Thank you all who followed me on this journey of remembering my semester in Israel. It’s been a joy to pull out old journals and emails, relive many of these moments, and learn some new lessons along the way.

If you ever get the chance to travel to Israel, do it! I’d love to go back, and for Natalie and the kids to see it someday. Israel is a land like no other. Walking its paths will transform your understanding of the Bible. I don’t think I could ever get enough of this place.

For anyone interested, here’s a complete list of blog posts describing my IBEX adventures.

January 22 – Israel…25 Years Later
January 23 – Flying to Israel
January 26 – Arrived in Israel
January 27 – First Visit to Jerusalem
January 28 – Meals at the Moshav
January 29 – Notes from Jerusalem Assembly
January 30 – City View and Chilly Weather
January 31 – Snow Day in Israel
February 4 – Everyday Life in Israel
February 5 – Visiting the Temple Mount
February 6 – Meeting the Locals
February 8 – Solomon’s Stables
February 10 – Benjamin
February 12 – Multi-cultural Worship
February 18 – All Roads Lead to Jerusalem
February 19 – Walking in the Footsteps of Abraham and David
February 24 – Samaria
February 27 – We Dig Israel
March 1 – Preparing for Egypt
March 3 – Cairo
March 4 – Aswan
March 5 – Luxor
March 6 – Valley of the Kings
March 7 – Egyptian Treasure
March 12 – Hezekiah’s Tunnel
March 16 – Lavish Prairies of the Shephelah
March 17 – Western Wall Tunnel
March 19 – Papal Pilgrimage and Purim Party
March 23 – Negev Day One – Beersheba and Nahal Zin
March 24 – Negev Day Two – Red Sea and Tabernacle
March 25 – Negev Day Three – Masada & Dead Sea
March 28 – Springtime in Israel
April 1 – Galilee Day One – Caesarea and Mt. Gilboa
April 2 – Galilee Day Two – Nazareth and Mt. Arbel
April 3 – Galilee Day Three – Capernaum and Boat Ride
April 4 – Galilee Day Four – Golan Heights
April 6 – Galilee Days Five & Six – Free Time and Water Hike
April 7 – Jordan River and Beth Shean
April 11 – Israel Museum
April 12 – Neot Kedumim
April 13 – Modern State of Israel
April 18 – Samaritan Passover
April 19 – Passover Seder
April 22 – Jerusalem Tomb Tour
April 23 – Hiking Wadi Qilt
April 27 – New City of Jerusalem
May 2 – Reflecting on Israel
May 4 – The Great Provider

Continue to pray for the peace of Jerusalem! (Ps. 122:6)

May 4, 2000. Yes, God is the Great Provider! Thank you for all your prayers concerning our flight situation. I have good news: we’ll all be going home in the next two days! Yes, that’s right! God made a way for all of us. He is so gracious.

The IBEX profs and the Bible faculty back at TMC worked very hard to get us home as soon as possible, and it seems they were 100% successful. Unfortunately, TMC is $20,000 in the hole, but at least all of us will be home.

Everyone has a ticket home, though some won’t make it until Saturday. The first of two groups leave tonight on TWA #885 and will arrive in LAX on Friday morning at 10:45am.

When I step off the plane, I’ll be greeted by my fiancé and my parents, and then, one day later, I’ll be graduating! Needless to say, these next few days will be rather eventful. Yahoo!

~Stephen

P.S. “Shalom’ from Israel, one last time

25 years ago, I had the privilege of traveling to Israel for a semester through the Master’s College IBEX program. To celebrate the 25th anniversary, I’ve been sharing highlights from my journal, emails, and photos. Feel free to share your own IBEX memories here as well!

May 2, 2000. It’s hard to believe, but the end has come. My finals are finished, our field trips are done, and now, only 48 hours remain until I depart from the Land of Israel.

How does one leave the Promised Land after 3 1/2 months and casually assimilate back into a normal routine in America? Is it possible? In some ways, I’m sure my life will forever be changed as a result of this experience. In other ways, however, I know that living the Christian walk will be just as hard as ever.

I’ve seen almost every square inch of this great land, from the northernmost Lebanese border to the port of Eilat on the Red Sea, from the Mediterranean Coast to the waters of the Jordan River. The cities and regions of the Bible are no longer foreign words, but familiar places with vivid memories. And now, the most difficult task begins – putting all of the knowledge into practice.

The excitement of Israel is coming to an end, but my responsibility is just beginning. God has graciously provided beyond all I could ask or think, and I firmly believe that “much will be required” in return. Please pray that I will be a humble servant, and that God will use me in whatever capacity He sees fit.

Of all the lessons I’ve learned over the course of this semester, one in particular stands out as a recurring theme: the self-sufficiency of God. I don’t quite know how else to explain it! God is utterly self-sufficient; He doesn’t need man (or anything else) to accomplish His plan. In fact, throughout history, He’s proven that He best enjoys working when the odds are overwhelmingly against Him.

