumbled coming out of the starting blocks. I forgot the meat in the freezer on the way to our camping trip so we had to drive around looking for an open grocery store on the Sabbath. While we were camping on the Sea of Galilee, the kids fell sick with fevers and ended up being down all week. Poor Caleb moaned that being sick while you are camping feels like being on Survivor! :) Maggie took them all back home to bed the next day. Darren, Dave, Hayley, and I continued our sightseeing. There were cisterns to climb down in and bunkers and tanks to explore. Darren took us to the battle field of a famous tank battle where one company of Israeli tanks defended the Northern border against a much larger Syrian force.

In Jerusalem, we met up with Hayley in the City of David and headed right to Hezekiah's tunnel. I can't even imagine how long it took for Hezekiah's men to dig that tunnel through the rock. It was amazing! In some places, the ceiling allowed you to stand tall with room to spare, and in other places, you were bent almost double, praying that the walls would narrow no further. The rough wall still bore the ridge marks of the men who had hewn them.

Our journeys south brought new adventure as well, including a few beautiful hikes. Qumran, the location of the religious community that copied the Dead Sea Scrolls, contained more than just the ruins of the building complex. Behind the ruins, we hiked up into the mountains and caves in which the Dead Sea Scrolls were found. The view from up there was beautiful. The whole Dead Sea basin fell away and spread out before us from our perch in the mountain cliffs.

Speaking of the Dead Sea, one common custom that I have never had a great desire to uphold is to cover myself in the dark, rich mud that is said to be so beneficial for your skin. Where we went swimming, the ground was covered in rocks with no mud to be seen. No problem, no great loss.

Because I didn't realize she was talking to me, I didn't pay close attention to the jabbering Hebrew of a little swimmer coming up to me on the bank. "She wants to give that to you." The cute, little girl's mother caught my attention and motioned toward the girl. She stood smiling up at me, her arms extended toward me, and in her hands, she held a balled-up glob of dark, Dead Sea mud. "Oh! Wow!" With a plop she deposited the ball in my hands. "Thank you so much! You are so sweet!" The thick mud on the outside of the ball began to ooze through my fingers. Ma la'asot? What do you do? Out of gratitude for that sweet little girl's gift, I covered myself with the mud. Of course, I didn't want to do it alone so I gave some to Dave, too. Now I'm ready to fit in with the Sub-Sahara Africans (yah, I still need to work on some of the blending and edges)! Being that dark is definitely something new for me.

I have been recently introduced to a hymn that we have in the Trinity hymnal, and I'm sure we've sung at one time or another, but just recently I have meditated on the words to drawn strength and comfort from their truth. You know how Jerry Bridges has encouraged us to preach the gospel to ourselves every day? In so doing, we keep a true perspective of ourselves and God and rest in His grace and provision. This song, based on Ps 130, is a song of the gospel and the Christian's life. Dr. Lockwood, I'm sure that you'll be familiar with it! :)

The first verse is the cry of the regenerate sinner. Lamenting in woe, he raises his voice not to the cold, impersonal "whoever will listen" but he raises his cry to God:
From the depths of woe I raise to thee the voice of lamentation; O turn an gracious ear to me and hear my supplication: if thou iniquity doest mark, our secret sins and misdeeds dark, O who could stand before you?

In the second verse, he realizes that our works are insufficient. God's grace alone through Christ can cleanse us. It is in that truth that we stand secure:
To wash away the crimson stain, grace, grace alone availeth; Our works alone are all in vain in much the best life faileth: No man can glory in thy sight, all must alike confess thy might, and live alone by mercy.

Then comes the victory verse of the cleansed sinner. Christ is our victory and in Him we trust:
Therefore my trust is in the Lord, and not in my own merit; On him my soul shall wait, his Word upholds my fainting spirit: His promised mercy is my fort, my comfort and my sweet support; I wait for it with patience.

