Day 5-Beit She'an, Bethlehem, Jerusalem

Beit She'an was quite interesting--but it rained in bucketfuls then would let up the entire time we were there. Standing on the old Roman roads, we could cast our eyes up to the Tel where the Canaanite Beit She'an once stood. It was on those walls that the bodies of Saul and Jonathan were hung until the people of Jebesh (there's more to the name, but I've forgotten it) took them down and brought them to David for proper burial.

Then on the Bethlehem. To get there, we passed through Jericho, where we'll be going tomorrow, and through Jerusalem.

What a thrilling moment when we first saw the Holy City! That was the first of my crying moments.

To get to Bethlehem, we had to pass through a checkpoint. The town and its surrounding area is surrounded by a huge concrete wall keeping Palestinian Muslims and Christians out of Israel-Jerusalem specifically. An uzi-toting guard boarded the bus to check our passports as we left. That was seriously intimidating!

Once in this little town, where houses are stacked one upon another up and down the steep hills, we went to the Shepherd's field (a more accurate term would be one of the shepherd's cliffs) where we entered one on the hundreds of caves that pock the area, heard the Word, and sang "Oh Little Town of Bethlehem." Upstairs in the domed church, we sang again..this time "Angels We Have Heard on High." The dome lifted our voices to the heavens!

The Church of the Nativity was astonishing in and of itself. As we stood in the hour-long line in the side of the church, a funeral service commenced in that Greek Orthodox church. The surreal echoes of mourning and priests' chants cast a proper sense of decorum and almost silenced the chatter of waiting tourists.
Once down in the cave below, I put my hand on the star marking the spot where our Savior was born and on the manger in which He lay. (and have pictures to prove it if only I knew how to download them to this site.) The cave was huge, and, we were told, probably housed many families returning to Bethlehem for the census.

We finally returned to Jerusalem, a 5-minute bus ride from Bethlehem. Passing the walls of the Old City, I felt like the Jews who cry out each year: "Lest I forget you, oh Jerusalem."

Each day brings me closer to my Lord. Each day brings us closer to His final walk. And to think, we are doing all of this during the Lenten season! Most people give something up for Lent..I've given up for these 10 days being daily with the love of my life, my best friend, my only support. But what the Lord is giving me in return can't even begin to be measured. I am even yet being changed in spirit, and I am so very grateful!

Tomorrow--Jericho, Quimran, and, if the rain will only let up, the Upper Room & Garden of Gethsemane. I'm walking today where Jesus walked!