Christ can take the most sin-laden, selfish, evil person
and bring forgiveness and new life.
~ Billy Graham

It’s no secret Jesus was a friend to sinners. He was most comfortable with the “least of these.”

From birth, He was numbered with the transgressors. Mary and Joseph were coming to Bethlehem to register their names. A census was being taken and each person had to go to his or her capital city to register. Jesus was numbered with sinners.

The fact that Jesus was circumcised numbers Him with sinners. Circumcision was a rite administered admitting that one was a sinner. Clipping the extra skin signified the Hebrew shouldn’t have sin in his life—we should be circumcised from sin. Jesus was circumcised signifying He identified with us. Jesus, a friend of sinners.

In Luke 5:27-29 we read the account of Matthew, a tax collector, and his decision to follow Jesus Christ. A tax collector wasn’t thought highly of in that day. They were classified as greedy, often taking more money than they were entitled to.

Excited about his decision, Matthew hosted a banquet in his home, inviting all the publicans and sinners together. Among this motley crew, Jesus was the guest of honor. Jesus, a friend of sinners.

In John chapter 4, we read of Jesus and an adulterous Samaritan woman at a well. Jesus knew she had five husbands, yet living with a man who wasn’t her husband. Still, Jesus sat at the well with her, not to condemn or judge her, but to minister to and encourage her. Jesus, a friend of sinners.

Jesus was a friend to blind Bartimaeus beside the road, to Nicodemus at midnight, and Zacchaeus, whom He had a meal with. Jesus, a friend of sinners.

In His last dying breaths on the cross, Jesus saved a thief saying, “I assure you, today you will be with me in paradise.” {Luke 23:43, NLT} Jesus, a friend of sinners.

The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and you say,
“Look at him! He eats too much and drinks too much wine,
and he is a friend of tax collectors and sinners!”
Luke 7:34 {NCV}

I say praise God that Jesus is a friend of sinners. Praise God He eats with sinners. Praise God He sits and communes with sinners. Praise God He said, “Healthy people don’t need a doctor—sick people do. I have come to call not those who think they are righteous, but those who know they are sinners.” {Mark 2:17 NLT}

Friends, we are all sinners. We have all fallen short of the glory of God.

All of us.

One of us is no better than the next.

Can we too, come along side the broken-hearted, the needy, and the fallen? Not with judgment and condemnation, but with love and grace?

Following in the footsteps of our Savior, shouldn’t we too, be a friend of sinners? <– tweet this

Jesus, Friend of Sinners
:: Written by Matthew West and Mark Hall
Performed by Casting Crowns ::

Jesus friend of sinners we have strayed so far away
We cut down people in your name but the sword was never ours to swing
Jesus friend of sinners the truth’s become so hard to see
The world is on their way to You but they’re tripping over me
Always looking around but never looking up I’m so double minded
A plank eyed saint with dirty hands and a heart divided

{chorus}

Oh Jesus friend of sinners
Open our eyes to world at the end of our pointing fingers
Let our hearts be led by mercy
Help us reach with open hearts and open doors
Oh Jesus friend of sinners break our hearts for what breaks yours

Jesus friend of sinners the one who’s writing in the sand
Make the righteous turn away and the stones fall from their hands
Help us to remember we are all the least of these
Let the memory of Your mercy bring your people to their knees

Nobody knows what we’re for only against when we judge the wounded
What if we put down our signs crossed over the lines and loved like You did

{chorus}

You love every lost cause; you reach for the outcast
For the leper and the lame; they’re the reason that You came
Lord I was that lost cause and I was the outcast
But you died for sinners just like me a grateful leper at Your feet

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{read 31 days of forgiveness from the beginning}

rules without relationship = rebellion

I immediately related them to parenting. And then as the phrase simmered in my mind, I thought how it also relates to our relationship with God.

There’ve been many scholarly words and sermons preached on the differences between religion vs. relationship. Christianity vs. religion. Jews vs. Gentiles. Pharisees vs. Jesus. And on it goes …

Today, I’m just going to share my simple thoughts. I suppose though, they’re not just thoughts … they’re my experiences. It’s what I know to be true.

