Day 8 - The Climb to Sea Level

[Sorry these are behind and taking so long, we are very busy, and the internet is awful. If I am not caught up by the time I get back I will continue to post until all my days in the Holy Land are covered.] Enjoy!

From -1300 feet to 0 was the climb of today. To reach the palace fortress created by Herod the Great on the shores of the Dead Sea.

Masada.

We climbed up what is know as the Roman ramp, which was the ramp built on the side of the cliff in order for the military to capture Masada.

After taking the tram down the other side of Masada we headed over to a place that overlooked the canyons and the caves of Wadi Murabat. This is one of the places where some of the Dead Sea Scrolls were recovered from. 

From there we drove a few minutes to a place were we could swim float in the Dead Sea. 

The mud made our skin soft.

The Beauty In Her Eyes

The beauty in her eyes should be enough,
rather then the touch of her skin.
The beauty in her eyes can save your soul,
but the body is a battle that you can’t win.

I have given enough thought,
about my soul.
Demons hear me now this is the last time I,
lose control .

Take back control,
of your mind.
Because 40 years from now
your body wont be, as defined.

This is just dust,
built to hold a creators creation.
Hold back now,
and resist temptation.

God is in those eyes.
God is in those eyes.
But the skin holds,
all lies.

-By Chris Cameron

Day 7 - Through the Wilderness

Our first stop today was Maktesh Ramon, which is one of the biggest scars on the face of the earth. Much like the Grand Canyon except without the river, and quite a bit bigger.


After that we headed to Avdat, which is a city connected to Petra by the incense route. The Nabateans used to use it on their trading routes.












At Avdat we saw a millstone:

Luke 17:2 (New International Version)

² It would be better for them to be thrown into the sea with a millstone tied around their neck than to cause one of these little ones to stumble.

Even though we find ourselves in modern Israel, we are not yet in biblical israel. As we travel north to the land of biblical Israel we passed through both the Wilderness of Zin and Paran. 

Numbers 20

Water From the Rock

 ¹ In the first month the whole Israelite community arrived at the Desert of Zin, and they stayed at Kadesh. There Miriam died and was buried.

 ² Now there was no water for the community, and the people gathered in opposition to Moses and Aaron. ³They quarreled with Moses and said, “If only we had died when our brothers fell dead before the LORD! ⁴Why did you bring the LORD’s community into this wilderness, that we and our livestock should die here? ⁵Why did you bring us up out of Egypt to this terrible place? It has no grain or figs, grapevines or pomegranates. And there is no water to drink!”

 ⁶ Moses and Aaron went from the assembly to the entrance to the tent of meeting and fell facedown, and the glory of the LORD appeared to them. ⁷ The LORD said to Moses, ⁸ “Take the staff, and you and your brother Aaron gather the assembly together. Speak to that rock before their eyes and it will pour out its water. You will bring water out of the rock for the community so they and their livestock can drink.”

 ⁹ So Moses took the staff from the LORD’s presence, just as he commanded him. ¹⁰ He and Aaron gathered the assembly together in front of the rock and Moses said to them, “Listen, you rebels, must we bring you water out of this rock?” ¹¹ Then Moses raised his arm and struck the rock twice with his staff. Water gushed out, and the community and their livestock drank.

 ¹² But the LORD said to Moses and Aaron, “Because you did not trust in me enough to honor me as holy in the sight of the Israelites, you will not bring this community into the land I give them.”

What I learned from one of our guides is that because the soil doen't absorb moisture very well in the desert, when it does rain often time it will get trapped in crevasses and calcify over, creating a pocket of water. 

Shepherds back in the day used to find these spots in the rock and strike them with their staffs and get water for their flock.

This could be the reason God punishes Moses, because he provided for Israel out of his own means, rather than allowing God to be their provider. 

Once we reached the southern edge of biblical Israel, we stopped at Tel Arad, which is one of the only places you can see a ancient Jewish Temple. There is a Kosher alter, and even a Holy of Holies. What is real interesting is that inside of of Holy of Holies there are two vertical stones which are idols to represent gods. It is believed that the taller one represented Yahweh, and the other represented his wife asura.  

It is interesting to see the worship of God along side of the worship of another god. It shows how the Jews were influenced by paganism. 


Arad is also the place where the Israelites first try to enter the promise land and are repelled. 

Day 6 - Stupid Americans

We got up early this morning to go out to Timna, which is the area the Egyptians used to travel to, to mine copper ore during the 6th millenium BC.

There we saw some of the beautiful rocks of Israel, but the coolest part of Timna was that there was a replica tabernacle that we were able to check out. 

