What a trip!

So I am back from Israel, and clearly I did not manage to keep up the blog with all the amazing things we were experiencing. But in my defense, I did not take into account the fact that our 81 year old guide would have the energy of a 5 year old on a sugar high and enough information about Israel and the Bible to fill a library.

Suffice it so say that this trip was the trip of a lifetime. Although the information I have actually retained is painfully small compared to all there is to know, I do have a greater understanding of Old Testament history, and of Judaism and Islam and the country of Israel.

But the most significant thing I returned with is a mark on my soul--because in Israel I sat on the shore of the Sea of Galilee and sailed across the same waters that Jesus calmed and walked on, I recommitted my life to Him in the same waters that He was baptized in, I wept in the place where He was beaten for my sins, and rejoiced as I stood in an empty tomb. In the place where He spoke I heard His voice, in the place where He walked I committed to following Him more closely, in the place where He lived, I saw His Life as more real than ever before.

It was a great trip, but it is good to be home with Kevin and Cambel and Ada (even if home also means laundry, dishes, and long to-do lists). I will probably never get my pictures all organized and posted or all my thoughts about the trip written down, but I think this experience has marked me in a way that pictures and words fall short of expressing.

Picasa is not cooperating, so instead of a collage, here is a link to just a few pictures from our trip.