Ruminations on Israel: DREAM/DREAMS

Posted by Lisa Laree to Beer Lahai Roi

So, the word I drew on our second day in Israel was the obvious one...Dream/Dreams.  That was the obvious word, since I wanted to go and, well, find the creative and the dreams that I kind of lost somewhere...if I even acknowledged them to begin with.

We spent most of the day in Galilee...where Jesus spent most of his ministry time.  First, it was the mount of Beatitudes.   Now, how someone figured out it was THIS hillside instead of any of the other hillsides in the area, I have no idea.  There's a church at the top of the hill, with lots of flowers and commemorative stones and such around it.  It was really pretty...and we found a little group of benches; our guide, Tisha, pointed at the downslope just past the wrought iron fence and said that that was likely where Jesus addressed the crowds.  Rita talked to us about seasons.  'Winter is over,' she said, 'The season is changing.'  I really hadn't considered myself in winter, but I HAD used the words 'dry' and 'desert' to describe various aspects of ...well, lots of things.  We were given some time to process the area...walk around, journal, pray, whatever.  Everyone wandered off,  but I just moved back a bit behind a tree, slap up against the fence.   I parked myself as close as I could get to that spot and just...soaked.

The tent-like structures are covering banana plants, but I could imagine Jesus sitting under the tree, talking to the folks around him.  I thought about the Beatitudes...'Blessed/ happy is the one who....'  and wrote Blessed is the dreamer, for he will see what is hidden and not seen by others.  So...maybe I won't give up on dreaming...

Next stop...Capernaum.  Where Jesus lived during his ministry years, after he left Nazareth.  There were excavations down to the remains of buildings from the first century...ie, when Jesus was hanging in the area.  There's some of a house that's reputed to be Peter's...there's a church that's suspended above it.  Was it Peter's?  I don't know...but it was from the right time, so whoever lived there had to have known Jesus.

From there, we went to a museum that had one item on display...a fishing boat from the first century.  Or at least, what was left of it.  It had been covered with mud at the bottom of the Sea of Galilee until a number of years ago when a really bad drought dropped the level of water in the Sea to really, really low levels and exposed the floor.  We watched a video about the two brothers who found the boat...and one of them said, 'I had a dream that the Sea of Galilee would give us a treasure.'

So, I pulled out the disposable camera and actually turned on the flash, believe it or not.  But, well, it is what it is and this is the picture of the treasure that was the dream that came:

The metal frame is what is holding the boat together...after it was infused with some kind of glue/resin stuff to stop the wood from deteriorating.  Y'all...that's an ITTY BITTY BOAT.  It wouldn't take much of a storm to throw it around. Just sayin'

But...the last stop of the day was away from the sea, up in the mountain.  We went to Safed, to a home that serves underprivileged kids.  More of a care point than anything else, there were house parents who provide a place for the kids to come after school, do their homework, and basically be safe until their parents can get off work.  There are a number of these care points around Israel, and the ministry that organized our trip, Together for Israel, has adopted the care point we went to.  They took a summer outfit for each of the kids there, a bag of toys, and took the opportunity to dedicate a playground that had just recently been completed there for the kids.  They have undertaken to put a playground at every one of the care houses in the country...something like 56, if I remember right.  I think this one was number...4?  They fed us snacks, and the kids performed for us; the girls did a very athletic dance and the boys juggled sticks. Pretty amazing stuff.  Of course, we played with with the kids and their new volleyball set (there were way more of us in the tour group than the kids at the house, who looked to range in age from about 7 to about 11 or maybe 12), and God TV had a film crew there documenting what was going on.  It was cool, but the kids were amazing.  The house parents spoke a teeny bit of English (mostly, 'Welcome!' and 'Come, eat!') and the kids spoke none at all, so it was a very interesting afternoon.  One of the boys cried when we left...and there were more than a few teary eyes on the bus.

What a dream....to help kids who are God's very own heart.

initiating the volleyball net 
This area is almost all the play/yard available to the kids at the house.

Dreams may be more about other people than me.  Maybe I need to just get over myself and quit worrying about finding it.  Maybe the dream manifests in something that nobody will even connect with me.

And...that's gotta be ok....

