Hello family and friends,
In one month I will be in Israel with my friends and colleagues John Morris, Jim Wilson and Randy O'Donnell. We will be on a pilgrimage to experience the sites of the Bible and the ancient Christian church as well as the current political and social situation today. For the first 10 days we will be based out of Jerusalem, staying at Al Hashimi Hotel/Hostel inside the walls of the old city. John has many contacts with drivers and guides, and we will be using them to help us do many things that we might not be able to do if we were with a large group of 30 - 40 people on a bus. We will mostly stay within an hour's drive distance from Jerusalem for this part of the Journey, except when we drive south to see Qumran, Masada, the Dead Sea and Petra. We will be staying overnight at the Petra Guest House. For the final 4 days, we will be in Galilee, in Northern Israel before returning home to Ohio.
I invite you to follow along with this blog as I share daily reflections and experiences, pictures and stories of our pilgrimage. I am truly looking forward to this trip as a time of spiritual renewal and refreshment which will forever affect me as a Christian and as a Pastor. I thank my congregation, Clinton Heights Lutheran Church, for supporting me as I take this journey; I also thank my wife, Lucy, for "holding down the fort" on the home front while I am gone.
We are "wheels up" on Sunday, September 22 at 5:27 for JFK Aiport in NYC, then we take off for Tel Aviv from there at 11:30 p.m. Keep my family, congregation and me in your prayers, and I look forward to sharing my trip with you here.
Ralph