Holy Tuesday -- Temple Tuesday

It’s Holy Tuesday also known as "Temple Tuesday" because we read how Jesus spent most of the day in the Temple in Jerusalem -- teaching and using parables to make His points about God’s great love for His people. Jesus knew this was His last week leading up to His death, so I suspect He was determined to leave an unforgettable “last impression”. And He sure did when He chased out the money changers and those buying and selling in the Temple. Of course, Jesus was angry with those who didn't respect this holy place of worship and prayer to our Holy God. Of all the questions Jesus confronted on this day, the one that most stirs me came from a scribe who asked, “Which commandment is the most important of all?” Jesus answered: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength” (Mark 12:28,30). Jesus laid out the answer to our success in this life and hereafter.

Speaking of temples and places of worship during this Holy Week, I’ve been so caught up with the activities of my grandchildren here in Austin, that I didn’t hear about the horrific fire in the majestic Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris until I read a friend’s Facebook post. I read another article that said the blaze was now largely extinguished. One official was quoted as saying the two iconic rectangular towers were saved. Of course, it touches home because I had the opportunity to visit this magnificent cathedral in 2016 and this photo was taken in front of the towers.

“The worst has been avoided, but the battle isn’t fully won yet,” French President Emmanuel Macron said in a statement outside of the cathedral. He also expressed his sympathies to Catholics around the world, the people of Paris and the people of France. “We will rebuild the cathedral together,” Macron said, adding that France will start an international fundraising campaign to raise money for the renovations. I read this quote by Cardinal Daniel DiNardo: “We are a people of hope and of the resurrection, and as devastating as this fire is, I know that the faith and love embodied by this magnificent Cathedral will grow stronger in the hearts of all Christians.” I was inspired when I also read that some of the cathedral’s art may have been saved because of recent renovations. Last week, for instance, 16 copper statues representing the Twelve Apostles and four evangelists were removed with a crane so that the spire could be renovated. How providential it seemed that the four evangelists were the ones who detailed this Holy Tuesday in their Gospels.

As devastating as the Notre Dame fire was to a man-made structure and as magnificent and majestic it may have been, none compares to the Temple of the Holy Spirit that Jesus sent to reside in each of His followers when death couldn't hold Him and He rose from the grave. It is a Temple not made by human hands, but by a "God made flesh" Man -- Jesus Christ. Jesus promised He would send the Holy Spirit to live in us. "Do you not know that your bodies are Temples of the Holy Spirit, Who is in you, Whom you have received from God? You are not your own;" (1 Corinthians 6:19)

Thank you, Lord Jesus, for Temple Tuesday, for so greatly showing us LOVE and for sending your Holy Spirit to abide in us!

The King is Coming -- Order Up a 21-Gun Salute

It’s Palm Sunday – just one week before Easter – oh the joy of our Risen Lord! But, hold on! Without this week, there would be no Resurrection Sunday! On this day, the disciples and the crowds were fanatical praisers and worshippers – waving palm branches and shouting “Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.” Matthew 21:9. The crowds rejoiced in His powers of healing, in the miracles He’d performed; His popularity reigned supreme. He was SOMEBODY! While kings today ride in streamlined jets, King Jesus rode in on a donkey, a symbol of meekness and peace. How different His entry was – not a 21-gun salute, but the swishing of palm branches.

But those finding-fault Pharisees complained about all the raucous: "Teacher, reprove Your disciples!” Notice that they didn't call Jesus “King.” They called Him "teacher." To them, Jesus was no greater than any other teacher. He had become a threat to their "authority." This, SOMEBODY, was getting in their way! But our “rock-solid” Lord replied, “I tell you, if they keep silent, the stones will cry out!” And we took Christ’s words so seriously, that today we join those crowds of praising and worshipping our King of Kings and Lord of Lords! We will NOT allow the rocks and stones to outdo us!

