Shalom, y'all!

We are back! South Alabama has never looked so good. When we got back to U.S. soil, I was inspired to sing the National Anthem with new words, motivated by how glad I was to be back as well as sleep deprivation (precisely 53 hours without a bed or a shower). I don't remember my rendition exactly, but I know it included cheeseburgers and English-only road signs.

I regret I was unable to update while we were in Israel. Whenever we had a spare minute at our first hotel, so did everyone else, and the Internet was overloaded. The next hotel charged $8 an hour for Internet use, and y'all know I'm just too cheap for that.

We really appreciate your prayers for us. Everything went so smoothly, it could have only been God's mercy at work. The only bad incident the entire trip was when a car in a parking lot bumped our 71-year-old guide on the last day. Seriously, people drive within inches over there, and sometimes, they choose to close even that small gap.

Our time in Israel was altogether enjoyable and enlightening. Best trip we've ever taken. It wasn't at all like I imagined it would be. The country was gorgeous! Galilee was very green and mountainous. Everywhere we looked, we saw flowers, trees and farmland -- grapefruit, apples, mangoes, bananas, olives...

This is the cliff near Nazareth the angry crowd tried to throw Jesus from, but he passed through their midst (Luke 4).

Here is the view of the Sea of Galilee from our hotel. Notice the rainbow in the center.

Even the desert around the Dead Sea and Jerusalem was beautiful. We thought we were done with winding roads, but that part was mountainous, too.

We took a boat ride on the smooth Sea of Galilee and were baptized in the frigid Jordan River. We scaled a mountain to Herod the Great's fortress at Masada and worshipped in the Garden of Gethsemane. We read Psalm 88 in the waterless cistern where Caiaphas held Jesus the night before His crucifixion and visited an empty, borrowed garden tomb.

One of our favorites was the ruins of Bet She'an (see 1 Samuel 31). It was uncovered less than 20 years ago, and the hill in the background is yet to be excavated. We did a little excavating of our own in the areas that had already been picked through and brought home some pottery that is at least 1,200 years old.

I won't weigh the blog down with all the details. You should go experience it for yourself.

Though I enjoyed visiting the places Jesus ministered, my favorite sites were those God still has major plans for. I was especially moved at the Temple Mount and Western Wall. Though the Dome of the Rock mosque now sits there, it was amazing to stand near the place where the Holy of Holies was, where God interacted with His chosen people and covered their sins each year before He provided His eternal sacrifice -- near part of this same mountain where He provided a substitute sacrifice for Abraham's son Isaac.

Thoughts of the torn veil were fresh on my mind as we made our way toward the Western Wall. I prayed there surrounded by women swaying as they read the Torah and crying over their Hebrew prayer books. They are passionate. They have no temple for sacrifices, but they do so much in efforts to follow the Law. They long for their Messiah.

Muslims who visit the mosques just on the other side of the wall are passionate, too. They pray toward Mecca 5 times a day and follow a strict code in hopes of getting into heaven. They also want a messiah to come.

As I stood there at the wall among many who long for Messiah's redemption but don't know His name, I prayed for the revealing of Truth and a peace in Jerusalem that only Messiah can bring.

What a life-changing experience! We're supposed to share about the trip with our church next Sunday night, so I'll post more photos on Facebook after that. As much as I love to travel, I think we'll stick closer to home for a while. I'd like my next big trip to be a day at a beautiful Florida beach. Anyone who vacations at the Dead Sea is missing out. This is not exactly sugar-white sand.