Israel Trip - Day 1

We're on a 15-day trip to Israel with some of the administrators, faculty, and staff of Holland Christian Schools, including multiple days of hiking and learning about the different parts of the Holy Land and enriching our understanding of the Bible and our faith as we encounter the stories and teachings of scripture as the Hebrews did. I'll try to encapsulate each day in this blog, but as I found out today, there is A LOT coming at us, and I won't try to summarize it all for you.

So, this morning we left our first hotel stop in Tel Aviv and set out for the Shephelah—the foothills that separate the land of God's people (mostly in the Judah Mountains) from the land of the pagans (the coastal plain). The Shephelah is where God's people encounter "the world," and we pursued the significance of that as a metaphor for our lives as Christians.

Our first stop was a Tel, or an ancient set of ruins with multiple layers of cities built right on top of each other. This was Tel Gezer, a former city of Solomon, and we checked out ancient pottery shards. It seemed like no big deal to our trip leader, Ray VanderLaan, when he threw me the handle of a jar that pre-dates Abraham! I kept that, of course!

At Tel Gezer we learned to be City Gates that impart Shalom into others' lives

At Tel Gezer, we learned about the construction of city gates and the function those places served in the ancient world. They were the locations where the vulnerable, the poor, the hungry, and the oppressed could come to seek justice, food, and Shalom from their kings and from the wealthier, higher ranking community members. In that sense, we are called to be City Gates, demonstrating God's love and bringing His Shalom (or flourishing). We also saw a row of standing stones, an Ancient Near East monument that was used to signify an event of major importance. 

The massive standing stones at Gezer

Tel Gezer is perched overlooking the busiest trade route in the world during Ancient times, and that led us to assert the we need to be City Gates and Standing Stones, using our lives to testify to the Glory of God at the Crossroads of the World. So be wildly influential for God in whatever chosen field, relationship, or passion that you make.

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Then came another spot in the Shephelah—the spot where Samson grew up and lived his life as a totally committed Nazarite, using his giftedness—in this case, great strength—to testify to the world about the greatness of God . . . but not without his own failures and poor choices. Here, the encouragement to all of us was to live passionate, committed lives that also put God on display for the people we encounter . . . and to do so without making choices that allow others to doubt our motives, tear us down, or come to believe that God has no real worth or power.

Samson's hometown hills overlooking the Valley of Sorek

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Finally, we moved to the Valley of Elah, where David fought Goliath, and we went through that story in great detail—noting that David stepped in to protect the people of Israel, even though King Saul should have been the one to do so according to custom. And David did so with his gift (stones and a sling), not the armor and weaponry of someone else. Our takeaway from this time was the call to throw our stones—to use our own authentic roles, passions, and talents—so that the world might know there is a God. On the way back down the hillside, we stopped to collect stones from the Brook of Elah, just like David, as a reminder of that call.

Looking down on the Valley of Elah where David and Goliath clashed

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Throughout the day, we explored our collective call to join God in bringing Shalom (peace, order, flourishing, or healing) to the Chaos (disorder, pain, hurt, and sorrow) of this world. That's a clear call and overarching narrative of God's big story. Our specific parts in that shalom-bringing are not prescribed, however. They are our opportunities to employ our gifts in whatever situation we find ourselves as we live into our roles as "Shephelah people"—those who take the ways of God into this world.

And then tonight, we drove to our hotel on the Dead Sea—the lowest spot on earth. 

Today was also my birthday.

And for a present I got to handle 3,000-year old pottery, walk where David walked, and consider God's call on my life and the specific role I have to play in His story—all before falling asleep at 1,388 feet below sea level.

Not a bad day at all . . . and this was just the beginning!