I’m about to make a bold statement here, but open your hearts and hear me out? I don’t believe we can call ourselves Christians and not have a relationship with Jesus. Christianity isn’t a religion. Sure it’s a piece of it. But it’s by no means the kit n’ kaboodle!

Christian – to be a Christ follower
Follow – go in the same direction as or parallel to
Christianity – Christian quality or character
Character – who you are when no one’s looking
Religion – a system of faith
Relationship – the way people are connected, or the state of being connected

Are we following Christ? Are we pursuing an intimate relationship with Him? A relationship so strong that we ooze His qualities and character?

If we try to live by all the rules laid out for us in religion, without knowing why or understanding the heart behind it … that’s where good ol’ fashion rebellion comes in.

rules without relationship = rebellion

I recently saw the Katy Perry movie with my girls. Did you know she was brought up in an evangelical Christian home? And even tried her hand in the Christian music industry. I can’t help but think she ended up feeling trapped by the rules of religion. It seems she never grasped an intimate relationship with Jesus for herself.

How might I think so? I’ve lived it. I know it. I grew up knowing all the rules of religion … but I missed the most important part … the relationship. Granted, I was a teenager and then a young adult. And let’s face it being a Christian can be hard when it seems like the “world” is having fun around you. In hindsight, I think it was hard because I didn’t understand what it meant to have a relationship with Christ. I didn’t know why I needed a relationship with Christ. Other than saving myself from the depths of hell.

“It is a joy to Jesus when a person takes time to walk more intimately with Him. The bearing of fruit is always shown in Scripture to be a visible result of an intimate relationship with Jesus Christ.” – Oswald Chambers

Friends, we’ve been created to have intimate relationship with Christ. He doesn’t want us to live only by rules. He wants to deposit into our “banks” on a regular basis, so when the course of life tips our balance sheet the other way … our banks will remain well above positive. So we’ll have no doubt of His great love for us.

There are numerous stories in the Bible of Jesus facing the Pharisees and going against the “rules.” Why? Because Jesus was acting out of love and relationship. Not rules or religion. One of my favorite stories is found in John 8:2-11 {hover over the link and the scripture will pop up}. Ahhh … what beautiful love!!

He came so that we might have life. Life more abundantly. Not rules. Not religion. Not rebellion.

Will you join me in claiming that today?

And please join me tomorrow over on the MODsquad blog where I’ll be sharing a great parenting resource and doing a lil’ thing called a … giveaway!

rules without relationship {post one}

Let’s face it … the teen still doesn’t drink caffeinated beverages because it was something I never let her do. She just turned 17, and only recently stopped asking permission when there’s a particular PG-13 rated movie she’d like to see.

I digress. Back to the kid being punished.

Immediately after school, I sent her to her room … for the night. I remember being so upset by what she’d done, I seriously considered not giving her dinner.

I’m telling you … her offense was huge! I rarely punish my kids in any sort of dramatic way like this. I prefer to gently discipline. There’s a difference between punishment and discipline … but that’s another post for another time.

Today my writing is two-fold.

The first thing I’d like to share …

In the middle of being punished, big-time punished … my girl reached over and said, “you’re the best mommy in the world.”

It struck me, I wonder what would happen if we did the same to God. If, in the middle of our suffering, we could reach up to tell Him, you are the best Father in the world. {I’d like to point out that I don’t believe God punishes us … I believe He allows suffering for our ultimate good, but I don’t believe He punishes us.}

I wonder if we changed our mindsets to rise above the suffering and look for the blessings instead. To find purpose and understanding in our suffering. To know that it’s for our ultimate good. To trust that He has a plan … and it’s a good plan. {Jeremiah 29:11}

The second thing I’d like to share …

I started this post almost two months ago. Things I want to share come to mind and just as quickly leave. So I’ve been trying to write out small snippets so I don’t forget what I’d like to write about.

Anyway. My point? I absolutely for-the-life-of-me can. not. remember what my girl was being punished for. As I mentioned, I don’t usually punish in this way. At. all. So for me to send her to her room for the night, I know the “crime” was big. And I do remember being really, really upset by what she’d done.

And now? I don’t remember.

And I’m left thinking … that’s how it is with our sin. Jesus sacrificed so we could be forgiven. We confess. And it’s forgotten. Wiped clean. Forgiven and forgotten.

