Returning from Mount Bental...

*Taken from my journal on 01/22/09 as we were driving home from the overlook at Mount Bental. Words will really do no justice to the sight of the Sea of Galilee encircled with mountains.*

Have you ever read ‘The Weight of Glory’ by C.S. Lewis? He speaks of the glory we see in creation: the beauty, the splendor. But as breathtaking as it is, it’s not enough just to see or even touch or taste. There’s that secret desire in each of us to be pulled in; to somehow become a part, to be joined to the majesty we see. Beauty elevates.

That’s what it’s like in Israel.

This land is amazing. It strikes the heart with wonder. There’s something here. And you just want to become a part of it.

There’s this desire I can’t explain to just melt into this land; to sink in and be sunk into; to fall into this land.

I never before understood how a nation, a people, a land and a religion could all share the same word. What does the land have to do with the covenant people?

But here, where the land meets the mountains and the mountains meet the sea and the setting sun blankets them all in brilliant gold, I begin to understand.

The beauty, the majesty…

But there’s even more.

This land lives. Every inch of it breathes and speaks. There’s a life in these lands so saturated, so deep, so sweet. You want to taste it, breathe it.

I want to lay in that green grass, between the rocks and the water, and gaze upon these great skies, rising to see the sea and the mountain shadows crowning the horizon.

You want to linger here.

Life can be somewhat sleepy and gray. Somtimes we half-live. Here all is deep and rich. Milk and honey indeed…

This land lives… And, in it, so do we…

There’s no question here. You’re in it. You’re living. You’re here.

Man fully alive.

Oh, Israel.