The Dead Sea was un-real.
You know how when you lay flat in water and suck in a deep breath, you are sort of floating? Well the second you let any air out of your lungs you sink. In the Dead Sea you can do this (the end part):
The part where Baloo floats down the river....that was me. Laying on my back. You could "stand" in 20 feet of water no problem because you couldn't sink.....unbelievable. I have no pictures because I was in the water, but I could have brought a newspaper and read it without getting it wet. Crazy....
This is the view from our Hotel on the Dead Sea. The resort hotel was a spa with a 5 star restaurant and an incredible view! This is the view from my hotel room! We had a blast here: lots of time to relax and enjoy the the facilities. But we only had 1 night here. After this, it was off towards Jerusalem.....
On the way to Jerusalem we stopped in the Hills where Abraham's tribe used to shack up. We went to an "experience" called Abraham's Tent - it is an awesome deal where they have a servant who is sent by Abraham 3800 years into the future to find guests for a party. We are the guests the servant finds. He takes us on Camels to Abrahams Tent back in 1800 B.C. and we meet Abraham. Then we made our own pita bread and had the feast of a life time - a Byzantine Snack is what it was called; but think fattened lamb and the prodigal son. It was awesome!
I got to visit the Wailing Wall. I prayed like everybody else does: for my youth group in Antioch (Woot Woot!), for Justin (who asked me to...) and Nick C. (who I am discipling), and then a couple of general prayers....but oddly it felt like I was almost praying to a false Idol. Let me explain.
The Wailing Wall is a Jewish thing: the wall surrounds the Temple in the Old City (Jerusalem's 3000 year old part). The temple now is controlled by Muslims, and the picture I will post of the building with the Gold roof is basically right aroudn where the Holy of Holys was kept back in the days of David and Solomon, etc, right up through the time of Jesus. Jesus said clearly in the Gospels that the Temple would be destroyed and 3 days later he would rebuild it. What this means is to US Christians is that the Temple is US. We do not need to pray as close to the Holy of Holys as we can (like the Jews) because we believe the Holy of Holys is IN US: we call it the Holy Spirit. If you have any questions, let me know....but that is the short version.
We spent the rest of our time parading around the Temple learning about the various gates into the Old City and all of those things. We walked inbetween the "Golden Gate" and the Mt of Olives - which is where Jesus rode his donkey into the Temple Courts on Palm Sunday.....
This picture is of a place called Ein Geddy (spell check doesn't do Hebrew...). This is the place described in Judges 6 and 7 where Gideon does the whole test with a fleece (end of 6). Then in Chapter 7, he is to go out and fight the Midianites. God tells him he has too many people. So he lets 22,000 leave (left with 10,000). God says he still has too many. God tells him to take the men down to the water and let them drink. Those who lap up the water like dogs (stick their faces in it basically) are to be not taken to battle, but those who lift the water up to their mouths are to be taken to battle. Only 300 men lift the water to their mouths, and it is with those 300 men Gideon defeats the Midianite army. The water you see me lifting to my mouth as one of the 300 likely did is the exact same place where Gideon did it with his men. The natural spring at Ein Geddy has not moved for 3,000 years since the time of Gideon! How cool!
This is a picture I took with a friend I made: an israeli armed guard at the wailing wall! Did you know that if you take a youth group or church group or something similar ANYWAHERE recreational in Jerusalem you MUST have an ARMED GUARD with you at all times? There are people walking around with one hand holding a 6th graders hand, and the other holding a M-16 Semi-Automatice Machine Gun! We have it so good in Cali.....
Here is a picture of me jumping into a water fall spring in the area where David wrote the "as the deer panteth for the water, so my soul longeth after thee," psalm....
I have pictures of me on a camel and also a picture of father Abraham, but I'm out of internet time.....so I'll upload them later!
Shalom!
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