Peace and grace to you all in Jesus name!
What can I say? At this point in our trip to Israel, we are all homesick. On the one hand we are blessed by the Lord to live a very unusual life of adventure. This coming Sunday, Brandy and I will celebrate our 18th year of marriage and what a joy it is to be able to do so in Jerusalem.
On the other hand, we are both very basic "homebodies" who love nothing more that our daily routine in our own home.
These are outrageous extremes that we both deal with on nearly a daily basis. During our lives together, we have had the pleasure of doing the Lord's work in several countries and unfortunately we end up falling in love with each of them. When we are at home in Mexico, the fact is that in short order, we can't wait to "get on the road---somewhere, anywhere"! What's up with that? When we are ANYPLACE OTHER THAN HOME, we are homesick. When in Israel we can't wait to return home and when at home we can't wait to be in Israel, Africa, the United States---and I could go on and on. We simply do not live what most people consider to be a normal life. Brandy has a relative that whenever she speaks to on the phone, immediately says "where are you"? Not HOW are you but WHERE are you because no one ever really knows for sure where we are until we pop up somewhere.
That may seem to some like a very dis-connected life style but for us it is "NORMAL". For us it is simple. If the Lord says go, we get in the car, on the plane, or ? That IS a life of adventure and frankly we would not have it any other way. So at this moment we are in downtown Jerusalem, the city of the Great King. To narrow that down a bit, we are in our hotel preparing to prowl the Old City of Jerusalem that dates back several thousand years. Right now we are about 6 blocks from the Temple Mount where both the Temples of Kings Solomon and Herod stood. Of course those events were separated in time by multiple lifetimes of normal people who also prowled this phenomenal city.
Our formal tour is ended now although the group we have led for the past two weeks is still here for another 5 days "in vacation mode". We are on the one hand helping them plan interesting days of sight seeing and on the other hand, spending time with our son Santiago, just prowling, meeting pastors and making the most of our time here! Today we will be in both the Jewish and Christian quarters of the old city. Two days ago we were in both the Armenian and Muslim Arab quarters. What a tremendous mix of cultures they are, all crammed next to one another in a fantastic boiling pot of International humanity and wildly different religious perspective. Each is frankly fascinating beyond belief.
This morning we will go visit our long time friend Basim, the owner of a tiny Armenian spice shop that goes back to his great grandfather. This man will break out into an ear splitting grin when he see's Santiago and try to express his joy trough a mixture of at least a dozen languages that he speaks nearly fluently. Within two minutes he will have ordered turkish coffee delivered by a small Arab child delicately balanced on a shiny ancient brass platter. This coffee is so strong that it is served in teeny, tiny little cups because if you drank a full mug of the stuff you would most likely spend the next three hours "bouncing of the domed walls" of the merchants shouk that has been in continuous operation since camels were the Mercedes of the Middle East.
After that reunion we will visit other shops, many owners of which will also remember and greet us as long lost relatives while at the same time try to relieve us of every last cent we own for priceless thousand year old coins and antiques-------that we really minted sometime last week-------! Of course we know this and they know FULL WELL that we know it but the friendly game of "grin and lie" is on and we will all have a great time trying to outwit one another for the best possible price. They will be miserable and broke by the time we leave (as they laugh all the way to the bank) and we will be thrilled that we obtained what we wanted for less than what we planned to pay in the shop next door.
Then off to a falafel stand for lunch and to just soak in this complicated atmosphere that cannot be duplicated anywhere else on earth.
On Sunday, Brandy and I will leave Santiago here at the hotel with "Auntie Meli" and the Penner family for a few hours so we can "steal away into the night" and celebrate our anniversary. First on this most important of "dates" is to visit the Western Wall under the Temple Mount where Brandy will pray on the women's side and me on the men's. While there we will place written prayers into cracks into the wall that were sent with us by many folks in both Coronado, California and our home area of Mexico.
From there we will stroll hand in hand throughout the city with no particular purpose in mind other than to enjoy each others company. Eventually we will end up at the famous "King David Hotel" and enjoy a quiet time of private conversation over hor'dourves and cappuccino. A very romantic time, after which REALITY DAWNS, and it is back to our own hotel to resume our mantles of just plain old Mommy and Daddy. We wouldn't have it any other way.
Now THAT is a life of adventure!!!
Until next time,
May the Peace of our Lord Jesus Christ be upon you all!
From Jerusalem,
Pastor Rance.
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