Day Twelve: April 20, 2006: Israel Trip

Temple Mount
We started off the day a bit later than yesterday. Finally the Feast of Unleavened Bread was over so we got a normal breakfast again: no more Matzahs, yipee! So we caught a taxi (they wanted 40 shekels: way too much) to Lion's Gate. In dealing with taxi drivers in Israel you have to set the price ahead of time or else you're dead meat-we did that right, but should've fought over the price more...o well, so he took us to Lion's Gate and even gave us his phone number if we should need another taxi ride (of course every taxi driver loves to drive suckers!). So up we walked, up the Via Dolorosa again on our way to the Temple Mount. There were many doors to the Temple Mount, but evidently only one WE as non-muslims were allowed in. We discussed this with many policemen who just told us to hurry because there was no getting in after 11 AM until after 1:30 PM. So they checked our bag and forgot to give Dieter a paper kibbot and we walked out onto the Temple Mount.
We could hardly get thorugh becuase of the tuor groups doing lunch in the entrance area. On the Temple Mount you haerd people screaming "eijeijeijie"...and celebrating Bar Mitzfahs. Closer to the wall were Orthodox Jews with their prayer shalls on rocking back and forth. The whole place was packed. The thing that hit me was that the Holy of Holies used to be somewhere really close. For us as christians the Holy of Holies isn*t as scary as for the Jews because we believe that through Jesus' death on the cross the way into the Holy of Holies was opened for all who receive Him. Soo...we moved on to the wood bridge over to the Dome of the Rock. We went up close and walked around it one full time. We were probably two of the tops 10 non-Muslims around-pretty intense! When we had enough of ht esun beating down hard on our heads (no shade) we tried to leave and a Muslim teenager started saying "no no no...that''s the way to the toilets not the exit"...oops, so he showed us the way out. On the way then back down the Via Dolorosa I saw three guys not dressed in police or military clothes going into a doorway carrying guns so I pulled Dieter away as fast as I could. Either they were undercover something or rather or just plain up to no good. Freaky! Pray for the peace of Jerusalem-it's a crazy place. We then headed for the Damascas Gate. You could hardly get through the Souq there were so many people. The muslim women would literally hiss at you if you ran into them, the guys with carts would just run into those in front of them to get them to move faster and you saw young boys duking it out all over the place: crazy! So we stopped for a fresh pressed juice at Damascas Gate, payed too much, went out the gate an sat on a bench at a grassy are by the walls. There we saw lots of Muslim women and children with bags and bags of what they'd bought at the Souq, stray cats roaming around and young Israeli soldiers playing with their guns on their break. After finishing our juice we went to a little Arab bus station and took a little Arab bus (with blaring Muslim sing song) to Bethlehem.
Bethlehem-Manger's Square
Arriving at the check point, we had to go through the passport control and walk through this huge cement wall barrier. On the other side we were met by taxi drivers who all wanted to take us to Manger Square. They wanted 25 shekels (outrageously overpriced). So we grabbed another lady who negotiated a better price. When we got to Manger Square we had a very pressing tour guide wanting us to hire him. We told him no like four or five times and then walked through the door of humility into the Basilica. The church is the oldest church in the world which is still in regular use. There were Eastern Europeans and Indians all fighting to get into the manger grotto and kiss the 2star of Bethlehem". We watched everything at a distance and I was in awe o fth ewood rafters that mad ethe huge Basilica in at least on way look like a stable. The people were going into the grotto, lying down on the floor, crawling into grotto and kissing this metal star. In a little chapel upstairs, the Greek Orthodox bishop was holding service singing like a Gregorian monk, all decked out with a poof crown and all. We went to the Catholic church right next door (the Basilica is Greek Orthodox) which was much more relaxing with German christians singing "Lobet den Herren" and classical music softly playing in the background. However, the Greek Orthodox sing song started getting louder and we eventually left (too many different noises at once). Evidently the Catholic church has a tunnel with a door with a peep hole into the manger grotto which used to be the closest Catholics could get to the "manger". The manger grotto was again determined to be the place by Constantine's mom who seemed to know where EVERYTHING happened in the Holy Land. We then left the two churches and walked across Manger Square to have lunch at a tourist trap place across from the churches. As we sat outside two little girls (about 9-10 years old) decided to sit there watching us. By the time we were done eating we realized they were beggers we couldn't drop. The one girl shadowed us for what seemed like forever. She was totally annoying and I think that was the point. I am amzed at the lack of dignity some people teach their children: the girl didn't look hungry or badly dressed...just bored maybe... Did I mention that Bethlehem is 100 % under Palestinian control and is a pretty dangerous place at the moment (we found this out after the fact). Just wait to you hear our next story that opened our eyes to this!
Rachel's Tomb
