Month: August 2011

As we all know, good things must come to an end – even if you are in Jerusalem!

Once again, we started early and headed to Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial and Museum (Yad Vashem means “a place and a name”).  We spent almost two hours here, and it was not near enough.  This museum tells the story of the Holocaust from start to finish.  As a museum, Yad Vashem has lots of items on display from this horrible era which are very interesting.  However, what was most interesting to me were the stories of the Holocaust survivors.  As we walked through the museum, kiosks were set up along the way with videos playing of interviews from actual survivors. They described in detail and through tears the atrocities that the Nazis had committed on them and their families.  It was extremely moving and very difficult to watch.  That being said, I think that everyone should go through this museum or watch a documentary on the Holocaust at least once a year – in order to remember what happened and to never let such things happen ever again!

From Yad Vashem, we went to Hezekiah’s  Tunnel.  Hezekiah’s Tunnel is a tunnel that was dug underneath the City of David (located just South of the Southern Wall of the Old City)before 701B.C. during the reign of Hezekiah. The tunnel is mentioned in 2Kings 20:20 in the Bible. The Bible also tells us that King Hezekiah prepared Jerusalem for an impending siege by the Assyrians, by “blocking the source of the waters of the upper Gihon, and leading them straight down on the west to the City of David” ( 2 Chronicles 32). The tunnel has been dated both by the written inscription found on its wall (Siloam Inscription), and by dating organic matter contained in the original plastering. It is one of the few intact, 8th century BC structures in the world that the public can not only visit, but enter and walk through.  The tunnel, leading from the Gihon Spring to the Pool Siloam was designed as an aqueduct to provide Jerusalem with water during an impending siege by the Assyriams. The curving tunnel is 533 meters long, and by using a 30 cm (0.6‰) gradient altitude difference between each end, conveyed water along its length from the spring to the pool.

Believe it or not, many of us walked through Hezekiah’s Tunnel, including me.  I found out a few things while I was walking through the still functioning aqueduct: 1) The people who chiseled this tunnel were very smart – According to the Siloam inscription, the tunnel was excavated by two teams, one starting at each end of the tunnel and then meeting in the middle – later, I found out that the difficult feat of making two teams digging from opposite ends meet far underground was accomplished by directing the two teams from above using sounds generated by hammering on the solid stone through which the tunnelers were digging; 2) The water was clean, clear, and cold; and 3) Jewish men of that day were very short – I left some skin and blood from the top of my head in Hezekiah’s Tunnel!  This was one of those experiences that everyone should do once in their lifetime (and for me, once is enough!).

Next, we went through the Jaffa gate of the Old City (in the Christian quarter) and climbed stairs to the top of the Old City wall.  We walked along the wall and came to a place where we stopped and individually prayed over the city of Jerusalem.  It was an awesome and solemn time for me to pray for the city and its people.

Then, we went to Ben Yehuda Street which is a modern area of Jerusalem for some shopping and lunch.

We walked from Ben Yehuda Street for a few blocks to what is known as the Garden Tomb.  The Garden Tomb is located just outside the Old City walls and close to the Damascus Gate, and is a rock-cut tomb considered by some to be the actual site of the burial and resurrection of Jesus, in contradistinction to the traditional site – the Church of the Holy Sepulcher.  The Church of the Holy Sepulchre has its tomb just a few yards away from its Golgotha, corresponding with the account of John the Evangalist: “Now in the place where he was crucified there was a … new tomb” (John 19:41).  However, in 1869 a number of tombs had been found near the Garden Tomb which is adjacent to a solid rock structure that resembled (a still resembles) a skull, which is the meaning of the word Golgotha, and it was concluded that one of the tombs discovered must have been the tomb of Jesus.  John also specifies that Jesus’ tomb was located in a garden; consequently, an ancient wine press and cistern have been cited as evidence that the area had once been a garden, and the somewhat isolated tomb adjacent to the cistern has become identified as the Garden Tomb of Jesus. This particular tomb also has a stone groove running along the ground outside it, which could have been a slot that once housed a stone, corresponding to the Biblical account of a stone being rolled over the tomb entrance to close it.