Ruminations on Israel: KEYS

Posted by Lisa Laree to Beer Lahai Roi

The pictures have been retrieved from the disposable camera and I have put them into my trip journal; I'm going to need to print a few of the ones I took with other devices because there were a couple of days/places that I was just so absorbed in the location that I *forgot* to pull out the disposable for my designated pictures.

So, here was the deal: we were told about a week before we left that we were going to be provided a journal for the trip, and we were to get 'a word for the day' for each day and then see what God would say/show us regarding that word...and the disposable camera was specifically to take pictures regarding that word on each day.

So I started, well, paying attention.  And it was interesting...over the course of the next few days, I would either be speaking to someone or thinking about something and one of the words would kind of echo in my head.  So I just wrote those words down on 3x 5 cards...and I had 7 words before we left.  My plan was to randomly draw a word for each day.

When I got the journal, I discovered that Rita had included pages for the travel time as well; I didn't have words for those days, lol!  So my 'word' discussion actually starts on the first day we were touring/ traveling in Israel...Saturday May 25th.  And the word I drew for Saturday was 'Keys'.

Now, I remembered why 'Keys' was one of the words.  I had a moment when I realized I would not need to take ANY keys with me for the trip...not car keys, not house keys, not work keys...my luggage didn't require keys so...no keys.  To my surprise, the idea of not having keys left me feeling odd; maybe even slightly vulnerable.  Interesting.  So it went on a 3x5.  And we had a fair amount of bus travel time for me to ponder keys as we traveled from Tel Aviv to Tiberias, catching a couple of sites on the way.

Keys represent security...control...authority...access.  I wrote "...maybe 'keys' isn't a word about locking/unlocking but about what makes me feel safe, secure and prepared."

I read somewhat from the Psalms of Ascent as we were traveling about heading ultimately to Jerusalem, and this was from the day's reading in Ps. 121:

The LORD will keep you from all evil, he will keep your life. The LORD will keep your going out and your coming in from this time forth and forever more.

Y'all...as I read that it hit me: GOD HOLDS ALL MY KEYS.

But as the day progressed...I discovered that 'key' has its own additional meaning.

The first site we visited was Caesarea Maritime, built by Herod, who built pretty impressive stuff.  There's an amphitheater there, with a fair amount of the structure remaining, that is still being used today; in fact, they were setting up for a concert while we toured the area.

  It was a port of some importance; and it was where Christianity first came to the Gentiles, when Peter came to Cornelius and preached the gospel to his friends and family.  It was there that Paul was held, first by Felix and then by Festus, and where he made his defense before King Agrippa, and from where he sailed on his journey to Rome for his trial before Caesar. Some of the mosiacs and the reflecting pool from the palace are still visible. Later that night, I wrote in my journal, 'Such a key place' purely by accident.

But the pic of the day came from our next stop...Mount Carmel...after an amazing meal at a restaurant owned by a Druze family (it was the Sabbath, after all, so no Jewish businesses were open).  We were the only folks there, but they had a spread.  The father introduced himself to us, saying 'My family is very happy to serve you dinner.  Please, come, eat!'  It was kinda like a church potluck in arrangement but it was very good.  I'm not terribly fond of falafel, but politely took some when it was urged on me and found that it was much, much better than the falafel I have eaten in Alabama...go figure, lol!

I thought we would have to hike up to the top, but the parking lot is right up by the summit; all we had to do was walk to the building there and climb the stairs to the observation platform.    I was not the only person there from our church; the pastors (husband/wife team) from one of our campuses also came, and I stood next to them overlooking the vast valley of Meggido (aka Armegeddon) and he commented, 'This is such a key location'.

I felt like Groucho Marx when someone said the secret word and immediately took a picture.

My sense of direction got a little skewed, but I'm pretty sure this is looking east...maybe a pinch southeast. 

And it hit me...keys are not only locking/ unlocking but also can also mean 'strategic'...well-planned, well-placed, in the right place at the right time, present at the moment of need.  And I realized that Elijah, in calling down the fire that day,  prayed,  "O LORD, God of Abraham, Isaac and Israel, let it be known today that I am your servant and have done all these things at your command.  Answer me, O LORD, answer me, so these people will know that you, O LORD, are God, and that you are turning their hearts back again."  (1 Kings 18:36b -37).

