Unless the Lord Builds the House

This week Teri and I joined about 3500 others from around the world for the 61st annual National Prayer Breakfast.  It was great to get to know the Oklahoma delegation (mostly from Tulsa it turns out) and to connect with an eclectic group of business leaders, politicians and spiritual leaders who have come together to lift up the name of Jesus and to come together for prayer for our country.  How great to be in one place with a wide community of believers from all over the world.  Here are a few of my takeaways from the actual prayer breakfast and from some of the events surrounding it.

The first observation I would make is that in Washington D.C. there is an overwhelming sense of unshakeable and unrelenting power.  When you walk among those gigantic marble buildings with their huge pillars and Greco-Roman statutes looking down from above, you get the idea they will stand forever.  They seem unmoveable and steadfast.  Of course this is exactly what they are meant to communicate and there is a sense that as Americans we want to believe in the stability and sustainability of our institutions.  But there is also the unsteady sense that the government "by the people and for the people" can easily become more about power and less about people.  The architecture here in Washington communicates bigness and therefore by contrast communicates how small you are in comparison.

But our founding fathers mistrusted the power of government as a matter of philosophical conviction and first hand experience.  George Washington put it succinctly,

Government is not reason, it is not eloquence - it is force.  Like fire, it is a dangerous servant and a fearsome master.

His words are both a warning and a lesson.

The warning is that each of us as citizens has a responsibility to participate in our government so as to keep it in check.  "A democracy is dependent upon an informed electorate"  Dr. Benjamin Carson reminded the audience on Thursday morning at the main event.  

The lesson is that there is no guarantee that our personal freedoms will always be preserved.  The role of government is to protect and insure individual liberty and to uphold the rule of law. When government functions in this way it is an enormous blessing.  When it fails to do this it is a horrible curse.  The reason government is a dangerous servant is because it is by it's very nature hungry for power.  It has an enormous appetite that can seem impossible to satisfy.  Scripture teaches us to have both respect and fear for government. 

There is a warning found in the story of the Israelites. The original migration of the children of Isaac into Egypt was to seek protection, security and grain.  But it only took a few generations before the entire nation was living in slavery. The Bible is warning us that a just and orderly government that protects and feeds it's people may only be a few generations away from becoming it's fearsome master.  

But just as our government can become a fearsome master, it can also become a worthless servant.  We had dinner on our last night with a pastor from Liberia Africa who gave me a succinct and dramtic illustration of this very truth.  He told us that his country was originally founded by freed slaves who desired to bring biblical principles to bear on a new country in their homeland.  But in just one generation the government had become so corrupt a civil war broke out and large numbers of people were swept into the violence.  This tiny African nation has been plagued by one inept government after another resulting in civil wars, violence, pestilence and death.  

The pastor came from a poor family that lived in a remote village.  His single mother did what she could to protect her children but in the end she was beaten to death by revolutionaries while her children were off at school.  As he talked of the horrors he and his family has suffered I couldn't help but think of what a wonder it has been to live in a place where I have never felt the unsettling fear that my government was not functioning to the degree that it could hold up the rule of law.  It is truly a precious gift that must be protected and valued.  

As Christians we are to seek to spread the gospel and to bring about His redemptive work to those who are weak and powerless.  But we are also to remember that we are stewards over what God has given us as citizens of this country.  

The second observation I would make is that the genius of our government is not so much in it's structure but in the process that keeps it in check.  Our governmental system is absolutely dependent upon an electorate that is both educated and moral.  Walking around the halls of congress and in the library of congress I was struck by all the symbols representing the philosophies and ideals that have shaped our understanding of justice and morality.   

For instance, there are 33 relief portrait plagues that surround the hallowed hall of the House of Representatives each representing various men of history who have influenced the formation of our system of law.  In the front of the room above the elevated desk of the Speaker of the House is the marble engraving "In God We Trust".  