In addition, the Garden Tomb has a different arrangement than other Jewish tombs found from the period – normally, Jewish tombs were long, not wide, with the body’s location at the end of the long tomb.  The Garden Tomb is wide not long, the only tomb found from the period like this, with the location for the body to the right (once you walk in the tomb).  And in the Gospel of Mark (16:5-6), it is written, “And  entering the tomb, they saw a young man sitting at the right, wearing a white robe; and they were amazed.  And he said to them, ‘Do not be amazed; you are looking for Jesus the Nazarene, who has been crucified.  He is risen; He is not here; behold, here is the place where they laid Him.'”  Obviously, there is debate about the true location of the burial and resurrection of Jesus, but we concluded that the true location is really unimportant – the important thing is that Jesus died for us, was buried, and did rise again!  With this in mind, we had a time of worship and communion in the garden of the Garden Tomb!  It was a very meaningful and moving experience!

We returned to our hotel, where we cleaned up and had dinner before leaving for the airport.

At the airport, my family and I were talking about our experience in Israel.  All of us agreed that the best part of our trip had been the kids’ camp – it was something that we did that had eternal significance!  Then, the question was raised, “how did the trip to Israel compare to other family vacations?”  Amanda, my oldest daughter, immediately said, “I think this was the best family vacation that we have ever had”!  Considering that we have taken at least one vacation per year for most of her life and that she has been to some pretty phenomenal places in her life (including Tahiti, Paris, London, and Scotland to name a few), this was a bold and significant statement.  The rest of my family agreed with Amanda!

After more than 24 hours, we are back in Abilene.  My bed and my pillow felt awesome last night!  I am glad to me home, and I am grateful that God allowed me to take my family to Israel – it was an experience of a lifetime!  I am also grateful that I have an excellent team that has taken care of our business while I was gone – without them, there is no way I could have gone on a 15 day trip.  To them, I say, “Toda raba!” (Thank you very much!)

Shalom and blessings to all of you!

I apologize for not blogging for the past couple of days – the internet service at our hotel in Jerusalem was terrible.  Isn’t it ironic that I would have better internet service at a kibbutz in the Galilee area than I did in Jerusalem?

Anyway, I have two more blog posts for you – for Wednesday and Thursday in Jerusalem (we traveled all day on Friday).  Here is the blog for Wednesday:

We started the day early – leaving the hotel at 8:30 a.m.  Our first stop was in the Muslim quarter of the Old City, where we saw the ruins of the Pools of Bethesda.  Here, according to tradition, many of the sick in Jerusalem waited near the pools so that they could be healed.  The sick would wait until the pools would be “stirred” by means of a periodic angelic visitation (Scholars are uncertain as to whether this stirring was done by angels of God or angels of satan).  Jesus performed a documented miracle here when He healed a man who had been lame for 38 years – John 5:1-16.  Jesus performed this miracle on the Sabbath, which led to controversy with certain Jewish leaders of the time.  Interestingly, there is a church at this site, and we had the chance to go in and sing a few songs  – the acoustics were incredible, making us sound really good! It was a highlight for sure.

Next, we walked through the Muslim quarter on the Via Dolorosa, which means “way of sorrow”.  This is a path that Jesus took from Pontius Pilate’s place of judgment to the place of Jesus’ Crucifixion.  You would think that this would be a somber area where visitors could take their time and really soak in the experience of what we as Christians consider the most important part of our faith.  Well, if this is what you think, you are utterly wrong!  Since the Via Dolorosa is in the Muslim quarter, the path is filled with Arab shops, and the shops have extremely pushy and irreverent sales people.  In addition, the path is crowded with people from all walks of life.  The feeling is far from serene – it is irritating, frustrating, disconcerting, uneasy, unsettling, and other adjectives that I will not share with you.  Honestly, the Muslim quarter has a heaviness about it – I really felt a spirit of darkness here.

