Galilee

The last two or three days in Israel have been full of peaks and valleys for me. First of all, I apologize if I sound like a whiny little girl in this post at times. I'm guessing that I will, because coming to Israel has been harder on me than I could ever have imagined.

Looking back, I planned this trip with a complete disregard for how it would feel like to so isolated from my friends and family. When I realized that if I wanted to come to Israel this summer, I would have to come alone, my desire to come to Israel told me that it wouldn't be a big deal.

It is definitely a big deal.

If being here has taught me anything so far, it’s that the people I care about are more important to me than anything else. I understood the full extent of this, looking at the sun rising over the Golan Heights onto the Sea of Galilee. It was breathtakingly beautiful and all I could think about was, “I wish I had someone I loved here to experience this with me, I wish my mom and my family and my friends could see this with me, I wish they were here to talk with and share in this with me.”
Don’t get me wrong. Camping on the shores of the Galilee was a cool experience. Walking where Jesus walked, seeing the Jordan and the Galilee and the ruins of houses and synagogues is a very cool experience, but they still felt empty to me.

I believe that I will work through most of this loneliness, but what I have realized is that it without people I love, nothing is worth anything to me. I was sitting in Capernaum, where Jesus lived and taught for a time, looking at a body of water that Jesus walked on, and I would have given almost anything to be at home, hanging out with my family.

The feelings that I have are almost certainly due in part to the newness of being a stranger in a strange land, but I think there is more to it than that. I thought that I could lone ranger it in Israel for over a month without any problem, mostly because I thought my passion for Israel would be enough to compensate for being alone, but it’s not. I know, now more than ever, that I can’t be who God is calling me to be, without community.

But, in spite of all this, I have had a wonderful day. I am back in Tel Aviv, stocking groceries in a store and talking with Amir and Regev and their friends. I’ll probably go to Jerusalem tomorrow, but right now it’s just good to be hanging out with Israeli’s. Who would have thought that I would enjoy that more than seeing all the sites in Galilee?

Anyway, it looks like the next stop will be Jerusalem. I am looking forward to seeing the sites there. Next we might go with Regev to see Masada and the Dead Sea.

Thanks again to my family and my friends for your thoughts and prayers. I miss you all and I appreciate our friendship.

--Brett