Each of the engraved portraits are profiles facing toward the center of the room, all looking toward the center portrait. The center portrait is the only one that is not a profile but is looking forward toward the front of the room, facing the speakers chair.  It is the face of Moses.  

The affect of the symbolism of the design of the room is clear:  all of our laws have emulated from the Ten Commandments.  

The architects and designers of this grand hall had a core belief as did the architects of our constitution that this republic could only thrive if those who participated in it had a moral conviction that was guided by a strong belief in a higher authority.  Without a strong sense of morality and divine goodness there is no particular reason to conform to societal law.   

Much more important than the laws written into constitutional archives and congressional records, are the laws that are written onto the human heart that coincide with our understanding of His sense of justice and truth. (Jeremiah 31:33)  

Because I had spent some time in the weeks prior to my trip to Washington touring around ancient Roman ruins all over Israel I had a unique historical context.  The empire of Rome once seemed to be indestructible, immovable and unchangeable.  

But today those ruins are a testimony to the frailty of human institutions. The Roman empire was conquered not by military might but by moral decay.  So walking among those magnificent buildings and looking up at those tremendous symbols of our nations splendor and might with the memory of ancient Roman close at hand I couldn't help but think of Psalms 127:1:

Unless the Lord builds the house it's builders labor in vain.  Unless the Lord watches over the city, the watchman stand guard in vain. 

Piper on How God Used MLK to Change Us

I remember the first time I heard Martin Luther King's "I Have a Dream" speech.   I was in my first year at seminary in Fort Worth and went to the library and checked out the tape and listened to it for a class I was taking. Keep in mind this was way before the internet when audios like this were a click away.   The speech was not readily available- you had to look for it and find a tape recording of it.  Fortunately, I had access to an extensive seminary library that had a large media section.  I had not heard the speech before in it's entirety.  They would not allow me to take it out of the library so I sat down at one of the school tape players with headphones and clicked play.

 I was mesmerized.

I listened to it over and over again.  It was one of those experiences that convinced me of how God can use the gift of communication to change the course of societies.  MLK was a man for his time and he was used mightily.  Regardless of what you might think of his politics or theology, God used him to change our nation forever.

I enjoyed reading John Piper's thoughts on King today:

The racial world I grew up in and the one we live in today are amazingly different. Racism remains in many forms in America and around the world. But in the days of my youth the segregation was almost absolute and the defense of it was overt and ugly, without shame.

• In 1954, seventeen states required segregated public schools;                
• In 1956, 85% of all white southerners rejected the statement, “White students and Negro students should go to the same schools”;                
• 73% said that there should be “separate sections for Negros on streetcars and buses”;               
• 62% did not want a Negro “with the same income and education” as them to move into their neighborhood;                
• In 1963, 82% of all white southerners opposed a federal law that would give “all persons, Negros well as white, the right to be served in public places such as hotels, restaurants, and similar establishments”; 
• And in 1952 (when I was six years old), only 20% of southern blacks of voting age were registered to vote. 

The upshot of those statistics was an unjust, unsafe, condescending, unwelcoming, demeaning, and humiliating world for blacks. Have you ever paused to ask yourself what separate water fountains and separate restrooms could possibly mean except: You are unclean — like lepers. It was an appalling world. 

Between that racially appalling world and this racially imperfect one strode Martin Luther King. We don’t know if the world would have changed without him, but we do know he was a rod in the hand of God. Leave aside his theology and his moral flaws. He was used in the mighty hand of Providence to change the world so that the most appalling, blatant, degrading, public expressions of racism have gone away. 

For that, this MLK day is worthy of our thankful reckoning. 

Martin Luther King, Jr. gave his life to change the world. And toward the end he was increasingly aware that “the Movement” would cost him his life. The night before he was assassinated by James Earl Ray outside room 306 of the Lorraine Motel in Memphis on April 4, 1968, he preached at the Bishop Charles Mason Temple. He had come to Memphis to support the black sanitation workers. 

