Normally it’s easy to blog about trips . . . you do the whole “Today we went to the Jordan River, then we did this, then we went there . . . and we saw God here.”

I have learned that this is not so easy.

This trip is way, way, way different.

So, while we:
Started at the Jordan River and remembered our baptism. . .
Drove to the wilderness where the Spirit drove Jesus and experienced the vast nothingness . . .
Went to Jericho and saw where new archeological digs have uncovered remains that are 10,000 years old . . .
Went to the Dead Sea . . .
Drove back to Bethlehem through Jerusalem and listened to Bishop G call us to remember how Jesus had to travel “up” to Jerusalem that final week of his life . . . heard that as we saw the huge mountains before us and to think that he had to travel that way intentionally, knowing what would come in the days ahead . . . he referenced Psalm 121 . . . “I lift my eyes up to the hills . . . from where does my help come? My help comes from the Lord, the maker of heaven and earth. . . . He does not let you stumble . . .”

Those words became so real as I remembered watching the folks walk in front of me on the path into the wilderness . . . their feet kept slipping on the rocks . . . and it was a rather steep climb at times.

I was worried about my own clutzy-ness . . . graceful movement is not in my vernacular. The last thing I wanted to do was fall down while we were “journeying into the wilderness” with all the vendors trying to sell us something every step of the way.

While all that was “real” . . . the magnitude of the moment came at the end of the day as we drove back by those mountains of nothing.

And wondering . . .do you think when Jesus was “driven into the wilderness” he was afraid?

We know the Israelites were afraid as they traveled into the wilderness for 40 days/nights . . .but what about Jesus? That’s where he was tempted . . . offered so many other “ways” . . . yet he chose the path he knew he was called to take.

A path of selfless living and giving . . .
A path of love, not hate . . .
A path of showing others the light of the world . . .
A path of being that which sustains people, heals people, delivers people . . .

Knowing Jesus chose to take the path was one thing.

Knowing we are called to take the same path is another.

Sometimes life feels like the wilderness.
It is often times the valleys are so vast and full of “nothing,” it feels as if there is no way out.
If there were a way out, would we be able to find it? Because in the wilderness there is no trail, no signs or directions to make a spot or a way . . .

Yet in Psalm 121 – a song of ascents – we hear “the Lord will keep you from all harm – the Lord will watch over your life. He will watch over your coming and going. Both now and forevermore.”

So . . . surely if that is the case, when we face the wilderness we can do it with a faith that carries us ahead rather than allowing our human response to keep us still.

If we stand still in the wilderness – what would happen?

It wouldn’t be long before we would absolutely run out of the things we needed to survive . . . we would perish.

That was a LOVELY way to end the day!!!!!! ☺ And go to sleep . . . ha! Not a restful night . . . thinking about how Jesus had to “set his face to Jerusalem.”

Actually – truthfully, my soul could not have been more unsettled because it seems more often than not, life does feel like that wilderness. And I am more often than not driven by fear, not faith. So . . . to say that God convicted me in that moment . . .well, that would be the understatement of a lifetime. It did unsettle me all night.

This morning we went to where the palace remains (most likely) of King David . . . It was then that the pieces started all coming together. Creation, Moses, Abraham and the 12 tribes of Israel, David and his rule in his kingdom and what that did to unite the tribes, then . . . to look at the ways those places were a part of the life of Jesus. Jesus’ teachings, their impact, his life, his giving of life, and then how it, too, came to an end . . . the ironic part was the very end of the day started with the beginning . . .

The final part of today we traveled to Ein Karem – where Mary travelled to visit with Elizabeth after the angel told her she would give birth to the Christ child.

We ended today with the beauty of that place. And the hope that came with the news of that birth . . .

So it ended with hope, even in the midst of darkness.

Yesterday while in the wilderness we were reminded by Bishop G that even in desert wilderness there is life, even if there doesn’t appear to be any. Sometimes you have to look REALLY hard to find it . . but it is there.

Sometimes in order to find it, you have to have enough faith to look.

In order to have enough faith to look, sometimes you have to be still, listen to the voice/nudges from God, and then the path will become a little clearer! But the bottom line is – regardless of all things – the path is not ever one we have to go alone.

This morning, after we went to the palace of David, we went to the pool of Siloam. This is an actual “real” site – yet to be excavated but recent findings show this truly would have been the pool where Jesus healed the blind man, and so many other things.

We had an opportunity to worship there, kneel in the area where the water would have been, and stand on the ACTUAL steps – – – not ones that have been “preserved” and redone and had ten churches built on top of them to “pay tribute” . . . this was the real deal – the real dirt – the real thing.

We could pray for healing . . .
I figured I’d just go on and lay out there all the things heavy on my heart and burdening my soul . . .
In those several minutes that I prayed – nothing changed in the “life” circumstances of the people that I prayed for . . . and truthfully – nothing really “changed” in mine.
The one thing that DID change, however, was I had peace. Even before the prayer was finished – it was as if water had washed over my soul as it would have washed over my body . . .but there was no water in the pool.

I call that peace – God’s love and God’s grace. Although nothing changed, it truly was “enough” (manna from the Old Testament – what the Israelites received in the wilderness – the word for it meant “enough”).

So – thanks be to God.
In the darkness, there is light. In the wilderness, there is life.
In death – there are new beginnings.

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