It’s Sunday today and I’m not in Israel anymore. I’ve been back five days now and am getting adjusted to the home time zone. (See K—-g’s Rules of travel.) Today was the first time back in my home church. It was good to be back. Lot’s of people welcomed me back and wanted to know a bit about the trip. I appreciated their genuine interest and willingness to listen to more than a brief sound bite. I used the word ‘awesome’ an awful lot as I tried to explain the experience. I’m glad I had the opportunity to express gratitude to a former member of Parchment CRC, the church that made this trip possible.

Someone asked me, “What was the the one best part of the trip?” That’s a tough one. How do you answer that? How do you answer that when there were so many ‘one best parts.’ He didn’t have all day to listen to all of my ‘one best parts.’ He had to go have lunch with his gramma after all. Besides there are some ‘best parts’ that I still have a tough time verbalizing without developing a throat lump and the lip/chin quiver and turning into a blubbering idiot. Maybe in a few weeks the words will be able to squeeze through and make it out – like we did in Hezekiah’s Tunnel. That was one of those ‘best parts.’

Even in some of the songs we sang today, I was caught with stuck words and wet eyes. Key words like wilderness and shepherd brought back images and memories from Israel. Concepts like God’s care, Christian community and sharing our stories reminded me of lessons learned on the trip. Little did the worship planner know when she and the Spirit were planning today’s service what effect those selections would make.

Tomorrow is Monday. I’ll still be home and not in Israel. That’s a good thing. There are important things to be done here and I’m better equipped to take on those tasks.

Coming soon…. Two more Photo Themes of the Day. 🙂