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Today was all about the footsteps of Jesus. We left our hotel at 7:30 this morning and went to the Mount of Olives. This was moving for me. While there are many sites that are in doubt, there is no doubt about the Mount of Olives. It is still covered with Olive Trees (it was a grove in Jesus’ time), some that are still being harvested. Jesus spent a lot of time here. When he visited Jerusalem, Luke tells us that he would spend the days in the city and then retreat to this pla

Today was our first day in Jerusalem.  There is so much to see here that we know we won’t get it all in. I’ve already learned so much that I can’t catalog it all in my brain just yet. I thought I was pretty familiar with the city and the country without having been here. But I now realize how little I knew.Our guide wisely started us off at the Jerusalem Museum of Antiquities where they have an outdoor 50:1 scale model of the city as it was in 66AD, before the Jewish revolt w

It’s only when you’re small, that you can be big.Jesus taught that. And it was a theme in the things we saw today.We started off visiting the Ein Harod springs,  where Gideon thinned his army from 10,000 fighting men to a mere 300, before miraculously defeating the Midianites. You remember the story of how God told Gideon to have the men drink from the stream of water, and only those who drank from their cupped hands would be chosen? It happened right here.From there we trave

It’s only our second day touring Israel and we already feel like we are drinking from a fire hydrant. Today we worshipped in a church atop Mount Carmel, explored the 3,500 year old ruins of the ancient city, Megiddo, and visited the hometown of Mary Magdalene, where we also saw a first century synagogue that Jesus most likely attended and even ministered in.Magdala, the birthplace of Mary Magdalene (“of Magdala”) is an ongoing archeological dig that was discovered only a few

Today was one of the most interesting days of my life. And the fulfillment of a life-long dream.This was the first touring day for those of us on The Bridge Experience Israel group. And what a way to start.We took a boat across the Sea of Galilee, explored Capernaum, visited the area where Jesus delivered his famous Sermon on the Mount, and I baptized dozens of people very near where John the Baptist baptized Jesus in the Jordan River. In fact, just for the experience, and th

There is a hysteria level of concern over the world threat of Ebola. Here in America, it is dominating the press, broadcast and cable TV news, as well as radio, newspaper and web based outlets.How bad of a threat is it?Really bad if you live in East Africa. The first known case was discovered in 1976, but the most recent outbreak has taken thousands of lives in places like Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone, just this year. And it is showing no signs of slowing. In fact, it is

Linda and I sat in our living room this morning praying together. We were asking the Lord for good weather next Sunday for the Chicago Marathon and his help and guidance with our upcoming trip to Israel, among a few other personal concerns.Then we began to pray for our brothers and sisters in Kobani, Syria, the Kurdish city just captured by Isis whose Christian population are in serious threat of mass killings and torture. We prayed also for little girls in third world countr

I haven’t read Psalm 119 in a while. And when I have, I don’t think I’ve read it carefully enough. If you’ve been following our church reading plan, we just went through Psalm 119, but we did it section by section, breaking it up. I think it’s the first time I’ve “thought” my way through reading it. A couple of days ago I read v. 131 in the New Living Translation. And a wonderful picture came to my mind. "I pant with expectation, longing for your commands.” – Psalm 119:131 If

I didn’t feel like it. It was one of those restless nights I didn’t sleep well. But my alarm went off at 6a this morning to get up and go running. After all, I’m in the late stages of Marathon training so every run is crucial. But I was dead tired. It was still dark outside. My legs were sore. I didn’t feel like it. I ran anyway. For some reason, I skipped breakfast. Normally, a small bowl of oatmeal gets me through a good workout, but I skipped it this morning. My schedule t

There’s nothing like being around an opinionated person. And I’ll have to admit, I was one of those people. And there are times that I catch myself still. Being opinionated is to be stubbornly stuck on an opinion that is not necessarily based on a proven ideal. It’s being dogmatic about things that are matters of judgement. And that’s why opinionated people are also often judgmental of those who do not hold their opinions.As I said, I used to be that way. Are you?Few of us wi

The viral ice bucket challenge is starting to wane. I’m wondering if that’s only because there are few people left who have not either been doused with ice water or have donated to ALS research.And then there have been the cynics. While I think it’s been one of the most positive things that happened in our country this summer, the blogosphere was also filled with detractors who found all kinds of reasons to criticize either those who participated, or the mechanisms of ALS res

Last Thursday evening I sat and watched my beloved Packers get overpowered by last year’s world champion Seattle Seahawks. I knew it would be a tough game, but I thought Aaron Rodgers and company would at least give a good showing.Nothin' doing. They were annihilated.And I sat there with a pit in my stomach and nerves on edge. I was sad and angry.And then I thought, “Why does this bother me? Why does it even matter?” I mean, this is a bunch of grown-up kids all dressed in cos