Well we found a taxi driver who would take us to Rachel's Tomb for 15 shekels-go Dieter (he was getting the hang of haggling...he even talked a guy into selling us something for a great price in the souq before leaving for Bethlehem). The taxi driver kept trying to get us to have him take us to the Shepherd's Fields. We decided against that because the fields around Bethlehem gave you a great picture of where the shepherds were met by the angel. They say they also know where Ruth met Boaz (yeah right, guys tour trap!!)...So the taxi driver resigned to taking us only to Rachel's Tomb. He would only go so far, we had to walk along the huge concrete barrier at Rachel's Tomb lined with trash and a dead cat. It stunk and was definitely not a tourist trap. The Israeli Soldier looked surprised to see us (I don't think normal tourists ever go there nowadays). He said we could go in with the orthodox Jews who had just pulled up in a huge bus. he unlocked the door and let us in and then locked us all in. THey first had a well to do their hanwashing rituals then they walked down to the tomb (just an ugly building-absolutely no schnick schnack as the Germans would put it). Dieter put on a paper kibbot and went in to the men's entrance. i went in on the women's side but all you could see was a barrier covered in plastic and a lot of Jews reading the scriptures and praying. We felt desperately out of place, so we went to the door and knocked to get out. He let us out at first and we asked if we could walk to the check point-he said, "no it's too dangerous, you have to take the bus out with the others." He told us the bus would leave in 15 minutes and that we should go inside so he could lock us in again ("that's safer"). While waiting for the bus we read about the tomb where Jews pray for God to give them children if they can't have any or a safe delivery if they're pregnant. So finally when the bus was there they let us out and we haggled with the bus driver to take us near our hotel for ten shekels (not bad). So...we got in the bus pretty scared and around us the Orthodox Jews started filling up the spaces. One of them asked to orrow a pen which showed me that the Pharisee's rule of having nothing to do with Gentiles was not true for them-makes sense the way Jerusalem is today that would be impossible. So out of the barrier we went with Jews on either side-men in the front of the bus with their top hats, long coats and Shirley Temples and women in the back. They were all soooo quiet and then children very well behaved with the exception of an American Jewish family who were obviously just visiting. It was a stark contrast to the loud Arab bus that was only half that size and very beat up in comparison. We felt a lot better getting out of Bethlehem and got a good look at a lot of Orthodox Jewish neighborhoods. The bus driver kept his promise and let us off by our hotel where we stopped at the Central Bus Station for coffee, etc. We went to a 1 dollar store (5 shekels) and bought a lot of cheap fun stuff.
Henrik and Patricia and the Arab Wedding
We then hiked back to our car and reorganized our luggage. From there we set out on the feat of finding Henrik and Patricia's hotel which we found about an hour and lots of frustration and arguments later. They were totally surprised to see us and it was so awesome having fellowship with them and two other German christians from Munich and Landau. Hanging out and trading experiences was worth every ounce of gas and the hour of searching. We felt sooo much better. As we were talking we heard a lot of commotion outside and realized a Muslim wedding was going on. So we went out to watch from a distance. I guess the religious ceremony was done and they were clapping and pounding on a drum and carryin g the groom around on their shoulders like a baseball hero. They entered the reception hall to an Arab version of the typical wedding recessional and a litle Muslim sing song. The women and me were separate and I bet we were totally out of place in our normal western dress. They eventually closed the doors to the hall and we went back to the hotel lobby to finish our chat. We eventually left them to get to bed. Their bus tour was going on bright and early the next morning. So we set off to get to the airport.
Tel Aviv Airport
We made it to the airport filled up the tank turned in our car and were taken to terminal 3. As I sat waiting and Dieter was using the restroom, a crazy Israeli guy started asking me a million questions. he was really freaky, sounded like he was mentally ill and very paranoid. he said he was going to Cypress that morning and then moving to Iran because he couldn't stand the Israeli government any more. We descreetly left after a long time of listening to him and were able to find a quiet place to sleep. We then got in line for the Israeli security check. First they asked us a million crazy and pressing questions. One was why my name was Hannah Elisabeth-that name is Jewish, do you have Jewish parents? Who are your parents? Where are they from? What was every hotel you stayed in?...They then xrayed our bags and wanted to unpack 3 out of 4! Out carry on was the worst-they xrayed, metal checked, opened and made a huge mess of everything and still didn't find what they were looking for. The guy next to us had his cigarettes xrayed. The other guy on the other side was asked about his suit and why and where he was in Egypt first. Our patience was truly at its witts end, but it wasn't over yet. We checked in and had to hand in Dieter's trekking backpack at oddsize baggage. Then they checked the carry on and looked at every detail of our tickets and passports for the second time...then the passport check (why do I have to do this leaving?)...that took FOREVER and they wanted the papers back that we had received when we cam ein (luckily I had them in my hand luggage to glue in my scrapbook-nobody had told us to keep them because they would want them back...crazy!!). So we finally go through there and yet another check point where they checked our passports and tickets again and we finally got to our gates and fell asleep immediately. Luckily Dieter woke up for the boarding call because otherwise we would still be there. We were sooo happy when our plane took off. Now we're in Athens, back in the good ole EU! The flight was great...pretty empty...so lots of space... Praise God we ade it out alive! Don't wanna go back anytime soon! And hereby do I end my Israeli ramblings...I hope dear reader you got a realistic picture of the Israel we saw and experienced...and please do pray for peace in these perilous times. Lord Jesus come quickly!