Regardless, we made our way through all of the “stations” – locations along the path where Theologians believe specific things happened while Jesus carried the Cross to Golgotha.  The path ends at the Church of the Holy Sepulcher.  The site is venerated as Golgatha (the Hill of Calvary), where Jesus was crucified and is said to also contain the place where Jesus was buried (the sepulcher). The church has been an important Christian destination since at least the 4th century, as the purported site of the resurrection of Jesus.  Control of the church, itself, is shared between several Christian churches and secular entities in complicated arrangements essentially unchanged for centuries. The church is home to Eastern Orthodoxy, Oriental Orthodoxy, and Roman Catholicism.

After lunch, we walked through the Jewish quarter to the Western Wall.  Almost instantly when we walked into the Jewish quarter, I felt more calm and the unsettled feeling of the Muslim quarter went away – very interesting!  We spent some time praying at the Wall, and then we went through the Rabbi’s Tunnel – underneath the surface of the Western Wall is the incredible Western retaining wall of the Herodian Temple which was completed in about 517B.C.  (Herod rebuilt Solomon’s Temple – Solomon’s Temple was built around 957 B.C. and was destroyed around 587 B.C.).

Unfortunately, we were unable to go to the Temple Mount due to August being the month of Ramadan for the Muslim faith (who control the Temple Mount).  Here is what I learned about Ramadan – More than a billion Muslims around the world abstain from eating, drinking, smoking, and sex from dawn to sunset during the month of Ramadan.  Fasting is one of the Five Pillars of the religion of Islam and one of the highest forms of Islamic worship. Abstinence from earthly pleasures and curbing evil intentions and desires is regarded as an act of obedience and submission to Allah as well as an atonement for sins, errors, and mistakes. Called Ramadan (or Ramazan), Muslims fast during this month from the moment when it first starts to get light until sunset. Just after breaking the fast, and before dinner, Muslims offer the fourth of the five daily prayers, which is called the Maghrib prayer. After dinner, Muslims go to their Mosques (which I will discuss in the next paragraph) to offer the Isha prayer, which is the last of the five daily prayers. The day ends with a special voluntary prayer, the Taraweeh, offered by the congregation reciting the Qur’an, the holy book of Islam.

After dinner (around 8:00 p.m.), a subset of our group, desiring a little adventure, decided to go to the Western Wall again, at night.  So, we walked from our hotel toward the Damascus Gate of the Old City (our hotel was located just a few blocks from the Damascus Gate).  The quickest way to the Western Wall was through the Damascus Gate which caused us to walk through the Muslim quarter (not my favorite place to begin with, and now we had to walk through it at night – during Ramadan!).  Not that we would stand out – but as we walked through, I felt like the only fire hydrant at a dog show (if you know what I mean!).  I was extremely relieved to make it to the Jewish quarter with Melinda, Amanda, and Shannon stuck to me like glue.  Again, I felt relief immediately as we entered the Jewish quarter near the Western Wall.  After spending time in prayer at the Wall, we decided to head back to our hotel.   As we headed back toward the Damascus Gate, literally a flood of Muslims began to come at us through the narrow streets of the Muslim quarter of the Old City!  We did not know it, but we had left the Western Wall at the exact time that the Muslims were going to their Mosque on the Temple Mount (as I discussed in the last paragraph, “to offer the Isha prayer, which is the last of the five daily prayers” during Ramadan).  To say that we were nervous would be the understatement of the year!  We walked for 15 minutes in single file through this flood of thousands of Muslims – talk about uncomfortable (I just thought that I was uncomfortable in the Muslim Quarter before this!).  By the grace of God, we made it out of the Damascus Gate and back to our hotel without incident – what a relief!  It took me about two hours to wind down!

Thus ended another eventful day in Israel!

After all the happenings of yesterday, it was hard to get up and get moving this morning at 6:30 a.m (10:30 p.m. Abilene time – Monday night!).  However, we had lots more to see.

