By tour leader Ingrid Reichard
Jerusalem is the City of the Great King. It has an atmosphere of its own – at times it feels busy, crowded and commercial. At other times it feels as if it stood out of time, keeping its own history clock, and if you pay attention you will feel that this place is holy. We spent 4 nights in Jerusalem, the details are too many to mention but here are a few.
Our first day was spent in a small circle all around the temple mount. The Dome of the Rock, the pools of Bethesda, the Wailing Wall, the southern temple complex with the beautiful Huldah Gate, the City of David with the challenging Hezekiah tunnel, the pool of Siloam – all (and more) within about a 1.5 km diameter.
Our second day was spent touring modern Jerusalem – we stopped at the Israel Museum and the Shrine of the book, at the Knesset (the Israel equivalent of Parliament Hill in Ottawa), the Holocaust museum, and then we drove a bit out of the city to the Hadassah teaching hospital to admire the Chagall windows and even further, near the place where the ark rested for 3 months (2 Samuel 6:6-12) in the Harari Harp workshop – this stop was a highlight for many.
Our third day focused on the birth and death of Jesus – Bethlehem, the Garden of Gethsemane and the Garden tomb were our key stops.
This blog is being finished while we are waiting to board our plane home. We made it through the airport checkpoints and are looking forward to coming home.
It is difficult to summarize how a pilgrimage to the Holy Land impacts one’s life. It will take us a long time to process all that we have seen and experienced.
We are certainly coming back changed – not only have we acquired knowledge we did not have before, we have more importantly met our great God and Saviour in new places and in new ways. And an encounter with the living God never leaves a person the way they were before. Our prayer is that the transformation of this trip would continue to impact us for the rest of our lives.
To God be the glory.
Thanks so much for taking the time to provide even a peek into these two weeks in the Holy Land. I am looking forward to hearing
deeper insights from Brian as he “unpacks” this journey over the coming days and weeks.
Blessings,Juanita