In other words, there was a strategy at work here.  God had a plan. Once again...God has the key...planned and executed at HIS word, in His time.

As I recorded all this that night, I thought...this is going to be great.

A little Old Skool

Posted by Lisa Laree to Beer Lahai Roi

A little glimpse into what I'm planning for the next few weeks...


Of course, I'm going to be talking about Israel.  I still have a lot of personal processing to do, so some of it is going to be blog material.

Rita sent us some instructions a few days before we left; we were told we would each be given a disposable camera, so we are kinda forced to take photos that are unfiltered and raw and...well, a mystery for a bit.

She also told us we were to come up with one word for each day, and then see what God would show us about that word, and we were to use the disposable camera to take pictures of anything that was related to the word.

So I came up with 7 words over the next few days, wrote each on a 3 x 5 card, and, when in Israel, drew a card to see what the day's word would be.

I have some really interesting stuff, and some that I haven't had time to chase down yet.  I decided to wait until I saw what the pictures actually were to start chasing.

I dropped the camera off at the local Walmart last night.   Went back to the photo section, which had posted hours of being open from 9 - 9.  There was, of course, no one in sight.  I wandered around a bit, trying to find an envelope or something to put the camera in.  Eventually, a staff person walked by and looked at me.  'I need to get some pictures developed!' I said.  She walked around behind the counter and pulled an envelope out of a pocket. 'Oh, great!' I said, 'I knew there had to be something like that around!'  I started filling out the contact info section, and she set the after hours drop box in front of me and walked off.

I honestly don't think she said a single word.

I sealed up the camera and dropped it into the box.  All the obvious signage seemed to indicate it would be ready in 24 hours, so I stopped by again on my way home from work. Again, no one was there, but this time I found the 'press button for service' and gave it a shove.

A different clerk wandered over, I told her I had dropped some pictures off for developing last night.  'What size?' she asked.  Well...it was a camera...'Name?' she asked.  I told her my name and she opened the file and flipped through a couple of index cards, then stopped.  'You dropped it off last night?' She asked.  Yes, I did.  'You put it in the after hours box?' She pointed to the box that had been set before me last night. Yes, I did.  'Oh, that's going to be next week.'  I was disappointed...I thought the signs said 24 hours. 'No, we don't do that.' She said and walked off.

So.  I will have my pictures next week.

Sometime.

And I'll talk about the 7 words and the picture that goes with the word.

Except for the day I forgot to pull out the disposable; I may have to fudge it w/ one of the pics I took with my lil' ol' cannon.

But at least I will have something worth visiting for, I hope.. ;-)

Meantime, here's a pic I haven't posted on Facebook...

Sunrise in the Judean desert...5/28/19

Jet Lag is a Thing.

Posted by Lisa Laree to Beer Lahai Roi

The Eastern Gate from the Mount of Olives.  

I've been good during the day...but about 8:30 at night, boom, I hit a wall and can do nothing but crawl into bed, where I dream I'm still in Israel and wake up disoriented.

I assume this will go away soon and I'll be back to normal; likely wondering if it really happened, lol.

We had an amazing trip. Several folks have asked me what my favorite site was; I really can't answer that, although I can say that I learned the most at Masada.  (I looked it up on Wikipedia; the details there don't *quite* match up to what our very learned guide told us.)  I only had a vague notion of a battle there, and I thought it had to do with the Maccabees, so I was in the wrong historical period all together. 

I had a lot of incorrect assumptions about many things; seeing how it really is was...amazing.  The Sea of Galilee is much, much smaller than I had expected; the Dead Sea is much bigger, for all that is is evaporating at a rate of about 3 feet per year (plans are being made to bring in water from the Red Sea to stabilize the water levels).  The desert is rocky...and looks almost Martian.  Jerusalem's hills are very steep and the valleys are narrow.

I've been posting pictures in batches to my Facebook feed; putting notes on them as I go.  But I can only do short batches in the evening before the jet lag hits and I lose my ability to spell at all, along with my ability to compose a coherent sentence with all the words in it.

