Israel: Day 7

This was the FINAL Day! :(

We left at about 4:30 that night.

Since it was Saturday (Shabbat),

Breakfast was not that great.

There were some potato filled croissants,

but I ended up eating a croissant and

hummus as you can see.

Awwww!!! Buddies. :)

They were matching!

This is the Garden of Gethsemane.

These olive trees were here when

Jesus prayed here and was arrested.

This hasn't changed.

The things that really hadn't changed in Israel

over 2,000 years really got me,

because it was a lot easier to  imagine Jesus being there.

The Garden really impacted me.

The words of Second Mile's song,

Lacrimosa (Weeping) were running through my head.

"Judas sold you for thirty, I've done worse for less.

I swung the hammer when the nails pierced innocent hands.

You breathed Your last, I turned my head.

You cried 'Forgive'."

We think Judas did such a horrible thing by selling

Jesus, but we've all denied Him,

we've all sold Him. Yet, He forgave us!

I'm not really sure exactly what church

this was at, but we sang here.

We were singing "The Stand" by Hillsong

(it was kind of our trip theme song)

and TONS of people joined around us

and started singing with us.

It was SO cool.

Then we began the Via Dolorosa.

(The way of the cross)

As you can see, it was through crowded city streets.

This is how Jesus walked to His death.

If you look in the middle of the picture,

you can see a cross being carried

 on someone's shoulders.

We saw several people doing this,

I'm sure they wanted to experience

some of what Jesus went though.

There were numbers on buildings around the city

that showed what happened where.

I didn't get a picture of every sign,

since we were moving kind of quickly,

but I did get a picture of this sign that

told what each station represented.

Kelton got a little hungry during the walk.

He decided that it would be really cool to

eat a Snickers where Jesus walked to His

death....I don't even know...Haha..

This was inside the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.

It was very dim, there was a lot of smoke

and incense and it just felt all wrong.

I couldn't imagine Jesus dying here,

I know He didn't die in the middle of a church,

but the gaudy-ness of this place

made it very hard to imagine Jesus being here.

There was an exposed rock that Jesus

supposedly was prepared for burial on.

People were kissing it. It just felt so wrong.

Wait until you see the Garden Tomb,

you will see what I mean.

We took about an hour break from sight seeing to

eat lunch and shop a bit!

This was Chicken Shwarma

(like we had a couple days ago...)

It wasn't that great here...ha...

I tried to stay away from meat most of the week.

Dylan and Kelton got matching

man scarves..

Some vendor talked Matt and some other

boys into buying these things...

Turbans? I don't know what they're

called.

Maggie and I got matching bracelets.

Mine broke right after I got home, though.

Oh well, it was fun while it lasted :)

This was the mural on the door of the church

that the Last Supper was held at!

Of course, it wasn't a church then :)

This is Golgotha, The Place of the Skull.

It's quite hard to tell that it looks like a skull

from this angle. They had pictures of what it

looked like before the bus station was built.

I have a picture of that picture below.

Jesus' death is constantly portrayed

as happening on a hill.

We learned that it is highly improbable

that He was crucified on a hill.

The Romans would have wanted Him

along the road to Damascus

where the most people could see

what would happen if they messed

with the Romans.

He was most likely right in front of Golgotha,

which is where the buses are parked now.

This is what Golgotha looked like before the buses

resided there.

My FAVORITE part of the whole trip.

The Garden Tomb!

It was SO easy to picture Jesus rising

from the dead here.

This was in a garden, it was peaceful...

It just looked "right".

This is the entrance into the Garden Tomb.

The door used to be lower,

 "He bent over and looked in at the strips of linen

lying there, but did not go in." -John 20:5 (NIV)

It makes perfect sense!

This is the burial area straight into the tomb

and to the right.

This is another reason that this seems

like it really is Jesus' tomb.

It is straight in, the verse I quoted above

says he bent over and looked in.

Not that he had to walk in and look to

the side or anything.

You can see this from the entrance!

There is a groove in front of the tomb that

the rolling stone would have been laid in.

They haven't been able to locate

the original stone for this tomb,

but this is a smaller one that looks

similar to what the one covering the door

of Jesus' tomb would've looked like.

I'm SO thankful for this!

Easter had a whole new meaning after

seeing this!

This is the diagram of the Tomb,

Number 4 is where Jesus would have been

laid in this tomb.

This day was all about Jesus' last days.

 It was SO awesome to see where

He prayedin the Garden of Gethsemane,

asking God to take the cup from Him.

I LOVE that Jesus made sure to say

"Not My will but Yours be done".

It's a perfect example of what we need to pray,

but we are not getting ready to be crucified.

Jesus was!

He endured beatings until he was raw, mocking,

and pain that we can't imagine.

Then he carried the cross for MY sins.

I'm SO thankful for Him.

I'm SO thankful that He is no longer in this grave.

I'm thankful that He rose

to conquer death for me that I might live eternally.

Thank you, Jesus!

I'm so thankful that I had to opportunity to go on this trip.

I'm thankful for my wonderful chaperones

that funded the trip.

I'm also thankful for the chaperone that baptized

me in the Jordan River and

explained many things about the Bible

that I would have never thought about.

I will never read the Bible the same way again.

I will definitely NEVER forget this trip.

-K