His message came to be called “I’ve Been to the Mountaintop.” He began it by surveying world history in response to God's question: “When would you have liked to be alive?” King answered, “If you allow me to live just a few years in the second half of the twentieth century, I will be happy.” Why? Because “I see God working in this period of the twentieth century in a way that men in some strange way are responding. Something is happening in our world.” 

What was happening? “We are determined to be men. We are determined to be people.” We are standing up. “A man can't ride your back unless it is bent.” For a brief window of time — just long enough — MLK was able to use his voice to restrain violence and overcome hate: “We are masters in our nonviolent movement in disarming police forces. 

They don't know what to do.” He kindled a kind of fire that no dogs could quench and no fire hoses could put out.

It was “a dangerous kind of unselfishness.” Like the Good Samaritan. “The Levite asked, ‘If I stop to help this man, what will happen to me?’ But the Good Samaritan reversed the question: ‘If I do not stop to help this man, what will happen to him?’ That's the question before you tonight.” 

A dangerous unselfishness. 

So dangerous it would cost MLK his life. And he saw it coming. That morning there was a bomb threat on his plane from Atlanta to Memphis. He felt it coming. So he closed his sermon prophetically:

We’ve got some difficult days ahead. But it really doesn’t matter with me now, because I’ve been to the mountaintop. And I don’t mind. Like anybody, I would like to live a long life — longevity has its place. But I'm not concerned about that now. I just want to do God’s will. And He’s allowed me to go up to the mountain. And I’ve looked over, and I’ve seen the Promised Land. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight, that we, as a people, will get to the Promised Land. And so I’m happy tonight; I’m not worried about anything; I’m not fearing any man. Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord.

Ten hours later he was dead. My world was changed forever. And I am thankful.

Radical Growth

This coming Sunday my new book "Radical Growth" will be available at CRBC.

As a pastor I’ve struggled to find a concise and effective way of explaining the process of spiritual growth.  How does one know when he or she is spiritually mature?  What does maturity look like?  How does a person graduate into the fullness in Christ the Bible describes?  The problem, I’ve come to realize, is that spiritual growth is not a stagnant process at all.  There is no well-defined beginning, middle and ending to the procedure of Christian maturity.   It is a process that happens more organically than organizationally.  It doesn’t occur as the result of a well-organized structured program.   It is more metamorphosis than methodology.  

I have found that spiritual growth occurs in much the same way a child grows into adulthood.  There are signs along the way that growth is happening, but the process itself is dynamic and gradual.  There are spurts of growth that occur as the result of circumstances or seasons that can’t be defined or neatly understood and in the same way there are regressions and setbacks that make one wonder if growth will ever occur at all.

            

The most common language the Bible uses to describe the Christian life is biological language.  I believe there is a significant reason for this.  I believe the Bible is teaching us that just as our physical growth is dynamic and organic, our spiritual growth has the same characteristic.  That is the purpose of this book.  It applies biblical language to describe this maturing process and discusses the basic beliefs, disciplines and virtues of the Christian life that are essential to that process.

It describes the five specific terms and biblical metaphors scripture uses in this kind of growth process.  The terms are “seed”, “soil”, “root”, “vine” and “fruit”.  These biological metaphors describe the life cycle that occurs naturally in physical nature and how they apply to our spiritual growth, and therefore are helpful in understanding how we are to grow in Christ. 

            
The process is what I call “radical growth” because the term "radical" means "rooted".  I believe this is the most effective way to describe this dynamic growth process. It is the kind of growth that occurs as a result of the believers rootedness in the doctrines, disciplines and virtues of the faith.  But it describes not so much a discipleship method as it does the biblical principles related to our natural spiritual growth.   My purpose in this book is not to give simply the literal applications to the meanings of these words, but to draw our attention to the larger categories they each describe.   This book can be used as a path to personal discipleship or as one on one or group Bible Study.  Each chapter utilizes specific scripture references and each section of the book comes with a list of discussion questions.  