Day Eleven: April 19, 2006: Israel Trip

Mount of Olives
This has been a VERY BUSY day. We were at breakfast by 6:45 and left the hotel by 8. We ran into the man I translated for when we first arrived at the hotel and the Muslim leaders. For some reason a lot of candles were lit all over the lobby (Sabbath??). It must be the Sabbath because one of the elevators was running in Sabbath mode (stopping on each floor). We drove, getting lost numerous times up to the Mount of Olives. We found "a" Church of the Ascension". Later we found an uglier one which was supposedly "the" Church of the Ascension. All we know is that somewhere on thie mountain, Jesus ascended into heaven. We moved on to the Lord's Prayer church. On the walls you find the Lord's Prayer in ever language imaginable. There's a grotto there where they say Jesus always slept when He was on the Mount of Olives, maybe, but I doubt it. I broke off a sprig of olive leaves and we went on to the Seven Arches Hotel where you can see a great panorama of the Mount of Olives and it's churches, the Kidron Valley between it and the city walls and the Temple Mount. We drove down to the Garden of Gethsemanae and stopped for post cards which the strange Muslim storekeeper gave me for free. He said he saw light and love in my heart and that I should pray for peace. We didn't know what to make of it and just continued on to the garden and Church of All Nations which was full of tourists. We don't know where Jesus prayed exactly, but it was special because we knew we were near where it was. From there, after a little struggle deciding where to park, we walked up and entered the Old City by the Lion*s Gate. As we walked up a really desperate traffic jam formed, stopping the gate and no one could turn around. The police were part of it themselves along with a group of Muslim school kids in blue and white uniforms.
Via Dolorossa
They eventually solved the problem and we squeezed our way on by to start walking up the Via Dolorossa. It was like a treasure hunt trying to find the stations of the cross. Of course no one knows if and when all of this stuff happened or if it happened on the Via Dolorossa. Unfortunately most of the Via Dolorossa is in the Arab souq. We had a heck of a time trying to find the Church of the Holy Sepulcure. On the way we got jupped buying bread, bought post cards, got lost amongst the Ethiopians on the roof of the Holy Sepulcure, went to an Internet Cafe, bought this book to journal in and got a great book on Jesus in Israel at a Bible Store. The lady in the Bible store told us how to get to the Church of the Holy Sepulcure and we ended up finding it. OUr first experience was being told to move along, not to stand where we were... There were ladies rubbing their faces on the holy rock in front of us, there was a HUGE line to go in to see the gravestonge that was supposedly in front of Jesus' tomb (not biblical by size from what I saw) and some priests surrounded by tons of pople holding candles singing, chanting, crying, walking around barefoot, you name it. To tell you the truth the whole scene itself was the sadest, so much religion, but no relationship to the Jesus who supposedly died there. We went to the grace of Joseph of Arimetea, no one seemed interested in that. Dieter climbed in, it was quite tight. We left the church and the first thing I told Dieter was that I bet him 100 to 1, Jesus didn't die there and that we'd settle bets in heaven once I've asked God. Evidently it used to be the site of a temple to Venus and Jupiter. Eleni, mother of Constantine decided this was the place while on a pilgrimage here. I guess they believed that cause they found 3 crosses and the grave of Joseph of Arimethia. My problem with it all is that I 1. It was a temple site of a foreign god and they copied it and built on it and 2. Jesus had to die outside the city gates to fulfill the OT prophesy and symbolism-was it really outside the gates at that time and 3. the tomb was supposed to have been in a garden could there have been a garden there? Where was the skull hill?
Lunch and the Garden Tomb
O well... so we moved on through the Souq to to Green Door Pizza Bakery. There a little old man baked "pizzas" in a stone over. He overcharged us but at least they tasted okay. Now we're drinking Turkish coffee in a cafe at the Damascas Gate. Turkish coffee has a strong cardomon taste. After this we're going to go to the other garden tomb just outside the gate. Dieter's also scheming about taking a walk on the city walls. We'll see if you are allowed to do THAT on the sabbath. It is amazing how many types of religious dress you see here. I keep asking myself what denomination everybody is: Greek Orthodox, Catholics, Protestants, etc are all seen walking up the Via Dolorossa. Truly this city is very religious. Well, better get moving herer-I'm getting my ears blasted out by Muslim sing-song.
Well, I've changed my mind about the Church of the Sepulcure now that I nkow a bit mroe. We had to decide whether to walk on the walls or go to the Garden Tomb because they were both going to close. So we walked through the Damascas Gate down Nablus Str. through a more scary souq where some guy was screaming "f.u. America" at us as we walked by. This is a scary/evil place sometimes. It's hard not to dislike Arab culture when you keep getting ripped off, can tell they're putting you down in Arabic, and see how trashed their parts of town are. Alas, they do have good coffee and spices and baklava-if that wasn't the case we'd never get ripped off cause we wouldn't want any. So we got to the Garden Tomb. What a haven in such a crazy city! It was so peaceful and only normally dressed people were walking around. There was no hussle and bussle or fighting over prices (it was by donation only). We got to walk into the tomb and then see the proofs that it used to be a garden there (old wine press, cistern) and then finally the skull hill. It was totally worth going there! We spent the last 20 minutes before they closed reading the story of Jesus' death and resurrection in John's gospel. Then we tramped on back through the souq and along the outside of the city walls down through the Kidron Valley and to the CHurch of All Nations. I kept jumping everytime people would honk: they are very honk happy here in Israel! On the way back to our hotel we got stuck in a few Jewish neighborhoods-due to the fact that it's the Sabbath they were all out and about just walking around right in the middle of the streets. I was just a bit afraid of them throwing rocks or spitting but things went pretty smoothly and we made it back safely. Tomorrow we'd like to go to Bethlehem and then the temple mount. Those are the only two sights we haven't gotten to yet. We're (I'm) hoping to catch some taxis tomorrow-Dieter would rather bike it, but I doubt he'll put his foot down on that one, thank God!

Day Ten: April 18, 2006: Israel Trip

The Jerusalem Overview Tour
We started off the day with the huge unleavened breakfast and negotiating our stay for the next two nights here along with getting overcharged for postage stamps at the gift shop. At breakfast we saw some Muslim (?) leaders walking around in their robes and ordering people around. Then we were off to conquer the Jerusalem bus system. After much bickering and despair. I've found the central bus station only to find that the bus schedules were only available in Hebrew. Bus 99-the full fledged tour was available to stupid people like us for only 9 dollars. O well...so we did it first not seeing anything they were telling us about on our headphones and then finally getting the hang of it. We got off at Jaffa Gate and realized we had no clud what to do next. We saw bread vendors fighting with the police (why were they selling during the Feast of Unleavened Bread?)-it looked like the bread vendors prevailed and tourists happily were brying away (Dieter is still complaining that he didn't buy one-Matzah gets old quick and to tell you the truth biblically I just can't see the logic behind Matzah only, unless it's to save money by not having to buy good unleavened bread). As we moved on we had people asking us over and over if we wanted a guide to show us the city. We declined, sure we could find everything just fine. So we entered to Jerusalem souq (bazaar(market) and got lost in the endless flea market like stores. We stopped in a spice tent and met a man who could speak great German and English who even had a friend in HD. We bought hyssop (the bitter Passover herbs) so we can have that yummy part of Israel at home. We got some whole bean cardomon coffee as well. All great stuff... We ended up somewhere in the Jewish quarter which seemed very clean and organized. I started noticing the types of Orthodox Jews around me. Some were in satin black oriental like coats, Russian-like furry hats and of course on Shirly Temple curl on each side. Then the others with top hats (actually they were somewhere between cowboy and top hats-all black of course) and black suits with thin white stripes and the white tassles hangin out-usually no Shirley temples. Then you had the more relaxed looking ones: white shirt, tassles, kibbot caps and some with long "side burns", some not. Without exception, however, they all had a ton of kids-the average number was four. You rarely saw a Jewish couple without a trail of kids or at least a pregnant tummy. No birth control here! And the kids were all soooo cute. I found it all quite fascinating observing them as they interacted. We didn't get to have lunch there or look at the temple mount, just browse the Jewish, Armenian and Christian quarters. I still have a long list of things I want to see. This was just the overview day. We hurried back to catch our double decker bus 99 and continue the tour. We got to go to a few viewpoints overlooking the city. They explained the different Jewish neighborhoods, government quarter, museums, stadium, zoo, hospitals, mall, graveyards, memorials, you name it, we probably saw it. It actually turned out to be a pretty good and thorough tour.
Central Bus Station
After that we were back at the Central Bus Station where we finally got lunch: falafel (unfortunately with Matzahs), but with lots of yummy fresh veggies. The owner of the place had a shaved head, an ear ring and a very provocative t-shirt. One of his workers was an orthodox Jew in white shirt, kibbot, tassles, black with white stripe suit pants. I couldn't believe he would wear his nice clothes to work at a falafel place with such a crazy boss, but I guess that's the way things are in Jerusalem. After that we set off on a search for a new book for me to journal our days in (this one was almost full...the hard copy version of course), but everything in the train station closed at three. We still can't figure out these Jewish holidays! Luckily, we at least got a coffee for Dieter and trudged back to the hotel. Here we've been, me very happy to be relaxing and gathering strength for more sightseeing tomorrow. I guess we'll take a taxi in cause we couldn't figure out the buses or maybe we'll take the car? Dieter's already making a game plan as I sit here writing. Good night sweet hearts wll it's time to go...bo bo do di do...
I forgot to tell you...we got some great CDs at Tower Records in the bus station while waiting for the tour to start...Yippeee!

