Malcolm and Muhammed

With Malcolm Cartier, our amazing tour guide, and Muhammed, our intrepid bus driver.

We took this picture about 27 hours ago, at 2 AM in the lobby of the Grand Court Hotel in Jerusalem. I wanted everyone to see Malcolm and Muhammed, the two men who worked together to give us such a memorable Holy Land tour. I mentioned a few days ago that Malcolm is a born teacher. On further reflection, I don’t know that I’ve ever met anyone who both knows so much and takes such joy in sharing his knowledge with others. On the way to the Ben Gurion Airport, as Muhammed drove us through the darkness, Malcolm continued to explain various sites that we could not see, including the four possible locations for Emmaus (see Luke 24). Malcolm also commented that it may be seem incongruous to have a Muslim bus driver and a Jewish guide for a Christian pilgrimage to the Holy Land, but that was our experience, and it turned out to be a grand success.

At the moment we’re at O’Hare Airport in Chicago waiting to catch a 9:20 PM flight to Memphis. We were supposed to fly out at 4:50 PM but the flight from Istanbul left an hour late so we mised our earlier flight. Meanwhile our team scattered hither and yon. Marvin and Tipps Just are flying to California and Karl and Ann Olsson are flying home to Port-au-Prince, Haiti. And we have others going to Michigan, Illinois and Virginia. Once we cleared Customs, we said a hasty goodbye and everyone rushed to catch their connecting flights. 

So even though we won’t get home until about 1 AM, we’re happy that tomorrow morning we’ll wake up in our own bed in Tupelo. After our adventures in the Holy Land, it will be good to be home again.