Do you believe that today? Do believe God has given you a clean slate? All sin is forgiven and forgotten. It’s true. It’s His promise and in His word.

He has forgiven you all your sins: Christ has utterly wiped out the damning evidence of broken laws and commandments which always hung over our heads, and has completely annulled it by nailing it over his own head on the cross. Colossians 2:14 {JB Phillips}

I also wonder … is there someone who’s sinned against you? Wronged you? Have you forgiven and forgotten? Or do you continue to hold on? There are many, many verses on forgiveness … here are a few of my favorites.

So watch yourselves. “If your brother sins, rebuke him, and if he repents forgive him. If he sins against you seven times in a day, and seven times comes back to you and says , ‘I repent,’ forgive him.” Luke 17:3-4 {NIV}

If you forgive those who sin against you, your heavenly Father will forgive you. But if you refuse to forgive others, your Father will not forgive your sins. Matthew 6:14-15 {NLT}

Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them. Romans 12:14 {ESV}

This post started out in one direction and sort of took on a prompting of it’s own. I’m all kinds o’ fired up about forgiveness and I think I’ll be doing a series on it in the coming weeks … stay tuned!

I pray you’ve gleaned some nuggets of godly wisdom in my ramblings here!

“Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace and be freed from your suffering.”
Mark 5:34

Do you know this story? It’s a beautiful account of a women who’d been bleeding for twelve years. Doctors couldn’t figure out the problem and her condition was getting worse. Upon hearing that Jesus was near, she worked her way through the crowd to touch His hem.

In Mark 5:28 we read, “because she thought, ‘If I just touch his clothes, I will be healed.’”

Well . . . touch His clothes she did. And healed she was!

“Immediately,” the Bible tells us, “her bleeding stopped and she felt in her body that she was freed from her suffering.”

In recent conversations with a friend grieving the loss of her daughter, we’ve talked about the need to “touch His hem.” Asking Him for just one sign to show He cares. And then guilt creeps in … “shouldn’t our faith be strong enough that we just believe? Do we really need to see a sign?”

In those moments of desperation, when I need to see something tangible … a sign that He’s still Lord over all … I’m comforted to know that yes, indeed … I can reach out and touch His hem. He will honor my desperation.

After hanging up with my friend, our conversation kept popping into my thoughts on an annoyingly regular basis.

With a few more thoughts on the subject, I called and left her a message with the following:

That day the woman touched His hem … she wasn’t the only one there. The Bible tells of a large crowd gathered around Jesus. Jesus knew someone had touched Him, and asked, “Who touched my clothes?” The disciples answered {probably while rolling their eyes}, “You see the people crowding against you, there’s no way to figure out who touched you!.”

I would venture to say there were many in the crowd that day desperately needing a healing touch from Jesus. But it was the woman who knew, “If I just touch his clothes, I will be healed.”

And she was. It was her faith in reaching out for that hem that healed her. Do you think anyone else in the crowd gathered ’round got their needed healing? I think not. Well, ‘cept Jarius’ daughter, but that’s a different post.

I wonder what kept them all from asking, from reaching. Was it fear? Disbelief?

I don’t think we need to feel guilty for asking for a sign. I don’t think that means our faith is any less. I think it’s in those moments of sheer desperation when we cry out to Him, “I need a touch from you Lord!” that He honors our faith in knowing He’ll meet us.

And because God is God . . . when my friend called back to let me know she’d listened to my message, she had the best “of course story” ever! You see, after she listened to my message, she’d gone to her daughter’s room. As she started going through some things, she came across a church program. It was the first church service she’d attended after Emily died. When she looked at the piece of paper in her hands, she couldn’t believe {well . . . she could, but you know what I mean} what she saw … the front cover bore the image of the woman touching Jesus’ hem. And get this … the church service that day had nothing to do with the message of “the woman touching the hem.”

WOW.

In our times of desperation when we ache for a tangible sign … touch … from God and believe that He’ll do it, He’s faithful. Period.

But wait. It gets better.

So … in working on this post, I wanted to make sure my friend was okay with me sharing some of her private thoughts. She gave me permission and also remembered she’d never sent me a photo of the church bulletin she’d come across. When she texted me the following, I couldn’t believe {well … I could, but you know what I mean} my eyes.

