The Middle East is anything but easy and simple. In a moment it can be tranquil and God-filled and in the next instant full of angst and heartbreak. This is my story from the past two days.
I snapped this photo early this morning as we were getting on a boat on the Sea of Galilee. We were heading from the west side near Tiberias to the east side of the Decapolis.
In a word, it was a pregnant moment of SHALOM. If a picture paints a thousand words normally this one painted a million for me today.
A day earlier we traveled to the far north of Israel, to the Golan Heights and looked eastward into Syria - a land ravaged by civil war for the past two years. Our Israeli guide told us the history of the Golan Heights and how Israel captured the land in 1967 and then re-captured it in the 6-day war of 1973.
Just as we were standing at the outpost/bunker of Israel gazing into Syria (at 10am on Monday, April 8) there was a countrywide (in Israel) 2-minute silence to commemorate the Holocaust. So there I was, a New York Jew with my new Israeli friend, bowing our heads together and vowing to:
ALWAYS remember...
NEVER be complacent when such crimes occur...
ALWAYS stand up for those who are being persecuted.
It is our calling as Jews to do these things, because of our history of being persecuted! Except that my Israeli friend seemed a bit complacent that a mere 30 miles from where we were standing a Syrian father, or mother, or child was killed yesterday. Perhaps it was a government soldier, or a "freedom fighter," or a civilian. PEOPLE were killed yesterday across that border, just as my people were exterminated 70 years ago.
Today was a new day in Israel for me. Perhaps Jesus wanted me to have that snapshot on the Sea of Galilee to remind me (and others) that the military outpost on the Golan Heights and the civil war in Syria ARE NOT THE FINAL WORD!
Jesus is the Final Word - and He is our Peace!
In a word, it was a pregnant moment of SHALOM. If a picture paints a thousand words normally this one painted a million for me today.
A day earlier we traveled to the far north of Israel, to the Golan Heights and looked eastward into Syria - a land ravaged by civil war for the past two years. Our Israeli guide told us the history of the Golan Heights and how Israel captured the land in 1967 and then re-captured it in the 6-day war of 1973.
Just as we were standing at the outpost/bunker of Israel gazing into Syria (at 10am on Monday, April 8) there was a countrywide (in Israel) 2-minute silence to commemorate the Holocaust. So there I was, a New York Jew with my new Israeli friend, bowing our heads together and vowing to:
ALWAYS remember...
NEVER be complacent when such crimes occur...
ALWAYS stand up for those who are being persecuted.
It is our calling as Jews to do these things, because of our history of being persecuted! Except that my Israeli friend seemed a bit complacent that a mere 30 miles from where we were standing a Syrian father, or mother, or child was killed yesterday. Perhaps it was a government soldier, or a "freedom fighter," or a civilian. PEOPLE were killed yesterday across that border, just as my people were exterminated 70 years ago.
Today was a new day in Israel for me. Perhaps Jesus wanted me to have that snapshot on the Sea of Galilee to remind me (and others) that the military outpost on the Golan Heights and the civil war in Syria ARE NOT THE FINAL WORD!
Jesus is the Final Word - and He is our Peace!
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