Day 2

Day 1 of Touring, Tuesday May 15th This morning we had breakfast at our hotel, which the only meat was all beef hot dogs, since most other breakfast meats are from pigs (non-kosher). We are staying in Jerusalem all week using it as a jumping off point for touring Jerusalem and the surrounding areas. First we went to a few high points to get a layout of the city and got the "big picture" of the history of Jerusalem. We went to the location of the Pool of Bethesda and read John 5:1-17 -look it up :) We still needed to use your imagination at the site since the conquering people built over old buildings. At the Pool of Bethesda, there were Byzantine ruins on top of the un-excavated sections of the Pools, but it was still great to see. Reading the story in John 5, it still shocks me on how ungrateful the invalid man was to Jesus. He seems sarcastic or bitter when answering Jesus’s question and then after he was healed, he tattled on Jesus to the Jews. How do you and I react to blessings from God? Side note: Also at that location was a church that had excellent acoustics. We learned it is best to sing deep and slow to enjoy the echo. We visited the church of the Holy Sepulcre, which is the probable location of Jesus’s crucifixion and burial. I hadn’t really thought about the fact the crucifixion and the burial place would be fairly close together but they theoretically would have been since they would have had a lot of time to bury Jesus. A church was built over the site which had all lot of relics, so I didn’t feel a connection to the site personally but it was interesting to learn about and just be in that location. According to my handy dandy pedometer, we walked about 6 miles today. So between that and the lingering jet lag, I think I’m going to sleep superb tonight. -HeidiPS Unfortunately, we are taking most of our pictures with our camera, not our ipod, and we forgot our camera cord, so there isn't a whole not of pictures to post yet. We'll try to do better tomorrow. The picture that is posted is of the city wall showing Jaffa Gate that goes around old Jerusalem. The wall was built in 1540 AD.

Israel - Day 1

We made our flight to Philadelphia with no problems. Since we have a few hours in Philadelphia before we jump on our plane to Israel, I thought I'd write about what's on my mind. First, Philly cheese steaks are delicious, even in airports. On a more spiritual note though, Heidi and I are incredibly excited about going to Israel to (among other things) walk where Jesus walked. Today in church our pastor, David Daniels, spent a few minutes talking about what it meant to be a disciple. He talked about how the disciples of a rabbi would sleep in the same room as the rabbi, wake up when the rabbi awoke, eat when the rabbi ate, and do what the rabbi did. While we aren't able to completely identify with the disciples, because that was Israel 2000 years ago and not today, we hope that our trip to Israel will give us a better glimpse of the context of the Scriptures. Our hope is that many insights will arise as we travel throughout Israel and follow in the footsteps of Jesus and observe the locations and meditate on the Scriptures that connect our trip with the events of the Bible. Are you following the footsteps of Christ? Not literally! This is a once in a lifetime (if that) opportunity for most people. But just because you're living 2000 years after Christ and in a different location doesn't mean you're exempt from following in the figurative footsteps of the rabbi, Jesus Christ. Are you committing your life to be a disciple of Christ? Jesus said in Matthew 16:24 (among other places) that anyone who wants to be his disciples, "must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me(Jesus)." How are you lining up with the footsteps of Christ? The best way to make this happen is by radically giving your life over to Christ and being a fully devoted follower, but sometimes the best way to make that happen is to start taking one step closer to Christ. We'd love for you all to be following the figurative footsteps of Christ as we follow His literal footsteps.

Graduation

Graduation day! TJ graduated from Dallas Theological Seminary (DTS) today, in just 3 short years. He does have a summer class he is working on, but for today we aren't going to think about that. Our time in Dallas has been great and seminary has been amazing and if you're reading this, you're probably interested in our next endeavor. We've moved all our stuff to Michigan and we're about to fly out to Israel for a 3 week class on the biblical, geographical, and historical study of Israel. We'll try to keep these short and we hope to cite some Bible passages if you want to read where we've gone and how it relates to the history written about in the Bible. Feel free to ask questions or post comments. We like to here that others are reading this! :)

P.S. Heidi made a map of where we're going. We thought we'd add it so that you can have a general idea of where we're at when we post a city name and you don't have to look it up on google every time. We hope you enjoy our blog!

I am glad that winter is here, though I do believe 4 weeks of 100 degree temps over the summer has sissified me so my tolerance of cold isn't as high as it used to be.
TJ and I used our new 6 flags season pass to go to "holiday lights at the park" with some friends last weekend. Roller coasters at night in 30 to 40 degree temps are a little cold :) The first ride we were in line for, we saw someone on the ride loose their keys while they were upside down, into the mechanical part of the ride. I was then worried about our keys for the rest of the night.
TJ only has to survive one more week of classes, before Christmas break. I think he'll make it... probably :)
Merry Christmas!!

Arlington, TX

Hey yall! TJ and I just moved to Arlington, TX. It is about 25 minutes away from where we were in Dallas. We moved so we could be closer to our church (Pantego Bible) where TJ and I are working in the student ministry.
I love our new apartment. We have a washer and dryer in our apartment, and we have a community pool. It has been really nice to now be only 10 minutes away from church.
TJ had a rough summer, just because he had a lot going on. He started an internship at our church. He took a 2 greek classes and 2 church history class in the summer semester, and just this Monday he finished his greek class by turning in a 15 page paper. He now has 2 weeks off of school before he starts up in the fall. I'm so proud of him. If he keeps taking the amount of schooling he has been, he will be finished in the winter or spring of 2012 (which would only be 3 years instead of 4).
The temperature has been in the 100's all this week. I'm going to be so glad when fall comes!

Texas State Fair

Not much new going on since our last post except we went to the fair. The fried coke was terribly disappointing. It was donut holes that apparently had coke in them with a thick coke sauce over, even the cool whip wasn’t good. However the tornado taters where delicious which is thinly sliced potatoes that are fried with cheese sauce which tasted like a mixture of potatoes chips and French fries.
We had some native Dallas friends show us around and we had a lot of fun. We saw Big Tex and a whole lot of people eating fried turkey legs (no utensils just holding it with their bare hands and biting into it.).

Home in Dallas, TX

TJ and I are a settling into a routine with TJ’s studying and my working at home. TJ is still really enjoying his classes, and from what I can see is learning a lot. Working at home is going good. I have my days where I get annoyed with not being actually onsite at the shop to see or explain things, but overall it is going well, which is excellent, since I haven’t gotten a job in Dallas yet. God is taking care of us.
We found a church that I think we’ll be joining and we joined small group with 4 other couples from DTS (Dallas Theological Seminary). We invited our small group over to our little apartment for dinner. It was crowded and I’m sure were overly loud for our downstairs neighbor, but it was a lot of fun. I glad we are getting to know people.
So the big happening in Texas is the month long state fair in Dallas, which started last week. I haven’t gone yet but we are planning on it. They are famous for their mascot, a 52’ tall man named “Big Tex”, and their fried food. The new one is fried butter this year, but fried coke is very popular also. The fried butter just grosses me out but I’m going to try the fried coke and let you know exactly what that is.
-The picture is of TJ, Jessie (my sister), and Tom (my brother-in-law). We are playing Risk 2210AD which is an excellent game of taking over the world after nuclear fallout. I won…..almost. Jessie and Tom moved to Houston the same time we moved to Dallas. And we get to see them again next weekend!!