timbslim

March 30, 2007/Friday 3:36pm (Jerusalem) This is our last day. We went first to the Pool of Siloam. This is the one mentioned in John 9. This is where Jesus put the mud on the guys eyes to heal his blindness. From there we went to the Yad Vashem. It is the Jerusalem holocaust museum. That was a sad spot to visit. I have been there once before. It is so somber. Then, we went to the Shrine of the Book. This is where the Dead Sea Scrolls are kept. It is also where the model of the city of Jerusalem during the time of Jesus is. We went to this restaurant just a few blocks from our hotel. We ate some excellent food there. I also remembered something today while shopping that I totally forgot to put in my blog yesterday. Yesterday I wrote about the second best food I had eaten in the whole world. I don’t know how, but I forgot to tell you about the desert I ate. It was called Kada’if. Amazing! It will sound gross when I describe it. But, let me make it for you first. It ...

March 29, 2007/Thursday 9:32pm (Jerusalem) Today we traveled about an hour to the lowest natural point on the face of the earth. It is about 1600 feet below sea level. It is the Dead Sea. It is located in the wilderness, or the desert. It is called the Judean Wilderness. One of the greatest parts of that area is Massada. Massada is a very large piece of rock that is similar to a mesa. It is a mountain with a flat top, like a table. It is about 1700 feet tall. I hiked up the side of it today. It was a cool experience. I only had one problem; I couldn’t breathe. Now before you make fun of me, remember that I hiked The Grand Canyon. This time I simply ate a Payday before I started. It made me nauseated. But, I managed. I was hoofing it up that thing. It was a God thing that I hiked up Massada. Everyone else in the group rode the cable car. I met a guy about halfway up named Jeff. We had a good time hiking together for the remainder of the trip. Massada is a place that...

March 28, 2007/Wednesday 5:24pm (Jerusalem) We visited the old city today. I found a couple of art dealerships the in the Jewish Quarters. Pray for me! That is my weakness. I saw some beautiful stuff. I plan to go back one day this week. Maybe I shouldn’t. it is a temptation to buy something. So far I have bought nothing. I know; it’s comparable to the virgin birth. It’s a miracle. Well technically, I guess that isn’t completely true. I did buy some wine from the Golan Heights region. So, I lied. There is way too much to tell you about. We saw a lot. We saw most of the Old City. Yesterday I saw two guys from Huntsville. Their names were Brent Norton and Brian Jones. They went to Madison Academy. Brent knows who Jason Espey is. Isn’t that crazy. He said Jason might not know him. Jason is a baller. Even people in Jerusalem know him. The people with whom I am traveling shop like there is no tomorrow. We don’t pass up a store. We will have to charter a plane to g...

March 27, 2007/Tuesday 6:13am (Jerusalem) It is cold here today. I am not sure what the temperature is. I just know that it is cold. Today we started off at the rabbinical tunnels. These are the tunnels that run beneath the Western Wall. We also visited the Western Wall. This is sometimes called the Wailing Wall. But, this is offensive to Jews. We saw stones from Solomon’s Temple and The Herodian Temple. We also visited the Dome of the Rock. This is the most recognizable thing in Jerusalem. It is what you usually see when the news is showing stuff from Jerusalem. It is the large gold dome on top of Mt Moriah. From there we went to Bethlehem, which is in the West Bank. You might realize that the West Bank is the Palestinian Territory. There is a 28-foot high concrete border that covers that entire territory. It might be the size of Madison County or larger. I am not sure. We went to the stable and the shepherd’s fields also. We ended the day at The Garden Tomb and Go...

March 26, 2007/Monday 11:37pm (Jerusalem) We left Tiberias this morning. We stopped up on top of Mt. Arbel that is just above The Valley of the Doves. This is the valley that was the major thoroughfare into the Galilee area. This was the path that Jesus would have used. We stood up on Mt. Arbel and looked off at the Sea of Galilee and the plains where all the crops are grown. We were around 1,200 feet above it. It was great. My dad read the passage about the prodigal son coming back home. We stood on top of the valley that he may have actually come through. We imagined the father being able to see him approach from way above. I thought how cool it must have been to know that he was accepted. We headed into Nazareth. It is a busy place. We stopped at Mary’s Well. This was the common town well in the day of Jesus. He would have drunk from this well. It is named after Mary only in recent history. Not this year but once before, I actually drank from this well. After Nazar...

March 25, 2007/Sunday 9:58pm EET (Tiberias) It was another full day. I am tired. I didn’t sleep much last night. We got up this morning at 6:00am. That is just simply ungodly. I hate getting up that early. I feel like I wake God up when I get up before 7:00am. We headed into the Golan Heights. It is the northeastern part of Israel. It is where Mt. Herman is. You can ski there. I wish I could have. The group that I am with isn’t much for skiing. It is also against the Syrian border. We stood at the border and looked at a UN encampment. UN stands for a waste of good tax dollars given to a group of people who don’t really do anything or enforce any agreements. I know that seems like a lot of words for two letters. It must be French, which stands for a country that exists for no apparent reason except to back out of every incident possible. Once again that is a long definition. Trust me I know several languages. This is correct. While in the Golan Heights, we went throu...

