For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother. Matthew 12:50
I had the blessed privilege of visiting Israel from December 28 to January 7 as we welcomed the new year. I served 27 students from colleges and universities around the United States, Canada, and South Africa on their first visit to the Holy Land.
Our visit to Israel was before the recent ceasefire between Hamas and Israel, so the country was still at war during our stay.
This was my third time to visit Israel. I could sense that something was different in my walk through the airport. As we walked toward customs and baggage claim, we saw photos of Israel’s hostages one after another.
No one visits Israel without facing the gravity of the hostage situation. (I am glad that some hostages have been released as a result of the ceasefire deal, but there are still hostages held in captivity.)
At the Garden Tomb before administering communion to the Passages students
We started our journey in the north of Israel in Nazareth and the Galilee region. On the Mount of Beatitudes, I delivered a sermon about
Sea of Galilee boat ride, after the storm let up
the last words of Yeshua’s Sermon on the Mount. While I talked about the rains that beat and fell on the houses of the wise and foolish men, rain poured down so forcefully around us that I had to yell so the students could hear me.
Our next planned stop was a Sea of Galilee boat ride where I had planned to give a devotional on Jesus calming the storm. On our way down the mountain, the storm let up. It was as if the Lord gave us an illustrated message.
After a few days in the Galilee, we journeyed up to Jerusalem (even though Jerusalem is south of the Galilee area, you always travel up to Jerusalem because it sits higher than the lands around it). One night, around 4:00 a.m., rocket sirens sounded in Jerusalem. We heard that extremist groups in Yemen fired missiles toward the area (Israel’s iron dome defense system successfully intercepts thousands of missiles and rockets, yet shrapnel can still cause serious injury or death.) I never heard the sirens; I slept right through them.
One day on our journey, we traveled south near the Gaza border to visit a kibbutz that was attacked on October 7, 2023 (a kibbutz is a community in Israel where residents share income, work together, and live in a mutually supportive environment; kibbutz is Hebrew for “gathering”). The scene was sobering. We heard the heartbreaking story of a gentleman who lives in the kibbutz.
This photo was taken in the kibbutz we visited.
As we walked around surveying the damage in the area and listening to the tragedies they experienced on that harrowing day, we saw a Gazan city just about a mile away from where we stood. We heard two explosions and saw smoke rise. It really brought home that people on the other side of the border were also suffering the terrible effects of war.
Later that day, we visited the Nova Music Festival site where terrorists slaughtered hundreds of people. We saw pictures and read the stories of people who lost their lives that day. It was a very weighty place.
When you love someone, you show up when they’re going through a rough time.
I went to the Mahane Yehuda (Yehuda Market) in Jerusalem that night. I entered a shop to buy spices, and the clerk asked where I was from. I told him. And then I told him where we went that day. “I was at the Nova festival that day,” he said through teary eyes. “Thank you. Thank you for coming here.”
Mahane Yehuda, Jerusalem
This story sums up the tone of the trip in many ways. The Israelis we met in every part of the country were grateful that we would visit their country during the war. They didn’t just say “thank you,” you could feel the depth of gratitude
The Nova music festival site. The metal poppies honor those who tragically lost their lives on October 7, 2023.
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To one perplexed person I met who couldn’t understand why I would “risk” going at such a time, I said, “When you love someone, you show up when they’re going through a rough time.”
Let’s keep showing up for Israel in prayer. Remember the hostages and remain compassionate for the Palestinian people. Jesus came for all.