I called her back immediately and said “You’re not going to believe this! Well … you will, but you know what I mean.” That is the very same image I found to use in this post. And I texted her this image:

The thing is … I don’t usually use any photos but my own. And with this image in particular, I scoured for a good thirty minutes looking for the perfect image that I could link back to some kind of source. And it sure wasn’t an easy feat!

Here’s the bottom line, when you believe, pure and simple, just believe that God will reveal Himself to you … He will.

Is there an area in your life today needing a touch from God? Emotional healing? Physical healing? I urge you to reach out and touch His hem. I promise … you’ll never be the same.

I’ll go first.

Last Thursday night the girls were whining a bit about going to their extracurricular classes, so we skipped them.  Visions of jammies, pizza and movie night suddenly filled my head so I was on board without much convincing.

We got home a little later than usual because they had a special art camp they attended right after school.  By the time we got home, unpacked book bags {that’s southern for backpack!}, got a snack, and started homework … I remembered.

We’d volunteered to bring bag lunches to church … and they needed to be delivered by 6:30.  A glance at the clock told me it was already 5:00.  It also told me our peaceful night was just thrown out the window.  Sigh.

And now I realized why I had the nagging feeling to get to the food store all day.  I knew I needed to go, I just couldn’t remember why!

So here it was 5:00 pm and I needed to run to the food store before I could make and pack the lunches.

I scramble to said store … reach for my purse … and d’oh.

Run back home and grab my purse.  5:20 pm.

I get back to the store, deposit $$ into the Salvation Army bucket and then frantically run through the aisles gathering what I need.

I check out and head back out the door.  Past the woman ringing the Salvation Army bells.  I get in the car and God tells me to buy her a hot chocolate.

But I’m already in the car.  And I’m late.  I’ve got to get these lunches to church … for other people we’re trying to help.

I keep glancing at the woman.

I’m already on my way to help those in need.  I don’t need to buy her a hot chocolate.

And have I ever mentioned … I get kinda hot & sweaty and nervous when I approach someone with a good deed.  Like when someone’s out asking for money, I usually help, but I get all nervous and sweaty.  What’s with that?

Anyway.

I drive around the parking lot.  Literally.  Arguing with God.

Alright, alright!  You win.

I park on the opposite side of the store and go in the other entrance.  Like I was worried she’d think I was crazy for going back into the store.  {p.s. there’s a Starbucks in our food store}

I order a hot chocolate and a piece of pound cake too.

Goods in hand, I walk to her entrance and tell her I have a surprise for her … or something lame like that.

And that’s it.

I don’t have a miraculous ending to the story.  She was obviously very happy to receive the unexpected surprise.

And I walked away smiling too.

The point of sharing my story is to encourage you to listen to that still small voice.  We have no idea what a seemingly small act does in someone’s life.

More important than that … the more you listen … obey … that small voice {God, the Holy Spirit}, the stronger that voice gets.  When that voice tells you to pick up a piece of trash at the edge of the sidewalk … do it.  Before long, at the prompting of the Holy Spirit, you’ll be buying hot chocolate, witnessing to people, and ultimately … brushing their hair.

Scary thoughts to me.  Scary.

But I know God is equipping me.  He’s equipping you.  He knows what we can handle.  What we’re capable of … what pace we need … baby steps are workin’ just fine for me, thank you very much!

I have more stories to share this week … I pray you’ll join me!  And be sure to stop by later today when I announce the winner of this giveaway!

Alright … fair’s fair!  I’d love if you shared a moment when you heard God speaking and you were obedient to the call.

It’s lengthy, but I promise you won’t be sorry you took the time.

Now, if you know me … you know I’ve got much in my heart to say about this. But because I can’t top the 8 minutes of wisdom Beth just shared, let me leave you with something to think about …

Are you filled to the measure with the fullness of Christ?  Are you in tune with Him, His Word, and His wants of you?  Most important … when that still small voice speaks to you … do you act?

Join me tomorrow as I share my own “hairbrush” story.

Wikipedia defines these words as The Golden Rule.  But do you know …

{source}

“Do to others as you would have them do to you.”
Luke 6:31 {NIV}

Jesus spoke those words while on earth?

