3/ Israel
I guess the natural sequence of events is to follow the dark road heading towards Israel. To the Australian citizen an armed escort is what they see on television, or in an adventure film. Being part of that convoy felt exciting. I wouldn't have been so thrilled if bullets had ripped the bus and passengers to threads. The Egyptian government had decided these precautions were necessary after Palestinians stopped a bus the previous year, shooting all the Israeli tourists.
The trip from Egypt to Israel, although ten hours, was very pleasant. Not all the time was spent travelling, there were delays when changing the escort, or waiting patiently at the border.
I sat at the front of the bus next to Karim, the owner of the company. Before long I was sharing the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ with this Muslim. He in return, by the time we were ready to cross the Suez Canal, was calling me mother and feeding me from the lunch his wife had packed him. The hours flew quickly as we chatted. Even at a tiny town, when we stopped for a meal, I felt safe under the protection of this man.
As our journey continued I was contented to just sit and absorb scenes from an ancient land, where time had stood still. The sights along the way were fascinating. Bedouin encampments in the distance consisting of tents or rough wrought iron makeshift houses, camel herds strolling leisurely in the distance, or shepherds herding sheep, or goats. There was also the occasional oasis, a green patch that stood out for its tall palm trees, in the middle of rocky ground. I had expected to see only rolling hills of sand, this wasn't the case.
The ancient sights in Egypt thrilled me. The religiousness in Israel, especially Jerusalem, disgusted me. God must be so sad when he looks down at his beloved city. Jesus is big business in Jerusalem. Stalls and stores will sell anything from pebbles 'Jesus stepped on' to the most useless rubbish you can imagine. When the guide said we would go to the birth place of Jesus, I became excited! Instead, we entered a church. I asked if this was the actual birth place of Christ. His reply was, "Oh no!" If that wasn't enough, the church was divided into two sections, one for the Catholics and one for the Greek Orthodox.
The section we happened to be in was Catholic. Long lines of nuns patiently waited to kiss the marble slab at the centre of which was a silver star and a ruby goblet. The church of the Holy Sepulchre wasn't much better. Jesus hadn't been buried here either. From the church of the Ascension, to the church of Saint Peter, to the church near the tomb of Lazarus, to the church of ????. Some people in Australia go for a pub crawl, the tour I was on went for a church crawl. After a while I became thoroughly sick of the gold and silver, jewel covered religious ornaments and statues of the saints, Mary and Joseph. Between the Catholic church and the Orthodox churches (Greek, Russian etc.), the market was well and truly covered. Sadly I didn't come across one person who had a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.
The visit to "Jesus' Town" Capernaum, really did it. All that marked the place where Jesus had once walked -- you guessed it, were Catholic buildings. Don't ask me what they were because I don't remember. There was the ruin of a synagogue I would have liked to have had a closer look at. Beside those ruins also were the foundations of Peter's mother-in-law's house. Have a guess what prevented me? You've guessed it, a fence, but more annoyingly the building of a Catholic church, which had been built on a platform, on a pylon, rising straight out of the middle of ruins. The only way to get into the complex was to be booked in for mass first. At that news I really became annoyed! What gave the Catholic church the right to monopolise ancient biblical sights! The next day I decided not to go on another church crawl, but made my own way around Tiberias.
Once I had left the religiousness behind I felt terrific. My first project was to climb the hill behind Tiberias. From the top I had a great view of the Sea of Galilee and the Jordanian mountains. I hadn't felt God's presence in any of the churches the tour group had visited, but here on the hill I felt a tremendous peace as I reached out to God in prayer. At least it was possible that Jesus could have climbed this hill with his disciples. Only when it started to rain did I tear myself away from what I felt to be God's presence.
As the rain didn't last too long I decided to walk through the shopping centre. Two hours later I returned to the hotel laden with goodies - leather shoes and magnificently hand-crafted glass vases.
Later on that afternoon I enjoyed a swim in the heated swimming pool. The swim became even more enjoyable as I listened to the winter storms raging outside, how relaxing. As relaxing as bobbing up and down in the Dead Sea! The tour had stopped at the Dead Sea after viewing the fortress of Masada. King Herod, had been the first to see the possibilities of the plateau. The king wanted a summer retreat, so he built a palace on three levels on the northern aspect of the plateau. Sixty years after Herod's death, the fortress became the final resting place of 960 Zealots. This group of Jews preferred suicide, rather than falling into the hands of the Roman army, which had laid siege to the fortress. What made the visit to Masada even more enjoyable, was the fact that there were no modern churches amongst these ancient ruins. The builders in the time of Herod had shown genius, as could be seen in the remains of the bath-house. I was particularly interested in seeing distinct patterns in floor designs, or fragments of colour in remaining pieces of plaster.
Once the tour had finished I was able to enjoy two days of wandering, by myself, through the bazaar, in the old city of Jerusalem. The store holders were friendly and I enjoyed sitting and chatting with them. One store holder invited me to join him for a cup of coffee. Considering I was a total stranger, he trusted me with his belongings while he went to the nearest store to buy the coffee. I felt as if the clock had been turned back thousands of years as I sat on a low stool, amongst goods only found in the Middle East. My host asked me about Australia, while I asked him about his Palestinian background and life in Jerusalem. At no stage was I molested by either Palestinian or Jew.
On my second last day in Jerusalem I thoroughly enjoyed wandering through the "Tower of David" museum. There were models and artifacts representing 3,000 years of Jewish history. The model representing the siege of Jerusalem, by the Romans 70 AD, gave the viewer a better understanding of life at that time. Seeing the Roman influence in miniature, reminded me of the Roman monuments at Caesarea, the aqueducts and the amphitheatre.
I didn't find Jesus in Israel although there were plenty of churches commemorating biblical events. I had found Jesus twenty years ago, when I had cried out to God saying, "God I've made a mess of my life, help me to clean it up." I'm glad that God doesn't have a complex about being used; waiting and hoping, that maybe, one day somebody will actually talk to Him.
Jesus wasn't in the ruins of archaeological sights, or old churches, he had actually travelled with me in my heart. That is the miracle of my trip to Egypt and Israel. God showed me a land that has featured so much in biblical history, "I called my son out of Egypt" and the land Israel, which God sent his Son to, so that through his birth and resurrection we might have eternal life.
Religion causes division. Those who truly seek God will find Him, but only through the Lord Jesus Christ.
Often people will say to me, "Oh you're very religious. What church do you belong to?"
"None," is the immediate reply.
"But you have to have fellowship somewhere, "I'm a Baptist" - whatever.
My answer to that point is, "True, but I always associate myself with Jesus
first, for let's face it, no denomination ever died on the cross."
1/ Fiji
2/ Egypt
3/ Israel
4/ Papua New Guinea
5/ Forgive or I cannot forgive you
6/ Jesus still heals today
7/ Suicide
8/ Long Bay Gaol
9/ Attempted murder
10/ Bathurst Gaol
11/ Angels
12/ How to pray
13/ Cords
14/ Counting the cost
15/ The heart condition
16/ Lorraine
17/ Dracula - fact or fiction
18/ If you love me
19/ Being gay
20/ Faith
21/ Roots
22/ Malaysia
23/ Fiji revisited - 1997
24/ What Jesus means to me
25/ My diary entries
26/ Conclusion