One Day on the Mount of Olives

On our recent sojourn in Israel, the lovely Robin and I were walking (with our group) the traditional Palm Sunday route down the Mount of Olives.

As we came out of the Dominus Flevit Church grounds, I noticed a young man taking pictures, and trailing behind us but mostly following the same route. He immediately reminded me of Shane Claiborne, the author of The Irresistible Revolution, which I had read a year or two ago:

I kept sneaking looks at him and couldn't shake the suspicion that this was a fellow author. So after a while, I hung back a little and finally approached him.

"I'm sorry to bother you," I said, "but are you Shane Claiborne?"

He smiled. "I get that a lot," he said. Then added with a bigger smile, "Yeah, I'm Shane Claiborne."

I thanked him for his book and then left him alone, continuing my journey down the Mount of Olives.

Strangest thing, though. He never asked, "Are you Bob Hostetler?"