Those of us who know Him as Savior and Lord cannot be silenced by a few who would “reprove” us. We know what this week represents. We stand in allegiance to Him as in this week, He was our humble, suffering, sacrificial servant. He suffered rejection, lies, beatings, floggings, being nailed to the cross and dying for us. We are doing our best to follow His lead because we've learned not to run away or cower in the face of difficulty. We want the world to know that Jesus Christ is King and it is worth the price of ridicule and rejection to proclaim Him as our Lord and Savior. This Holy Week, we continue to journey on with our precious Lord. What a gift it is to know the promise that awaits us if we stay with Him on the road. If we are faithful servants, we will also know the empty tomb, and best of all, we will abide with Him forever in eternity.

Not only did our King know precisely who He was when He entered Jerusalem, He knows who He is as He enters the Jerusalem of our lives. He touches ALL people – those with rank, and those who are broken, rejected, and unloved. He never refuses anyone who comes to Him for help. He helps those with shattered dreams and bruised spirits. That's the kind of Lord He is! That's the kind of KING He is! Today, He desires to transform us, touch our lives and make us new. He loves us so much that He was thinking about us then....and He is still thinking about us today. “Hosanna! Our King has come!

Please Let Me Introduce You to Rimon!

If you follow my daily FB posts or my blog, you’ll remember my Holy Lands' daily log of awe-inspiring, faith-filled experiences that I and my fellow travelers savored from the moment we landed at the Israel Ben Gurion Airport. The reason, was in large part because of our tour guide, Rimon. If you were planning this trip of a lifetime that would ensure you of a greater depth of love for Jesus Christ and one that would take your Bible readings to a whole new level of appreciation, I would have urged you to choose Rimon as your Tour Guide.

Rimon was Jerusalem-born-and-raised and seemed to speak a dozen languages because no matter who we encountered along the way, he'd speak fluently with them. Rimon opened our eyes and hearts to the places where Jesus lived, healed, forgave, transformed, raised the dead, set captives free, suffered, died, was buried and rose to heaven. Rimon knew and loved his land AND the Bible. He quoted so many scriptures and let the Bible unfold as we saw places we had only read and heard about. Rimon really was a "living stone" among the ancient stones of the land, as an ambassador of the land, its people, culture, religious traditions, their history, and their suffering and hopes. Born on the Mt of Olives, he lived in Jerusalem all his life. His father is buried on Mt Zion. His grandfather’s tomb is in the Garden of Gethsemane. As a child, Rimon was fascinated by tour guides. He'd follow tourists inside the church and offered to guide them. So, in the holiest place of Christianity, his "ministry" as a Christian tour guide took off.

How can you spend only a few days of your life with someone and be impacted in such a way that your life would be forever changed? Rimon shined so brightly as a reflection of our Lord’s light and that light penetrated into our souls and we knew that those few days together were but a foretaste of the joys that await us when we gather together in heaven.

I'm sure many would like to have Rimon's info so you can find out about his next tour. You will have to wait in line with patience as a loving, joyful, fully devoted follower of Christ, because the line you’ll be waiting in is the one in which you'll get the ultimate “Grand Tour” of heaven. I, and my fellow travelers and thousands of others, were shocked when we received word on Monday that Rimon had a fatal heart attack on Monday. No doubt he received a “Fast Pass” to heaven. I could hardly believe that this beautiful servant of Christ could have left us so soon. In June, when a group of Texans, a few Arkansans and Oklahomans traveled to Jerusalem, it was Rimon that met us. From the moment we met him, we knew he wasn’t a typical tour guide, simply doing his “tour guide” job. It really was his ministry to represent Christ’s homeland on this earth, and, what an extraordinary representative he was.

The question is “What will we be remembered for? What will we leave our heirs and those who know us? Lately, there have been many well-known celebrities who passed away and great accolades were given for their talents and success stories I can't imagine that any of those people could top beautiful people like Rimon whose lives and stories of great faith, character and service impacted us for eternity. More than the tangible inheritances, our good character is creating a legacy that will continue to speak long after our life on this earth has ended. "Unquestionable character" is one of the greatest gifts we can leave for others....and that comes as we embrace the character of our Father God.