March 24, 2007/Saturday 12:11pm (Nearing the Israeli Border from Jordan) We stayed at the Holiday Inn Amman last night. It was very nice. It supposed to be the nicest hotel in Amman. The food was incredible. The food has been good the whole time. But, last night was the best. Amman has money. Many Iraqi’s have fled to here, at least the wealthy ones. Along with them, came their money. Our guide told us that since we started clamping down on money in the US that is connected to Al Qaeda, Jordan has had about a 30 Billion dollar growth. Places like Dubai have invested money here. This morning we went to Mt. Nebo where Moses and the over one million children of Israel stood and looked into the Promisedland. It is also above the valley where they last camped before moving into Jericho and taking the land. For further reading on this look at Deut. 34, Numb. 21:4-10. 9:10am I had a lamb kabob sandwich for lunch with mango juice to drink. Both were very good. I love lamb and ma...

March 23, 2007/Friday 2:24:pm EET (Petra, Jordan to Amman, Jordan) We still have a police escort. I just think that is cool. Personally, I would like to see a shoot out. But, no one else with us would be excited about that at all. I kind of like some real action. I slept well last night. We stayed in the coolest hotel. It was the Tayban Zamat. It is an Ottoman Village that has been remodeled to the tune of 6 million dollars. It has the look of an adobe type dwelling. There are several sections to it. It is laid out along the mountainside. Today, we went to Petra. If you have seen the movie, Indian Jones, Search for the Holy Grail, then you have seen some of what we saw today. Petra is a city that was carved out of valley of sandstone mountains in Jordan. It is truly amazing. It is one of the most unbelievable things I have ever seen. People are pushing for it to become one of the new wonders of the world. When you get to Petra, you walk about a mile down through an an...

March 22, 2007/Thursday 6:34am EET (On the road from Cairo to the Red Sea) Well, we woke up God this morning. We got up at 5:00am. We are headed to the Red Sea via the Sinai Desert. Basically, we are tracing the footsteps of the children of Israel as they made their Exodus. We have about a five hour drive across the desert. Then we take a hydrofoil boat ride across the Red Sea into Aqaba, Jordan. I would like to attempt to describe the traffic and atmosphere in Cairo. To help with this I will use the words of our guide, Hany. He said, “There are no traffic laws in Egypt.” He didn’t have to tell me that. I got that one on my own. The general rule in traffic is that there isn’t a rule. They have lines on the road. I am not sure why. Maybe they are there to prove that they have a traffic department in this country. I can think of no other reason. All vehicles are welcome on the road, even wheel chairs. You can actually make better time in a wheel chair. You can move in an...

March 21, 2007/Wednesday 11:40am EET We visited the Pyramids today. They were quite magnificent. The largest one is about 450 feet tall. This Pyramid was built as a tomb for King Ceopis. There are 9 Pyramids at that particular location. The largest one has 2.3 million stones that weigh about 2.5 tons each. They were actually cut so that they can be placed very close together. There is 1/50 of an inch between each of them. There isn’t enough room to get a razor between them. We also saw the Sphinx. Gas in Egypt is .20 per liters. This is approximately .60 per gallon, not bad. 6:06pm EET We just visited the main museum in Cairo. It is the one that contains King Tutankanhum’s treasures. King Tutankanhum’s tomb was actually found in the area of Luxor where the Valley of Kings is. All of the contents of that tomb are here at the museum. I saw more gold in one place than I have ever seen at one time or in my life total. I saw more detailed jewelry and art than I have see in ...

March 19, 2007/Monday Day One Well, I am sitting in the Atlanta Airport waiting to board. March 20, 2007/Tuesday 5:52am CST/11:52am EET We are approaching Cairo. Yesterday, we flew from Atlanta to Frankfurt, Germany. We are flying Lufthansa Airlines. I have flown them before. I had forgotten how much I liked them. Everything is free, even the wine. They are incredibly friendly. We should be getting into Cairo, Egypt shortly. We are now being issued our declaration papers. This is where we declare what we are bringing into the country. It is cool to travel across time zones. Today is my birthday. Don’t worry, just because I am not there doesn’t mean you can’t treat me with gifts and meals when I return. I wouldn’t deprive you of that pleasure. Anyway, I got to reach my birthday earlier. We caught up with the 20th. I have to tell you about my experience with the person who sat across the aisle from me. Dave is sitting in the window seat next to me, on both flights. Fro...