Part 13: Glossary of Terms

Our stay in Jerusalem was led by Dr. Carl Rasmussen. Carl has his own "terms" which not all people would be familiar with.  So if you head to Jerusalem or ever talk with Carl here are some of his Carlisms and their meanings:

(1)Bye-bye-buddy check:  look around and make sure no one is missing cause we're taking off.

(2)Culture on the right/left: look in the appropriate direction and you will see wildlife or people.

(3) hanky-panky: usually implying some sort of shinanagins.

(4)Hello-hello-hello: stop what you're doing and pay attention.

(5)Push the pause button: you should push the button above you and pause your conversation.

(6) People-im: this usually refers to the whole team/group.

(7) Schlep: V. to carry or pull or haul items (usually lunch)  Schlepers: N. the people doing the schlepping. 

(8) Sippy-poo: coffee.

(9) No Slouch: this refers to archaeologists and scholars who know what they're talking about.

(10)Snacky-poo: that favorite time of the day between 3pm-4:47pm where we get to have a snack.

(11) Sports Fans: this usually refers to the team when we are tired.

Anyway, just a little taste of the language we've had to get used to here in the land of Israel.  Shalom

Part 12: Super Sweet Spectacular Stunning Samaria

So I just finished this post and then lost it.  LAME! VERY LAME!!

Samaria was perhaps one of the greatest highlights of the trip.  Simply because it hasn't been safe to travel there in the last decade.  In other words, we are a small minority of people who got to build our "library of impressions" as Carl would say.

The two major highlights of the day for me:

Jacob's well, I'm guessing more well known for the story of the Samaritan woman at the well (John 4) where Jesus asks for a drink of water and then offers her living water.  Its a small well and within the last five years they built a church around it (that's what they do here over holy sites).  You can still draw water up out of the well and so that is what we did. We all got to touch the water and some of us even licked a little off our hands :) This site I would place in the "I was really looking forward to it and it didn't disappoint" category.

Shiloh.  One thing I have recently learned is the more significant the place is to me, the more knowledge I have about it, and the deeper my theological understanding creates a perfect formula that equals a increased "likability" of the site for me. Shiloh is known for its role in the story of Samuel.  I have come to like this story for a few reasons:
(1) We learn that God doesn't give up on people even when they are directly disobeying
(2) We learn that God listens to his children--Hannah prayed
(3) We learn that God speaks to his children
But all of these requires some risk on our part...may we respond as Samuel did..."Speak Lord, I'm listening"

Well team...I'll write a little more in a bit...

Part 11: Galilee Round Two

As I said previously, we spent four days in Galilee.  There was some Old Testament discussion, but to be completely honest the most impacting sites for me were the ones centered around the ministry of Jesus.  Our events included, but were not limited to:
A visit to Capernaum, which houses one of the most well known and popular historical sites in Israel.
A visit to Megiddeo where we got to see some sweet gates and walk down another water cistern.
A visit to Sepphoris where we saw the "Mona Lisa" of Galilee (a beautiful Mosaic). I never get tired of looking at the mosaics.
A visit to Hazor where we saw an olive press from back in the day.
A visit to Beth-shean/Scythopolis where we got to see the sweet Greco-Roman latrine.

And now for my highlights:

We took a boat ride on the sea of Galilee, it was here where we were taught about fishing and how they used to fish and the different types of fishing.  After we docked on land we got to see a 2000 year old boat that was found in the Sea of Galilee...very sweet. It was beautiful.

I had been really looking forward to visiting the Church around where the events of John 21 are thought to have happened.  Unfortunately, during my relished time of silence in the church another tour group entered without heeding the sign which says "silence this is a holy site".  It was still a very beautiful church.

Probably one of the most simple and enjoyable highlights for all of us was all the swim time we got.  On the first night we watched the sun go down as we floated in the water.  There was also non-instant coffee where we stayed.