Charles Spurgeon said, “A good character is the best tombstone. Those who loved you and were helped by you will remember you when forget-me-nots have withered. Carve your name on hearts – not on marble.” Rimon carved his name on our hearts – he will be remembered as one who loved the Lord with all his heart, soul and mind – and we’ll never be the same because we took a little "heavenly" journey with him on this earth. We'll see you later, Rimon! RIP!

I'm Still Here, So I'm Not Done (This is long today -- so much to tell you about!)

Our first stop yesterday was the Mount of Olives where our Lord ascended into heaven. Before I left home in Texas, I sensed I needed to get all my documents together and in order should something happen to me while I was in Israel -- specifically, if God wanted to ascend me directly to heaven from the Mount of Olives, I was ready to go. LOL! But, I'm still here, so I'm not done. God has work for me to do and this pilgrimage has inspired me so much, I'm chomping at the bit to spread the good news of our Lord's life and all He did for our salvation.

This first photo is Rimon, our amazing tour guide. Yesterday he was sporting a Texas A&M ball cap and today it was Texas Longhorns. He aims to please his Texas pilgrims -- LOL! Those from New Mexico, Oklahoma and Arkansas are still waiting to see what he has for them!

There isn't a specific spot identified as the place of Jesus' ascension, except that it was from the Mount of Olives. Our tour guide, Rimon, gave us this scripture from Acts 1:10-11 "He was taken up into a cloud while they were watching, and they could no longer see Him. As they strained to see Him rising into heaven, two white-robed men suddenly stood among them. “Men of Galilee,” they said, “why are you standing here staring into heaven? Jesus has been taken from you into heaven, but someday He will return from heaven in the same way you saw him go!” There are three religions that dominate this country: Muslim, Jew, Christians. And each of them are looking for the Messiah to come, but we know our Messiah died, was buried, arose and ascended into heaven. Our Lord is risen and He sits at the right hand of the Father. How reasuring it is, that He was one of us, understands us so well, and now, and one day will take us home to be with Him forever.

The Lord's Prayer was in tiles all around this church in 164 languages. We sang "The Lord's Prayer" from our hearts of thanksgiving. Then we walked to the area where Jesus wept over Jerusalem. We were shown the Dome of the Rock, the Eastern Gate, the Russian Church, and the mosque that was built after the temple was destoryed. It was in that temple that Jesus, at age 12, amazed the priests with his knowledge of the Word. Ramone led us, then, in a walk to the Garden of Gethsemane. This was my favorite spot today. Gethsemane comes from the Hebrew Word for Olive Press.

Gethsemane is where Jesus took the same witnesses of His transfiguration on Mount Tabor, Peter, James and John, to the garden with Him to pray. Their spirits were willing but their flesh was weak, and couldn't stay awake. The gorgeous Sanctuary of Gethsemane (Church of the Nations) enshrines a section of bedrock where Jesus is said to have prayed before his arrest. (Mark 14:32-42). It was so humbling to kneel before that rock, place my hand on it and know this was the beginning of Christ's ultimate price for my salvation.

To say we were touched, puts it mildly -- that our Lord knew what was ahead for Himself and those He loved and served just couldn't stay awake for Him. You can see in the photo below how so emotionally taken these two men were with this experience. We were amazed that there are trees in Gethsemane that are still in the garden from when Jesus was here.

It was lunchtime and we loaded up in the bus, but we had a short and sweet stop before lunch. The owner, Moses, of the Inspiration Tours in Houston's 92-year old father, Gabriel, lives here in Jerusalem and every tour that comes here, he wants to meet and give gifts. He blessed the two priests with us with a Jerusalem stole and wooden Jerusalem cross and he had special medals made, that were unlike anything in any store, and gave one to each person in our group. The medal has 2 fish on it from Jesus' miracle of feeding the 5000+ and 5 crosses like the Jerusalem cross. He said, "Keep it close to your hearts to remember to pray for the Christians in the Holy Land."

