Jerusalem, Israel – Jesus in Disguise

Kendall nailed it with her last post on Jerusalem. We both had an expectation that being in Jerusalem would draw us closer to the Lord as we walked where he walked and visited places he would have visited. God usually speaks to me with a still small voice, one that I can hear much more clearly in the wilderness. It is one of the reasons I feel drawn to remote places. Here among the throb of the city with all of it’s noise and bustle, God seems so far away. We both love experiencing the city, and it is definitely an experience but not one that has thus far drawn us closer to Christ.

Yesterday, when we were at the Church of the Nativity, visiting the grotto thought to be where Jesus would have been born, I got a glimpse of Jesus in disguise. We were exiting the church and a blind very deformed beggar had been placed at the exit to ask for money. The masses were churning past this man, and I am sad to say that I was one of them. We saw several beggars that day and the best way to deal with them was to not establish eye contact and move quickly by them. As the throng was moving in the direction to exit there was one beautiful young woman swimming upstream through the masses until she reached the beggar. I saw her bend over the helpless form on the ground and with a big beautiful smile touch his face. That is just what Jesus does for us, He goes against the crowd and comes into our lives touching us in a personal way. I am sure this girl had the gift of mercy and her intentional effort to reach out to the least of these was moving. It humbled me and was a reminder that my life is to be an example of Christ’s light to the world and that I need to keep my heart open to Jesus’ call on my life. Lord Jesus, please open the eyes of my heart and help me to see your people and your land with your eyes.

We started our day out with a city hike. We have been taking some many pictures that the hard drive on our computer was full, making it impossible to download pictures and videos. So, I got online the night before and found the only Mac store in town, Jerusalem Computers. Then we set out to find it. On the map it looked like a decent walk, but not bad. It took us about an hour to go four miles with the traffic and hills. I was able to purchase a external hard drive for less than half the price and twice the hard drive space of the electronics store near the hotel. The girl working there was also super helpful and got us going in the right direction to our next destination, using the light rail this time.

“And I shall give them in My house within My walls a memorial and a name (a “Yad Vashem”)…that shall not be cut off” – Isaiah 56:5

We arrived at Yad Vashem without really knowing what to expect. Yad Vashem, the holocaust museum, was created to remember and never forget the six million Jews murdered during World War II. The atmosphere was very solemn as everyone there walked through the museum and remembered. There were numerous groups of Israeli military there learning about what they were fighting for. It was a heavy experience, but a very important one. I wanted Kendall to see what the wages of sin lead to, death (Romans 6:23). As we were walking around Yad Vashem I felt God’s presence. It was this type of atmosphere Kendall and I were thinking that all of Jerusalem would be like. The exhibits were exceptionally done and over powering, especially the Children’s Memorial, the Hall of Names, and the Cattle Car Memorial.

After Yad Vashem we did a couple things that were on Kendall’s to do list. The first was the ramparts walk around the old city. It was a lot of fun to walk along the city’s wall as there were countless steps and plenty to see. We tried to get into the Dome of the Rock area too, but the police were not letting tourists through at that hour. We made our way to the City of David for our date with Hezekiah’s tunnel. Bob Stewart told us this was a must do thing in Jerusalem and we are so glad we listened. It is a forty-minute tunnel hike through moving water! King Hezekiah built the tunnel with two different groups of men starting at different points and digging through solid rock until they came within two feet of one another (II Chronicles 32:30)! The other interesting thing is they did not want to dig under graveyards, so the tunnel snakes back and forth to dodge them. It was a super cool flashlight hike that we are so glad we did. If you come to Jerusalem do not miss it.

Kendall’s take:
April 14th: Memorials and Memories
This morning we had a delicious breakfast (as always) and started our walk of the day. First, we walked, daddy said about four miles on our way to drop the computer off at a store that would try to fix it. When we got there, they gave us something to fix it and we left with more stuff than we had come with! The whole point of going there first daddy said, was to get the computer fixed while we were gone “and” so that he wouldn’t have to carry as much stuff and now he had even more! Well, since we were now close to Yad Vashem Museum (Holocaust Museum), we asked the computer lady how to get there. She said, “turn to the right, then turn to the left, then walk straight for 3 minutes. So we did and we got there at about 3 minutes time frame from when we started.

Well, we bought tickets and then sat down to wait four or so minutes for the public train. While we were waiting, two boys came up with some money and they asked daddy to change it (in Hebrew). So daddy tried, but as he was trying, the train came up, opened it’s doors, as daddy got confusedly up to get on it telling the boys at the same time that he couldn’t change their money. But as he was doing so, the train having no one get on or off, took off, leaving us to sit for seven minutes waiting for the next train. We waited, a little upset because we missed the first train and got on the next one all in a hurry because we didn’t want it to leave without us. Then we got transported to a stop called Mt. Hertzel (very close to the Museum – 5 to 10 minute walk away). When we got to the gates, daddy told me that the design on them was bob-wire fences. We went into a very awesome memorial erected for the Jews who got killed by Hitler. It was a very quiet, solemn, and you felt honored by what these people died for. It was so nice. We especially got to see a car that the Jews were shipped in to the concentration camps. I asked daddy why they were called “concentration” camps and he looked up the answer which was, all the Jews were concentrated to a certain area and it was very small for 100 tightly squeezed people to be forced into by a german officer. We got to see lots of sad stuff! We saw dolls that were taken from the Jewish children that the Germans half burnt, books, beds (that were smaller than skinny hotel beds and four people had to sleep in). We also saw what it was like for Corie Ten Boom to sleep in a bed with Betsy and there other ladies. They had to sleep side-ways with their legs hanging off the bed! Doesn’t that sound very uncomfortable. Especially so if all you have to sleep on is straw, a thin mattress, and sometimes nothing but the frame work of wood! Lots of things that the Germans took from the Jews and didn’t fully burn/destroy. It was a very solemn memorial; the only thing daddy and I didn’t like about it was we couldn’t take our backpack but had to stick it on a shelf. So, daddy carried the computer under his arm the whole way so that no one could take it. Then we rode the train back (almost) to our hotel – which is the “National” (a very nice, nice, nice hotel) and we dropped off eveything that can’t get wet off there so we could go do Hezekiah’s Tunnel! So next, we walked into the old city, bought a yummy falafel for lunch (ate it at a nice spot and tried to get to the Jaffa Gate. We almost got pushed into the “Church of the Holy Sepulcher by all the crowds!!! When we finally got to the Jaffa Gate, we payed a little money and then walked up to the top of the wall that guards Jerusalem. It was so cool! We walked all the way to the Lion’s Gate and got off the wall to try to get into the temple mount. Well, police men were guarding it and wouldn’t let us pass so we walked over to Hezekiah’s Tunnel payed (you have to pay for everything here) and began the tunnel. I was so disappointed because they built a long pathway to the tunnel and I thought that they rebuilt the whole tunnel. But then, when we got to the real tunnel, the water came up about halfway up to my knee. The very deepest it got was a little over my knee. It was very cool though! Next, we walked all the way back to the Hotel (I felt like my legs would fall off) most of the way very, very steep uphill. When we got almost to the hotel we went down another street to find some water. Instead, daddy found some very delicious ice creams. He let me eat one (it was very yummy). Israel has the best prices on it; so if you like ice-cream, this is the place to come to get it cheap! Then we found some water; ate another falafel for dinner, and went to the hotel for our homework stuff. I was up till around 9p when I finally was ready to just drop. So I’ll just take time to say, “Good-Night!”