First, we went to Masada.  Here is some interesting facts about Masada:  “At the beginning of the Revolt of the Jews against the Romans in 66AD, a group of Jewish rebels overcame the Roman garrison of Masada. After the fall of Jerusalem and the destruction of the Temple (70AD) they were joined by zealots and their families who had fled from Jerusalem. With Masada as their base, they raided and harassed the Romans for two years. Then, in 73AD, the Roman governor Flavius Silva marched against Masada with the Tenth Legion, auxiliary units and thousands of Jewish prisoners-of-war. The Romans established camps at the base of Masada, laid siege to it and built a circumvallation wall. They then constructed a rampart of thousands of tons of stones and beaten earth against the western approaches of the fortress and in the spring of the year 74AD moved a battering ram up the ramp and breached the wall of the fortress.   Josephus Flavius dramatically recounts the story told him by two surviving women. The defenders almost one thousand men, women and children led by Eleazar ben Yair, decided to end their own lives, rather than be taken alive.”

Next, we went to Ein Gedi.  Ein Gedi is an oasis in the desert.  Here is some background on Ein Gedi:  “The Bible records that 3,000 years ago David hid from King Saul at Ein Gedi. When David spared the life of King Saul when King Saul went into the cave at Ein Gedi where David and his army were hiding (because Saul was the anointed of God).  Located on the Dead Sea’s western shore, Ein Gedi (“spring of the goat”) is a desert oasis with waterfalls, pools of water and two large streams. It is a hiker’s paradise with beautiful foliage, exotic birds and a range of wildlife, including rabbits, deer, and ibex.  Ein Gedi served as a water source during biblical times.  The spring begins to flow 656 feet above the Dead Sea. About a half-hour’s hike will take you to a waterfall and pool.”

The last stop of the day was the Dead Sea where we went floating – you can’t swim in the Dead Sea, you can only float.  It is the wildest feeling that I have ever experienced this was my second time.  The Dead Sea is approximately 450 meters below sea level (over 1,470 feet below sea level) – the lowest point on earth.

Again, it was awesome to experience all of this with my kids.  What a blessing!

Yesterday was a very special day.  We left our hotel on the Sea of Galilee at 8:30 a.m. and made our way to the the Southern end of the lake, where the Galilee spills into the Jordan River.  At this location of the Jordan River, an area has been established for baptisms.  In fact, while Melinda and I were visiting Israel in 2005, we both were re-baptized in the Jordan River (this was extremely powerful for me because it served as a statement that I had recommitted myself to serving Jesus Christ in a new, fresh, and better way).

As I said earlier, yesterday was very special – why?  Because I had the opportunity to re-baptize all three of my children! I know that I keep saying it in my blogs, but this was extremely powerful and meaningful!  My kids had committed themselves to following Jesus and had been baptized earlier in their lives, but  they wanted to re-commit themselves where Jesus Himself had been baptized.  How often does a dad get to make a significant life statement with his children?  This was one of those moments that Amanda, Drew, and Shannon will remember for the rest of their lives! I think I may have felt the same emotion that God felt when Jesus was baptized in the Jordan River, and He said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with Him I am well pleased” (Matthew 3:17).  All I can say is praise God for this opportunity!

As a side note, the Jordan River has little fish that really enjoy nibbling on manly leg hair.  My leg hair must have been like honey to them because they were nibbling away at me!  It was extremely hard for me to keep my composure while I was baptizing with these little fish feasting on my legs!

We left the baptismal area and headed south toward Jerusalem  On the way, we stopped at a site that Melinda and I had not seen before – Bet She’an.  This was an interesting site where both the Greeks and the Romans had established cities here at different times.  This site was amazing because virtually the entire city had been preserved.  The most interesting part of the this site was the preserved bathrooms from the Roman era – a man or woman (they did not have separate bathrooms) could sit between two stones to do their business and a sophisticated sewer system would take it away – very wild!

