Journey to Jerusalem
October 18, 2009
My new camera is ready to go. You can take digital pictures or high-def video with it so we’ll be experimenting with both on the trip.
Our group this year is a small, a total of 15 people, but that’s nice because we’ll all get to know each other. They come from Florida, Connecticut, Illinois, Michigan, New Jersey, Virginia and Oregon. With a smaller group, it becomes more like a personal, private tour of the Holy Land.
This is our fifth trip to the Holy Land, and our fourth tour to lead. We went first in 1986 as a last-second addition to a Pastors’ Tour. We led our own tours in 1994, 1997 and 2007. Because so much excavation continually takes place, each time we go we see things that hadn’t been uncovered before. I particularly noticed the difference around the Temple Mount between 1997 and 2007.
People wonder about safety when you travel to the Middle East. We’ve never had the slightest problem on any of our tours. I’ve always felt safer in Jerusalem than in the downtown areas of most American cities.
I still remember the overwhelming emotion I experienced in 1986 when after landing in Tel Aviv, we met our tour guide who greeted us with the words, “Welcome to Israel, land of the Bible.” Tears starting rolling down my face. Israel is the only place outside of America where I don’t feel like a stranger. I feel like I’m on a pilgrimage to my spiritual roots.
So we’re packed and ready to go. In few minutes we’re leaving for Memphis where we’ll catch a plane to Chicago. Tonight our group will fly from Chicago to Istanbul, Turkey, and then on to Tel Aviv, arriving around midnight on Monday. We’ll spend the night in Caesarea on the Mediterranean Sea where Paul was held prisoner for several years (see Acts 24-26). Then we’re off and running. I mean that in a true sense. A tour is a pilgrimage, not a vacation. We tell folks, “You can sleep when you get back home.” Most people go to the Holy Land one time so we pack in as much as possible.
Stay tuned to the weblog for pictures and video. We want you to join us as we visit the land of the Bible.