Day 5 - May 15 - Sunday

My Journal Entry:

It's weird how days work here... it's definitely felt like Monday all day today. Church was yesterday, and the country is back to work and school again today. This truly is the start of their week, rather than a continuation of their weekend. Touring Jerusalem was amazing! Personal highlights for me included seeing a Coca-Cola sweatshirt (in Hebrew) and finding out that each city has its own crest, and Jerusalem's crest looks almost identical to the Narnian crest, but in Chargers colors. I also got to see and touch the wall that went around the temple that Herod built before Jesus' time. It is where He most likely went to worship, and also where he drove out the moneychangers. I always pictured it as being just kinda big... the the size of two churches put together. But if the wall around it is any indication, it was HUGE!!! Like, city block huge! We also got to walk the "traditional" route of the Via Dolorosa and sing in St. Anne's church (where Mary's family supposedly lived), which has incredible acoustics! After we left Jerusalem, we drove to the Valley of Elah, and Paul had various people read aloud from 1 Samuel 17. It was incredible to be standing in the valley where the David and Goliath story actually took place as we read the account. After we finished "story time with Paul", we got to go down to the dried bed of the brook that David chose his "weapons" from and choose stones of our own!
My friend Anthony gave me a nickname earlier this year based on how much of a tomboy I am... "Thomas the Girl"! I think that nickname was more apt than he realized when he named me; it sort of sounds a lot like "Doubting Thomas". All day as we've walked by various sites that should thrill me and make me just stop short in awe, my critical side kept saying, "Well, that's where He SUPPOSEDLY walked," or "He was over in this corner ACCORDING TO TRADITION, but who knows where that actually was way back then?" And the words "Thomas the Girl" kept popping into my head after every cynical thought. Tonight at devotions, Lizzy shared that she had been feeling similarly, and brought up 1 John 3:20 - "For whenever our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart, and He knows everything." She reminded us that, even when we are hard on ourselves, Jesus already paid for EVERYTHING we have done, even all of our doubts, and He loves us SO MUCH regardless of what we do or don't do for Him. Praise God for His unending love and grace. :)
Tomorrow we do more sightseeing with Paul, hopefully a trip to Bethlehem in the morning, and a move to Tiberius in the evening.