Pilgrimage to Israel – No bikes this time…

My blog so far has been almost entirely focused on bicycling and bike touring. Not this time. Instead, today, I am joining up with a group of pilgrims heading to Jerusalem and the surrounding area. I’ve wanted to go to Israel for a long time. I have so many mental pictures of the places I’ve studied, but have never been there. I want to learn about the context and places – the stage of Salvation History. I’m hoping to come away with new insights into the Scriptures and culture.

I wanted to find a trip where the emphasis would be on the faith and Sacred Scripture, lnot too much on tourism. So… I did some research and decided to book a trip with Dr. Marcellino D’Ambrosio. He is a theologian and author. I’ve read some of his work and determined that this would be a good fit.

My mom is joining me and I opened the invitation to our parish. We have a 5 pilgrims from our parish and we are joining 53 others from parishes around the USA.

Our trip this morning started with a very early departure to bounce from Louisville airport to Atlanta to JFK in New York. I’m waiting to board our Swiss Air flight across the Atlantic to Zurich, then finally to Tel Aviv.

So far the trip is pretty uneventful, but my iPhone battery seems to be dying much too quickly now. I’m guessing that the 3 1/2 year old battery is finally giving up the ghost. I was able to purchase an (over-priced) power bank from the local Airport technology store here that I can keep with me to give it a boost. My iPhone is my camera for the trip, so I can’t afford it to be dead!

Mr. Hamster made the trip, too. He came home from Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology with my Daughter so that he can make the trip and check off another 2 countries on his list. More about Mr. Hamster later.

So. Time to board the flight. Yawn. Hoping to sleep a bit on the way to pass the time. If not, I have downloaded all of season 1 and 2 of “Stranger Things“. I’ve only seen a couple of episodes and trying to get caught up so I can share the discussion with my college aged kids.

Pray for us on our pilgrimage. If you have special requests you want me to carry, drop me an email and I’ll make sure to pray daily for your intentions and offer up any challenges we have on your behalf.

Peace!

– Deacon Matt