The book will be available online and at amazon.com soon but if you would like an advance copy email me at info@councilroad.org and I will be glad to send you a copy.

An Anchor To My Soul

Our final day in Israel was spent in the garden tomb.  This is the non traditional site that many evangelicals believe could have been the actual place of Jesus' burial.  Those who have bought into this idea point to a mountain face that is not far from here that looks very much like a human skull, which would explain why it was called "golgotha"- the place of the skull.

And indeed it does look like a skull.  You can stand at the edge of the garden site and stare at the  rock face and see clearly what looks like two eye sockets, a nose and mouth.  Maybe this was not the original place of the skull, but it certainly looks like it now.

That mountain today overlooks a very busy transit bus station and ironically is an ancient Muslim burial ground where many of the "heroes" from the siege of Jerusalem by Salidin in 1187 are buried.  A huge stone fence was recently erected around the site that now stands above the skull with a newly in-scripted sign that reads "There is only one God and Muhammad is his prophet" in Arabic.

There is little doubt in my mind that this sign has been deliberately placed there as a way to send a message to the tens of thousands of Christian believers who flock to the Garden Tomb every year.  They have put their fence at the very place where many Christians believe Jesus might have been crucified.

Our guide explains to us that this place was uncovered in the 19th century by the British explorer General Charles Gordon, who first reported seeing a rock face that was shaped like a skull.  After digging around the area subsequent excavations uncovered a beautifully intact first century tomb that was surrounded by many indicators pointing to a first century garden.  For instance, there is a large wine press and wine storage that indicates that this was once a garden for a very wealthy family.  All of that evidence squares nicely with the biblical account found in John 19:41:

"Now near the place of the skull was a garden and in the garden a new tomb in which no one had yet been laid."

The entire garden is beautifully manicured by British evangelicals who have constructed several areas for groups to come here and worship and meditate and enjoy the grounds.  Unfortunately on the day we were here the weather did not cooperate.  In fact, at one point we were hit with heavy rain and even small hail.  But the weather cleared up enough for us to spend time at the tomb and see the grounds.

I really want this to be the place they say it is.  My head tells me the actual spot is probably at the traditional site at the goddy Church of the Sepulcher, but my heart tells me it could be here.   My heart wants it to be here.  It is peaceful where the traditional church is chaotic.  Seven different denominations regularly fight over various parts of the Church of the Sepulcher.  The fiasco is so out of control that years ago the Israeli government stepped in and gave the keys to the building to a Muslim family to take the responsibility of opening the place up.

But this place is quiet.  It is worshipful and serene.

We spent about thirty minutes in a small chapel for a time of worship and participating together in the Lord's Supper.  We shared together what aspects of the trip really touched us.  It was interesting to hear how various sites along the way had impacted people differently.  It reminded me that we are all very different but one body.  We were all one group experiencing this trip at the same time and the same places and yet each individual had their own very personal and significant experience with the Lord.  Our group was very diverse and from many different walks of life and ages and personalities, and yet we really had formed a community together and very much enjoyed a special kind of unity.

It reminded me of the insignia that has been found on the outside of the garden tomb that dates back to the fourth or fifth century A.D.  It is believed that some early believers must have met here and perhaps even had some kind of church or chapel near the tomb.  The insignia was carved into the rock face of the tomb- a cross made into the shape of an anchor.   Those early believers used this symbol as a kind of confession.  They had come to see that the crucifixion event as being like an anchor.  It is I think a direct correlation of Hebrews 6:19:

We have this hope as an anchor for our soul, firm and secure... our forerunner Jesus has entered on our behalf..."

This cross, this empty tomb, this truth we bear witness to by coming here and seeing it for ourself, has become for us an anchor of hope.  Of all the symbols I have seen graven into stone here in Israel, this is my favorite.

