Last Field Trip

So today we got on the bus for the last time as a big group. We headed over to Samaria and made our first stop at Mount Gerizim and overlooked modern day Shechem. We overlooked the area and then headed down to a museum about the Samaritans. One of the priests talked to us for a bit about the Samaritan people and many of their traditions and beliefs. Then he proceeded to tell us about how the Smaritans use facebook, which we pretty comical if I do say so myself. Then we went over to Shiloh and spent some time looking around at the place where the Tabernacle would have been. This is the town Samuel lived in for a good part of his life. I got to talking with another woman about the Tabernacle and how it was essentially a movable temple, before the real temple could be built in Jerusalem. This is where God dwelt among His people. It's interesting to follow the idea of the temple throughout the bible. It starts as the Tabernacle, then eventually a real temple is built in Jerusalem, but then when Jesus comes He dwells among us (as it says in John 1) and esentially is the temple Himself, God dwelling with His people. Then, with the Holy Spirit in us, we become temple to God ourselves! It's so awesome to see this run throughout the entire Bible. Our God clearly is a personal God who desires to be with His people.

After this, a few of us went to Yad Vashem, the Holocaust Museum here in Jerusalem. I cannot even begin to tell you how intense this was and how much was going through my mind but I will leave you with this: after seeing something like this, one cannot have any argument that there is not evil in the world. Our world is broken, with people killing other people and filling hearts with hatred. Praise God for those that made it through and for those that took a stand against it. As Christians, we are called to speak for those who cannot speak for themselves. We need to know what's going on in the world so that somehting this horrific NEVER happens again. The God we serve weeps for these people, for the hatred that occurs in our world, for the injustice that occurs everyday. May His kingdom come, on Earth as it is in Heaven.

On a happier note, we ended the day with a beautiful time of worship in the garden at JUC. It was awesome to just stand here with people I have gotten to know and simply be before the Lord, worshipping as we are called to worship, with no shame or distractions. It was so pure and so wonderful, just to be there before God, as if I were completely alone, simply in His presence. These people are so wonderful and I feel like I have made so good friends here, I shall surely be sad to leave them.