Day Nine: April 17, 2006: Israel Trip

Caesaria on the Way To Jerusalem
We didn't decide where we were going until we were already on the road towards the coast. Caesaria sounded exciting because I knew there was a lot about it in Acts. We bought the full fling ticket and decided to spend the full day here looking at every possible part of the ruins. Many Jewish families had the same idea because the national park was bursting at the seams-mostly with families with kids. The park really caters to families with kids because they have a discovery center where the kids can make arts and crafts of ancient times and leave wearing Roman togas. We started out admiring the city walls and then laid down on the grass in what used to be the harbor and relaxed until the 1:00 English tour started. The tour started with a 10 minute movie with an overview of Caesarias history. First built by the Romans (Herod), then taken over by the Byzantine christians, then the Muslims, then the Crusaders, etc. etc...now it's just ruins and some rich Jewish guy (Rotschild) bought the land and built up a Jewish settlement here. It prospered quite well until it became one of Israels biggest tourist attractinos. They then moved us on to an interactive part where you could ask historical characters different questions-we really wanted to hear what Pontius Pilate and apostle Paul had to say, but we christians were in the obvious minority. After being pushed out of the interactive area, our guide showed us what Caesarea looked like in all the different historical stages up until now using computer graphics technology-it was really cool! We found out that this was the place where the first proof of Pilate's existence was found. He lived in the Caesarean Palace for a while. There were also inscriptions quoting Paul and inscriptions proving Felix's existence who kept him a prisoner here for a very long time. We took a long walk exploring the place where the chariot races and Caesarean Olymplics were held (this is the origin of the gold, silver and bronze medals-initiated by Herod who wanted to draw all the athletes here by offering GOOD prizes-not just lorel leaves). We then looked at the palace where Paul, Pilate, Festus, Agrppa and Felix all once stood, then on to the theater, bath house, store rooms, grid built streets and houses (that type of city planning originates with the Romans). We finished off at the gift shop as always. In between we had a great lunch with not so great service at the Port Café here. They like to put mint leaves in ice tea and lemonade here-tastes great! We then took a great Latte to go so we could drink it while sightseeing. After my coffee was gone I filled my cup with sea shells and sand from the beach here: a simple, yet special souvenir! Now we're sitting on the beach by the Caesarean acqueducts. Dieter hates sand so he's just putting up with it so I can have fun writing ehrer. He's rather be climbing around the acqueducts). Isn't he great?
Some Other Funny Cultural Experiences

• A little Orthodox Jewish girl held onto me during the movie trying to stand on the seats to see...
• The kibbot caps constantly blowing by blown off the Jewish male heads by the strong sea breeze..

After this we get to brave the streets of Jerusalem agian. I found a fairly priced four star hotel in Jerusalem so we're hoping for some good sleep finally (my dizzy spells keep coming and going and last night I slept poorly dreaming I showed up at a really important CD recording pre-jam with really professional musicians without my guitar or equipment. Quite a nightmare for a musician like me! Hope this night is more peaceful - I'll let you know if anything else happens between now and the start of Day 10
The Drive to Jerusalem
We made it to Jerusalem after loads of traffic. The main highway into Jerusalem was block off so everybody had to use the same one. The hotel was amazingly easy to find, just not the way in , so we drove around in circles a few times and finally made it in. I tried my hand at haggling over the room price and got them lower than the internet price, down 20 dollars a night below the normal walk-in price. So we're in a four star hotel in Jerusalem with great beds (no aches and pains in the morning PTL!) and a huge breakfast for 112 dollars a night. What the heck we thought, it's the last few nights, we've saved a lot the whole time so let's go for it! Thank you Lord!

Day Eight: April 16, 2006: Happy Easter! Israel Trip

Megiddo
I wanted to spend the day outside of Nazareth so we drove to Tel Megiddo. A place with layers and layers of ruins which just look like a bunch of rocks miscellaneously piled up to look like walls. We started off in the two room museum which I was through in about 10-15 minutes. Dieter, of course, in all his German thoroughness had to read every word. When I urged him to go faster he looked at me with such a sad puppy dog face that I resigned to wait under the condition that I get the wallet and a cappucino in the cafeteria while I wait. So I waited and waited and waited and waited some more...all the while having to listen to three guys pounding away at three jimbees...they were good at it, but I'm sorry, I can only listen to a "jimbee only" group for so long... Finally, as I stood up to let Dieter have it I saw him coming out of the building (and just when I thought I couldn't take it anymore!). So we finally got to go up to the ruins (a.k.a.: scattered stones). The most impressice parts were the look-outs where you could see how huge and flat the Jezreel Valley is-the place where the last battle will take place (Megiddo: Armaegeddon). There was also a sacred area where temples had been built and built upon each other for thousands of years. The Jews didn't follow suit of course, showing that this place was probably some kind of center of pagan worship. We then walked down through the hidden water supply tunnel-slowly but surely because of the Arabic Women Tour group in from of us. They were having a BLAST with their digital camera! It was quite impressive though, the water system...After exiting the water system the Arab women were picked up by their bus and we went back to get some postcards for the travel scrap book. Now we're sitting in an Israeli MocDonalds, quite impressed by the quality of the food (a lot better than in Germany).
Mt Tabor
Now we're on our way to Mt. Tabor-once Dieter finishes perfectly licking his second ice cream cone we'll be on the road again! A very whindy road took us up to Mt. Tabor. Thank God no buses were allowed there. We parked and walked a ways up to the Catholic Church of the Transiguration. They think this was the mountain where Jesus was transfigured. From the church we had another fantastic view of the Jezreel Valley: Armageddon. One thing we know took place on Mt. Tabor was the battle Deborah and Barak fought with Sisera in Judges 4 and 5. Dieter and I found a dry spot (did I say it started raining? yes in Israel it does rain) and read the passage in Judges. on our way back down we snuck a peek at the closed Greek Orthodox church also on the mountain. It was amazing how many tourists were there-Jews as well as christians. We saw a monk and a lot of irrelevant tourists letting their kids run wild in the church. The monk just sat there watching it all-must me an everyday occurance-what can you do? So down we went, stoppin gfor post cards and looking for the Bedhoin resteraunt mentioned in the tour guide book). We saw two even and lots of chickesn crossing the road (roosters to be exact-and this isn't a chicken crossing the road joke).
En Dor
We realized that the village of En Dor was just right around the corner which is where Saul sought out a medium to call up Samuel from the dead for advice on his last battle with the Philistines where he ended up dying. It looked either like a kabbutz or a little retirement community-no traces of King Saul or the museum the signs said was there, just a kids fest with arts and crafts and unicycles. So we left in search of a bank to get some shekels on our way to try to find Cana again.
Cana
It turned out that Cana had been right under our noses (we actually drove through it) and we just didn't know it. We followed a sign that said "Churches St." and found the churches commemorating Jesus' first miracle at the wedding there. In typical Israeli fashion there was no "dead end" sign so we ended up having to back down a VERY tight alley. The Churches Str. alley was quite beautifully done needless to say. The city around it though is an absolute dump which is probably why we didn't realize we were there the first time. We didn't get out of the car because as is a very common occurence with us I had to go to the bathroom-which meant I was begging Dieter to rush back to our Nazareth hotel. Luckily we're leaving Nazareth tomorrow on our way to Jerusalem. I've been having trouble with the dust and dizzy spells (maybe I've been sniffing too many spices-they're making me high!). Did I mentino that our hotel used to be a monastery? The room itself is higher than it is wide-really nice besides the ages of dust in the matress-o well, for the price Dieter will pay you can expect perfection, huh? (That's just a jok-this is the most expensive one we paid for so far! :-))