But this verse is my favorite. Christ has cleansed us from our sin, and our future, our way, and our peace with God are held secure in Him. But there are times when the sweet taste of victory and rest seem so far away, long past and not coming soon in the future. The night stretches out dark before us, and it is hard to see the step in front of us let alone the whole path. But God doesn't require us to know the whole way before us. He only asks us to obey Him in the circumstances, decisions, and relationships He has given us now, without doubt or fear in Him:
What though I wait the live-long night, and till the dawn appeareth. My heart still trusteth in his might; it doubteth not nor feareth: Do thus, o ye of Israel's seek, ye of the Spirit born in deed and wait till God appeareth.

And this verse is the key. It is his grace and love, his goodness and truth that frees us from our sin and sorrow. We can do all things through Him:
Though great our sins and sore our woes his grace much more aboundeth; His helping love no limit knows, our utmost need it soundeth. Our Shepherd good and true is he, who will at last his Israel free from all their sin and sorrow.

Memories of Israel

When my time in Israel is finished, I hope to have many special things by which to remember it. Those things will vary, being memories such as pictures, friendships, great restaurants, and beach walks with friends or being more concrete items such as Roman glass jewelry, Jerusalem pottery, Middle Eastern scarves and decor, Japanese cranes ... what? Japanese cranes? How does that fit in with Israel?

One of the ladies in the embassy, Kristi, loves to quilt and has been a part of a quilting group for the four years that she has lived here. Looking for volunteers to join her on a block quilt project, she asked if I was interested and I signed up. Kristi, another embassy lady named Carol, and I picked out our five fabric designs and got to work. Using paper piecing, we each made three sets of our crane blocks, each set containing our five chosen patterns. These done, we got together and exchanged sets, keeping one for ourselves and giving away the other two. We all ended up with 15 different cranes, our five original ones and then five from the other two ladies. As exciting as it was to see the finished blocks, it was even more exciting to sew on the borders and piece them together with the border for the finished front.

Happy 4th of July (a week late!). While we didn't get to celebrate at Red Sunset Park or at Fort Vancouver, we did get to celebrate our nation's birthday on the 3rd, 4th, and the 6th. The 3rd was my favorite because it involved fireworks. It was the day of the big celebration at the Ambassador's residence which only Darren attended. But since the Residence is on the cliffs overlooking the beach and the water, Maggie, the kids, and I decided to go sit on the beach and wait for the fireworks that would be shot off later that evening. We gathered our towels and beach bag and headed off, joined by our friends from Scotland, the McQuiers. As we sat on the beach waiting for the sun to set, the kids played in the water and in the sand and we watched the helicopter, boat, and jeep patrol the air, water, and ground around the Ambassador's house. "Remind me again why I'm here celebrating Britain's one defeat," Gus McQuier asked.

We didn't have long to wait before the sky was dark enough to start filling it with colorful explosions. Short but sweet, we sat and enjoyed them before heading home to enjoy late night icecream before bed.

Why Don't We Do This More Often?

That is the question we were asking ourselves as last weekend as we sat on the beach, the wind teasing our hair and flickering the flames of the fire. Our campsite was very picturesque. We had arrived at the beach site half an hour before sunset. As we followed Svika, Darren's friend from the IDF, into the sand and down the beach, the tires started spinning, and our car swung slowly back and forth. Unable to make much progress in the deep sand, we stopped and, under Svika's instruction, let out a minute's worth of air from each tire. It seemed like a lot of air to me, but we obediently finished our task and climbed back into the suburban. And off we went. The slightly flattened tires gripped the sand, and we flew down the beach past the other dune buggies, slipp'n and slide'n a little for good measure. Once we got past the people and the other campsites, we pulled into a good looking spot of sand and started to unload.

The sea breeze, the surf, the flat bread pitas cooking over the fire - I'm not sure which part of camping was the best. Maybe the key element was just being away from the phone, a schedule, and cement walls. I opted not to sleep in the tent but made up my mat outside where I could listen to the surf and feel the breeze without the barrier of the tent walls. What a view to wake up to! (Kait, are you jealous of my cool, orange pants?)