He was precious and said: "Thank you for coming to this spot. This is where early pilgrims came and reached the top of this hill -- the city wall of old Jerusalem. Joy filled their hearts as they recited Psalm 122 "I rejoiced with those who said to me, “Let us go to the house of the Lord. Our feet are standing in your gates, Jerusalem. Jerusalem is built like a city that is closely compacted together. That is where the tribes go up—the tribes of the Lord to praise the name of the Lord according to the statute given to Israel. There stand the thrones for judgment, the thrones of the house of David. Pray for the peace of Jerusalem: “May those who love you be secure. May there be peace within your walls and security within your citadels.” For the sake of my family and friends, I will say, “Peace be within you. ”For the sake of the house of the Lord our God, I will seek your prosperity." He went on to say, "Thank you for having the courage to come to this spot of the world in spite of what you've been seeing in the news. Thank you for putting your trust in the Lord. Remember to pray. Prayer means PEACE. Receive a PIECE of the Lord and receive the PEACE of the Lord. Elohim (God) is in Jerusalem in all these holy places. An empty tomb is here to prove He is alive. Now, you say "The empty tomb and I have Him alive in me!" Gabriel certainly blessed us with his love and generosity.

We headed to the restaurant owned by our tour guide's uncle (his father's brother), Askadinya Restaurant. It was delicious -- lots of salads and chicken and rice! We have been fed so well!

After lunch we went to the chapel of the Franciscans for our Mass and communion. It wasn't the Upper Room, but we celebrated as though it were. The Upper Room is where Jesus and His disciples had their Last Supper together and that is when Jesus' instituted communion for us. How sweet was God's presence today. We were encouraged to renew our commitment to our Lord, and without hesitation, I'm quite sure we've been renewing our commitment every time we enter these holy places.

Then we went to the Dormition Abbey, a German Roman Catholic Church and Benedictine Abbey that is dedicated to the place where Mary, Mother of Jesus, passed away.

Then we went to The Upper Room, but in reality, no one really knows exactly where that is, but this is the agreed upon most acceptable location. We celebrated that the Upper Room is where Jesus showed Himself to be the greatest servant of all.

Our pilgrimage then took us to the Saint-Peter-in-Gallicantu Church which is built in the slopes of Mount Zion. According to tradition, this was the place of the palace of high priest Caiaphas, where Jesus was brought to jail after his arrest. Its name (Gallicantu, means the cock's crow) is given after the story of Peter's triple denial of Christ and the cock crowing twice.

Here it was that Jesus was dragged and flogged 39 times from Gethsemane to here. Our tour guide showed us what that looked like in these photos, and lastly they dumped him into this pit and continued to flog and beat him. I scarce can take this all in as I have watched movies of Christ's torture and death, but to be here where it happened, is overwhelming. You'll see the steps here that Jesus had to take. How befitting that we sang, "Were you there when they crucified my Lord?"

Tomorrow, we will arise at 4:15 am to go to the Via Delorosa -- the path to Calvary. My heart is full of love for my Lord and Savior. Indescribable, uncontainable love -- He put the stars in the sky and was willing to suffer and die for me.

Thank You Lord for my salvation.

The City of Peace -- Jerusalem!! Shalom!!

Early yesterday morning, we bade farewell to the awe-inspiring region of Galilee -- where our Lord spent so much time in His ministry. Honestly, my mind can hardly take it in that our Lord and His followers walked everywhere or took a boat across the sea, or, in the case of Mary and Joseph, walked and rode a donkey. BTW -- our tour guide, who has lived in Israel all his life, knows just about everything there is to know about this country, and then some. We know he knows the truth and real facts about every holy place. He says "It's like your family. You pass family traditions down from one generation to the next. So it is from Jesus' day." He said it probably took 11 or more days for Mary and Joseph to get from Nazareth to Bethlehem (and that was in her final weeks of her pregnancy)!

