I made it! I am in Jerusalem, in the Old City.

Before we got here today we went to Masada, which proves that love of God should be, and sometimes actually is, stronger than the love of life. The Jewish rebels, almost 1,000 of them, killed themselves rather than have to serve Roman gods.

We also stopped at En Gedi, an oasis where you read about David cutting the cloak of Shaul (Saul) as he was sitting in a cave taking care of business. There were trees and waterfalls, right there in the middle of the desert!

We are now In Yerushalayim/ Jerusalem, which I call the center of the universe because, …well…it is! This is where it all started, and where Yeshua will sit and judge the nations, and where it will all end.

This is the city of David, the King, and the place where we have the Wailing Wall and the Dome of the Rock (which, I believe, will be returned to the Jewish people eventually, just as all the other places which God promised us we would live have been returned to Jewish control and ownership.) This is the place.

The next 4 days are my last here in the Holy Land, and tomorrow we see Shomron and Mounts Ebal and Geritzim. Then we spend 3 days in Jerusalem, which will be exciting.

I hate to admit but despite all the lessons I took trying to learn Hebrew, all the words escape me and my gender association is just plain rotten. I just called Yosi, our guide, to say, “Your wife is in the lobby” and what came out was “His wife is in the lobby.” He laughed, and thanked me for letting him know, but I realized afterwards what a stupid mistake I had made. I know what I am supposed to say, it just doesn’t come out right. He has been really patient and nice, and told me that three weeks in Israel alone and I would be fine.

I’ll take that as an encouragement.

The heat is really something, and there are many mountains, so you are walking a lot; up and down on slippery slopes, and if you grab for the handrail you nearly burn your hand because they are so hot. You need to drink water all the time. Donna will never believe it, because I hate to drink just plain water, but that is what I am doing. Something like 3-4 bottles a day, easy. I buy iced tea when we get to a store, but it is still more water than ever for me.

And I am going through sheckels like I am sweating- profusely. Although the prices here aren’t much different than at home.

I hope to be able to write more- maybe if I miss Wednesday I will be able to catch up on the plane ride home and post Friday sometime. I hope you don’t miss me too badly, but (I have to confess) I hope you do miss me, a little, when I am not posting regularly.

God’s blessings on you, my readers, and anyone else that reads this blog. It is really something to be in Israel, and although I am not as emotional about it as some of the other people here, I am excited and it is beautiful. Such stark majesty and awesomeness.

Wow!