Israel Conclusion

As I move back to my blog, I apologize for not updating when I said I would. Before I move on to topics that I have definitely been running around in my head, I wanted to bring to conclusion my experiences in Israel.

The trip was amazing simply said. God definitely rocked my world in a whole ‘nother way then expected. My outlook in going to Israel leading up to the trip was of not wanting to go, thinking that going would be pointless, wanting just to do evangelism and that’s it, wonder of why we were spending so much money to go to just another place that sure Jesus was at one time but isn’t anymore and why the place is of real significance other than historically. Needless to say I was brought to my knees and changed.

As I look over the last couple of months and look at my time in Israel, I would say I learned 2 major things: 1) How much pride I had and we (mostly) as Gentiles have in connection with Jews and God’s promises and 2) How we (mostly) as Gentiles really have a completely different perspective on God compared to the Jews.

First, in a capturing moment I express what I learned about pride and God’s promises with this picture. Standing in one of the first church buildings built in the city of Jerusalem and looking up to the stain glass windows and seeing a picture of an olive tree with branches cut off and on the ground while some other deformed random branches are put in their place upon the tree. This is the image of Romans 11. If I dare look as a random deformed branch upon the branches lying on the ground with contempt how arrogant and evil that is.

Secondly, I give you the picture of being able to take part within a Shabbat meal, Friday night meal starting the Sabbath day of rest, with believers. This meal basically was conducted like the Passover meal with tradition, scripture reading, imagery, and contemplation. I was changed though not through the food or the tradition but through how they referred to God and the prayer at the end. Whenever there would be a prayer within the meal, it would always start with, “Blessed are you God, King of the Universe, who has…” This view of God is completely contrary to most of us. The other thing was how at the end of the meal the leader conducting everything basically said this (roughly). “If you are a good Christian you would have noticed that we never prayed for God to bless this food for us. This is because in Jewish tradition you always thank God for the food that you received after you eat of it. That way you can thank God for the blessing and nourishment that He gave you. You can experience firsthand the blessings of God within the food’s tastes, smells, delights, satisfaction, etc. and then proceed to thank Him for it.” This is something that Becca and I have definitely incorporated into our lives this perspective of prayer after a meal from what I learned in that time.

If you are really hard core and what to know what we really did each day and other things learned then you can download my journal that I turned in for the class. You can download it HERE.