MARCH 24 & 25: TRAVEL TO TEL AVIV ISRAEL

I've traveled to a lot of places in my life, and most of the time I find what I expect. A lake. A grand mountain. The tide pulling at my feet in the ocean. Usually I’m going somewhere for a reason and my plans are designed to maximize my time.

This trip to the nation of Israel is different though because my mindset has changed. Life is short and, as the aging process accelerates, I am discovering that perhaps the journey is more important than the destination. Now that may sound silly coming from a person in a plane somewhere over Canada, en route to Tel Aviv, but I believe it to be true.

Sure, I'm looking forward to the sights, smells and sounds of a land I have known from a distance all my life. And, yes, the opportunity to walk in the dust of those men and women of antiquity whom I know only by name... that is a dream come true.

But as I make my way on this trip, I am more attuned to the Storyteller than to the historical elements of the story. For me, it's all about Him. This is a trip to draw near, not to define an historical timeline. The focus this time is to walk with the author and perfecter of this precious gift I hold in my heart, this merciful and gracious offering of faith.

What will make this trip a success? My response: to have made the effort to deepen my personal, experiential knowledge of the One who reached into my broken world to set me free from all my guilt, shame and unsatisfied yearning. Yes, to know Him more dearly day by day.

How amazing are His mercy and grace; to be loved unconditionally by the only One who lacks nothing and needs no one. Now that's the ultimate Friendship.

On His canvas one cannot miss the colorful brushstrokes that reveal Israel as a central theme, but the Artist is the reason I go.

But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be the glory, both now and to the day of eternity. Amen. 2 Peter 3:18