From Bet She’an we continued our journey to Jerusalem.  When we entered Jerusalem, we went immediately to the Mount of Olives.  Our guide gave us a briefing on the Mount of Olives and the old city of Jerusalem.  For those of you who have not been to Jerusalem, the old city is only a portion of Jerusalem – it is surrounded by a wall and it has four quadrants, the Christian quarter, the Jewish quarter, Armenian quarter, and the Muslim (or Arab) quarter.  The main feature of the old city is the Temple Mount – Solomon built the first Temple in 957BC (it only existed for a few decades), Herod the Great re-built the Temple in a greater form in 20BC , and Herod’s Temple was destroyed by the Roman’s in 70AD.  The Dome of the Rock (a Muslim mosque), which is what we see on the Temple Mount today, was erected by the Muslim ruler Abd el-Malik in 688-691AD.  This shrine was covered by a lead dome from 691 until it was replaced with a gold-colored covering in 1965. Because of rust, the anodized aluminum cover was again replaced in 1993 with a gold covering.

From the Mount of Olives, we went to the Garden of Gethsemane.  We had some quite time here to visit the church on this site and to consider what Jesus was going through while He was praying just prior to Judas betraying Him.  As I walked around on my own, I couldn’t help but think about the movie – The Passion of the Christ (Mel Gibson’s epic movie) – when Jesus was praying so desperately, His sweat was like blood.

With this, our day ended.  What a phenomenal day!

After coming to Israel in 2005, I really felt that my touring experience would be minimal – I thought that touring would be for my kids, not for Melinda and I.  Man, was I wrong.

We started out the morning by going to the Mount Beatitudes.  When I came in ’05, we did not go to the Catholic church located there, but this time we did.  Our guide led us to the grounds around the church where we sat together for some teaching concerning the Sermon on the Mount.  After his teaching (which was excellent), Melinda, Amanda, and Shannon went off by themselves for some personal, alone time while Drew and I went to the church.  As Drew and I walked into the church, we began to hear singing – four part harmony from a choir.  It was hymn, but not a hymn I had ever heard before, and on top of that, it was being sung in German.  A group of German Christians, who were on a tour, had decided to sing while they were in the church.  I am not sure if it was the acoustics of the church, the wonderful voices of the choir, or the fact that we were standing very near where Jesus gave the Sermon on the Mount, but it was a very, very powerful moment!  It was like the Spirit of the Lord came upon us and immediately brought a sense of peace Drew and me.  When the singing ended, I was very disappointed – if I knew how to speak any German, I would have requested more.

After our experience at Mount Beatitudes, we headed North to the Golan area of Israel – where I had not been in 2005.  We visited the ancient city of Dan.  While we were there, we saw ruins dating back to the time when Israel was separated (Israel in the North and Judah in the South), somewhere around 930 B.C. – so, we were looking at actual structures built more than 2,900 years ago by King Jeroboam (after King Solomon’s reign)!  Crazy, crazy stuff!  Our definition of old in Texas is nothing compared to Israel’s version of old!

Next, we visited a pagan site built to honor Greece and Alexander the Great.  It was a temple built for one of their gods – Pan.  The area was Caesarea Philipi.  This is also the area where Jesus led his disciples for some teaching – it is strongly believed that this was the site where Jesus asked His disciples, “Who do people think that I am?”  After some discussion, Jesus asked, “Who do you think I am?”  And Peter boldly responded, “You are the Christ, the Son of God.”  Jesus declared that Peter was the rock and He would build His church “on the rock.”  Honestly, this area had a strange feel to it, but knowing that Jesus had used this area for teaching was somewhat comforting.

Finally, we drove back to the Galilee area and visited Capernaum.  I had visited Capernaum in ’05, and I was anxious for my kids to see this important site.  Capernaum is the home town of Peter, and experts are 99% sure that Jesus spent some time here and, in fact, healed Peter’s mother-in-law at this site (our guide made the joke, “this is why Peter denied Him 3 times”” – ha, ha, ha).  It was rewarding to watch as my children began to put the pieces of scripture together and to not only hear history, but to see it!

We had another fabulous day in Israel, and I pray continued blessings over you and our company!

Today, we went to Shabot service at Ohalei Rachamim (Tents of Mercy) today – this is the Messianic Jewish congregation that Beltway supports.  It was a wonderful service and Randy Turner gave another powerful message concerning the family.  While we were there, four of the youth counselors from the kids camp were recognized for their involvement in something called Hand-In-Hand.  At the kids camp, I had a chance to meet these four outstanding youth counselors – the boys were Vanya and Maxim; the girls were Dasha and Sara.

