By Chris Meyer
I did not know how much I needed to go to Israel until I stood on the Mount of Olives and looked out at the walled Old City of Jerusalem. In some ways, this land felt quite foreign to this Californian, despite familiar landscape and climate.
Placing my prayer into a niche in the Wailing Wall.
At the same time it was like had come to my spiritual home. I have heard about these places my entire life — remember, Jesus wept for Jerusalem on the Mount of Olives — and the people were so warm and welcoming. It is a life-changing experience I want you to have, too. And it is a mission of my travel business to help you.
THE FOOTSTEPS OF JESUS
“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called God’s children” are words that reverberate over 2,000 years in challenge and truth. Stand on the peaceful Mount of the Beatitudes and look over the beautiful Sea of Galilee. Picture Jesus launching his ministry with revolutionary ideas of love and forgiveness.
A fresco depicting the Sermon on the Mount at the Church of the Beatitudes, built where the famous teaching is thought to have occurred
A boat found nearby and dated to the first century evokes images of Andrew and Peter at work when they heard, “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.” Gaze at the wonderful, historic and broken Old City from the Mount of Olives and ponder Jesus’ weeping over his beloved Jerusalem. Contemplate the agony of the Crucifixion in the Church of the Holy Sepulcher. Then look up through the skylight dome and reflect on the wonder of the Resurrection.
The power of place amplifies the message and stirs the soul. You feel at the center of history because you are. And it is more accessible than you might think.
HOW TO DO IT
Until January 2014, I had a distant notion of going to Israel…someday. Then I received an invitation from the nation’s Ministry of Tourism to join a travel trade show and tour — in three weeks. Now it was urgent. This was an offer I could not pass up.
Overlooking the Old (forward) and new Jerusalem from the Mount of Oilves.
Upon return, I’m telling everyone with that “someday” notion I once had, that they should move Israel up on the urgency scale. Certainly not to three weeks like me, but this place is too magnificent to put off indefinitely.
At my Expedia travel center, we have the connections and clout to arrange a first-rate, cost-effective journey anywhere on Earth — from a relaxing cruise to an intense pilgrimage. I already worked with the major tour companies with great Holy Land itineraries.
A visit to Israel is like going through an ancient passage to another time, place and consciousness.
Now I have scouted exactly where you should go and got to know excellent operators and guides who can sculpt a custom trip to fulfill your exact dreams. Do you want to go as a family? With friends from your church? Would you like to stay in a kibbutz? Walk the 40-mile Jesus trail? Visit Nazareth Village, the re-creation of the place Jesus grew up? Be baptized in the Jordan River? The possibilities are broad, deep and inspiring.
My foggy “someday” was punctuated with “when things settle down over there.” Now I have two key thoughts about that:
1. Things will never settle down over there. If the Bible doesn’t detail enough history of war and conquest, the last 2,000 years piles on more evidence of the Holy Land – and the rest of this broken world – not ever really settling down.
2. But is it safe? I never felt anything but. Millions visit each year without incident each year.
THE PROMISED LAND OF CONTRASTS
Contrasts are everywhere in this land. Death and renewal. Pain and hope. Crucifixion and Resurrection. Good and evil. You stand upon 4,000 years of history, with archaeological digs and new finds seemingly around every corner, and you feel like you are at the center of God’s creation of beauty and complexity.
This Tel Aviv museum is symbolic of Israel, a modern nation built on a historic foundation.
Of course, you can feel God’s presence anywhere. In meditation on Scripture. In green pastures and beside still waters. As you hold your grandchild for the first time.
Still, there is something uniquely powerful about approaching the Western (or Wailing) Wall, the only remaining vestige of the Great Temple. Walking the Via Dolorosa (Way of Grief) emotionally provides perspective to Jesus’ torturous path to crucifixion. Baptisms in the Jordan River connect you to another place and time while following a 2,000-year-old practice.
The Church of the Holy Sepulcher is built on a hill believed to be the site of Jesus’ Crucifixion.
Yad Vashem, Israel’s Holocaust museum takes you through a dark tunnel tracing how 2,000 years later a “modern” nation outdid the crucifying Romans in depravity with the mass murder of innocents. It climaxes in a rotunda designed to help you comprehend the enormity of 6 million victims.
Like everything in the Promised Land, hope mingles with sadness. The rotunda’s skylight looks heavenward and you emerge to view a reborn and thriving Jerusalem under this verse from Ezekiel: “I will put my spirit in you and you will live, and I will settle you in your own land.” Trees are planted in honor of “The Righteous Among the Nations,” gentiles who risked, and in some cases gave, their lives to save Jews during the Holocaust. An exhibit titled “I Am My Brother’s Keeper” displays pictures of their reunions, offering heartwarming displays of good on the backdrop of evil. It is a powerful place to ponder our God-given role as forces for good.
Yad Vashem: Glimmers of good on a dark backdrop of evil.
As I rode this spiritual and emotional roller coaster, I was drawn to this land and its people, past and present, as if it is my spiritual homeland. I need to return and peel some more layers of this wonderful onion and find truth in its colors, contrasts and complexities. In so doing, my soul is enriched and my walk strengthened.
And I need to help make it possible for you to experience this amazing place.
LET’S TO START PLANNING YOUR PIGRIMMAGE
As a full-service travel agency with Expedia Prices and Concierge Service, we can make your travel more enriching, more enjoyable and more economical. And we promise to abide by the Golden Rule in all of our dealings. We want to demonstrate excellent value and caring customer service so that you will continue to entrust us with your travel dreams and refer your family and friends.
Let us help you make the most of your family vacation, romantic getaway or spiritual pilgrimage.
How you experience Israel makes all the difference. Enthusiastic, engaging and well-trained Igal Zeevi brought 4,000 years of history to life.
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Call: (800) 745-4015
Click: cmeyer@ocglobetrotter.com
Blog: octravelblog.com
Come in: 24321 Avenida de la Carlota, Suite H-3
Laguna Hills, CA 92630