I don’t know ’bout you, but I think it’s cooler-than-cool that something Jesus said. on earth. in scripture. is classified on Wikipedia as “The Golden Rule.”  #justsayin

As we’re moving into the Christmas {and giving} season, this week I’ll be celebrating here on the blog … with gifts, blessings, giveaways and love.  Today let’s walk a journey of love.  God’s love.

Since September, I’ve been studying 1 John with my Good Morning Girls group.  So much truth.  Well … I mean, all of God’s Word is truth … but as we’re dissecting it verse by verse, it all comes alive!

If you have a few minutes and can dive into just a few verses, I urge you to read 1 John 4:7-21.  For the purpose of this post, let’s look at:

Those who say, “I love God,” and hate their brothers or sisters,
are liars; for those who do not love a brother or sister whom they have seen,
cannot love God whom they have not seen.
The commandment we have from him is this: those who love
God must love their brothers and sisters also.
1 John 4:20-21 {NRSV}

Those some strong words right there!  Take a moment to digest them.  Pretty much, “how in the world can you claim to love God … know God … if you have hatred for someone else.”

Oswald Chambers says, “If what we call love doesn’t take us beyond ourselves, it is not really love.”

Love, forgiveness, grace … for me, it all goes hand-in-hand.  But what I’d like to share with you is my personal experience of having God’s love, overflow … to love someone else.  Someone I didn’t think … someone many still don’t think … deserves any kind of love.  Let alone a love filled with grace and forgiveness.

There I was.  Filled with anger and hate.  Anger.  And hate.  Ready for a divorce.  And the very next hour … literally … after prayer with my pastor and receiving an indwelling, overflow of God’s love … I was able to love.  Not only did I not want a divorce … but I was able to forgive and to love.

I need to make it abundantly clear … it wasn’t … and dare I say, most times still isn’t … my love.  I’m human.  I hurt, I feel, I anger … and I even hate.

But Jesus.  Jesus changed all that.

Jesus laid down His life for us.  He hung on a cross so that I might be loved … and forgiven.  I take freely of this gift … every. single. day.

The Bible also tells us it’s better to give than to receive {Act 20:35}.  Not easier.  When it come to love and forgiveness … definitely not easier.  But if I can so freely receive His gift of forgiveness and love, then isn’t it my responsibility … haven’t I been commanded … to give it?

In January of 1951, C.S. Lewis {in reference to Luke 6:27-31} wrote in a letter … “In praying for people one dislikes I find it helpful to remember what one is joining in His prayer for them.”

God is love.  He always was.  Always is.  And always will be.

I love God.  I want to honor Him.  I want to make Him proud of me.

In Matthew 7:13, we’re told to “enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the road is easy that leads to destruction, and there are many who take it.”

Oswald Chambers asks this, “Have you ever created what Mary of Bethany created in the heart of the Lord Jesus?  “She has done a good work for me.”  In The Message it reads this way, “She has just done something wonderfully significant for me.” {Mark 14:6}

I want to live my life … Jesus wants us to live our lives … following, always following The Golden Rule.

We need to get off our high horses … believers and non-believers alike … humble ourselves, see outside of ourselves, and start treating other people the way we want to be treated.  The way we’ve been commanded to treat each other.

#thereisaidit

Sigh.

Since my last post I’ve been doing a ton of thinking, praying … and believing.  You see, it’s just that … just as I felt I was breathing lighter again, a tragedy struck.  And then other things piled on top of that.  I felt like it was a dog-pile on Tracie!

I was still so raw and ripped open from my own pain, my own grieving … that I went right back into hideout mode.

But our gracious Lord, in His infinite wisdom has showed me it’s not about me.

It’s about Him.  It always has been … and it always will be.

I’ve said from the beginning {well … the beginning of me being so bold about my faith}, “if even ONE person finds Christ, draws closer to Christ, or can see what a real relationship with Him looks like … then I’ll keep putting myself out there and sharing my heart and story.”

Until I felt rejected.

Until putting myself out there was too painful.

Until a variety of things … all that boiled down to my own selfish pain … caused me to shut down.

Can you imagine our world today if Jesus had decided “it was all too painful” to continue?

And so … as I proclaimed in this post … I wouldn’t want my girls to back down and hide.  Instead, I would want them to share with the world … what the enemy has intended for bad … our Lord will turn for good!