The travel itself...the flights in and out of New York, and the 11+ hour flights between New York and Tel Aviv...was a test of endurance.  I had long layovers in New York both coming and going, and the last one was especially rough because every time I sat down, I started to nod off to sleep.  I was afraid I'd fall sound asleep and miss my boarding call for the flight back to Nashville, so I spent a lot of time just walking around the terminal and telling myself I could sleep on the plane once we boarded.  But, once I finally got on board that last plane, I got afflicted with what my grandma called 'the heebie-jeebies' in my legs...the muscles were twitching and spasming in a very itchy and irritating way.  I had a window seat, which would have been good had I been able to lean against the cabin wall and snooze, but with my restless legs I was bordering on claustrophobia.  It was an exercise in self talk  "It's only 2 hours... it's only an hour and 45 minutes....it's only 90 minutes...' etc.

I was really glad to stand up when we got to Nashville.  I told My Sweet Baboo that if I go again with him...we are going to upgrade the seats! 

I have to admit, I am a terrible skeptic.  I know that there were unscrupulous folks in the  middle ages who took advantage of folks on pilgrimage to the Holy Land, selling them bogus relics.  I wondered if those same shysters had created semblances of holy sites, insisting that, for instance, that particular slope was where Jesus taught the Beatitudes.  But there's  no doubt that Jesus taught on the southern steps of the Temple, which have been excavated. And the Garden of Gethsemane is still there, with its 2,000 year-old olive trees that could tell us of Jesus's prayers, if they could talk.  Capernaum is excavated...and maybe the house identified as belonging to Peter didn't really belong to Peter, but it was there at the right time; someone lived in it who would have been known to Jesus.

And the caves where the Dead Sea Scrolls were found are there to be seen, having sheltered the incredible texts that prove that the Old Testament scripture we have today is fundamentally unchanged from the texts of Jesus' day.

 I have a lot of personal processing to do still; I came home Saturday night, pretty well zonked, and have just managed to do what I need to do in the daylight before getting zonked again, so the only processing I've done so far is to write the little blurbs for the Facebook posts.  

It was an amazing trip and I'm ever so glad I went.

Pondering the Creative

posted by Lisa Laree to Beer Lahai Roi

Late afternoon moon...not really pertinent to the subject, although  I could probably make some kind of roundabout connection if I had to.  Mostly  just to give Facebook a pic for the thumbnail, lol.  

With the trip to Israel...a trip designed for Creatives, at that, happening in a matter of days, I'm finding myself contemplating my creative activities.  If I am going on this fantastic trip to be creative...I should, well, be creating.

But, I'm sure the dearth of posts over here means it's probably no surprise to anyone that my creative is currently somewhere in the desert.  It's dry and not terribly productive.

So, my over-analytical self is trying to figure out what's going on.  Why am I  so dry?  What's going on here?

I've come up with a few theories...in no particular order....

1) I'm really not as creative as I'd like to think I am.  Of course, I don't want this to be the reason, but I have to face that it may be the truth.  On the scale of creative talent...I may be somewhere around a 5 or a 6, and there are plenty of 10's out there who are not getting the opportunity to put their talent to its fullest and best use; so why should I expect opportunities to fully engage my 5 or 6 level?  Maybe my creativity is meant for personal expression only...or, just enough to appreciate the real superior talent when I see it, so I can encourage the folks who really have the goods?

2) I am distracted by many things...using my creative time and energy for things that really aren't productive; hung up on pride and performance rather than the good thing.  Doing what gets affirmation rather than doing what would express those creative vibes. My job involves being very analytical and systems-minded; I get to do a LITTLE creative problem-solving, trying to think outside of the box, but mostly I'm about processes and procedures.  I've even been told I 'just don't understand the creative mindset'...which makes me think I have really subjugated my creative to the urgent and necessary. Folks don't expect me to be creative so...I'm not.

3) I'm afraid.  That number one might really be true...I'm just not that gifted.  And, as long as you don't venture out with creative things, no one will shoot down the dream.  Or maybe I'm afraid that the opposite is true...I really DO have a creative gifting, but to serve the gift I need to give up other things that I love and enjoy.  What if I needed to quit sewing in order to have time to write?  Sewing gets lots and lots of positive affirmation.  I sew for church...often heading up the sewing effort when there is something needed.  Would it be selfish to say, 'Oh, I really don't have time to do that anymore'...because I want to spend time writing something that, even if I were good at it, might not get past the computer?   Either way, it's a risk that I will get rejected, either because it's really not that good or because I'm in the wrong place at the wrong time and the people who have the yay or nay vote -- vote nay, just because it's not suitable for their plan.  And, in a nutshell...I'm afraid of rejection. Again.  It's a old sore wound. So...safer to just think about being creative, maybe?