Day Seven: April 15, 2006: Israel Trip

The new day has broken-we are in our quiet hotel overlooking Nazareth. We got Internet access and could answer our emails. Dieter is still doing that as i write. We met a couple of really nice Israelis vacationing here. One had been to Heidelberg even. I just wrote a song about Jesus coming to this earth and having no place to lay His head-not received by His own-it all culminating in His death and resurrection. Day 7 is a perfect day for a quiet sabbath-I guess we won't make any set plans-perhaps try to find Cana again, maybe find the Arab market, maybe Mt. Tabor or Megiddo...maybe nothing. I'll keep you posted :-)
Nazareth
Well...we walked down about a million steps and ended up at the Greek Orthodox church. Around the corner we found "Mary Well". All nothing that exciting. So we went towards the "souq"-the Arab market. The smells and colors were just amazing. First we bought some fresh dates and some fahoum coffee with cardamon-it smells so cool! Then we got some fresh strawberries and some dried fruit. We ran into Muslims coming out of a mosque and Jews all dressed up coming out of the synagogue. The clash and harmonious mixture of culture and religion that exists here is quite a strange sight. We checked out the church of the Annunciation which is built over a grotto where Mary supposedly was told by Gabriel that she would bear the Messiah. The man in front of us wasn't allowed in because he was wearing shorts. The art work was beautiful and sections were donated by different countries. After getting churched out we got a Falafel and a drink for less than 2 Euros. Adter that I started looking for materials to start putting together my scrapbook of my journey. The guy in the shop we found didn't understand why I wanted a book that went from right to left - "that's Arabic, Arabic" he kept saying! Dieter decided at that point that it was time for more baklave, so we stopped at Mahroum Sweets on Paul VI and Casa Nova St. for some before tramping up a million stairs back up to our hotel. So we're back safe and sound having "done" Nazareth. Dieter is washing strawberries and oooing and ahhing saying "they're so good and they didn't even cost an Euro." Now he's giving me some-wow yummy...he's right! Now he's openning the biggest grapefruit you ever saw that we got a few days ago at a road side fruit stand in the West Bank. It will be quite a fruity and relaxing evening.

Day Seven Song: April 15, 2006: Israel Trip

Song I wrote on Day 7 (our Sabbath)
King Stepped Down
No place to lay His head, no bed for the King of Glory
Come on...He made this place!
No open welcome from a people He loved and called His own
Chorus:
Stepped down from His throne to show us He knows
Where we're comin from
And what it feels like to walk...
Stepped down from His throne to show us He knows
Where we're comin from
And what it feels like to walk this road...yeah He knows...

2. When He started to show the religious
That outward religion's not where it's at
They had to put Him away
He died on the cross to pay...for us all
Chorus...

Death couldn't keep Him, He rose the third day
To say..."I'm King, believe!"
Chorus...