Anyway team, we spent the day in Samaria and its exam time tomorrow so its sleep and study time for me.
Lots of love

Part 10: Gallivanting in Galilee

Galilee was "mostly awesome with brief periods of terrible".  Being someone who needs time alone during  high-paced 10-11 hour days with people constantly does not always bring out the best in me.  When we arrived in Caesarea I was thirsty for alone time.  Anticipating a morning full of lectures and ruins I was pleasantly surprised when we were given an hour free time to explore the ruins and baths (not that I don't enjoy the lectures, I do, I just enjoy them when I'm not so full of other things). 

  At first I decided to stay with the majority of the team to explore but soon found myself combing the beach for Sea glass.  Those of you who know me well know that I can spend hours and hours and more hours just walking up and down the beach collecting these beautiful little treasures.  I know a lot of people don't understand what is compelling about "broken glass" so I thought I would explain the significance it has to me.

A few years ago I was walking along Rebbecca Spit on Quadra Island collecting beach glass when my eyes were opened to a story:

Imagine a perfectly shaped aqua blue bottle.  Its filled with something so beautiful you cannot explain it. Then the bottle gets smashed into millions of little pieces all with sharp edges and the beautiful contents are poured fourth.  Everyone knows to stay away from broken glass, it cuts and destroys causing small or devastating destruction.  But something happens when you place the broken glass in the sea...it begins to soften.  The longer the glass stays in the ocean the softer and more refined the glass becomes.  It no longer cuts or destroys instead it becomes smooth and soft.  It is not lakes or springs or wells that cause the glass to change, its the ocean. 

As you might have guessed this story is about us.  We were made beautiful and made to be filled by God and all that He is.  But we became broken and in our brokenness we hurt others and cause pain.  It is only when we return to the ocean of God and His love that our soft edges become smooth.  We cannot redeem ourselves and no other source can redeem us, it is only the work of God.  May you not be afraid to be plunged into the depths of His love, or to be tossed around in His grace knowing that He is softening you, restoring and redeeming into His beautiful creation. 

And after that little sermonette I cannot help but include a favorite quote from Augustine for you to chew on:
"Even if the vessel is broken, you [God] are not poured forth."

And that is why I collect beach glass, because it reminds me.  Reminds me of who I am and who God is.

A second massive highlight (which was also a fun surprise) was going to Mt. Carmel.  This is the supposed ground where the Carmalite order began.  Many of the Church Fathers and Mothers who I like to read come from this order such as: St. Theresa of Avila, St. John of the Cross, Brother Lawrence.  The major component of their practice that I resonate with is the heavy emphasis placed on contemplation (hence my incredible need for processing/alone time).  The grounds were beautiful, the view was spectacular and the chapel simple and pure. 

We ended the day with a swim in the Sea of Galilee, which for those of you who don't know is actually a lake filled with fresh water.  Well this post has seemed to take on its own theological agenda, and I'm going to leave it that way and fill in the rest of the stories of Galilee in another post.  Tomorrow we head to Samaria.

May you begin to feel and understand the vast depth and expanse of his redemptive love...
have a good sleep team

Part 9: The Quirks and Quarks of Israel life

Recently, I've been getting some flack for not mentioning people's names.  So some introductions are in order:

The two American friends which have been mentioned a couple of times are Sam (also known as sunshine, sassasorause, or anga-raptor) and Scott who sweats profuse puddles, most of that sweat is confined to Qumran.  Both of them are PhD students from America where they call toques toboggans, I know crazy!

Random facts from life here:

We can't flush toilet paper, we place it in the trash cans next to the toilet.
We eat schnitzel frequently.
Breakfast always includes eggs of some kind and sometimes hot dogs
Instant coffee...
Hummus (which is wonderful) at every meal.
7am feels like a sleep in.
The fruit is wonderful
The boys clearly have never hung laundry in their lives you should see the line.

There are stray cats everywhere which we are sure are full of disease and Rachel insists on touching them, while everyone one else hisses them away.

At one particular hostel Dave spat water onto Erv (our proff) by accident, and at the next breakfast Erv dropped his pudding lid on Jimmy's shoulder. So pretty much life here is a big gong show with lots of laughter.

Tomorrow we head to Galilee for four days, I'm not sure how much blogging will take place there, but I'll see what I can do.  There will for sure be stories after and that, my friends, is a promise.

