Jordan and Israel

One of my favorite places on earth is Israel - my spiritual homeland.  To bring a greater understanding of "roots", I think all Americans should visit Washington DC, and all Christians should visit Israel. With a nearly life-long relationship with Jesus, and having the Biblical scriptures as part of my daily thought processes, returning to Israel always adds new depths to all that is already so dear to me.  My journey there in March was my fifth time (2011 blog posts from Jordan and Israel; and four posts in 2010), and was by far most comprehensive in its exploration than others!  The trip, aptly advertised as "Off The Beaten Track", was sponsored by our home church, New Creation Church of Singapore, and co-organized by Omega Tours and Travel (Singapore), Vision Tours (Jordan) and Sar-El Tours (Israel).  Bob and I were invited to lead worship at different locations along the way.

After our visit to Istanbul, we had a speedy road trip from Amman to Aqaba in Jordan to visit Mt. Nebo and Petra as well as a church with preserved mosaics from the Byzantine era.  In Israel, we traipsed through the Negev in Timna National Park, took a tram up to the ancient fortress of Masada, chair lifted up snow-covered Mt. Hermon , the northern-most point of Israel, forged the springs erupting from the earth at Tel-Dan.  And as always, the crown jewel was our time spent in the ancient, and much fought over city of Jerusalem.

This post is packed with photos - so much to share!  For even more as a slideshow with music, you can click on this youtube site.