We're Here!

Out my patio door, the waves are crashing, the breeze is blowing. We are here, in Israel, spending the night beside the Mediterranean Sea. The twelve hour flight was not too bad. The plane was not full so many of us had empty seats beside us. When I awoke sometime in the middle of the night Houston time and sunrise Israel time there were men standing, holding prayer books, wrapped in prayer shawls… praying, Giving thanks to God for the day that was about to begin. It was a beautiful sight, sitting in that dark plane, watching in hushed silence, praying silently with them and the world. Hours later, we landed, and again a surprise, the plan erupted in applause. It was the Israelies, they applaud when the plane wheels touch down on the land that they call home. A way of thanking God to be back in the land that holds with it the deep memory of covenantal promise.