The First Day...Amazing Day

    I thought I would share with you some of the events of the day and what the Lord did today.  It was a pretty amazing day.  The day started with orientation (which was planned).  Every time you come to the Middle East and because of the cultural differences, it takes time during orientation and then during the first couple of evening debriefings to cover the differences.  After that it is all about sharing the stories of what God did during the day.  So this morning was orientation, then a surprise trip for the team to  Masada, and then a planned trip to the Dead Sea. 

    Masada was amazing.  If you have not seen the movie (there actually is one) or have read about it basically when Jerusalem fell many, many years ago; some of the rebels or citizens left to find refuge at Masada versus becoming Roman slaves.  Rome ended up building a ramp to the gates, which took years; and the right before Romans soldiers were to enter the city; the rebels/citizens committed suicide versus being Roman Slaves. Masada is a flat rock about that is approximately a 1300 feet above the level Dead Sea.  And from every angle you can see some fasticide of the country of Israel.  And then if you look further to the East you can see the country of Jordan.  My request to the team as they walked the perimeter of the Masada was that they pray for the people of Israel,  that God would bless the people and that God would use each of us in some do something for His Kingdom and His Glory during this next week.  Little did I know that God would start working this quickly.  Then after Masada was a trip to the Dead Sea.  Everyone has to experience the Dead Sea to fully understand its beauty and magnitude of it.  Everyone had a great day with orientation and prayers.

    Then it was back to the hotel where the conversations really began.  When we arrived there was a large group of Nigerians arriving and who knew but God what was going to happen.  Myself and one of the other group were catching up on email in the lounge when 2 of these men entered, Israel and Victor Man (not making up the names); and here is when the conversations really began.  Victor Man who spoke much better English led the conversation.  We found out that they part of 5 groups of approximately 1000 Nigerians who were in Israel on a pilgrimage.  Our conversation quickly turned to Eternal.  It was an amazing conversation about the need for the world to be evangelized for the Kingdom of God.  How each of need to become personally responsible for sharing the love and truth of Jesus Christ.  How God puts people together who are believers to encourage and uplift each other, and look what God did by bringing us together.  Then to make the conversation even better, Israel said this one thing….”Imagine when we get to Heaven, there will be no color, no language barriers, just an eternity of praising our Lord together.”  How very true he is about that comment.

    What a great first day it was!!!!