Bethlehem

This morning I got up at 6am in order to get ready and be at the bus station at 7am. I walked out Jaffa Gate and made my way around the city walls to Damascus Gate, and accross the street to the bus station by the Arab market. The Bus station is neatly tucked away down an allyway between a big Hotel and the Marketplace right at the foot of a rather large hill jutting out in the middle that area. This hill is known as Garden Tomb. About 100 years ago, someone descovered a tomb near there that was about 2,000 years old and had been prepared, but never used. Archiologists were baffeled by this because it seems strange that someone would prepare a tomb, and then just leave it unused. Until, of course, they realized that the shape of the strange hill resembled something of a skull. Many Archiologists believe that they had just recently descovered this hill as the actual site of Golgotha, and the tomb that was found could may well have been where Jesus was ACTUALLY laid. However, most people still recognize The Holy Sepulchre as the place of Golgotha, and the tomb of Jesus. It was found and established a lot earlier, and pilgrims have been worshiping there for centuries, so it would be a huge deal to just change the location suddenly. But it's really interesting, because both locations could very well have been Golgotha, and there's a fork in the road where they could have taken Jesus any one of two ways. They could have taken him, after he fell the second time, to the right and out Damascus Gate to be crucified at this more recently discovered place in which, if that was the case, the site where he would have died rests in a parking space on the parking lot of the bus station behind the Arab Market. Or they could have taken him to the left, up towards New Gate and crucified on the hilltop where the Holy Sepulchre now resides. It's interesting how they don"t really know which place is the real Golgotha and Tomb of Jesus. Both stories are very plausable. It just depends on which way he went after the second fall, Left or Right.

But anyway, I took some pictures of this alternate Golgotha so you can judge for yourself whether or not it looks like the place of the skull, and I caught my bus from there into Beit Jalla where a taxi was waiting for me to take me to Bethlehem. When I arrived, I met Samuel, who was to be my tour guide through Bethlehem. He was very friendly, spoke great english, and was very knowledgeable of the city. He told me he's one of the few chritians, born and raised in Bethlehem that have stayed here through the changing politics and crashing economy. He told me that Christians used to be the majority in Bethlehem at one point, but now they're the tiny minority. Unemployment is a huge problem within the city, and christians inhabit some of the worst areas there. "No one ever prays for the christians of Bethlehem" he told me, "People pray for the Jewish and Palistinian Muslims, and they pray for the conflict between them to be settled, but the christians who still live in Bethlehem get overlooked, and no one ever prays for them."

He took me to the Shepard's Fields, and I got to wander into some of the caves, and ruins of old settlements, and animal holding pens. We walked into the church that was erected on the spot where the angel appeared to the shepards, telling them the savior was born. Afterwards he took me down to the wall in Bethlehem spliting the Jewish and Palastinian side. The wall was about 20 or 30ft high with barbed wire laced through the top like a maximum security prison. At every gate there were metal detectors and armed guards. He told me that this was the way the christians and Palistinian muslims had to come to work from everyday. All around, the wall was covered with graffiti desplaying slogans like "Build bridges, not walls," and "Free Palistine." On one part of the wall were the words, "Give me my ball back...thanks" which was definately the best one I saw. It's good to know that some people are still keeping good humor about the situation. We entered back through to the Israeli side to pick up some more tourists before seeing the rest of the city. The people we picked up were an American family from Chicago, The Downeys. I introduced myself to all of them, and they introduced themselves. The father and mother were Tim and Margo, and then they had 3 boys all around my age (or probably within 4 or 5 years) whom where David, Daniel, and Steven. They told me they were going to be staying here for a couple more days, and then heading over to Greece, and I told them about my travels thus far, and where I planned to go. They seemed very interested in how I'd gotten myself involved in all this, and seemed to admire that I just through myself into a big adventure traveling alone through so many countries. I got talking with them throughout the tour, and they were just legitimately great people, and they asked me to get in on a couple of their family photos. It was great to feel a little bit like part of the family for a couple hours, and in talking we realized we were both going to be in Greece around the same time, so they invited me to meet up with them. We exchanged email addresses, and David emailed me Tim's phone number so that I could contact them when I get into Athens and see where they are.