The tabernacle was the place where sacrifices to God happened while the Israelites were in exile, prior to coming into the promise land.  

The tabernacle represented the place God's presence dwelled in the earth.

After Timna we headed out for lunch were I made a new best friend. Shwarma. It's lamb, chicken, or beef, shaved and put in a peta with hummus and lots of veggies. It is probably one of my new favorite foods.

After lunch we headed to the Red Sea to go snorkeling in the coral reefs. It was an amazing experience, especially after experiencing the lack of life in the deserts of Israel. 

I also had an interesting conversation with one of the guys on our trip. While we were in Jordan we all bought some Arab head dresses, which we learned represent various Arab nations. Red and white for example was for the nation of Jordan. 

Black and white on the other hand represents Palestine, which is a nation of no land who claims the Israel for itself. In essence Palestine and Israel are rivals, and often the reason for most of the violence in the middle east. 

My friend feels it's ok to where the black and white scarf in Israel. 

Our guides say that they dont like it, but most Israelites understand stupid Americans that don't know what they are doing. 

My question is, just because they think we are going to be stupid Americans, does that mean we have to be???

What do you think?

Pattern

May your hart your soul and your mind
be in tune with the grate divine,
for this is the first step, to a lifetime of recovery.
Secondly do not forget who watches the watchers.
The audience beckons to make a sound.
Will you hear them or throw them to the ground?
I making a choice in life.
Should I stay behind in this enclosed fortress,
or should I face my nightmares, there upon the open battle field.
Courage is not in question, it’s if faith I should wield?
Surrounded by lions, the world is on fire.
Giants are in my path, a life
searching for God, my only desire.
The devil is before me,
as my life fades away, I sit
rotting away by this dying tree.
My life flashes before my eyes
destiny can be changed.
This life of patterns will not be my demise.

-By Chris Cameron

Day 5 - Into the Holy Land

In the morning we woke up early at the Beduin camp to prepare for a 4x4 trek through the desert.   

We rode in a bunch of awesome Toyota trucks that took us through sand and rock to see the land of Wadi Rum, Jordan.

After getting back we hoped on the bus to head down to Akaba, which is Jordan's main port. This is also the place were we crossed the Jordan - Israel borded. It was mid day on a weekend and we were the only people crossing.

The security was the tightest security I have ever been through. They checked through almost everyone's bags, and those with us that had darker skin were definitely profiled. One of my friends on the trip was pulled aside and interrogated 4 times. It took us about an hour to get through the 4 security check points coming into Israel. 

Once we were in Israel we stayed in the night at Eliaht, Israel at a youth hostil. 

The rest of the day was free to explore the city. Eliaht is considered the Hawaii of Israel. It was very warm and tropical. 

Most of us went down to the Red Sea to cool off.


I was amazed at how many people were walking the streets even late into the night, around 1am. 

Rocks On The Slide

The other day Laura had taken Linc out to the park to play. The sun was out and she was taking full advantage of it with a two year old and another on the way. Linc could run free!

There were a lot of other kids at the park that day and while they were all playing Linc began throwing rocks on one of the slides. Laura quickly went over to tell him he couldn't do that because the other kids at the playground would get rocks on their butt while sliding down. Linc was confused. See, earlier in the week Laura was at the park with Linc and there were no kids there and she let him throw as many rocks on the slide as he wanted. No harm, no foul. It didn't matter. This time was different. He was frustrated and began to cry.

All That God Doesn't Mention

There's a lot in this world the Bible doesn't say anything about. As far as rules go, God only made ten and then Jesus came along and reduced those ten down to just two.(1) "Just love God and love other's and everything else will figure itself out"(2) was Jesus' grand reduction of the small amount of rules God proposed. Instead, the Bible is filled with a bunch of stories of various people relating to other people and God occasionally interjecting. Take a look for yourself and you'll find a very clear emphasis in the Bible on relationships over rules.

This is why I get nervous when sitting in a church that turns Sunday morning into a To-Do list. There emphasis is on rules. They draw lines in the sand in order to define their church or their denomination(3) rather than explain how God interacts with us. They become dogmatic about their doctrine.

Situational Ethics

They don't do this to be maliciously controlling. They do this because it's easier. It takes a lot of work to hop up from the bench, run over to your child, and explain to them why it's not okay to throw rocks on the slide today but it was okay the day before. Immature believers get frustrated, throw a fit, and make a scene. The easier thing to do is to just simply tell your child they are never allowed to throw rocks on the slide. That way, you can just sit back and let them play by themselves without interacting much at all. Situational ethics aren't easily defined and if they were we'd be missing the point.(4)

That sunny day Laura ran over to Linc to correct him something significant happened.

