Random Things

One of our “random” friends. Names are being withheld to protect innocent. And maybe the guilty.

Two days ago, we took our guest Robin (not pictured at left) to Bethlehem. One of our fellow classmates is living in the Bethlehem area for the summer and drove us around. It was quite possibly the most pleasant trip I’ve had to Bethlehem. We were in a private car (rather than by bus or cab). We ate fabulous Arab food. We bought pastries and cheap Cokes from local shops, thereby helping the local economy.
As we were leaving, a car in front of us was being interrogated by the Israeli security. Then, they asked the driver to back up from the checkpoint and then suddenly, a huge metal gate just closed shut. No announcement. No reason. Just random. That seems to be much of the method by which the Israelis do security: be random and unpredictable.
Fortunately, Western media is dead wrong and Bethlehem is NOT completely surrounded by the security/separation fence. There are multiple, open ways in/out of the Bethlehem area. It’s simply that the most direct routes to Jerusalem are guarded. So, we took the long way round and made it home without a hitch.

Yesterday, it rained in Jerusalem. It didn’t rain much, or for very long (maybe a minute or three) but it rained. IT NEVER RAINS IN ISRAEL IN JULY. Weird.

Last night, we took Robin to the Church of the Holy Sepulcher. There was a very Western lady, probably American, who showed up in a spaghetti strap top, and short-short-short-short shorts. She just couldn’t fathom why the priest who was in charge of decorum around the Tomb wouldn’t let her in. It just didn’t register that one shouldn’t show up to the place where Christ was buried and rose again in what is practically your underwear.

Finally, the suddenness of life: a friend from Edmond just lost his mother to cancer. It seems quite sudden to us, but we are quite isolated as well. Also, a community in Indiana is grieving and wrestling with shock as their pastor’s son was found dead. May the Lord preserve and sustain those in grief.

~ by eikonministries on July 16, 2009.