Lots of Love Team

  

Part 8: Mega party in the Negev

I really don't even know where to begin this post as we were just on a three day field trip to one of the most epic areas of Israel.  Rather than writing long paragraphs today I'll give you snip-its of our adventuring.

We started our adventures in the valley of Elah where it is said that David destroyed Goliath.  Oddly enough Carl (our proff) told us to collect stones and throw them.  After my last incident of throwing rocks (knocking Colt's tooth out) I decided my aim is too good and that I shouldn't throw rocks.  :)

We saw many more ruins which are sweet but don't make large impacts on me apparently.  It was after our "lunchy-poo"  and a warning that if we hear the sirens go off we have 15 seconds to get to safety, that we got to go swimming in the Mediterranean Sea, which was completely enjoyed by all, even those who were stung by jelly fish.

We then proceeded to drive 3 miles away from the Gaza Strip (we could see the high rises) to the Maktesh Ramon crater (the super bowl). You drive forever along desert roads, and you can't help but think is what is out there really worth all this...and then as the sun sets you walk up to the crater and on your way an Ibex passes you and all of a sudden you feel very insignificant and little in this place which feels like the end of the earth and you realize that it was and is worth it. (The crater kind of looks like the moon from space.)

We woke up early the next morning and ventured to a wadi (the Hebrew word for canyon) and proceeded to walk up it.  For the first 15 minutes you walk along a path looking up wondering how you will ever make it to the top.  But before you know it you are walking up stone steps carved into the side of the Canyon.  The air is hot, the hottest (besides Jericho) we had felt yet.  To intensify things the Canyon is made out of a white rock which just reflects the light even more.  Part way up the canyon there are some old Monastic caves, which we were glad to take refuge in for a few minutes before heading to the last section which involves climbing ladders. It maybe doesn't sound like its worth it, but the view was incredible and it was every bit worth it. I was struck that day by the verse in Psalm 91 "I will not allow you foot to stumble".  We often think of that as tripping over roots in the rain-forest.  But here when you are so hot, and you can feel your heart beating in your head, and the rock below you is slippery and flaky you begin to find new meaning in those words. That morning we also saw some tombs and more ruins.

The last day (yesterday) was probably the highlight of the trip so far for me. It was also the day I've been most looking forward to despite the outrageous temperatures of 41/106 degrees.  We started off the day by hiking up Masada.  Masada is a very important part of Jewish culture. I'm not going to go into all the history if you google it I'm sure you can find out.  But it is so important the Israel military still has a ceremony up there once a year to remember that what happened on Masada, and to make sure it will never happen again.  We spent most of the morning up there exploring.

After Masada we drove down to the Dead Sea which had been taunting us from the top of Masada all morning.  I can't really explain the feeling of it other than that you feel like you are the cork of a bottle bobbing in the water.  Its kind of trippy.  You step into the water, just sit down and you're floating.  You actually have to work to keep your feet in the water.  After we got out from our little swim Carl and Mary (his wife) had made us hot dogs and we ate them in our bathing suits- it was the best and hot dogs have never tasted so good.

We jumped back on the bus for a 5 minute ride until we reached Ein Gedi.  There is a cave near the top of this wadi that it is said David took refuge in.  On the way to that cave we stopped and had a nice cooling off swim in a waterfall pool, I can't even begin to tell you how refreshing it feels after hiking in 41/106 degree weather.

Lastly, we arrived at Qumran.  Qumran is extremely significant simply because of the scrolls that were found in the caves.  By this time we were hot and tired but it was still fascinating to think about what else could be out there, after all these scrolls were found in the 1940's and that really isn't that long ago.

During our travels we saw, desert foxes, camels, Ibex, geckos, lizards and more...i love the nature.
We have today off to poke around the Old city and study for our second exam which is tomorrow.  Next week we head to Galilee for four days which I'm pretty sure will just explode my mind.  Anyway this is kind of a long update, but  there has been and is much adventuring.

That's it for now team! Thanks for reading!

Part 7: Exams, Abbeys and Angel Births

First exam down!

After a small lecture this morning a few of us ventured out into the old city and its surroundings.

