Pinch Me Places: Jerusalem

The lovely Robin and I have been so blessed to visit Jerusalem four times (in 1988, 2000, 2005, and 2010), and I still can't believe it. We plan to return again in 2014 (see here), and I still can't believe it. And I can't believe that I've been there with my children, Aubrey and Aaron, as well as my niece Elissa (far left, above) and father-in-law Dick (far right, above). And to have shared the experience with so many other dear ones, Bill and Marty Francis and Susan and Billy, the Kellys, the Sellerses, Debbie, Willa, Carol, Barb, Betty, Dave and Millie, Susan and Brian and Ellen and David, and more. Oh, there's nothing better.

There is nothing like the sight of the Old CIty coming into view as we crest the Mount of Olives, and read aloud Psalm 48: "Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised, in the mountain of our God, in the city of his holiness. Beautiful for situation, the joy of the whole earth, is Mount Zion on the sides of the north, the city of the Great King."

There is no city like it on earth. And the sacred spaces and history are literally stacked upon each other, one next to the other, one after another. Calvary. The Temple Mount. Bethesda. The Pool of Siloam. The teaching steps of the Temple (excavated in the 1960s by a team that included another fellow-traveler, Dr. Ed Yamauchi). The Kotel (Western Wall). The streets of the Old City. The Garden Tomb. Gethsemani. Caiaphas's house. The Via Dolorosa. And so much more. It's mind-boggling. The person who's never been cannot possibly imagine it. And this person who's been there four times can only shake my head. It's a pinch me place.