I Think I Found One of Jesus' Footprints

First, I'd like to mention that Sos will lie about anything to get attention, so don't believe all the sensational claims he makes on this blog. Second, like Sos, I'd like to give you my initial reaction to being in the land. When I first saw it, from a plane at about 30,000ft, I couldn't believe how lush and green everything was. It's no surprise that God chose this place for his people. The more you learn about the geography, the more it makes sense. This is truly a prosperous and blessed place, with all the terrain of California squished into an area the size of New Jersey.


After my first day in Israel, all the mental images I had of the holy land where flipped upside down. I was so excited to walk where Jesus walked, and experience the culture in which he lived. But the culture has changed and the ground he walked on is buried beneath layers of sediment. Sos and I both quickly realized that the city we see before us is vastly different from the city of the first century. Two-Thousands of years of fighting and three major world religions have buried most of first century Jerusalem under our feet. But though the buildings, city structure, and people, have changed in the last two thousand years, something about this place will always remain constant. There is something about Jerusalem that cannot be destroyed.


As Dr. Paul Wright (one of our profs) took us through the old city, the phrase in Ecclesiastes “there is nothing new under the sun” kept popping into my head. There is nothing new before me today. All truth is old truth; as old as time. My first instinct was to say that this Jerusalem was so different from Jesus’ Jerusalem, but as Dr. Wright lectured I realized that nothing has changed. It takes many different forms today, but ultimately they are all the same. Jesus may not have struggled with the Muslims, but he did struggle with the Romans. He did not fear death by suicide bomber, but he was executed like a common criminal. It's true that the conflict of this land is an ancient conflict. How ancient? I'd say it's as old as humanity. Jerusalem is a picture of mankind, and of the war being fought within every human soul. The surface of this place has changed, but its essence has remained untouched. “There is nothing new under the sun”; the roots of Israel’s ancient struggle are as old as humanity itself.


This mysterious component of the human soul binds Jerusalem’s past to its present. It is difficult to define, but if you walk the streets of the old city, you will feel it. The nature of this city is timeless and lasting; no amount of fighting or politics can destroy it. This land lives and breathes and if your mind is still and your senses are open, you will feel this place living and breathing inside of you. This place is mystical and weighty, and once you get in tune with the rhythms of this land, you can feel it beating inside you; because the soul of the holy land is the human soul.

Danny