From Galilee to Mount Nebo

Hi, from Jerusalem!  Sorry we've skipped a few days, but we have been over in Jordan enjoying some incredible sights there.  Internet was sketchy - and expensive, so we have been writing and saving our posts for when we were back in Jerusalem.  Here we are!  We arrived yesterday, but I will get to that later.  There will be a number of posts from our days in Jordan - 3 I think, then todays full day in Jerusalem.  Here goes....

Today was a very long day - 9 hours on the bus traveling from Galilee to Mount Nebo, from Israel to Jordan, from lush landscape to a barren desert, from 300 feet below sea level to 900 ft above, from a Jewish kibbutz to a modern hotel.  On the way we passed through the Occupied Territory of the West Bank which was interesting, unnerving, heartbreaking and bewildering.  You could see the poverty and feel the hatred on both sides.   As drove in relative security we were aware that it was peace under the gun.   

The lush beauty of the kibbutz in Northern Israel

The dry desert sands of the West Bank

We arrived at the Jordanian Border by late morning - lots of barred wires, land field warning signs, burned out tanks and lots of military presence - despite thirty years of relative peace between Israel and Jordan.  We said goodbye to our Jewish tour guide and driver, debarked the bus,  carried our luggage across the border and into Jordan where we picked a different bus (definitely not new), an Arab driver and tour guide and an escort guard from the army gently referred to as a  “tourism police office”.  We had to pass by a  20 year old female Jordanian boarder guard, who had beautiful olive skin and a fashionable headdress.   She also had an  Iphone which she held in one hand and then just to complete the picture she had a machine gun strapped to her leg tucked into and under her full length skirt.  

After an hour we made it through customs (they only pulled and search 4 bags - three of which belonged to us).  Our first stop was Bethany Beyond the Jordan where John the Baptist preached in the wilderness and where tradition says Jesus came to be baptized.    It is a dry and thirsty land.  On our way to the water we passed by nomadic Bedouin settlements which are a fascinating combination of tribal freedom, extreme poverty, and rugged independence.  As we near the Jordan, out here in the midst of the desert we suddenly see on the otherwise barren horizon churches and monuments - commemorating Jesus and John and also the spot now believed to be close to where Elijah was raptured to heaven in a chariot of fire.  I checked for burn marks on the rocks but found none so we will just have to take their word for it.  This site was only discovered in 1996 and there is a rush on to develop the site and build church buildings by the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox churches and on each side of the boarder by the Israeli and Jordanian governments.  These churches are absolutely stunning - one is being built at a cost of 85 million dollars - a jaw dropping sermon in stone.  Our guide said they want to build something so outstanding that a 1000 years from now people will come here and be still be so overwhelmed that they we realize some incredible happened in this place -although it seems to have more to do with nationalism than faith or religion.  

One of the many bedouin sites we passed by in Jordan

Bethany Beyond the Jordan - where Jesus was baptized by John the Baptist

Where the guy in the blue shirt is standing is Jordan...on the opposite bank, that is Israel.  Guards with machine guns, while a Catholic mass was going on.  We were told we can't wave or talk to anyone across the border.

From the Jordan we began our accent up Mount Nebo where Moses surveyed the Promised Land that he could not enter.  After Moses climbed Nebo he died and it felt like we might relive that part of biblical history as our 1975 era, manuel transmission tour bus struggled to pull it’s cargo up and around this narrow mountain road built right on the edge of breathtaking cliffs without guard rails or even a shoulders.  Having not plunged to our deaths we finally summited Nebo. We surveyed the land, then headed for lunch (not locust and honey but still some authentic local cuisine) and some shopping at a mosaic artisans shop.   It is crazy to think that we are tourist shopping less 100 miles from Bagdad.   As we drove four hours through the desert on our way to our hotel in Petra - I discovered a well known truth - there is nothing in the desert.     

No picture could ever do justice to this part of our journey.  It was terrifying and wonderful all at the same time.  The drive was insane and the view was awesome.

Thank you for praying us through this day.  It was an emotional one...hard to leave Galilee and all the significance of that and head into an unknown country.  We too, felt like the Israelites wandering through the desert.  It brings a whole new meaning to their frustration, their faith (or lack thereof), and their famine.  I might have gone a little crazy too :).