First stop: The Upper Room.  To be honest there really isn't much there to see, and it was a rather quick trip as the guys had already been there, but it was worth seeing.

Second stop:  Dormition Abbey.  This is said to be the place where Mary (the mother of Jesus) fell into eternal sleep.  The first level was filled with beautiful mosaics, but the real beauty was down the stairs.  A dome of beautiful mosaics of Eve, Miriam, Jahel, Judith (from the Apocrypha), Ruth, Esther situated above Mary's supposed casket.

Third stop:  Schindler's Grave.  In Israel they place stones on top of the grave as a sign of respect.  Schindler's grave had the most stones out of anyone's we have seen so far.

Fourth stop: St. Peters.  This is probably my highlight of the day.  It is said that this is the location where Jesus was taken for trial and/or the location where Peter denied Christ 3 times.  Once again the Mosaics and artwork were stunning.  But perhaps the most fascinating part were the stone rooms which the church was built around.  In the very bottom one there is a podium set up with Psalm 88 translated into several languages. Three of us sat on the ground as one read to us.  Psalm 88 is the only psalm which does not end on a note of praise or hope, I've posted the psalm here:
¹O LORD, God of my salvation;
   I cry out day and night before you.
²Let my prayer come before you;
    incline your ear to my cry!
 ³For my soul is full of troubles,
   and my life draws near to Sheol.
⁴I am counted among those who go down to the pit;
   I am a man who has no strength,
⁵like one set loose among the dead,
   like the slain that lie in the grave,
like those whom you remember no more,
   for they are cut off from your hand.
⁶You have put me in the depths of the pit,
   in the regions dark and deep.
⁷Your wrath lies heavy upon me,
   and you overwhelm me with all your waves.
                         Selah
 ⁸You have caused my companions to shun me;
   you have made me a horror^[b] to them.
I am shut in so that I cannot escape;
 ⁹ my eye grows dim through sorrow.
Every day I call upon you, O LORD;
   I spread out my hands to you.
¹⁰Do you work wonders for the dead?
    Do the departed rise up to praise you?
                         Selah

¹¹Is your steadfast love declared in the grave,
   or your faithfulness in Abaddon?
¹²Are your wonders known in the darkness,
   or your righteousness in the land of forgetfulness?
 ¹³But I, O LORD, cry to you;
    in the morning my prayer comes before you.
¹⁴O LORD, why do you cast my soul away?
   Why do you hide your face from me?
¹⁵Afflicted and close to death from my youth up,
   I suffer your terrors; I am helpless.^[c]
16Your wrath has swept over me;
   your dreadful assaults destroy me.
¹⁷They surround me like a flood all day long;
   they close in on me together.
¹⁸You have caused my beloved and my friend to shun me;
   my companions have become darkness.^[d

As you can imagine I was deeply moved.  
My two american friends have complained to me that I did not explain in detail some Israel Dance/Story we 
witnessed the other night.  So here we go....
Currently there is a festival of lights going on.  I'm not really sure what all that means other than people 
everywhere, bright colours and interesting dance.  So off we go.  Our american friends had seen it before and 
were willing to experience this work of art again.  There are really no words to describe it other than, imagine 
Mrs. Santa Clause in black and white.  Now stretch her out about 7 or 8 feet tall.  Now imagine that her face 
pure white and covered in sparkles (no skin colour, or eyes showing).  Now imagine that her upper half is 
almost falling off of her causing her to lean back really far and then almost fall forward like a toy top.  Times 
this by 3. All the while imagine wistful, trance like music.  All of a sudden two of the tall Mrs. Santa Clauses  
have these half sized shaped parachutes.  The next thing you know there are people inside of them wearing  
sparkly spandex pressing their face and legs tight along the edge of the parachutes so that you can see their 
impressions.  Eventually they are "birthed", crowned with wings and fly away.  We're not entirely sure what all 
of this means other than we think it may be the Israeli story of the birth of the angels.  Just a little treat for you 
to enjoy :)


Anyway Team, we are off to the Negev for three days.  You know a little swim time in the dead sea, 
some cave exploring in Qumran, some hiking in Masada....I'm sure I'll have more wonderful stories for you 
in a couple of days.


Shalom