{as a heads up, I may turn comments off on a few posts here and there.  Call that what you will … I call it guarding my heart and mind.} :)

Piper’s heart has been heavy since we’ve moved.  Not all the time.  But it’ll surface from time to time and we’ll pray, talk, and do our best to work through it.  She came home from church a few weeks ago with a prayer request so dear to her heart.  It moved me to tears.  She made two copies and I keep one in my Bible so I can help her to pray over her need.

She’s also taken to writing on her hand a daily reminder that God has a plan for her life.

Last week something came up that troubled Piper and I asked her if she’d like to pray about it.  I don’t know if words can adequately describe what I saw … her big, brown, sad eyes immediately flickered with joy and came to life as she said “yes,” she’d like to pray with me.

It fills me with absolute joy to know my girls believe in the power of prayer.

Taylor will often text me asking for prayer for one thing or another that’s on her heart.

As I’ve said many times … sometimes I feel like I’m failing in having “great big teaching moments” with them, only to realize it’s in these precious quiet times … requests for prayer or something as simple as playing Christian music through the house … that I’m reminded again and again … relationship deepens with everyday walk, everyday talk … an everyday way of life.

Taylor said to me recently that one thing she loves is that I play the music I do through the house.

And Piper told me recently that she likes to lay out a blanket on her bedroom floor and lay there to rest because she can hear the music coming into her room from the kitchen below her and it makes her happy.

Taylor also said something recently that stopped me in my tracks … the words buried deep into my heart.  Taylor has been faced with some very difficult life struggles {putting it lightly}, yet because of a relationship with her Savior, yet because at her core she knows what grace and forgiveness look like … she said to me {regarding her circumstance}, “You know, in a way I’m kind of glad it happened … because it’s brought me closer to God.”

Her heart is pure.  God has shown up and wrapped Himself around her … in ways I’ll never understand.  It’s taken me 38ish years to get here and she sees Him at 16!?!

Because most people are looking at our situation through the world’s eyes … they don’t believe or understand how she could be looking at her situation through eternal eyes.  I suppose, though, that’s not for me to try to understand.

And then I have my little 5 yo … we were in the middle of devotion recently and it was pressed upon my heart to ask Hunter if she’d like to invite Jesus to live inside of her.  I explained what it meant and she said yes … she would like to invite Jesus to live inside of her.  And as she repeated the words back to me, it was the sweetest, most precious prayer a mom could ever hear!  Her sisters were there, ready with the high-fives, while sweet tears welled in my eyes.

Yes … ours is an eternal perspective.  A perspective that makes me one happy mommy!  But more importantly … our Father must be one happy Daddy!

Recap Of What We Saw
We saw and did so many amazing things.  Too many to try to post about, or explain in detail.  The intricate detail, scripture and history involved behind each place we saw … honestly, I’m still processing it all myself.

We visited Old Testament, New Testament, Jewish history, the Holocaust, Israeli landscape … and trust me, that’s a compact, nutshell version!

Traditional & Believed-To-Be
We heard those words a lot.  You see, sometimes, at some places it’s hard to know what really happened where.  Scholars, archeologists, and historians can do their best to make the best judgment, but in many cases, there isn’t a way to be 100% sure.

We walked the Via Dolorosa … the said place that Jesus walked carrying His cross.  Which led us straight into The Church of the Holy Sepulcher.  This church was built around Calvary … where Jesus was crucified, buried, and resurrected.

I don’t know … this place was INCREDIBLE.  Incredible to imagine … Jesus was here.  He hung here.  He died here.  He rose here.

But … it was crowded.  Wall-to-wall-you-couldn’t-breathe crowded.  I kept praying, talking to God, asking for a feeling or whisper from Him … but honestly … I didn’t feel it.

We left this incredible, incredible place and I gently asked Taylor if she was feeling anything.  If any of this meant anything to her or if she was getting anything.  She answered with more conviction and honesty of any 15 year old I know, “I’m really not.  I’m trying, but it’s just so crowded, it’s hard to feel it.”

Oh amen Taylor, amen!

{you can see those images in my facebook gallery}

Expectations
The problem is, my expectations were SO high!  I mean, the land Jesus lived … how could I not have high expectations from this trip?  I expected to eat, sleep, tour, and breathe in Jesus.

