israel's impact

Have more or less given up on trying to write out 'The Chronicles of Ming's Israel Trip'.
Israel, after all, is far more than the sum of its parts; describing every single location we've been to on the trip will not suffice to make even a shadow of the impact that being in Israel brings.
And so.

Thanks to the many people who have made this trip so wonderful: Pst Thomas Jonsson, Bro Kim Hock, our indomitable guide Dave and Rafi the Shy Driver. Your sharings and boundless knowledge really blew my mind. As well as all the riotous fun we had on the bus between sights, having our heads stuffed full of info and revelations, and dropping off to sleep whenever we had the chance. And to all the wonderful people on bus A13: YOU ROCK!! The experience would not have been the same without every one of you.

It isn't just walking on the same shores of the Gallilee that Jesus walked on; it isn't simply the fact that you might be treading the very same stones that He shed His blood on two thousand years ago. In all practicality, for instance, the shoreline probably wasn't the same in His time. But the context remains: the scorching sun, parching aridity and the rocky barrenness of the desert of the Judean Wilderness in which He wandered 40 days and 40 nights.

Limited by our own imaginations, we can barely imagine how 40 days and 40 nights would have felt like. But a day's drive through the desert, and a few hours in Masada, gave me an indelible impression of how dauntingly difficult it must have been for Him to walk even a day in that land so barren it was almost lunar. How great the temptation must have been when the devil mocked at Him about turning stones to bread. our Saviour is fully God, yet He is also fully man; it defies imagination, the amount of willpower and love for us that He had to keep on keeping on. Me? Gee if I had the power to turn stones into bread, I would have made a buffet out of the mountains!

Hm yes, that's the spiritual impact of being in Israel. It's impossible to keep every single bit of information in your head, I've realised; there's just too much. What I've been inspired to do, though, is to increase my own knowledge of the land and the history, even while back in Singapore, and do what I can in my context to see the prophecies of the Bible fulfilled and His chosen people blessed.

Yet, of course, Israel is a land full of secular joys too; who can forget the bright bazaars of the Old City, the slimy-oily-feeling Dead Sea, the screaming and yelping down the River Jordan, the open-till-late-late-night cafe with the to-die-for pizza, and strolling the lakefront of Tiberias? I just wish there was more time in Israel, for I'm sure there are plenty of things left unseen and undone. Next time, perhaps!