Wednesday, January 13, 2016

Israel-day of travel

The plane was scheduled to leave at 10:50 pm. While waiting we spent $40 on sliders and pita with hummus at Newark Airport.  Israel has an additional search before you board which we preferred. I was curious regarding the many Orthodox Jewish men on board. They were dressed in accordance with the rabbi they follow. Most were in all black with different curls for sideburns and different top hats. They prayed, recited and rocked together at certain hours even on the plane. Some people might have respect for their devout life styles but I struggled watching them. It was not their ritualism that bothered me. It was not even that they trusted in their ritualism. It was the fact that they have rejected Jesus as their Messish.

Our group Evening Prayer followed the lectionary reading from Ezekiel 3. There the prophet is told by God that the people of Israel will not listen to the prophet because they will not listen to God.  To hear that while being present in the land of Israel was surreal and gave me a deeper appreciation for the courage of the prophets.  St. John records Jesus saying that the Jews did not know him as their
Savior because they did not know the Heavenly Father. As Christians we can have respect for devoted Orthodox Jews but they need Jesus as their Savior. No exceptions!

We arrived at The Leonardo hotel in Beer Sheba at 7:30 pm (12:30 est).  Had a good meal and now wait to fall asleep so that we don't wake up at 3:00 am. Tomorrow we look at the land that Abram walked. Peace to you, Pastor Eric

1 comment:

  1. Tuesday, January 12, 2016
    12:30 pm we departed from home in Eldersburg to Newark NJ. at 10:50 we boarded United flight 90 to Tel Aviv. We arrived Wednesday, January 13, 2016 at 5 pm and met up with our group, 13 of us in all. Rev. Fenton treated us all to an espresso while we waited for the rest to arrive, about 1-1/2 hours. We then boarded a charter bus for a 2 hour trip to our hotel in Beer Sheva. We enjoyed Evening Prayer together on the bus en route to the Leonardo Hotel. We dined in the hotel dining room, buffet style then retired for the night for much needed sleep.

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