This morning I got up at 5:15 and went with some other people to a park to watch the sun rise over Jerusalem. I was reminded of Psalm 130:
A Song of Ascents.
Out of the depths I have cried to You, O LORD;
Lord, hear my voice!
Let Your ears be attentive
To the voice of my supplications.
If You, LORD, should mark iniquities,
O Lord, who could stand?
But there is forgiveness with You,
That You may be feared.
I wait for the LORD, my soul waits,
And in His word I do hope.
My soul waits for the Lord
More than those who watch for the morning—
Yes, more than those who watch for the morning.
O Israel, hope in the LORD;
For with the LORD there is mercy,
And with Him is abundant redemption.
And He shall redeem Israel
From all his iniquities.
I will try to post videos/pictures on facebook soon.
On the way to the park I found my first jasmine! And actually, I saw it all over today. So I'm not sure if it just decided to bloom or if I've been looking in the wrong places or what, but I was excited to find it today.
Some of us tried to go to Messianic Jew "church" service today. We wandered around the new city for about and hour and finally found it. We didn't stay long...not sure why we left, but it was interesting. All in Hebrew so I didn't catch much, but I could understand a few words here and there.
Speaking of Hebrew, I've had two Biblical Hebrew classes so far and it's been fun. I apparently have a "bad" habit in the states of reading everything (signs, trucks, etc.) and it has carried over here. Except here it's a bit more frustrating and takes a little more time -- I'm still at the "sounding out" stage. And then I generally don't understand what I just sounded out. But hey.
This afternoon I worked on homework which mostly involved reading a lot of chapters and articles about Israel history and archaeology and such. They're very interesting...well, mostly...sort of dry at times... At any rate, though, they generally seem to have a low view of scripture, which really bothers me. They talk about how the Babylonian flood story was clearly stolen and adapted in Hebrew Scriptures (for some reason). Or they say that Matthew wrote his gospel to try to manipulate people into joining him in this new version of Judaism...apparently not thinking that Matthew wrote his gospel to record what Jesus actually said and did. It's unfortunate.
In other news, I also had my first Magnum bar (white chocolate) since being back! I'd forgotten how amazing they are.
Well, I have an 11 hour walking tour around Jerusalem tomorrow, so I should stop and get ready for bed soon...more later. :)
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