Change of Plans

Well this morning Jerusalem was cooler. We have been having some pretty hot days but today we were in the upper 50's. It actually felt pretty good. There has been some conflict in the area near the Old City in response to the recent political situations taking place. Due to the conflict we were unsure as we went to bed last night if we would be able to get to the Temple Mount area. Everything worked out and we were able to go up on the temple mount. Everything in Israel if filled with so much history, but this place is truly unbelievable. It was here that the temple stood. In the time of Jesus the temple would have stood 21 stories high. Being there is amazing, not only reflecting back to the temple in the Old and New Testament times but also looking to the day when Christ sets up His temple to rule and reign. The Dome of the Rock is the gold top building you always see when they show Jerusalem on the news. Most scholars believe it is here under the Dome of the Rock that the holy of holies was located.   It is amazing to think of being that close to the original holy of holies.  If you are not careful you forget how Christ fulfilled the Old Testament.  You see when God became man, John says that, "The Word became flesh and dwelt amongst us".  What a beautiful statement.  The literal idea here is that the Word became flesh and "tabernacled amongst us".  As Christ walked this earth the Shakinah glory of God tabernacled amongst men.  Isn't that amazing?  It gets better.  As believers changed by His grace, Christ now lives in us.  Paul even says that we are the temple of the Holy Spirit. 

Here are some pictures from the temple mount area:

We then walked down towards the Jewish quarter. If you heard something in Israel in the last 12 hours it was the jubilation of our group finding a burger place. It wasnt the best burger I have ever eaten, but it was pretty stinkin good. This is where our day changed. As we were leaving the burger place meeting up with our guide Amnon, Scott caught his foot on something and took a really hard fall. It was pretty scary. He looked really hurt. The good news is he is going to be ok. Right after the fall, as soon as he was able to stand up he began to feel sick on his stomach. I thought he was going to hurl. The thought of him hurling at this point was pretty terrifying because we had probably just eaten one of the largerst hamburgers available in Jerusalem. We were joking later that if he would have thrown up they would have had to clear the Jewish quarter. He was in pain so the two of us jumped into a taxi and went to some type of emergency center. He was able to get his forearm-elbow xrayed and looked at by one of the doctor's and they feel he sprained it really bad. He might have had a small fracture but they were not comepletely sure. So be praying for Scott when you read this, he is not feeling that good tonight. We are so thankful it was not worse. Lord willing he will be feeling better tomorrow. We were talking when we got back to the hotel this afternoon how quickly things can change. I can't tell you how much I appreciate Scott. He is one of the biggest encouragers I have ever met, so hopefully we can encourage him along the rest of the trip.

The Jewish Quarter

We were emotinal for the Burger.  There is even a picture of the menu

So due to Scott's accident we came back to the hotel. Cliff, Charla, Richard, and the rest of the group got to go to some amazing places the rest of the afternoon.  I am so excited they got to see them.  They went to a place where the religious Jews are working on items anticipating the next temple, they also went to Antonio's Fortress (the place where Christ would have stood before Pontus Pilate), the Garden Tomb ( probably not the place of the crucifixion and resurrection due to the dating of the tomb there, but a beautiful place), and the Western Wall tunnels. 

For me and Scott it was good to rest a little bit and get ready for tomorrow. Good night from Jerusalem!