Why else would He choose a lowly shepherd boy like David and a band of 400 renegades to establish a united monarchy? (1 Samuel 16, 22) Why would He limit Gideon’s army to a mere 300 men? (Judges 7) Why would He leave Israel without any continual water source like the Nile? (Deuteronomy 11) Why would He tell Jehoshaphat to send the choir instead of soldiers to the frontlines of the battle? (2 Chronicles 20) Why would choose Jerusalem as His capital, an obscure city tucked away in the Judean Hill Country? And why would He appoint a suffering Servant, Jesus, to bring salvation? (Isaiah 53)

Obviously, He would (and did) do all of these things to bring Himself greater glory. At first glance, it doesn’t make sense, but remember, “The foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.” (1 Corinthians 1:25) If I can hold on to this single truth, my entire semester will have been worthwhile.

Ironically, my trust in God has been tested even during the course of my writing this letter. Just moments ago, Todd posted up a very disturbing notice on the email room bulletin board:

“TOWER AIR FOLDS: THOUSANDS STRANDED”

What does this mean? Well, it means that as of right now, two days before we’re supposed to board our plane, our airline has gone out of business. It means that the seven seniors here (including myself) might very well miss our graduation (which is the day after we’re supposed to arrive). It means that my mom and dad may be flying out to California to see a graduation ceremony without me. It means that we could end up paying hundreds, if not a thousand dollars, more to get a plane ticket back to the U.S!

I guess God is already giving me opportunities to put my knowledge into practice, and to start trusting in Him. What started as a newsletter is quickly turning into a prayer letter, so please pray with us here at IBEX that God will get us home!!! How thankful we can be that He is still in control.

Lord willing, this will be the final chapter of my Israel updates, but you can still contact me through email once I’m back in the States. I love you all, and am so thankful for those of you who took time to write back. It was always a great encouragement!

~”Goodbye and Shalom” from the Land of the Bible, Stephen Jones

25 years ago, I had the privilege of traveling to Israel for a semester through the Master’s College IBEX program. To celebrate the 25th anniversary, I’m sharing highlights from my journal, emails, and photos. Feel free to share your own IBEX memories here as well!

On Thursday, April 27, 2000, the Modern Israel class and Jerusalem Studies class took a combined field trip to the area of Jerusalem known as the “New City.”

One of our first stops was Herzl Cemetery. This military cemetery has graves of national leaders, Zionist heroes, and soldiers who died in the line of duty.

I mentioned Theodor Herzl in a previous post about Independence Hall in Tel Aviv. Herzl was an Austria-Hungarian born journalist who was deeply concerned over anti-Semitism. He helped convene the First Zionist Conference in 1897 which brought many groups together and increased Jewish sympathies. Nevertheless, he was quite discouraged by the lack of progress at the time of his death in 1904. Following the establishment of the Modern State of Israel almost fifty years later, Herzl’s body was exhumed from Austria and buried here at Mount Herzl in 1949.

We also saw the Knesset, an austere-looking building built in 1966 to house Jewish parliament.

The Knesset (Great Assembly) has 120 seats. By comparison, our American system has 435 Representatives and another 100 Senators. In the Israeli parliamentary system, the Prime Minister forms laws within his Cabinet, then the legislature refines and passes those laws. It’s a strong democratic system that differs from, but is still modeled after, our own US system of government.

(A few days later on April 30, a couple of us had some free time and went back to the Knesset for a guided tour. One thing that stood out to me were the three huge tapestries in the Chagall Lounge. The one on the far right represented the “Last Days” of Isaiah, when the lion will dwell with the lamb. Jacob’s ladder and Moses were also depicted. The tapestry in the middle represented the “Exit from Egypt,” included images of King David welcoming groups to Jerusalem, the convergence of Sephardic and Ashkenazi Jews, and Moses holding the Law. It was fascinating to see these biblical and apocalyptic references in a modern government building. Modern Jewish identity is inextricably tied to God’s dealings in the past with his chosen people).

OK, back to our New City tour. Another building that was brought to our attention was the YMCA building. This structure dominates the skyline and has the same architect as the Empire State Building in New York. There are many languages represented in the masonry reliefs around the building.

Not far away, the King David Hotel is a thriving five-star hotel with something of a dark past. On July 22, 1946, a bomb was detonated by the militant Jewish group known as the Irgun. Under the guise of a milk delivery, they smuggled 350 kilos of explosives into the basement, leading to a massive explosion that killed 91 people. This event garnered global attention and influenced the British to decide it was time to withdraw occupation.

Later in our tour, we visited the Russian Compound and were shown a large pillar known as the Finger of Og, or Herod’s Pillar. The pillar was never finished or moved, reminding me of the unfinished obelisk in Aswan, Egypt. The pillar is 39 feet long and we don’t know much about it. Some suggest it may give us clues into how Herod the Great rolled his massive ashlar stones up to the Temple Mount.

Around every corner in Jerusalem, there seems to be a mix of old world and new world, with some new story to tell or mystery to unravel.

25 years ago, I had the privilege of traveling to Israel for a semester through the Master’s College IBEX program. To celebrate the 25th anniversary, I’m sharing highlights from my journal, emails, and photos. Feel free to share your own IBEX memories here as well!

Photo credit: I took a limited number of photos on this trip and don’t have any currently scanned, so I’m indebted to Todd Bolen in his Pictorial Library of Bible Lands for most of these images. The Knesset interior and Finger of Og photos are from Wikimedia Commons.