They talked.

Laura and Linc had a conversation, she reassured him how much she loved him, and he made a mental decision to trust her correction.

And this kind of interaction is not possible with a To-do list.

Perhaps the reason why Jesus only insisted on two rules is because he wanted us to interact with him. "So what do you think about this one, God?" He wants us to connect with him daily. He wants a relationship. This demands a conversation, dialogue, trust, and is a lot more work. He wants you to trust him. He wants to hold you when you're frustrated and reassure you of his love.

So what are you emphasizing? Have you drawn lines in the sand but having trouble connecting with the Creator?

Do your rules promote a relationship?

1. Notice even the two rules Jesus does insist upon are thoroughly relational.

2. Luke 10:27

3. I've been hopeful at some movement between denominational lines but I'm saddened that denominational disunity is merely being replaced with the latest trends. Reformed or postmodernism? Missional or evangelical? Just keep making up terms and the church will keep treading water. I've been a pastor in three different denominations so obviously I'm not a stickler for the details.

4. Matthew 12 is a great story in the Bible where Jesus gets confronted by some angry religious guys for picking grain on the sabbath (no work). That was against the rules but Jesus lets them know that if he's hungry, he's going to eat and by the way these rules were made by God, not for God. Check it out for yourself.

Day 4 - Petra

We drove 4 hours through flat and boring desert from Amman to a place that amazing beyond words. 

Petra!

Petra blew my expectations out of the water. The carvings were incredible.

We had the opportunity to hike up 1000 steps to the very highest mountain in Petra. This is the place that the Nabateans, used to make their sacrifices to their gods. 


From the top you can see the Tomb of Aaron.

That hike gave me a new understanding of "The High Places" talked about in the bible. 

After Petra we headed south to Wadi Rum, Jordan to spend the night with the Bedouins.










They made us their traditional food Zerba, which is where they dig a deep hole and like a fire in it, then put the meat on the fire and burry it in the sand for 2-6 hours depending on the type of the meat. 

They made us both chicken and lamb Zerba, the chicken was great, the lamb, not so much.


After dinner we danced around the fire with the Bedouins, it was interesting. 

Day 3 - Final Arrival

We finally arrived in the middle east! 

I wasn't sure if we were going to make it or not.

I was able to sleep 10 of the 11 hours of the flight, so it wasn't too bad, thanks to my friend Nyquil.

When we stepped off the plane in Amman, Jordan there were buses waiting to take us to Mount Nebo. 

This is the place were God showed Moses the promise land. 

Supposedly you can see most of Israel and the Dead Sea from Mount Nebo, unfortunately there was a sand storm which turned the sky brown and decreased visibility so we were not able to see very far. 

Day 2 - New York

Sorry it has taken me so long to update the blog, its been tough with the litte time/internet we have. Look for more updates soon!

We were supposed to make it to Amman, Jordan, but we only ended up making it to New York, so we tried to see everything the big apple has to offer in a single day.

I was exhausted by the end of the day.

I am glad I got to see so much, because now I never have to go back.

I was not a fan of New York.

This is a monument down in one of the parks of New York, it is a monument that was outside of the World Trade Centers on 9-11.  

 

This is a memorial to those who lost their life on 9-11, it is found outside of the fire house across the street from where the towers once stood.

In Money We Trust

You will be hurt.
You will be afraid.
But the last thing you should be worried about,
is whether or not you’re being paid.

Security is an unstable word.
Nowadays it’s become its own religion.
An excuse people fallow everyday,
because the have nothing true to believe in.

I’ve seen too many people,
drop there dreams for the dime.
But honestly,
money isn’t worth any of my time.

Were is the worth,
in something man created,
if the words “ IN GOD WE TRUST”,
are forever faded.

Find salvation my friends,
in the God or dreams in which you believe.
Rather then cutting down trees for money.
For one day, there will be no more air in the world to breath.

-By Chris Cameron

Death Of A Normal Life

So what is it all worth at the end?
Your life shrunk down to the 40 years you spend,
doing someone else’s work, under someone else’s pay.
A nickel, a dime, a dollar a day.

And was all the time on your clock spent,
wondering where your dreams went?
Build a family, a house, a home.
Live life normally to the bone.

So sit there you drone,
a mind made of mud, and a heart made of stone.
Friend, good friend, I will not end up like you in the end.
My farewells to a normal life I send.

For this is the last time I listen to the clock,
the echoing sound of the tick and the tock.
No longer will it sit around my wrist.
I smile at how much it will never be missed.