4) There just isn't any demand on the anointing, so to speak.  Creative is like a hand pump...it's easier to be creative when the flow is already going.  If the pump loses its prime, it's hard to get it going again.  I put a demand on my own creative for a season, but then it hit a point where my demand wasn't enough...there needed to be an outlet for what I created.  And there wasn't.  So the pump quit pumping and it lost the prime.

I guess I'm really hoping the issue is number 4...that I just lost the ability to inspire myself to create for the sake of creating; even if number 1 is true, that level 5 - 6 creative needs some kind of expression.  So...hoping to re-prime the pump, so to speak, by being in the land of the Bible, with folks who definitely are in the 9 - 10 range of creative expression.   But other than that...I really have no personal agenda.  Just go and observe and absorb.

Spring Semester finished!

Posted by Lisa Laree to Beer Lahai Roi

Springtime sight: Dogwood blossoms against the new leaves on the Japanese Maple

 

Of the ten or so folks who started the Bible Study for Beginners class back in February, 3 were still there on the last class.  Which is about par for the course for these kinds of things.  It was a good first go at Wednesday nights studies...we were setting records for Wednesday night attendance...until we went to Daylight Savings Time and the days got warm, lol.   Plus, we had two weeks in which we didn't have classes...not back-to-back, but almost, due to other events on the church calendar.  It's funny how many folks didn't make it back after that breaky bit.

But I enjoyed the class; it's so refreshing to introduce folks to the scripture and see the lightbulbs go on as they realize that they CAN sit down with a Bible, a pen and a notebook and the right attitude and actually get a personal revelation.  I don't know how many times I've studied...even taught...the book we were using as the basis for the studies, Ephesians, and I still saw stuff in there I'd never noticed before.

God's word really IS living and active...and it WILL divide soul and spirit, if you give it the chance.

I have three Fridays left now before I head to Israel.  I'd like to do some preparation studying...maybe spend some more time in the Psalms...before I go.

I may or may not unearth/ make connections on anything blog-worthy...we'll see.

Meantime, I'm trying to figure out how light I can pack.  I have two sizes of suitcases...probably too small and way bigger than I need.  I really don't want to take the big one.
Decisions, decisions, lol...

Holy Week 2019: Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good! - Ps. 118

Posted by Lisa Laree to Beer Lahai Roi

The last and longest Psalm of the Hallel is Psalm 118. If Psalm 117 is a sweet little praise chorus, Psalm 118 is the hymn with five verses squeezed in between the treble and the bass clef in the hymnal.
'His steadfast love endures forever' is repeated five times...4 of those in the first 4 verses.  And, notice we are repeating the pattern of Ps. 115 here..

Let Israel say,  'His steadfast love endures forever'
Let the house of Aaron say, 'His steadfast love endures forever'
Let those who fear the LORD say, ''His steadfast love endures forever' (v. 2 - 4)

The nation of Israel, the priests and...anyone else who fears the Lord.

Then, we have a revisit to the theme of  Ps. 116...the Lord delivers those who trust him.

And, one little bit that is often considered Messianic:

The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone.  This is the LORD's doing; it is marvelous in our eyes.  (vs. 22 & 23)
(Just for grins, look at Matthew 21:42 to see Jesus quote that very passage...and note that Paul writes in Eph. 2:20 that Jesus is the cornerstone of the household of God).

But it seems a fitting thing to conclude the Hallel...and enter into the Passover ritual:

The LORD is God, and he has made his light to shine upon us.  Bind the festal sacrifice with cords, up to the horns of the altar!
You are my God, and I will give thanks to you; you are my God; I will extol you.  Oh give thanks to the LORD, for he is good; for his steadfast love endures forever!   - vs. 27 - 29

And it is unique this year in that Passover coincides with Good Friday.   As my Jewish friends were settling into their celebration of the Seder, we were commemorating the pronouncement of  'Tetelestai!'... 'It is finished!'