Day Six: April 14, 2006 (Good Friday): Israel Trip

Kinnerett
Well, so much for plans-we went to Kinnerett after realizing that the Galilee Experience movie wouldn't be showing and that no internet café had internet access (go figure?). The service here seems just as lacking as in Europe. At the baptismal site I got a brief look at the Jordan's emerald green water before being attacked by a gnat plague-I don't know if it was my green shirt or the smell of my body lotion. Dieter said it must be spiritual attack-yeah-I thought, "Beelzebub" (another name for Satan actually means "Lord of the Flies). So he went and watched some Asians being baptized while I spent all our money in the gift shop. After that we set off for Cana and Nazareth.
Cana and Nazareth
Around where Cana is, the signs stop. So for some reason we missed the Cana turn off completely. O well, we thought and went on to Nazareth. Talk about a crazy city!! We felt like we were thrown into another Arab country, not Israel. Dieter parked and we went into an Arab café. There were only Arab men there-all smoking their water pipes (not to be confused with drainage pipes). It smelled really sweet (not like drainage pipes) and was interesting to watch. I was a bit freaked by all the Arab men staring at me-Dieter, Mr Sensitve, didn't notice and couldn't understand what my problem was. Luckily the waiter spoke great English, and we had one of the best espressos we've ever had. We then walked toward all the sights. On the way we caught a glimpse and heard a Muslim priest leading every one in mid-day prayers. I found it quite eerie. We tried to get a room at a convent up the road from the make shift outdoor mosque where they were all bowing towards Mecca on their little rugs. The French nun there said they were closed (it's Good Friday of course you're closed, thank you!). I fought back tears because it looked like the room search was going to be crazy again. In a huff I booked it up the hill not interested in all the churches commemorating where the angle spoke to Mary or where Mary and Joseph lived with Jesus (how do they know that!!). I finally found a bench and plopped down on it wanting to cry. I proceeded to pull out the travel guide and tell Dieter that the only things worth seeing here were the baklava bakery and the Nazareth Village (a village built by born again christians with the help of scholars and scientists that help you experience Nazaretha s it was in Jesus' times). We stopped for the baklava which Dieter absolutley LOVED (he'd never tried it before). Thank God they sell it in the Turkish quarter in Mannheim-so he can have it whenever he wants.
Nazareth Village and Hotel Hunt
Then we moved on to Nazareth Village-when we got there we'd just missed the last tour (this day was just not going my way!)-but a nice lady gave us a discount and rushed us on to finish the tour with German Brethren (we think) Christians from Darmstadt (go figure!)... She first quickly showed us what we'd missed and then rushed us off to the oil press where the tour was in session. On the way we were met by a white baby donkey that wanted to be petted. Soooo cute!!! We then got to see the oil press, the carpenter's workshop and how they dyed, wove and spun wool back then....all shown by people in the native dress of that time. We got to see a synagogue and what the roofs of the houses looked like (like the one destroyed in the story of the paralyzed man whose friends let him down through a roof so he could be healed). As a goodbye present we all got little clay lamps. It was a really neat tour-all of it run by born again christians. Adter that we got lost driving around the very NARROW streets of Nazareth looking for a place to stay. It was crazy but we found a beautiful place, quiet, overlooking the whol city....just in time to heart the Muslims nightly prayers being broadcasted over loadspeakers throughout the whole city (Nazareth is 70% Muslim, 30% Christian). I am hoping for a sightseeing rest tomorrow...maybe we just browse the town and sleep in...check out the Arab market and enjoy the smells (every street you go down here smells of Arab spices.-that's really cool! Sooo...as God promised we've got a roof over our heads and better matresses than last night-hopefully no aches and pains in the morning and a good breakfast (maybe with leavened bread cause this isn't a Jewish city??-we'll hope:-).

Day Five: April 13, 2006: Israel Trip

Another Camping Nightmare
Well shortly after the "nut" ordeal, the Palestinian youth arrived again with their loud techno music and the Russians trying to grill and set up their tents a little too late. We thought we'd ask nicely at the guard stand about having them shut off the music, but the four Palistinian young guys there were in on the techno conspiracy. It eventually stopped (to our surprise) by the time we had half torn down our tent in the fear the teenagers would come seeking revenge. In the tent-tearing down process, Dieter lost his wedding ring at which point I started quoting (very spiritually of course ;-)) Psalm 22: "My God, my God, why hast Thou forsake me!!!!!!!". God was nice at that point and Dieter promptly found his ring. We slept in the car in a far corner of the campground away from the crowd. I slept well, but Dieter, poor guy, didn't sleep a wink. So Dieter started driving toward the city of Tiberias while I was still half asleep. The city was rather run down and ugly. We had a cheap coffee and drove on to the Mount of the Beattitudes.
Mount of the Beattitudes
Driving there I kep trying to imagine what the rolling hills would be like without all the telephone poles, radio towers and electricity lines. They remind me a lot of the hills surrounding Yorba Linda where my parents live. On the mount itself we were met by a load of German tourists - we keep moving to keep away from the preachers who felt the need to keep preaching around us :-). There was an Asain group singing charismatically- that was cool. The church itself was quite quaint, Catholic with little nuns walking around with baskets, hoping for donations. What is sad is that they are trying to make money off of people who want to see where Jesus was. It's hard to find peace here and reflect-but I think I'm going to take a break here and read the sermon on the mount before we go on to Capernaum...
Well didn't finish the passage-it's too loud...but slowly the connection of the brothers and sisters here is amazing. There's a lot of people from CVJM (German YMCA which is very christian in Germany) all over-there was that really on fire Asian group, some Americans with a priest, and a girl from Vineyard in Heidelberg just came up to us (!). God convicted me that this is a special gathering of brothers and sisters from all over the world longing for the same thing-to see where Jesus walked-so this is not a place for reflection but it's a gathering, a special gathering of brothers and sisters from all over the world and some that don't know Him yet. We can pray that they are touched and meet Jesus here.
Capernaum and Tiberias
We went on to Capernaum-the ruins were quite intact and it was amzing to think that Jesus probably stood where we were standing. The Catholics had built a huge church over where Peter's house had been. Don't think Peter would've thought that was so cool. Today is Passover (?), I guess- I got it wrong before. So after Capernaum we drove to another city in the Golan Heights for lunch in an amazing Steak House. We left stuffed and didn't have to eat anything the rest of the day. We finally found a place to stay in Tiberius at a terribly run down youth hostel. (Can you tell I didn't like Tiberias?) Maybe we'll venture out to the Internet Cafe. Tomorrow we'll probably do Nazareth and Cana. I'd like to also see where Jesus was supposedly baptized in the Jordan. The sun rose, the sun set, that was the fifth day!

Day Four: April 12, 2006: Israel Trip

BIG PLANS: Qumran and Jericho
Off we went after our Matzah breakfast was happily transferred to our tummies. Today we had big plans: Qumran-to see the place where the Dead Sea Scrolls were found and to learn about the Essenes who wrote them and Jericho in the West Bank.
Qumran wasn't THAT exciting-good movie, cool ruiens with lots of bathing pools that showed that the sect had a washing obsession. Cool gift shop... Then we left to try to go to Jericho...
No luck there...there was no getting in. The "walls" are up again-too bad we didn't have time to march around seven times and shout. At all the possible entries you were either met by soldiers with machine guns or a wall-touch luck, no Jericho.
Sea of Galilee Camping
So we continued on to Tiberius-on the way we bought a grill, charcoal, lighter fluid and food to try out hand at grilling on the Sea of Galilee. Arriving, we quickly found a campground and had the tent up in less than 10 minutes. We got situated and tried grilling. Much to my horror and dismay, I realized that my husband has never grilled in all his life! Do you know that feeling of waking up and realizing who you really married? (Just kidding!!) O well-but I must say he's quite and genius and a quick learner-right now he's roasting nuts on the grill and feeding them to me-could life get any better with such a smart husband? But even more than this I am amazed that I am standing where Jesus stood on this ordinary lack in this ordinary country. It's beautiful but nothing special-God ways are so cool! Well better go, can't see any more and Dieter's nuts just blew off the grill and he's jumping up and down half cursing...he hates things being wasted!