I am sure you are wondering, “What is Hand-In-Hand”?  I am really glad you were wondering this because it is an incredible story.  Hand-In-Hand is a program involving believers in Christ from Israel and Germany.  It was established to bring youths from the two countries together in a way that would bring healing and forgiveness to the people.  Vanya, Maxim, Dasha, and Sara gave us their testimony regarding their recent trip to Germany.  They visited historical sites together including two concentration camps, including Auschwitz (where so many autocracies occurred to the Jewish people at the hands of Nazi Germany).  As part of the Hand-In-Hand program, each Israeli believer was paired with a German believer, and they walked through these sites together “hand-in-hand”.  When you think about this concept, it is really heavy; in fact, it is hard to humanly comprehend and only possible through Christ.

For such young people, they showed a tremendous amount of maturity.  They really understood the importance of what they were doing.  As they told the stories of what they had learned about the Holocaust before, during, and after their trip, you could see how the whole process had impacted their lives.  One of the last pictures they showed us was a picture of all 8 participants in the program carrying an Israeli flag and a German flag tied together – very powerful!  Matthew 18:21 & 22 came to mind, “Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, ‘Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother or sister who sins against me? Up to seven times?’  Jesus answered, ‘I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times.^‘”

After Shabot service, we made our way to the Sea of Galilee, which, as most of you know, is a fresh water lake (not really a sea).  We got on a boat and had a time of worship while we were boating around the Galilee.  It was a wonderful experience, and our team really bonded while we were there.  Experiences like this are hard to explain, but when you consider where we were and the fact that Jesus had done so much in the Galilee area, it is easy to see how Christians can grow closer together.

Until tomorrow – Shabot Shalom!

WOW!!! Our last day at kids camp was incredible!  Let me give you some details – warning: this could be a longer blog than usual.

The day started off with Sasha’s motor oil coffee – outstanding as usual!  Then at 9:30 a.m., the fun began.  Our first group of campers came through – the 10 and 11 year old boys.  After “the Baseball Prayer,” we decided to play a game – more or less playing a real game.  We had the two best players pick teams (12 total boys played), the coaches helped in the field, and we gave each team 10 minutes to score as many runs as possible – we were able to play 3 innings like this, with the time we had.  It was so much fun – the boys really got competitive – talking smack, helping to coach their own players, encouraging each other to hit the ball, telling the players in the field the appropriate play to make, etc.! It was amazing to me that what we had shown them over just a few days stuck.  It was extremely rewarding to watch these guys, who had an extremely limited knowledge of baseball (if any at all), really playing the game I have loved and played my whole life (in fact, I cannot remember ever not knowing how to play baseball).  At the end of our time, they didn’t want to stop playing – that felt reeeeeeeaaaaalllllly good!

The rest of the morning, the Abilene baseball “geniuses” worked with the younger boys and girls and the 13 and 14 year olds.  While these groups did not have the liveliness of the older boys, our time together was fun and extremely worthwhile.

After lunch, the coaches got to hit the baseball – with a little batting practice.  It has probably been 8 years or more since I have hit a baseball – I had to come all the way to Israel to get my swing back!  It feels awesome to crush a fastball!  I am sore today, but man was it fun to hit!

By the time all the adults had hit, it was almost time for free time – where the kids got to choose what they wanted to do.  We had 16 kids come back to play baseball.  So, we cranked up another game!  Once again, Paul Lovelace would be proud – 7 hours of baseball (only breaking to eat and drink some water)!

Totally exhausted from the day, we went to dinner and then to our evening service.  Honestly, I thought I would be falling asleep, but Randy Turner spoke (with an interpreter who translated into Hebrew) with a passion to these 70 young people.  At the end of his brief message, he had all of the leaders (Abilenians and Israelis) stand up around the room, and he told the kids that if Jesus had been speaking to them and if they were asking, seeking, and knocking, then they should go talk to one of the leaders that they felt comfortable with – allowing us, as leaders, to pray for them.  As soon as Randy’s words were interpreted, all 12 of the older boys got up and went directly to our baseball leader (Thomas McAdams).  I joined him, and we prayed for these young men.  It was extremely moving – several of the boys had tears rolling down their face.  I cannot remember being so touched by an experience like this.  As I told Thomas, it is hard to believe that anyone can say that youth sports do not impact the lives of young men.  I am certain that several of these young men somehow and in some way saw Christ in us – and for me, that’s what it is all about!

