Hurt
Pain
Sadness
Loss
Happiness
Joy
Compassion...
...and Love.
We're all human. All the world over. We all feel the same emotions, and experience similar experiences that are dear to us.
It's 12:30 am, and I write these few lines from my hotel, nestled in the heart of Jerusalem. I have been in Israel now for a week, and I will be here a couple more days before I return home to the United States. I've dragged myself from site to site and church to church, and I'm not even done yet.
Israel is in a place that is torn, and torn again. It's so torn that it ought to be threadbare if it isn't. There are so many denomnations represented here on these lands that I can't even begin to keep track of them all. Many of them dislike each other.
In the least cases, they can't get along enough to clean a church, so it falls into demise and gets covered in filth and dross.
They fly miltary fighters jets around at regular intervals to keep watch, and they have miltary checkpoints periodically on the highways.
Some of this ground is said to of had more blood spilt on it than anyplace else in the world. So why? Why can't we understand each other a little more? Why can't we be just a little compassionionate? Why can't we sit down and iron out our differences and stop the hate, the anger, the bloodshed?
But I know why. I understand the nature of a fundamentalist sect better then most. I understand how they think, and how they are taught. The situation makes me want to sit down and weep. I don't know that it can change without a whole lot more suffering and pain. I wish that it could, but I don't know.
My solace lies in the fact that I am a person of faith, and I trust that the Lord can work all things to his end, and for his good.Go out today, and care about someone. Show compassion for them, regardless of who they are, what they look like, and what you think about their beliefs.
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The "Wailing Wall", or Western Wall of the ancient temple complex in Jerusalem, Israel.
This is perhaps the most profound place in Israel that I have visited. It is the most holy site for the Jewish people, and I was deeeply touched by their reverence for this place.
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