In our group we have many who have suffered terrible loss.  Some who had recently lost loved ones.  A couple of recent widows; two young adults still reeling from the loss of their father; a cancer survivor; a family whose grandparents recently died and left them the money to go on this trip; an elderly couple who recently buried their son.

Our group of fellow travelers had traveled a very difficult and sometimes cruel path before embarking on this journey.   And all of us had experienced together more than just the ground upon which the prophets, Jesus and the disciples had walked, but the grounds upon which our faith has been anchored.  He has done more than walk and die here, He has entered in on our behalf.  He has taken our suffering onto Himself.

And that is the reality that anchors our soul.

Prayer from the garden tomb:  Lord God you have taken us on a remarkable journey these past 10 days together.  We have seen wonderful and beautiful places that are that way to us because this is the land that you chose to enter in so that we could find a way.  We have come here to retrace your steps and yet we have found something more.  We have seen that these places are not the thing itself, but are particularly significant to us because they remind us of that thing.  They point us to what is most important to us.  And that is that you came to this earth and walked on this ground and lived among men and died a sinners death on a bloody cross and with that most significant event in human history you entered in where none of us could.  And because you were willing to walk the walk we should have walked and die the death we should have died and take the curse we should have taken, we are given the right to be called the righteousness of God.  It is that reality that has become for us an anchor to our soul, the grounds for our faith.  Amen.

Jesus Is The New And Better Temple

Today was a full day of touring Jerusalem. We started at the archeological site exposing the steps leading up to the Hulda Gate that was the main entrance into the temple area on the southern side. The site is literally covered in ritual baths. The significance of this is that the sheer numbers of baths leading up to the temple reveals that the temple could have handled tens of thousands of people at once, all who would have needed ceremonial cleansing. For many years cynics of the historical account of the advent of the church in Acts 2 made the argument that an arid Middle Eastern city like Jerusalem could not possibly have enough water in one place to handle 5,000 people being baptized at once. But with the discovery of this site biblical scholars realized that the irrigation system put in place during the hasmonean period would have provided water to all the baths thus allowing for more than double that number to be baptized in one day. It was quite staggering to stand there in that place and think that it was the very spot where the church had it's beginning.

In spite of the steady rain we walked through old Jerusalem and retraced the steps of Jesus. One of our first stops was Bethesda pool where Jesus healed the paralytic. There is a Byzantine era church near the site called "St. Annes Church" that has such thick inner walls and high arched ceilings that the sound resonates up into the top of the majestic space above and echos back down to you in long delay. We sat in this church and sang praises and listened as the centuries old buiding sang back to us. I doubt Amazing Grace will ever sound the same to us again.

We went to more places today than I can account for in a short blog, but I want to recount for you a few places we visited that were most meaningful. The first was the Temple Mount on top of Mount Moriah. Here in the spot where it is believed Abraham sacrificed Isaac sits the famous Islamic Dome of the Rock. This is a spectacular building that is sacred to the entire Muslim world. The dome of the building is adorned in pure gold and the side in beautiful blue and white mosaics. It is one of the most recognizable buildings in all the world and is the first thing that draws your eye when you come into Jerusalem.

Walking around this area that once held the Jewish Temple and holy of holies is somewhat surreal. Here is the most contested and spiritually charged piece of real estate in all the world. Here is the one place on the planet that is exceptioanlly important to the worlds three great religions. It was not far from here that Jesus cleared the temple courtyard and chastised the sellers in the temple for defiling His father's place of worship. This was the place so meaningful and important that the religions of literally billions of people around the world compete for it's significance. Civilizations have gone to war over this space. As I walked aorund the Dome and meditated on scripture I silently gave God praise that the work of the temple has now been fulfilled in Christ. Jesus is the new and better temple. "He who knew no sin has become sin for us so that we might become the righteousness of God"; the temple is no longer needed. All of the generations of sacrifices and rituals performed on this spot are no longer needed. The curtain has been rent in two and we are invited in. This piece of real estate may have great cultural significance but in Christ the work here is done. That reality made my visit here that much more meaningful.

