What's Next?

In the past two weeks I have been so incredibly blessed!

I have known I was never alone in this process, but I have had so many people asking me about how things are working out that I'm overwhelmed by the support.  This is a huge thing for me.  It reminds me that I am loved and cared for by my family and community.  Thank you!  I appreciate you more than you will ever know.

Not much has changed in the past week.  I am comforted knowing there must be a reason for this experience and visit.  I am more than a little anxious to get to the other side to find out why.  I have been encouraged that a decision will be made with in a few days of my return from this vision trip.  So hopefully I will know what is happening by the middle of July.

My decision will be surrounded by conversations with God, hopefully on your part too;)  The following are the major things I will need to consider and determine if I can handle:
*How do I respond to the culture difference of here to there?
*Will my personality mesh well with the ministry partner I'd be assisting?
*Will my support/authority system there be strong enough to encourage AND discipline me?
*How should I handle my personal budget including student loans and emergency funds?

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I'm changing the subject for a bit because it's time.
So last night I realized I haven't really shared anything about Israel so here goes nothing...

What can I really say about Israel that can make sense?  It is such a small place with such a big impact.  I knew Israel was a small country, but I don't think I realized how small.  For a good representation in the US, think New Jersey.  They are about as close as you can get in size AND population.  Israel is about 8500 square miles with a population density of 1004 people per square mile.  New Jersey is about 8700 square miles with a population density of 1210 people per square mile.  About 6 hours and you can get from the northern most point to the southern most point.  At it's widest point it would only take about 2 hours to cover East to West.

In our Western mind set everything is big.  Bigger is better.  It has to be big to mean something.  We read the scriptures and think, "Feeding 5,000 on a mount, that must be a huge place."  Or what about that overflowing synagogue, it must have been thousands of people, how could they all hear him?

The reality is that on the mount people must have been practically sitting on each other, but the natural amphitheater shape of the area would have made his voice heard to another 5,000.  And that synagogue?  It was probably not much bigger than a basketball court, not the whole gym, just the court.

The terrain varies so much from the coastal plains where you have the Mediterranean Sea and sandy beaches, to the Sphelah (valley from North to South that was trade route/military strongholds), to the desert and finally the mountains.  So much in such a small space.  Some areas are so dry and parched you don't know if you will make it, then you round a corner and there are the flowing waters and greenery everywhere.

My favorite area was Galilee.  The Sea of Galilee (aka Kinneret) is so much smaller than Lake Michigan.  Standing on the shore you can see pretty much the entire thing.  We stayed in the northwest corner between Tiberius and Capernaum.  To go from one day standing on top of Mt. Arbel looking out over the land and the next be traveling among the Decapolis cities of the Golan Heights was amazing.  To think of the father from the story of the prodigal son standing on the shore looking out across the sea and have the Decapolis in sight, but yet it was a far country in culture so that he could not go seek out his son.  Heartbreaking.  Spending those days in those areas knowing that although it is no longer the same soil, it is definitely where Christ would have been for those three years of his public ministry.  Mind-blowing!