But for me, it did not stop there.  After leaving Thomas, one of the boys – Natanel (we would say Nathaniel in the U.S.) – came up to me and gave me a big hug (he was the one boy that I really felt a bond with at camp – he was competitive on the field and quite off the field.  He had a fire about him that I loved.  I tried to give him encouragement all week, and we just clicked).  With tears in his eyes (and in mine) and in his broken English, he said thank you and asked if I would pray for him.  Once again, I was blown away.  As I prayed over him, I couldn’t help but thank God for allowing me to have this opportunity.  It was extremely moving and even more powerful!

Then, I saw several young men, and one in particular, come up to Drew; I saw several young ladies come up to Amanda (who led dance classes); I saw several young ladies come up to Shannon (who had been all over camp); and I saw several kids come up to Melinda (kids camp is Melinda’s world!).  It was sooooo rewarding to see that my family was doing something special, something worthwhile, something eternal.  It was a very, very proud moment for me as a father!

As the service ended and as we said our goodbyes, I continued to watch the young men we had had the privilege to teach baseball.  They had been touched by the Holy Spirit, and we were part of it, and the best part – we were blessed in the process.  What an incredible experience!!!  Thank you God for allowing me to see what I saw, and thank you Thomas for leading our baseball crew “in a way that glorified Him”.

The day started off pretty much as usual. However, I haven’t told you about Sasha’s (Craig Loper’s Israeli brother) special coffee that I have had each morning.  It is some type of Iranian coffee with cardamom – it is really tasty coffee until the last few sips, and you see this ugly, thick motor oil looking stuff in the bottom of your cup.  Sasha says it is good for the heart – I am not so sure about its nutritional value, but trust me, you do not want to argue with this guy!

The craziest thing happened this morning in baseball. Obviously, we continued to struggle with baseball terms, but something just as funny happened.  Our leader wanted each group to recite in English (we are trying to help them learn more English words) what he termed “the baseball prayer” before they could bat (they love to bat and will do most anything to have a chance to hit).  The baseball prayer goes like this, “Thank you God for baseball.  Help me to play in a way that will bring glory to You.”  It is a simple prayer that we thought would help the kids speak some English.  So, our first group of boys came in at 9:30 a.m., full of excitement, and we got them together at the first of our session so that our leader could explain what we would be doing during the session.  He lined up someone to translate, and he said, “Today, we are going to do something different.  Before you can bat you will have to say, in English, ‘the baseball prayer’.”  And in unison, the 12 boys said out loud, “DA BASBOL PRAYER”.  It was hilarious, all of the Abilenians standing around just busted out in laughter.

Our experience, here at camp, continues to be a blessing – to me and my family, to our team of true servants, and to the Israeli kids.  We are seeing God work in many ways.  The results of what we are doing for these kids will, most likely, not be felt or seen for many years, but hopefully, we are planting seeds that will grow and produce a harvest in the future. Please pray that a harvest of good fruit will be generated from our efforts here.

The great philosopher and manager of the Texas Rangers, Ron Washington, had this quote (“That the way baseball go”).  We thought about this quote often while teaching baseball to the Israeli kids here at camp.

Baseball has not “caught on” in Israel – it has grown in popularity, but it has been a very slow growth.  In fact, one of the Israeli camp counselor’s told me today that the only sport offered is soccer – he told me later that he would have loved to have played American football and baseball, but he couldn’t.  Consequently, the kids that Drew and I, along with 2 others from Abilene, were working with today had never even thrown a ball – maybe a rock, but rarely if ever a ball – nor had they ever caught a ball.  The man from Abilene who is leading this baseball education warned me, as I tried to contrive a series of drills and possible ways to help them improve their baseball skills.  His warnings were “spot on”.  These kids were eager to learn baseball, but most of them had never put on a glove or picked up a bat!  It was crazy.