Another place we visited today that was particularly signficant was Antonios Colonade where Jesus was brought to trial before Pilate. The original stones are preserved in this archeological site to the degree that one can imagine the scene perfectly as Jesus was questioned by the Roman governor. This is a very nice private area to sit and read scripture and pray. Our group had meaningful worship here as we read the text and prayed together. From here we traveled down the via dolorosa and traced the steps of Christ path to the cross and then on into the ancient church that is built over the traditional site of his crucifixion and burial, the famous Church of the Holy Seplucre. This is a church of many conflicting emotions. On the one hand, one is inspired by the incredible diversity of people from all over the world who flock to this place. Hundreds of pilgrims crowded in to touch the place where it is believed Jesus' body was laid. On the other hand one is left with a kind of empty feeling at the exuberance of the religious artifacts and symbols that are amassed in this place. There is probably a higher concentration of incensed lamps, icons and adorned crosses in this one building than any other place on earth. It is the vortex of religious symbolism.

The best way I know how to describe the emotion most believers I know have when they visit this church is it's like expecting a steak dinner for a meal and instead being served a cup of rich chocolate soup. You wanted substance and instead you got syrup. Christianity is not about religion, it is about a relationship. And the death burial and resurrection of Jesus is the most deeply personal and meaningful event any of us can imagine. To see it reduced to religious show is disheartening to say the least.

But on the other hand one is grateful that the sight has been preserved. It is wonderful to think of the history of Christians commemorating this very spot down through the ages. So my feelings about this church run amok. I am simultaneously disgusted and inspired, grateful and frustrated all at once. It is for me the church of flumoxed emotions more than the church of the Holy Seplucre.

Our group endured the rain and yet was able to see most of the significant sites in all four quarters of Old City by 1:30 P.M. After a late lunch we spent the rest of the afternoon touring the Holocaust Museum. There are really no words to describe the experience of recounting in gruesome and horrifying detail the events that took place in that terrible dark blot in European history. Anyone who doubts the theology of total depravity need only to spend a couple of hours in this museam to be convinced of the horrors that reside in the sinful condition of the human heart. I walked away from that experience with the same emotions I felt on top of the Temple Mount- thankful that Jesus had paid the price.

Prayer from the Old City: Lord God as we think about this space on top of Mount Moriah we are reminded of the hundreds of years sacrifices were made at the temple and how you have become our ultimate sacrifice. You are the Lamb of God, the Yom Kippor who has taken away the sins of the world. We have retraced your steps but there is no way we can truly know your agony on the cross. As we see the religious intensity of these places we are reminded that you came not to start a religion but to make a way for us. You are the new and better temple, the fulfillment of the law, the one who takes all of the world's holocausts onto Himself. Amen.

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Up To Jerusalem

We spent today touring around the Dead Sea. Some of the most significant sites here on the Israel side of the Dead Sea are Masada, the Qomron community and the Dead Sea Scrolls caves, all of which were on our itinerary.

Our day began on the Jordan side with many in our group taking a quick dip in the Dead Sea. The choppy water and waves made it a much more exhilarating experience than normal. The Dead Sea is so thick with minerals it is virtually impossible to sink into it. You could lay on your back and read the paper all the way across the width of it if you wanted. But if the water ends up in your eyes, you probably could't read anything for a week. It was a lot of fun but I think most of us were glad to get out and on with our day.

Traveling across the border and over into Israel we came first to Masada, the site of the Israelites last stand against the Roman army in 70 A.D. This is where a radical band of Sicari Jewish militants held out against the Roman general Titus until he finally was able to build a ramp to the top only to find that all the inhabitants had committed suicide rather than to succumb to whatever the Romans might have had for them. To this day Israeli paratroopers hike to the top of Masada as a part of their swearing in ceremony and pledge, "Masada will never happen again!"

