There were 12 of us all together. We all caught shuttles that came to the hotel
front door about 5 hours before actual departure (Israel is quite certain you
need to be at the airport 3 hours in advance of departure). The 4 of us left at 3:45AM for our 8AM flight. So it was bedtime at 10PM, which had become
pretty normal in Israel; and rising time at 2AM: NOT NORMAL!
We began with 4+ hours Tel Aviv to Frankfurt. At FRA we had to change terminals but still,
having 2 hours, made our next flight. As
we mentioned yesterday, somehow we were upgraded to “premium economy” which,
among other things, gets you a few more inches leg room. Hard to believe the difference a few inches
makes.
All went according to plan until time to fly out of Denver
for Billings. Two delays made us 1 1/2
hours late which was hard, we thought. But
while we waited, we were reassigned seats that put us more together and they
all ended up in the “comfort” section, again meaning extra leg room. But the big blessing was that when we arrived
at Billings who was there but the other couple from Lewistown that had been on
our trip. Their flight arrived at the
same time as ours. When they walked up
to and greeted us you can imagine the joy we all had to see them again, even
though it had only been 35 hours since we had parted company in Jerusalem. They were a couple we did not know well, even
though we lived in Lewistown. But I
mention this so I can give the Lord thanks for the obvious: spending 2 weeks
together in Israel around so many locations of so many Bible stories just binds
you together so strongly. This includes
the 6 from Arizona that were, for the most part, brand new friends to us.
Thus we can say God’s blessed our travels. Psalm 121 is often called the “traveler’s Psalm”
as it is where God promised His protection.
“My help comes from the LORD, the Maker of heaven and earth.” God did help us and we thank Him. We dealt with some sickness that kept a few
folks from a few activities. And we
drove rental vehicles a lot of miles.
And we dealt with a lot of people along the way. God was so faithful!
Psalm 122 is the Pilgrim Song at the beginning of the
journey where the Pilgrim imagines himself standing in Jerusalem. We imagines/remembers from the past what he
knows he will see when he gets there. It
begins with great words: I was glad when they said unto me: “Let us
go into the house of the Lord”. All
who profess Christ as Lord today are pilgrims, people traveling through a land
that is not their own, to a land where they are citizens (Phil. 3:20-21). It is truly a blessing to make this journey
with others of the same mind. God is so
wise when He put us together in the Body of Christ. We praise Him!
It is our hope, as Long as God gives us strength, to
encourage people in their walk with Christ and in their understanding of the
Scriptures. This has always been our
ministry. One way we want to do this is
to encourage such trips to Israel that give countless opportunities to open the
Scriptures “on site” so to speak. Perhaps
you will join us sometime. As God wills.
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