Onto Jerusalem!

Friday, June 10, 1994
(written at 6:45pm at the YMCA Hotel, Jerusalem, Israel)

Psalm 122

A song of ascents. Of David.

I rejoiced with those who said to me, "Let us go to the House of the LORD."

Our feet are standing in your gates, O Jerusalem.

Jerusalem is built like a city that is closely compacted together.

That is where the tribes go up, the tribes of the LORD, to praise the Name of the LORD, according to the statue given to Israel.

There the thrones for judgment stand, the thrones of the house of David.

Pray for the peace of Jerusalem! May those who love you be secure.

May there be peace within your walls and security within your citadels.

For the sake of my brothers and friends, I will say, "Peace be within you."

For the sake of the House of the LORD our God, I will seek your prosperity.

As we rode into Jerusalem yesterday afternoon we read this Psalm. What a day it was! From the moment we departed from Tiberias at 9am things seemed much "busier" than they had previously. Of course! It is Preparation Day for the Sabbath! Lots of traffic and people shopping almost in a frantic pace.

Leaving we rode tot he highest point in the Galilee Region. It is called Arbel. What an incredible view. You can see the Sea of Galilee and the roads that go to Cana and Nazareth that Jesus traveled. We didn't know that we could drive the little Renault up to the point so we walked. This took much more time than we had planned. What seemed like being late according to our schedule was actually right on time according to the LORD's.

We needed the to turn in the rental car by 2pm in Jerusalem. It is about 80 miles from the Sea of Galilee to Jerusalem, of course it was longer for us because we had to avoid the West Bank. It is not advisable for Americans to anyone else to go through it.

We came down along the Sea of Galilee and were supposed to make a right hand turn at one point but since we were flying to get to Jerusalem we missed it. As hospitality dictates we picked up an Israeli soldier who was looking for a ride. What he told us saved us a lot of money and time and aggravation. More in the next post.