The Wilderness
On our day off this week, we decided to go to En Gedi.
The first challenge of this trip was that Paul hadn't driven in Israel before, and we are not familiar with navigating around Jerusalem roads because we walk everywhere within the city. However, Richard, the GT Director told Paul 'Everyone here drives fast, take your time and don't try to race them!' Richard didn't know how instructive his words were to this new volunteer!!! We were also told not to stray into Palestinian territory. We were using a car with Israeli number plates, so it was safer to stay on that side of the divide. So we set off. We were soon driving away from Jerusalem on the Jericho Road, past the Inn of the Good Samaritan and into the desert region of the Dead Sea.
En Gedi is located on the edge of the Judean desert, on the shore of the Dead Sea, the lowest place on earth (approximately 400m below sea level).
The scenery in the area is stunning! Mountains, the colour of sand, with little or no vegetation and amazing rock formations. We saw some Ibex wandering round with their babies and they were hardly discernible on the mountain side. Their colouring camouflaged them, protecting them from predators.
When we arrived at En Gedi, the area was full of families picnicing and the sounds were of happy children having fun. We heard shouts of 'Abba' from the children calling their fathers. It reminded me that our 'Abba', Father God, enjoys hearing from us too. It also reminded me that as we like to see our children move through childhood to maturity, so does God. In Hebrews 5 and 6 the writer encourages us to get past the 'milk' stage of our Christian lives and become 'mature in our understanding'. The writer is encouraging us to take responsibility spiritually and to move on.
With our water bottles, hats and sunscreen we set off on the trail of Wadi David (no, not pronounced David but Daveed) to find a waterfall. The sun was hot and the terrain was very uneven, rocky and rising. Yet, I saw many mothers with very young babies in slings climbing the path. They were willing to take the risk to let the baby enjoy the time out with the family. God sometimes allows us to get into risky situations, because it helps our growth and teaches us that God is with us through the times of difficulty and danger enabling us to become stronger.
Every so often we came to a place where there was a waterfall and a pool of water. The children loved being in the water and the Abbas loved standing under the waterfalls!! It was so refreshing. The families played here for a while and rested from the heat of the exposed places. This enabled them to climb higher to the next waterfall and pool of refreshment. The higher we rose the climb became more difficult, but the views surrounding us were more beautiful.
As we were climbing, I thought about David. It was in this area that David was running away from Saul. The caves in the mountains were visible all around us. It would be a good place to hide from someone. David was holed up in a cave one day and Saul came to the very cave and used it to have a sleep. David's followers wanted to kill Saul, but David wouldn't let them, using the words 'It's a serious thing to attack the Lord's anointed one'. David was confident that his time would come. It is good to remember that God's timing can be different to ours; but God has a bigger picture in view. David trusted God in the most difficult of situations and kept to God's plan. That is maturity.
On our day off this week, we decided to go to En Gedi.
The first challenge of this trip was that Paul hadn't driven in Israel before, and we are not familiar with navigating around Jerusalem roads because we walk everywhere within the city. However, Richard, the GT Director told Paul 'Everyone here drives fast, take your time and don't try to race them!' Richard didn't know how instructive his words were to this new volunteer!!! We were also told not to stray into Palestinian territory. We were using a car with Israeli number plates, so it was safer to stay on that side of the divide. So we set off. We were soon driving away from Jerusalem on the Jericho Road, past the Inn of the Good Samaritan and into the desert region of the Dead Sea.En Gedi is located on the edge of the Judean desert, on the shore of the Dead Sea, the lowest place on earth (approximately 400m below sea level).
The scenery in the area is stunning! Mountains, the colour of sand, with little or no vegetation and amazing rock formations. We saw some Ibex wandering round with their babies and they were hardly discernible on the mountain side. Their colouring camouflaged them, protecting them from predators.
Every so often we came to a place where there was a waterfall and a pool of water. The children loved being in the water and the Abbas loved standing under the waterfalls!! It was so refreshing. The families played here for a while and rested from the heat of the exposed places. This enabled them to climb higher to the next waterfall and pool of refreshment. The higher we rose the climb became more difficult, but the views surrounding us were more beautiful.
As we were climbing, I thought about David. It was in this area that David was running away from Saul. The caves in the mountains were visible all around us. It would be a good place to hide from someone. David was holed up in a cave one day and Saul came to the very cave and used it to have a sleep. David's followers wanted to kill Saul, but David wouldn't let them, using the words 'It's a serious thing to attack the Lord's anointed one'. David was confident that his time would come. It is good to remember that God's timing can be different to ours; but God has a bigger picture in view. David trusted God in the most difficult of situations and kept to God's plan. That is maturity. 
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looks like you had a great day off with many parallel thoughts :)wish I could have been there to enjoy it with you.. the kids would have loved it
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