But throughout the tour, we saw the Church of the Nativity, and walked all though the caves and saw the place where Jesus was born, and then the place where the manger was and the alter in the spot where the wise men knelt to worship. We got a great view of King David's Wells from the top of the stairs at the church. Just looking over the city of Bethlehem was wonderful. The way the city's laid out is still almost just the way it was. There are still miles of open fields, and sheep. The houses all look thousands of years old, and on each hill top you can see clearly which areas belong to Israel, and which belong to Palistine. Palistine's hilltops look much older, and delapidated, and many of Israel's places look almost brand new. After the Downeys left, Samuel took me out to lunch at a really amazing shwarma place. I love shwarmas. I've been prettymuch been living off of shwarmas and falafels since Egypt. They're just increadable over here, and you can get them in so many different varieties, so they never get old. I talked a bit with Samuel over lunch about christianity, and music, and he said I should meet his brother, Daniel. So after lunch he took me to his home, and I got to meet Daniel, who is the worship leader at a local church there (Independant Baptist Church), and Aaron, whom I can't remember what his relation to them was (a cousin, I think), but he was one of the most interesting people I've met on my journey so far. Aaron is, I would guess, in his mid to late 40's, and founded an organization called Iris Ministries which goes all over the world helping starving nations, feeding people, building houses, living in and amongst the people doing whatever is needed and bringing God into their lives. What he was explaining to me seems a lot like what John Gash does in Y-Malawi, and I told him about my friend John and Y-Malawi and he said it's very similar to that. He said they've actually got some people working in Malawi. Aaron's actually born and raised in California, but moved here with his wife a couple years ago to work in helping the christians here in Bethlehem. His whole presence was so relaxed, and made me feel very much at home. We asked about my journey here, and I told him the story of what I was doing, and we talked about what, spiritually, I was trying to do during this trip. He said that God sent on this trip to learn how to love him more intimately, and the way God made me to experience that is through the music I experience. We talked about how I love epic sorts of music, and that my tastes are very eclectic. He said that was because I had a passion and desire for music and cultures, and that God wants to fuse with my desires which is why he gave them to me in the first place. I told him my intent was to see the world, so that I could say that I've seen it, but he said he didn't believe that. He said he can see that this is just a scouting journey for me, and that he's sure this will be the first of many great journeys. He asked if I'd ever accompanied John on any of his trips to Malawi, and I told him I'd always wanted to. I mentioned a little of my medical history, and how in the past it's been hard for me to travel, because the risk of infection was so high. He stopped and looked me straight in the eye, and said the first thing he'd said that really scared me a little. "God is going to heal your heart" is what he told me. He said it as if God had told him himself, and he was absolutely sure of it. I didn't really know what to say. It would be a miracle, but I was talking to a man who, as he told me, had witnessed blind men see, and crippled children walk. It was all a little "Benny Hynn" for my cinical nature, but the way he said it almost made me believe it. As I left, he and the family prayed for my safety, and that I would find what I was looking for on this journey. He gave me his card and a CD of a Israeli christian artist he thought I would like, and told me to keep in touch, and perhaps email him when I get back home to say that my trip went safely. Daniel walked me out and got me a taxi to the bus stop, where I met another man there named Troy who was from Laguna Woods back home in Orange County. He was traveling with a couple other guys from around the states, and I asked if he could break a large bill that I had becuase I didn't have any coins for the bus. He told me it was no problem, and payed my fare back to Jerusalem.

Something is certainly going on in this trip. Random acts of kindness, and spiritual guidence seem to follow me wherever I go. Everywhere I look it seems that I'm being lead towards something. This is hands down, by far the strangest time I've ever encountered in my life. It's not at all like this journey has been easy, in fact it's been one of the hardest things I've ever done, but the way that situations unfold, are not in their usual way, not by a long shot. My life for the last 3 weeks have been real life manifestations of spiritual metiphors. I feel everyday like someone is yelling the answers at me, and telling me exactly what I have to do and who I'm supposed to meet, and when I get there, they seemed to have already expected my arrival. Through what round about way is God taking me? What is this all leading up to? I have so many questions with very few answers, but for some reason it feels really good just to fall down this hole, and let God take me where I'm to end up. This is me walking by faith. I think I'm starting to understand what that really means.