So I’m in Israel, and it’s absolutely incredible. On our first day here we saw the Sea of Galilee, and now I can so easily imagine Jesus walking along the shore and calling out to Peter, “Come, follow me.” A week ago we floated in the Dead Sea and walked around Masada, on Sunday we prayed by the Wailing Wall in Jerusalem, and tomorrow we hope to make it to Nazareth. I feel incredibly blessed to be here.
For the first part of the month we stayed in Arad. Each night we hosted an English club for Sudanese refugees. My teammate Geoff took the men into a room to teach them English, and since no women ever came, my female teammates and I would help the children with English games on the computer, or we would draw pictures with them, or just hold them on our laps.
For the past week we’ve been in Rama, which is quite a contrast to Arad. Arad was all desert, while Rama is nestled at the bottom of a mountain. During the late afternoon we go on house visits. The first afternoon Michelle, Chelsea and I stumbled upon the residence of an older couple, and before we knew it we were sitting at their kitchen table drinking Coke and munching on Pomegranate. They hardly spoke any English, and we don’t speak any Arabic, so naturally we had a great time together. We would just kind of stare at each other, make a gesture to communicate something, and soon after burst out laughing. Their daughter came home at one point, and she spoke a bit of English, so she explained that we were invited back for dinner at 6 p.m.
It’s difficult for me to imagine this scenario taking place in the United States. To me, it would be similar to a door-to-door salesperson being invited into someone’s home for coffee and conversation, and then being invited back for dinner. That just doesn’t happen. As my teammate Michelle said,
“After this experience, I now feel compelled to be way more generous, inviting, and interested in others. I need to share the blessings the Lord has bestowed upon me. With Thanksgiving fast approaching, it makes me think about how I want my Thanksgivings to look a bit different here on out. I want to invite others (even strangers) into my home for a meal, for fellowship, and to share some genuine love. I so look forward to next year – to be able to invite those over who don’t have a family to share the holiday with, or those who can’t afford anything special! Warmth, kindness, generosity… often so contradictory to what others regard as important characteristics. Most times we care more about comfort than character. As believers, we get to pursue these virtuous qualities and we have the Holy Spirit guiding us towards righteousness. If we are ever increasing in these qualities, we will be effective for His Kingdom.”
I think that is a beautiful idea – of inviting people into our homes, our lives, and sharing our blessings with them. And while this is one of those things that is easy to talk about but actually hard to do, I hope I will always remember and be motivated by the night I had dinner with an older Israeli couple (whose names I don’t even know…)
So yeah. Israel is great. The Israeli people are great. God is great. Everything is just so great.