For my dreams have come full circle, God, be it God the reason why.
So young I will not let my mind just sit here and die.
Dreams vs. Normal life, I’d honestly rather die,
sitting here…. saying I tried.

-By Chris Cameron

The King Above

So you would call me a king,
but I don’t believe I’ve done a thing
that’s right.

But I look to the sky’s above,
pray for those ill never know, but truly love,
tonight.

And I saw a boy upon the horizon,
as the world collapsed and was dyin,
and what he held in his hands,
was light.

Tonight I pray to God,
for I am a fraud,
and I ask myself why,
I ever tried to fight…

….Love,
Christ, the son of God, and the king above,
the king of light.

-By Chris Cameron

Israel Trip Day 1 - Mini Bags Of Peanuts

Flying is probably one of my least favorite things to do, ever. So excited for where I am headed, yet caged in a seat that I barely fit into. It's probably why I only allow myself to have one of my all time favorite drinks, Ginger Ale + Cranberry Juice, when I am flying. It makes it seem at least bearable I guess...


Today we flew from Sea-Tac to Detroit.


Detroit had about 50mph cross winds, the piolet told us over the loud speaker, "I don't feel comfortable landing in this weather, I am going to go around again and follow someone else in." Way to instill confidence....


Once in Detroit our flight out got delayed, they actually told us they had no idea when it was going to get in. So we sat around and waited. Then when in finally came in we boarded up and sat on the run way, for 1 1/2 hours.... 


Did I mention that this plane was the oldest and most scary looking thing ever?


We finally get in the air on our way to New York, only to find out after we land that we missed out transfer to Amman, and the next flight out isn't until 8pm the next day. So we get a free day in New York, which is cool because I have never been her.


Then there is all this drama about hotel and food vouchers that I dont want to get into because its been a long day and I am tired. 


Moral of the story? Don't fly Delta Airlines, unless you like having all your plans ruined. 


No pictures or videos yet, mainly because today was awful. Tomorrow should be better!


New York city, then an 11 hour plane ride to Amman. 

Preparing for Israel

A week from yesterday I will be heading to Israel and Jordan for the trip of a life time. About 40 students from Northwest University, a couple of my favorite professors, and my roommate (Andrew Masters) and I will be spending 21 days traveling all over the Holy Land, walking where Jesus walked. 


While we are in Israel we are going to be updating the blog daily (when possible) with stories, pictures, and video. If you would like to come along for the adventure you can follow in a couple ways. Either enter your email to the right --->; follow us on twitter @SeedsToday, @Gbarb18; or subscribe to our RSS feed.  


If you have been to Israel before I would love to hear your thoughts on things to bring, and things that you would recommend doing while I was there. Comment below! 

A Congregation of Pastors

My wife and I have decided to move to a small town in the South called Atlanta. Of course, if you know anything about Atlanta, you know it hosted the 1996 Olympic games. With over 8 million people living in and around the metropolitan Atalanta area, and a new adventure beginning for us in an MDiv program at a school of theology nestled on the campus of a highly ranked university, we've got our work cut out for us. We're not going to Atlanta just to learn about ministry, but we're taking 6 years of ministry experience with us to a place where we can actually practice our gifts and ideas to help people.

I've been working in men's ministry over the last two years, and while I'm planning to start a "garage band" (men's small group) or two in Atlanta, what I'm taking away from the experience isn't the point of this story. See, I'm also leaving some important gaps which must be filled. Am I leaving big shoes to fill? Well, I like to think of it as a bunch of little shoes. What's guided me through this process of exiting is identifying the specific jobs which must be done and the little things that make up a big ministry.

And that leads me to my final point. What I've theorized about for quite some time I was actually able to practice: today, I commissioned an average guy (by all accounts, the stereotype we target in the men's ministry), to become the kind of minister every person should be. He's got a big heart and strong character, but often works behind the scenes. What we discussed today was that he is every bit as important in his role of encouraging and supporting the guy on the stage as the guy on the stage himself. None of our events or spectacle would mean anything without real guys continuing to lead their garage bands and holding together so man is left behind during times of transition or difficulty.

May you also realize that ministry is your commission, to lead yourself and others into the heart of Christ. Whether you are a paid church staff member who needs to quit thinking of ministry as your job and start adopting it as a refreshing lifestyle, or an average 9-to-5er without a lick of biblical or theological education; may you find the love of Christ refreshing yourself and others as you imbibe truth from the pages of the Bible and obey the teachings of Christ. And whether or not you have a special robe, a mantle, a paper, or a card that says so; may you sense the power of the Holy Spirit empowering and ordaining what you do in the name of Christ no matter how large and no matter how small.