You will have noticed by now that I have had to drop the day number from the title of each of these posts. I was afraid that this trip would become so overwhelming that it would make it nearly impossible for me to continue to keep a current blog diary of what is happening while we are traveling in the Holy Land. Unfortunately, this fear came true. We have had a very busy schedule these past 6 days. Each day we have been getting going early in the morning and often do not finish dinner till very late in the evening. This is wonderful, because there have been a lot of places that we have had an opportunity to stop and visit and spend some meaningful time processing through our thoughts there. I will attempt to have some follow up posts with pictures that allow for further explanation of some of the sights, and thoughts.
While we were traveling here in the Holy Land, somewhere in Nazareth, our group ate something that was not good. We ate something that was not only not good, but it wasn’t good for us! All but 3 of us got sick with food poisoning! That means, 20 people were sick. Crazy right? I got so sick, that it put me out of commission for a night and a day. I ended up having to go to the Israeli hospital to get med’s and also have some fluids pumped into me.
While I was laying on my side (going in and out of heat stroke) I sat there wondering why God? WHY is this happening to me now? At one point in time while I was on a ridiculously bumpy and curvy bus trip, I think that I even verbalized, “Why is this happening?” I have been looking forward to this trip for a period of 7 months now. The last thing I want to do is miss out on any of it because of illness. But there I lay. Waiting to feel any better. I was waiting for the pain to subside, and the nausea to pass. WHY…
Today I encountered a culture and a people group who are asking the same questions. Why God? When will the pain subside, and when will the pain pass. When will we wake up from this nauseous feeling? I spent some time with Arab Christians who are being persecuted. One of the statements that he shared with us I found quite profound. He said, “Suffering is part of the story.” How different my western mindset is than that, right? We work hard at eliminating suffering from our story.
I walked along the wall that divides Palestine and Israel, the wall that divides people from their homes and their lands. I listened to stories of people who long for peace but see a giant monument of oppression in front of them everyday. They wait. They wait. They wait some more.
Ridding our lives entirely of suffering will never lead us to a place of perfection. In fact it is through the suffering that our lives are hammered, shaped, and refined. My Arab brother was right. Suffering is part of the story. It should be.
I am ashamed at how poorly I handle myself when I go through the mildest form of suffering. God works richly in times of deep suffering. Do not turn up your nose at those opportunities that lie ahead of you in your story. I am not seeking out suffering… (It’s like praying for patience right?) However, I want to be found as faithful and steadfast as my friend in the midst of it.
There are too many emotions right now to even put words to. Below are some of the pictures that I took while we walked along the wall today.
~Peter