Day Three: April 11, 2006: Israel Trip

We started off the day with an amazing kosher breakfast. There were fresh veggies galor, fruit, milk products, eggs, rolls... And Arabic coffee that isn't filtered but settles to the bottom of your cup. We were ready for the En Gedi hike.
En Gedi Hike
We drove back to En Gedi to the Wadi Arugot trail. They charged us to get in and the goal was the "hidden waterfall". Following the markers on rocks, the trail took us through desolate rocky land until finally out of the valley came a sweet water stream. We took breaks in the shade. The only annoyance was that two groups of rock-throwing big toddlers/mini adults had started out shortly before us. After overtaking the first one we ran into the next. It wasn't for long, however, because soon they took the red path while we took the blue directly on the stream. We just had to watch out for falling (thrown) rocks! We jumped over rocks, climbed with our hands and feet to keep on the path along the river. We finally reached the water fall at which point I fell in the water with one foot. What the heck, I thought, I'll walk through the water back. Amazingly enough, as I started to do this I realized that that was the whole point. The "missing" markings that we couldn't find were telling us to wade through the stream. The trip back was desperately refreshing and will most likely be the highlight of our trip.
The Dead Sea "Thing"
After our hike we went to the mineral baths to do the "Dead Sea" thing. We asked a worker there in which order we should do the "beauty/health" treatments. We started in the sulfur pool which was hot with lots of salt and sulfur (duh!). I made the mistake of dunking under so that my hair and face could "reep the benefits". My eyes however burned "like hell" (excuse the expression/no pun intended...get it sulfur...hell...). After sitting there 15 minutes, we went down to the Dead Sea shore and tried out the floating antics everybody raves about. I forgot my magazine, but still had fun floating about. After my husband floated off into oblivion, I got bored and decided to try the mud. I smeared the stuff all over my body with great delight. By the time I got it everywhere my long lost husband joined me and put the finishing touches on my back. He then started caking it on himself. With the typical persision of the perfectionist he is, he soon was black from beard to toe. After it dried, we jumped back in the salted water and rubbed and scrubbed till our skin was no longer negroe-toned (excuse me if that's politically incorrect-don't mean it to be taken wrong cause it felt REALLY cool to be black for a while!!). After the joy of it all, we had the joy of clean up-wet shoes, dirty bathing suits and luckily and nice nights sleep and unleavend breakfast to look forward to. Realizing that the feast of unleavened had arrived explained why we saw the guy at the beach running away with all the rolls he had left to give a bus full of Czechoslavakian tourists. Oops...we booked our trip during a really BAD time. They informed us that finding hotels, etc would be a nightmare...BIG OOPS!

Day Two: April 10th, 2006; Israel Trip

En Gedi Hike Closed...on to Masada
Finding the En Gedi Nahal David hike route closed (where they say David was inspired to write songs while hiding from Saul in the Judean wilderness), we gave up finding the next trail and took off to check out Masada (the "invincible fortress"). We took a cable car up the mountain and spent 3-4 hours in the grueling desert heat looking at almost every detail of the ruins. I've never seen such amazing ruins (Masada was built by originally by the Romans and a Jewish sect overtook it and locked themselves in. The Romans laid seige to the city with a ton of soldiers). Most impressive was the bath house, storage rooms and water systems. The Romans were ingenius when it came to their water systems. The Jews were also quite corageous in sticking the seige out for a very long time-eventually commiting suicide so they wouldn't be captured.
Finding a Hotel
After leaving Masada we informed ourselves more about En Gedi and saw and Ibex while doing so and some "hairy rats" (rock horax I later found out). We decided to look for another place to stay and proceeded to ask at Masada and two youth hostel type places in En Gedi. Everything was full. As we were driving on God spoke to me, "I also didn't have a place to lay my head, don't worry, I'll take care of you." Just then I saw a sign that there was lodging up the road so we took the whinding road deep into the deserts surrounded by hills that looked like they would drop their rocks on us at any minute. I prayed for God's protection of our rental car and we soon found a cute little B&B that was even cheaper than the youth hostels in En Gedi....finally a good night's sleep...thanks Lord!

Day I: Israel Trip: April 9th, 2006

Airport:
We arrived after missing a night of sleep. I had had a bad cold/flu before leaving and luckily it was better so I was able to get through the long night. We had to wait a really long time to get our rental car. We couldn't find the tourist info center (you have to go there before you leave the baggage claim area cause once you're out you're out!) and no one was very interested in helping. O well... We bought an expensive and stupid Israel guide that we later found out was not current (better than nothing for sure though).
Tel Aviv to Jerusalem:
So... we drove toward Jerusalem from Tel Aviv. When we got to Jerusalem it was impossible to find the continuing highway because either there were no signs or we couldn't read the ones that were there. So we ended up on a road in the middle of no where. We then found a picnic area in the beautiful Jerusalem "forest" and fell asleep in our rental car for a few hours before trying to get through Jerusalem again. After getting lost a million times and oooing and ahhhing at many unknown Israeli residential areas we (by an act of God) found the 90 going down to the Dead Sea where we wanted to spend the next few nights. Going down to the Dead Sea the scenery changed and you could see the Bedhoin tents, camels to ride, pottery for sale and our water bottles sucked into themselves as we descended to the lowest place on earth. This place made verses like "out of the depths I cry out to you o Lord" come alive with new meaning.
En Gedi Free Beach and Campground:
We arrived at En Gedi campground/free beach. And were overjoyed to find that camping was absolutely free. So we set up our never been set up before Coleman tent-totally sticking out in the diverse crowd of Orthodox Jews eating lunch and gabbing on cell phones, "normal" modern Jewist youth settin gup their tents, and tourists pouring out of their buses to float on the Dead Sea. We were so pooped we just crashed in our tent and slept for another few hourse until some buses of Muslims arrived and the Muslim women and children started picking at our tent. We were shocked to find that we were surrounded by 100-200 Arabs and the others were gone. That night after falling asleep on the stoney ground (Dieter managed to pop my air matress;-)) we were rudely awaken after nightfall by very strong winds and some Palestinian youth throwing a very LOUD rave party on the next hill. This led to us being afraid to a) leave our tent by ourselves or b) leave the tent alone for fear that something might be stolen. We eventually ventured out once in fear and trempbling to the restroom and were relieved to find everything there upon our return. So after not sleeping a wink we "awoke" with aches and pains all over to seize the new day (Carpe Diem!)