I feel defeated to say that just wasn’t the case.

This is the Holy Land … I thought I’d find God at every turn.

Moments Of Blessing
~ At one point, our tour guide read some scripture from the Bible … in Hebrew.  The language Jesus spoke … the words and way He would’ve spoke.

~ Touring the museum of the Dead Sea Scrolls.  I was interested, but also just browsing through … like you would a museum.  When I came upon fragments of a scroll from this verse that stopped me cold in my tracks:

Write them down and tie them to your hands as a sign.
Tie them on your forehead to remind you, and write
them on your doors and gates.
{Deuteronomy 6:8-9, NCV}

~ When Taylor whispered to me on our last day here, “Thank you for taking me on this trip.”

My Health
Praise God that I stayed relatively healthy throughout the entire trip.  We did a ton of walking, early mornings, and late days.  I had my ups & downs, but overall, I seriously couldn’t have asked for more!  So thank you! for all your prayers!

The Conflict
We had a tour guide that lives life on the side of cranky … at one point, someone asked for more information or concrete-type answers about the Via Dolorosa.  He answered roughly, “People just want a “place.”  A place they can see and touch.  Christians shouldn’t be asking for evidence.  They should be happy to have a place.”

I overheard the conversation and thought to myself … “I don’t need a place.”  Everything we’ve seen and done has been absolutely wonderful!  But I don’t need a place.

The other thing about this crab-filled guide … I was struggling with wondering if he wasn’t taking something away from me.  I’m human and have human feelings just as anyone else does … I get annoyed, upset, and even angry.  And as a Christian, I really struggle when I don’t love “everyone.”  And this guy was not a hugable, lovable kinda fellow!  So in some ways, I wondered if he ended up blocking God’s voice to me.  Silly, right?

A Tour Is Just A Tour
Please don’t get me wrong.  This trip has been an incredible, incredible experience!  To imagine Jesus walking some of these streets.  Or the prophets living in this land.  The City of David in Jerusalem … or the En-Gedi, the Spring of David … the hills and water source it’s believed that David used and hid from Saul.  Amazing.  Awesome.  Wow. {Wonder of Wonders … I remembered Cyndi!} :)

But …

The Biggest Blessing Of All
I realized … I don’t have to go to the land of Jesus to find Him … because my Savior lives right inside of me.

We had a visit to the Garden Tomb.  A traditional or believed-to-be place of the crucifixion.  I’d now seen 2 places believed to be the place of crucifixion and resurrection.  How in the world does one know what to believe?

Let me give you some facts about the place known as Calvary, or Golgotha {which means “place of the skull” in Hebrew}.  Here’s one scripture for you … “And when they were come unto a place called Golgotha, that is to say, a place of a skull … ” {Matthew 27:33}

The Via Dolorosa didn’t have a skull anywhere near.  But look at the photo below … do you see two eyes … a nose?  And please realize, my photo doesn’t really do justice.

An actual tomb was also found.  And inside the tomb, and empty place.  I LOVE the sign inside this VERY small room.

Lastly, scripture tells us there were gardens near the place of Calvary.  The “Garden Tomb” is nothing but a garden!

We had a different guide once inside the Garden Tomb.  And he let us know right off the bat that he was a faith-filled-Jesus-loving-believer who had Jesus living inside of him!  Chill bumps all over the place my friends!

I don’t know … but I’ll tell ya … there was something about this place.  I felt the Holy Spirit like I hadn’t felt during our whole trip.

After the tour of the tomb {which was just a small, small room}, we went to an upper place for communion.  It.was.incredible!

And Then
Our last day in Israel, we visited the Western Wall, also known as the wailing wall.  Tradition has you write your prayer requests or notes to God and stick them in the wall.  That morning, I wrote out 3 pages of prayer requests to put in the wall.

When we got there, it was crowded, hot, hustling and bustling.  When I finally made it to the wall, I put my prayer requests into the wall, bowed my head and prayed:

Father God,
Thank you.  Thank you for loving me enough to send your only Son.
To live inside of me.  So that I don’t have to go to a foreign land to
find Him … all I have to do is call out and He is there.

And that, my friends is the blessing that will last me a lifetime!

More vacation photos here, here, here, here, here and here.

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