We went from the top of Masada down through the valley over to Qomron where the Dead Sea scrolls were found. We had a wonderful lunch and tour of the ruins of the ancient Essene community that had hidden the scrolls in desert caves around this site back in the time of Jesus.

From the Dead Sea we traveled up to Jerusalem. And by "up" I don't mean directionally, I mean it in the sense the Bible means it- up in trajectory. We climbed the Judaean hills along the Jericho road and then watched excitedly out our bus window as the city of David opened up in front of us. There is no way to describe the emotion most people feel as they enter Jerusalem for the first time. It is the most unique and important city in all the world. It is the holiest city for Christians and Jews and the third most important city for Muslims. It is the city that Jesus wept over in Luke 21 and Matthew 23. It is a city that has held so much power down through the centuries that entire empires have risen and fallen in an attempt to hold on to it. It is the city of Moriah, of Gilboah, of Zion and Golgotha. It is the city that was the center of most of Jesus' teaching and the place of his crucifixion. It is the place where Abraham sacrificed Isaac, where David paid the full price to Araunah the Jebusite to build the temple. No matter where one looks in Jerusalem every inch of it is filled with history. I told our group, "In the Galilee and in Jordan you experienced the wow factor; in Jerusalem it will start to get very personal."

We woke up the next morning with the city of Jerusalem engulfed in a rare storm system with 25 mile an hour winds and heavy rain. We were not willing to let anything deter us however from seeing all the sites we traveled so far to see. So like onward Christian soldiers we went to the top of the Mount of Olives and made our way down to Dominus Flavius- the church commemorating the place where Jesus wept over Jerusalem. From here we prayed for our own city, knowing that Jesus loves the city and His gospel is to go out into every dark corner. We walked from there in the pouring rain (and even a miniature fast flood down the Triumphal Entry path) into the Garden of Gethsemene. We had a special time of scripture reading, prayer and some singing in the very beautiful Church of All Nations that sits along the garden path.

It was only appropriate that we go from there to the Upper Room where Jesus celebrated the passover with his disciples and then over to the House of Caiaphas, the High Priest who held Jesus under arrest before handing him off to Pilate and execution. We had a moving time of worship inside the dungeon cell and sang together the old spiritual, "Were You There When They Crucified My Lord?"

From there we ate a quick lunch and then traveled to Bethlehem and to the Church of the Nativity, the oldest continuous church in the world. This is a church that dates back to the early centuries and is one of the most popular churches in the world. On the day of our visit the Orthodox church was celebrating Christmas day so the entire building was packed with pilgrims from around the world. It was an awesome experience to be there with Christians from Eastern Europe, Asia, and the Palestinian Territory. We went down into the dave where Jesus was born and sang together Silent Night. As we sang the entire crowd around us grew silent, some even joined in with us as they recognized the tune. It was an amazing picture of the vast reach of the church around the world.

Prayer from Jerusalem and Bethlehem: Lord God, our hearts are moved by what we have seen and experienced today. We have no words to describe the emotion we feel as we look out over the city of David, the city you wept over. How our hearts are moved by being in Jerusalem. How moving it has been to be in the place of your birth. Though we know these are only places and are nothing compared to actual faith, to be here has moved and enhanced our faith. We pray for the people of Bethlehem. We pray for the peace of Jerusalem even as we pray for our own city and for the strengthening of your gospel around the world.

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The Rock Struck

After a short time in Nebo our group traveled down to the shores of the Dead Sea and checked in to our hotel. Like many hotels in this area this one specializes in "therapeutics". People flock to this part of Jordan from all over the world to find healing from the medicinal qualities found in the minerals and sea salts from this very unique body of water.

