Bible Came Alive

October 8, 2023
 
Reflections from the Heart of Allan Redenius
One of my most memorable trips was an adventure to the Holy Lands.  It was there, that what I knew about the Bible, came alive.  I had read about, but to now actually see places Jesus walked, made the Bible so much more understandable.  Of all the places I would return to, it would be Israel.  What’s holding me back?  The time difference is a hurdle to overcome.
 
Walking around in Israel means you need to keep your eye on the ground, so many rocks.  There’s a legend in Israel that when God created the earth, He gave one of His angels a bag of rocks to scatter around the world.  When the angel flew over Israel, the bag holding all the rocks tore and all of the rocks came tumbling out upon the land of Israel.
 
For some reason, traveling in Israel made me feel like I was home, like I’d been there before.  In fact, our airplane landed in Tel Aviv and there we boarded a bus to take us to Tiberias on the Sea of Galilee.  The route took us through the Jezreel Valley.  I leaned over and told Armona, “This is the Valley of Armageddon, where the armies of the world will gather to war against God.  It feels like I’ve been here before.”  Suddenly, as if to emphasize what I had just said, the bus driver announced, “We are in the Jezreel Valley.”
 
From bowing down through the Door of Humility to enter Manger Square, to dropping a stone to bury my sins at the bottom of the Sea of Galilee, the entire trip was a spiritual experience.  I knelt in prayer at the Bethlehem Star, the place denoting where Jesus was born, to shedding a tear at Calvary.  The places I saw, I will never forget.
 
Of course, I did some fun things too.  I swam, or at least tried to swim, in the Dead Sea.  I rode a camel in the desert.  Ate some amazing food in the land of milk and honey.  But maybe, the highlight was to rededicate my life to Jesus and be baptized in the Jordan River.
 
Wish you all could have been there too…..

Love and blessings,
Pastor Allan

©2023 Allan Redenius, All Rights Reserved