Contentment

A few rules to keep you content from Mary W. Tileston's Book "Daily Strength for Daily Needs"

• Never allow yourself to complain about anything, not even the weather
• Never picture yourself in any other circumstances or someplace else
• Never compare your lot with another's
• Never allow yourself to wish this or that had been otherwise
• Never dwell on tomorrow-remember that (tomorrow) is God's not ours
• Contentment as I can see her is a mental choice or obedience...the feeling follows!

God's Protection

I thought I would relate another situation in my daily life that I saw God's faithfulness last week. I had a guitar student that hadn't paid for over two months and I had no way of proving that I had done the work. I was really sad over the whole issue and felt obviously used. I was debating whether to go back one last time for the last lesson of the month. They had promised numerous times that the money would be transferred to my account, all without it ever actually happening. So I went one last time with the plan to stand at the door and tell them I wouldn't give that day's lesson until the money was paid. I was so sad, because confrontations are so hard. When I got there, they had the money in cash to give me. I left praising God for His protection from a situation I couldn't have solved on my own. I learned a lot through it, however and am going to change things in my business so that this kind of thing can't happen again. I praise God though that He let me learn the lesson without experiencing the depth of hurt that I could have had to have had. Praise God!

Trusting

We threw a huge party over the weekend for my 30th birthday...we had over 60 people there and had to guess at food, cake, soup, etc...to make sure all were taken care of. I kept thinking of Jesus at the wedding at Cana how He helped the couple who ran out of wine at their wedding party. It helped me come to the point where I trusted God to help us in planning and if need be multiply the loaves and the fish. It was great...everything was the right amount, and the leftovers were used up at church the next day...enjoyed by hungry students who rarely get home-cooked meals and even a homeless man that comes every once in a while. Also with clean up there were so many people who stayed to help up. We crawled into bed at 2 AM and were able to spend the next morning with our friends who had come all the way from Munich to see us. I was so blessed by God's faithfulness in these little things and it reminded me how important it is to make a choice to trust Him and not to worry or get stressed. He will come through, He loves it when we involve Him, ask Him, talk to Him in our every day situation. Sometimes we missed the little daily blessings He wants to give us by not doing so. God is so good!

God's Goals

The other issue that keeps coming up in talks with others and in my own heart is what God's goals are. We often live as if God's goals were to get a ministry going, or to finish a task our pastor gave us, or to get some kind of bump up the spiritual latter in the church leadership structure. No way...God has us where we are for one soul purpose: to get to know HIM better. If it takes sending you to another country like it did with me, or giving you a new ministry challenge, or even taking one away...it's not about the actual thing that's going on...it's about your heart, it's about you seeing another aspect of His character in a new and living way. Another lesser goal...both of these pertaining to the first and second greatest commandments...is people. He sometimes puts me into a place, a ministry, a job, even a hardship so that I can be with people who will help me know Him better...and people that I can help know Him better...that includes especially the people we DON'T get along with. Any time we are unable to complete a task or get along with a person in our sphere of influence it brings us to our knees in dependance upon Him. When we HAVE to be dependant we GET to know HIM!

God's Economy

God keeps teaching my about His economy...I just read the parable where the landowner hires workers and pays them all the same, even those who only worked one hour. To all of us that seems so unfair, but then I started thinking of it in light of God's grace. None of us deserve even an ounce of God's grace...so who cares who's a little bit better than everyone else...to use the common example...when the standard is to jump across the Grand Canyon...who cares if you can jump a bit farther than me.
Everything in God's economy is different than ours...fairness, definitely...the value of money, of course...what greatness is, duh!... His ways are higher than ours and His thoughts, higher than our thoughts.
How desperately we need God to reveal His way of thinking to us.

Church and Family Tragedies

Right now in our church and in my family there are a lot of tragedy...my two grandfathers went into the hospital the same day...both are still not doing well and very old, so you never know if they'll make it. My being so far away probably means I can't go visit. Then in our church (our spiritual family) we have one man who had a heart attack and has been in a coma. Then another guy who was just diagnosed with a pretty bad type of cancer, and then another who's niece committed suicide. On top of that the church is having financial struggles because someone had been stealing money out of the offering box. Our pastor has a lot of stuff to deal with and is plugging along like a good fighter. But...you know...I've been writing here about how God helps us through struggles and difficulties...and it has been soooo true. The messages and times of worship have been soooo deep. The church has grown so close to each other in praying for and standing by these hurting people...and even just yesterday we experience some amazing things in the two that are sick...the guy with the heart attack briefly woke up out of his coma and asked for water and the guy with cancer found out that it is operable (we thought there was no hope). Small little glimmers of hope, but far greater is the greater living hope that is found only in God.

My Newest Song...CONSTANT

Hi Guys,
Thought along those lines that I would share my newest song with you...it's copyrighted so don't steal it ;-) But here goes:

Constant, never changing
There is no shadow of turning in You
Yesterday, forever and today
You will stay the same

And I thank You Lord that I can pour out my heart to You
As a Faithful Creator
And I thank You Lord that Your joy is my strength and my song
My strength and my song....

Copyright Hannah Lawrence (Meierhofer) 2005

It's so simple...but totally biblical and totally true!!

Han

Redemption

You know those situations that just drag on and on and never seem to end...an ongoing argument, marital difficulties, financial issues, problems at work...and they just tear at your resolve and joy in life... Amazingly enough I feel like those times are when I feel closest to God...those times I see new facets of His character that didn't seem so real before. Today a big situation of this draggin on sort just came to a head and was solved (PRAISE GOD!). I feel like God was teaching me that HE IS CONSTANT...a constant sorce of joy and peace...he can only be a constant because He never changes. That's why He can be to me a neverending source of joy. The earthly "shadow" of that I see in my husband...he's always there for me, loves me, holds me when I needs it. And if he is just a normal human being he can't be anything close to what God is to me...He can ALWAYS (around the clock) be there for me, He never changes, He will always love me...I can never disappoint Him because He knows everything. Kinda cool, huh?
Well...I'll leave with that...
Han

Multiplication!

In marketing and sales we always try to achieve multiplication cause it means big time growth. I just read this morning in Exodus that Israel grew and multiplied the most when they were under harsh labor as slaves in Egypt. Ouch! So the times we multiply and grow spiritually are the times where we are going through hard times. God's economy sure is differet from ours!
Han