The Dead Sea is unique for multiple reasons. To begin with, it is literally the lowest point on earth at approximately 1300 feet below sea level. Additionally,because the Dead Sea has water flowing into it from the Jordan and other tributaries from around the desert mountains and no outlet flows out of it, the minerals and salts that are deposited here stay here. After just a few hours of being around the sea you can taste the salt on your lips and tongue and feel it layered on your skin and clothes. One quick dip in the water will result in a smooth film on your skin that makes you feel as if you've bathed in body lotion. It's not hard to imagine Lot's wife turning into a salt pile not far from here as you get the feeling you might turn into a pillar of salt if you stay too long.

The result of this unique environment is a multi-billion dollar industry as minerals like potash, magnesium, bromine, basalt and many different varieties of skin lotions and medicines are harvested from here. So much is being taken from the Dead Sea, however, that the water is declining several feet each year. To remedy this the Jordanian and Israeli governments are embarking on a joint venture to pipe water from the Red Sea into the Dead so as to raise the level back up. One has to wonder what that might do to the unique qualities of the minerals here however.

The next morning January 5 our group departed early and traveled along the desert highway up into the mountains past the famous crusader castle of Karak toward Petra. Jordan is traversed by three famous and ancient roads that have important biblical significance; the spice road, the via mara and the kings highway. Karak is one of two important crusader castles along the kings highway established in the 13th century by the Latin Kingdom based out of Jerusalem.

The other castle is Showback, near where our church has sponsored a dig of an ancient Edomite village. For those of you who are interested in crusader history, Karak castle was the base of operations for the natorious prince Reginald whose wreckless and senseless murders of Muslim caravans traveling near his castle raised the ire of the Kurdish Sultan Salidin who united the Muslim tribes from Edessa to Mosul to Cairo to cast out the Jerusalem kingdom. The movie "Kingdom of God" was based on the events that took place as a result.

We continued along the desert road onto the kings highway and on to the spectacular ruins of Petra made famous by the original "Indaina Jones" movie. Ancient Petra was the seat of the Nabatean kingdom that existed in Roman times. Our guide explains that the first Arab Christians who came into the church at Pentecost were Nabatean. There are remnants of those first Christians all over the Middle East especially in Iraq, Syria, Turkey and Jordan, all of whom still speak the Aramaic language of Jesus and the disciples that is today known as "Assyrian".

Somewhere in the mountains surrounding Petra it is believed that Moses struck the rock in the wilderness to quench the thirst of the Israelites. As I look at the beautiful blood red rocks here I am reminded of that passage in which God told Moses to strike the rock where His presence dwelt, a direct foreshadowing of the event several hundred years later when Jesus would be lifted up on another rock and take the blow for our sin. He is the one who shed His blood for us and from whom the water of life flows. He is the rock struck.

Our group enjoyed walking through the spectacular beauty and spender of Petra, one of the modern wonders of the world. This is where the Nabateans chiseled breathtakingly beautiful sculptures in the massive sandstone cliffs and later the Romans came and constructed magnificent temples and theaters as well. Petra definitely has the wow factor. The whole time you are in this place you look up all around you and say "wow". There is nothing quite like it in all the world.

One of the really great sites in Petra is the remains of a byzantine era church. After Chrisitanity took over the Roman empire, Petra became a Christian city with beautfiful churches. The mosaics here resemble those found in Madaba. We spent a little over three hours here and concluded our trip with a camel ride out as a way to get the genuine bedhoin experience.

Prayer from Petra: Lord God we are in awe at the beauty of your creation as we look around and see the various colors in these sand stone rocks. But we are more in awe at the wonder of your love that sent you to the cross. You are the Rock Struck, the One who has quinched our thirst and who we come to when we are thristy. Fountains of living water come from your presence. This is a thirsty and dry land that reminds us of how we need you. We pray for the bedhoin people who live all around the Middle East. May the gospel come back into this land and flow out of here to every dry place.

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