Sitting at the Feet of Jesus

There are times in life that we reach a crossroad.  We can either do our own thing and go our own way or we can seek the presence of the the Savior.  I'm at one of those now. Next week my youngest is getting. married.  It will be a day that we rejoice over for we know that her marriage to Alan is a blessing  and a union planned by God.

However, it's been a tumultuous time. Four months away in Israel while Gary was on sabbatical have made me feel out of touch and
unprepared. Then, facing Kate's need for gall bladder surgery a few short weeks before her wedding day, along with all the busyness of the wedding with it's endless activities and preparations, arriving family and the mountains of work as a result everything that is happening, have at times brought me to the end of myself.  I have a choice to make. I can continue to strive or place myself in the only place that makes sense, at His feet. That doesn't mean that I won't do my best to be really to make this a special time for my family.  But it does mean that I will live this time looking to Him.

What a blessing that we don't live this life on our own!  For those of us who know the Savior, His spirit is there to guide and fill us with peace and strength, if we let Him. That must be what I do as I enter this week. Only by living this way will I be what my Savior wants me to be and what my family needs me to be. So I take my place, gladly, at His feet, trusting Him and knowing that He will supply.

Be Still and know that I am God.......Psalm 46:10a

Oh Jerusalem!

And when he drew near and saw the city, he wept over it, saying, “Would that you, even you, had known on this day the things that make for peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes."
                                                                                                         Luke 19:41,42

The Old City Wall and the Eastern or Golden Gate.
This is the oldest of the gates in the  Old City walls.
It is the gate through which the Messiah is supposed
to return.  While it may have been for defensive
reasons,it is said that the Ottoman Sultan Suleiman
sealed the gate in order to prevent His return.

                                                                                                                         

Dominus Flevit - "The Lord Wept"

The window from Dominus Flevit
looks directly at the Temple Mount
where the Dome of the Rock now stands.

There is a church on the Mt. of Olives called Dominus Flevit meaning "The Lord Wept".  It is tiny but picturesque.  Built in the shape of the teardrop, from it there
is a magnificent view down the Mount of Olives, of the Old City and the Temple Mount.  If that is truly where Jesus stood as He lamented over Jerusalem, we would likely hear the same words echoing from there today, were He standing in that place. Jerusalem is a city of many faces. Its history has been turbulent and continues to be so to this day.

The Russian Orthodox Church of Maria Magdalene

 It is a city like no other - one of the oldest cities in the world. Jerusalem has been totally destroyed two times, besieged 23 times, attacked 52 times and captured and recaptured 44 times. The Israeli period of Jerusalem began in 1000 B.C. when David captured the city from the Jebusites  (I Chronicles 11:4-9). Today, though again a part of Israel, it is still a city of division -  East and West,  Jew, Muslim and Christian. This will likely continue to be so until one day our Savior's feet again touch the Mount of Olives (Zech. 14:1-4) and He comes to reign in the The New Jerusalem (Revelation 21:2-3). I know that there is much disagreement over this part of the Bible, so let me end my comments with that and show you a little of this fascinating and turbulent city beginning with a trip down the Mount of Olives and looking at the Eastern or Golden Gate.

A beautiful set of steps ascend to the
Church of Maria Magdalene

The Mount of Olives is one of three peaks of a mountain ridge that sits in the east side of Jerusalem and is separated from the Old City by the Kidron Valley.  From Biblical times, many Jews have been buried there and it is the site of at least 150,000 graves including those of such Biblical figures as Zechariah, Haggai, Malachi and Absalom.  Today, the eastern side is the beginning of the Judean desert and the the western side is the the site of the Arab village of Silwan.  It sits 80 meters higher than the Temple Mount, giving a panoramic view of that area of Jerusalem and the Old City.

The Church of All Nations

As one travels down the Mount of Olives, there are three beautiful churches dotting the mountainside.  The first is the tiny Dominus Flevit, then the beautiful Russian Orthodox Church of Maria Magdalene, and then the Church of All Nations which is surrounded by the traditional site of the Garden of Gethsemane, a site that Jesus and his disciples often visited and where Jesus is believed to have agonized on the night of his betrayal, knowing that He faced the cross. All of the churches on the Mt. of Olives are relatively new, being built between 1888 and 1955, but provide a beautiful view from which to see the city and contemplate the events of Jesus' final days. The Garden of Gethsemane is said to contain some of the oldest olive trees in the world, with some believed to be between one and two thousand years old. Though not nearly as deep as it would have been at the time of Jesus, the Kidron valley is still a passageway from the Old City to the Mount just as it would have been at the time of Jesus and is a fascinating place to view.

One of the Very Old Olive Trees in the GardenSo we will enter Jerusalem from the back, down the Mount of Olives, just as Jesus would have as he entered that final week of His life. There is much to see in the city that caused the Lord to weep.

So we will enter Jerusalem through the back down the Mount of Olives, as Jesus did on Palm Sunday.  There are many interesting sights yet to see there.

A funeral taking place on the
Mount of Olives

There are as many as 150,000 graves on the side
 of the Mt. of Olives.  The Domed building in
the middle is said to be the grave of Absalom

There are many interesting sites as one ascends the Mount.

True Independence

Tonight I am sitting my back deck watching an amazing array of fireworks taking place.  Only one set of fireworks is an "official" display, yet beautiful color is lighting up the night all over the southern sky as individuals hold their own celebrations of Independence Day. Tomorrow is America's 237th birthday and fireworks will again light up the sky tomorrow evening as people everywhere celebrate.

On April16th we were in Israel as the country celebrated it's 65th birthday with parades, concerts, food, fireworks and fun, just as we happened to be there five years ago when the 60th Independence Day was celebrated in much the same way.  Both were joyous celebrations of the miraculous establishment of a nation that did not look like it had a prayer of becoming a reality.

But as I sit here I find myself contemplating the true meaning of the word "freedom".  When I look up the word in various dictionaries I find definitions such as "the power or right to act, think or speak as one wants without hindrance or restraint"; "the absence of necessity or coercion"; "liberation from slavery or the power of another" and so on.  All those and more are good definitions and very important parts of what it means to be free; and so many in the world do not experience that type of freedom.  However, one can be free in that sense and still not be truly free.

The most important freedom is the freedom that does or does not  exist within my heart.  I can have all of the civil liberties in the world and still be a slave of myself, living in fear and desperate unhappiness and dissatisfaction.  Where does true freedom come from then?  In John 8:31 Jesus said "if you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free." And in John 8:36 he said "So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed." Many reject the truth of the Scriptures and the freedom that Jesus bought with the sacrifice of His own life and won with His victory over the grave. However, as one who was once anything but free, this Independence Day I celebrate not only political freedom but a type of freedom that even more important - Freedom of the Heart!  Think about it.