Ladies, do you remember what it was like when you were expecting -- the swollen feet, indigestion, tummies so big we couldn't see over them to see our feet, and, more importantly, we didn't travel anywhere in our final weeks of pregnancy, because we needed the comfort and safety of our obstetrician and the hospital., But, Mary and Joseph took to the dry, dusty roads and paths to Bethlehem -- and, Lord have mercy -- on a donkey! And, here we were -- riding a luxury, air conditioned, with plush seats, motorcoach and our 2 hour drive to Jerusalem, feeling a little cramped. Lord, have mercy! (That's what our tour guide says often! LOL!)

Our first stop today was the town of Cana, the birthplace of Jesus' first miracle -- turning the water into wine at a wedding in Cana. Here's the story that came to life for us yesterday, from John 2: "On the third day, there was a wedding. It took place at Cana in Galilee. Jesus' mother was there. Jesus and His disciples had also been invited to the wedding. When the wine was gone, Jesus' mother said to Him "They have no more wine." "Dear woman, why do you bring Me into this?" Jesus replied. "My time is not yet come". His mother said to the servants, "Do what He tells you." Our tour guide said "Jesus said "My time is not yet come" because He knew the sword would soon pierce His mother's heart once His official ministry began. That made so much sense. But this was the place of His first miracle.

We went into the chapel where all the couples on this pilgrimage were able to renew their wedding vows. It was so beautiful.

I was so happy for them. Fr Paul said, "What have you done lately for your marriage? The sacrament of marriage is your icon to the faithfulness of God and each other. Jesus laid down His life for you, and so you should for each other. He said, "Greater love has no one than this that you lay down your lives for one another." John 15:13

From that sweet time watching these precious couples say "I do" once again, we made our way to Nazareth, the place of the annunciation to Mary in her hometown and then the Holy Family's hometown and home.

The Basilica of the Annunciation that was built over the cave/stone building and home where, after the angel appeared, Mary said "I am the handmaid of the Lord, Be it unto me according to your word." It was a blessing to hear our tour guide also give credit to Joseph for his yeses. He said, "yes" to the angel when he was told to marry Marry, even if he wasn't responsible for her pregnancy. He said "yes" to going to Bethlehem, He said, "yes" to going to Egypt to hide his new baby boy and he said "yes" to raising his son and teaching him his trade and how to care for his mother. Now, God's annunciation is directed at us. Mary was given free will. She submitted to God's will.

She was willing to give herself fully to God. The Messenger, Gabriel, gave the message to Mary and she gave birth to THE MESSENGER! Now, we carry THE MESSENGER inside us and He asks us to be His MESSENGERS. The answer for our world is Jesus. The holy family's home remains are also in Nazareth. It is amazing to place our feet on this holy ground.

Then we drove through the Valley of Jezreel to Mount Tabor, (aka The Mount of Transfiguration) where in Luke 9:35, it is told that God said to the disciples from the cloud, "This is my beloved Son, whom I have chosen; listen to him." Sounds like the same words that Mary said to the servers at the wedding "Do whatever He tells you to do!" I'll end my post for today to say, "Perhaps we should heed Mary's words and God's words for ultimate success and ultimate pleasing our Father...let's listen to Him and His words Indeed, we are standing on holy ground and His presence is here with us all around.

We

drove for two hours to Jerusalem where we'll stay until we go home on Saturday, When I walked into my room, I saw these word is on the decorative pillows on my bed. It says "Jerusalem Dream". How befitting, because Jerusalem has been in my dreams for a very long time and I am LIVING THE DREAM!

Tomorrow is Christmas Day in all our hearts as we head to Bethlehem. Merry Christmas from Jerusalem!