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Greetings, WLBC Family,

Today was a free day in
Jerusalem.  I spent the day with some of my tour mates exploring the four
quarters of the Old City (Jewish, Armenian, Christian and Muslim).  After
wandering through the seemingly endless sea of shopkeepers and their
“bargains just for you,” I have a new appreciation for the story of
Jesus driving the moneychangers out of the temple.

I also took a nice walk
through parts of modern Jerusalem (not New Jerusalem- that’s something else)
and then came back to the hotel and relaxed.  It’s hard to believe, but
tomorrow will be our last day of touring. We will visit the Mount of Olives,
the Garden of Gethsemane, the Pools of Bethesda, the Church of the Holy Sepulcher
(the likely place of the crucifixion and resurrection) and then celebrate
communion at the Garden Tomb (It is a possible site of the crucifixion and
resurrection, but not as likely as the Church of the Holy Sepulcher location.
 The beauty of the Garden Tomb is that it looks much as the tomb of Jesus
would have looked back then, and, it’s really not that far from the more likely
site).

After dinner, I will get
a grand total of about 2 hours sleep and then head for the airport in Tel Aviv
for a 5:50 AM flight to Istanbul.  I will then have the privilege of
exploring the Istanbul airport for about 5 hours before departing on a 12 hour
flight back to Chicago, arriving at O’Hare shortly before 7:00 PM Friday
evening.

I don’t know if I will
have a brief update for you tomorrow or not.  So, if not, let me just say
again…

THANK YOU!!!

It has been a wonderful
time of learning, refreshment, challenge and inspiration.  Of course, I’m
going to need to take a vacation from my vacation when I get back.  Lord
willing, I will see you all on Palm Sunday.

Shalom,

Pastor Dan 

Greetings, WLBC Family!

Yet another great day in the land where Jesus walked.  We started off the day with a visit to the oldest part of Jerusalem- the City of David on Mount Zion- where we saw what is almost certainly the ruins of King David’s palace.  He would have had a pretty nice view from there, and that fact certainly did not turn out well concerning Bathsheba.  

Next, we descended into the water tunnel chiseled into the rocks during the time of King Hezekiah (700 BC). This was done in order to ensure that Jerusalem would have water if the city were under siege (2 Kings 20:20).  We descended down into the tunnel and then walked in cool water about knee-high for 1800 feet in pitch black darkness.  Thank goodness they supplied us all with flashlights.  Incidentally, my pictures didn’t turn out too well down there, so I may have to rely on some commercial shots to illustrate when the time comes for my “slideshow” of the trip.

The end of Hezekiah’s tunnel lets out into the Pool of Siloam.  This was where Jesus told the man blind from birth to go wash (John 9:1-12).

We then visited the Upper Room.  The room you see today was built in the Middle Ages, but the site is almost certainly the location of the Upper Room.

Our afternoon site was rather sobering and emotional.  It was a visit to Yad Vashem (“a memorial and a name”), which is Israel’s Holocaust Museum.  No further words are necessary.

Tomorrow is our free day in Jerusalem.  I think I’ll hole up in the hotel room and better organize my pictures… or maybe not.  No, I’ll be venturing back over to the Old City for further exploration.

Pictures include:

1. Ruins of David’s Palace on Mount Zion

2. A shot looking upward toward David’s Palace

3. The Pool of Siloam (poor quality… crowded!)

4.  The Upper Room (poor quality… crowded!)

[These pictures follow this post – Rick]

Shalom,
PD

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Greetings, WLBC Family!

Another great day in
Israel.  We left the Dead Sea this morning and headed out into the Negev
Desert.  We saw the site of ancient Beer Sheva- home of Abraham, Isaac
& Jacob.  We then turned north to the Valley of Elah (SW of Jerusalem)
and saw the place where David confronted Goliath.

Next, we went up to
Jerusalem. We managed to avoid any Palestinian snipers heading into Jerusalem
compliments of the security wall.  We looked out over the Shepherds’
Fields where Boaz fell in love with Ruth, a young shepherd boy named David once
played and angels announced the birth of the Messiah to shepherds watching
their flocks by night.

In Jerusalem, we visited
the Israel Museum where we saw a massive model of ancient Jerusalem, a
fascinating Qumran/ Dead Sea Scrolls exhibit and many other things too numerous
to mention.  Tomorrow we will go to the western wall (the “wailing
wall”) and the southern steps of the temple where Jesus once walked and
Peter healed a lame man.  We will also see the Upper Room and David’s
Tomb.

I am sending pictures of
Beer Sheva, the Valley of Elah and the ancient Jerusalem model to Rick for
posting on the blog.[They are posted in the following blog entry. – Rick]

By the way, God has used
a conversation with one of the Bible teachers here to minister to me with
something I really needed to hear.  You’re just going to have to wait to
hear about that.

Shalom

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A high school history teacher was discussing
the funeral of Pope John Paul II with his class. One student asked how they
chose the new pope.

The teacher explained the process, finishing with, “So the cardinals pick
him.”

A student in the back of class, asked, very seriously, “Why would they let
a baseball team pick the next pope?”

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