From Jerusalem to Upland

It is, to be precise, 40 miles by Sherut from Jerusalem to Ben Gurion Airport in Lod, Israel, 7,000 airmiles from Ben Gurion to Indy by way of Philly, and about 75 miles by shuttle from Indy to Cracker Barrel just off I-69 at Exit 59. That all transpired during a time frame beginning 7:00PM Sunday night in Jerusalem and ending 12:30PM Monday Eastern Standard Time at Cracker Barrel, in good old Upland, Indiana. It took just over 24 hours to travel that distance. Amazing! Seven time zones and literally a world apart! We left with the temperatures daily in the 70's and were welcomed by a frigid 12 degrees. But we don't mind. It's good to be home!

Our dear friends, Tim and Pat Kirkpatrick, met us at Cracker Barrel with our car. Then they invited us for a bite to eat and Dwight and Karin Jessup, more dear friends, joined us. What a special welcome home!

It's going to take a few days to readjust to being home. Lots of errands and projects in order to catch up for missed days. Christmas decorations and shopping head the list since both our daughter and family and son and wife are coming for brief holiday visits. It will be great to be together once again.

So much has been experienced in the Holy Land. So much more that I wanted to convey to readers of this blog. Please be patient. I do indeed have a few more blogs planned about insights and observations on our time in haaretz (Hebrew word meaning "the land") This is the favored expression by Isrealis to refer to their country. You don't need to specify which land; for them there can only be one land, THE LAND, the land that the LORD himself described as "the most beautiful of all lands" (Ezkiel 20:6). Our recent visit has further strengthened our special affection for this unique land.

May all my readers have a wonderful Christmas!

"So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David. He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child. While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son." (Luke 2:4-6).