So, as you can imagine, all my practice plans and grandios ideas went out the window.  We had to focus on the very basics – “this is a glove, what hand do you throw with? The glove goes on the opposite hand.  Here is how you throw a ball.  Here is how you catch a ball. Etc.”  And to complicate matters, everything we said had to be translated into Hebrew and some Russian!  Of course, the kids understood some English, but not as much as we needed them to understand.  Some interesting baseball dialog that does not translate well and leads to confused looks:

1. I am going throw you some “grounders”.
2. Now, I am going to toss you some “pop flies”.  (If you had never heard of baseball, what would you think we meant by “pop flies”?
3. David (pronounced “Dauveed”), you’re “on deck”.
4. “Foul ball”
5. You need to “touch” the bases. (We had a kid actually touch first base with their hand!)

This is just a few of issues we ran into.  The biggest problem that I had was when a boy who spoke Hebrew was standing on first base and a boy who spoke Russian was batting.  The Russian speaking boy hit the ball on the ground toward second base and the Hebrew speaking boy did not run to second.  So, we had two boys who spoke different languages standing on first base with me trying to explain what had happened in English while using baseball terms!  It almost caused an international incident!  But fortunately, we had a 10 year old boy who could speak English, Russian, and Hebrew who settled the matter!

We taught and played baseball for almost 6 hours today – Paul Lovelace would have been proud!  It is 11:21 p.m. in Israel, and I have got to get prepared for 6 more hours of baseball tomorrow.  I have so much more to tell you, but it will have to wait until tomorrow.

My last thought – I am really being stretched this week, and I cannot imagine having more fun!  I challenge the rest of you to look for opportunities to stretch yourself – it is the greatest of all Blessings!!!

Shalom!

Yesterday, Monday, was filled with lots of anticipation.  We spent the morning completing our preparations for our 70 or so campers (2nd grade through 8th graders).  When they arrived at about 11:30 a.m., we were ready.

I started off working in the kitchen – because baseball teaching did not begin until Tuesday morning.  We had to prepare meals for the 70 campers, the 20 Israeli counselors, and the 33 of us from Abilene (123 meals in all if you are counting).  The kitchen work was structured and organized, which I really liked.  And as a side benefit, I really got to know some people that I did not know very well.  Our first meal – lunch – went off without a hitch.  However, we did learn a few things that helped us improve for the next meal.

In the afternoon, I got to go shopping with Randy Turner (our leader from Beltway Park) and our driver/handyman/interpreter/maintenance guy/man-of-many-talents (essentially, Israel’s version of our very own Craig Loper).  Grocery stores are considerably different here.  The grocery store was extremely customer friendly, but the other shoppers were not.  There were stocking clerks on every aisle, who were prepared to restock the shelf as soon as a customer removed an item – it was crazy!  The whole store was immaculately clean – they had a floor cleaning person who rode a device that looked like a riding lawn mower.  When we checked out, the checkout clerk would not even look at us (we noticed that all the clerks did the same thing) – it was very customer unfriendly.  One last thing, the grocery store had no produce – we had to go to a separate store for produce!

The afternoon and evening at camp were good – as we got to know the campers and the Israeli counselors better. I worked in the kitchen again – I am certainly gaining a new respect for restaurants and commercial kitchens!

So, the question is what am I learning here?  Several things:

• How to submit to authority (the Israeli leaders of the camp) – when the authority is not completely organized (Randy keeps reminding me that this camp is so much better than the prior 3 – I am thanking God that I was not here for the prior 3!).
• My wife and kids are really good at interacting with new people.  In addition, they are all exceptional with kids – and the kids love them!
• How to let God work through my lack of experience, lack of ability, and lack of patience.
• How to “go with the flow” (this is the most difficult lesson – for whatever reason, I like to be in charge!)

I got started with baseball training today.  It has been an incredible morning! I will update you on our progress here in my next blog – stay tuned!