Holy Cow…I mean Land

I think that just the fact that there is something here for people to read answers the question “Will Micah actually blog while he is in Israel?”. But if you read further than you will see that there is more here than just trying to prove a point, but rather a plethora of information for inquiring minds.
My time at TMC this last week was enjoyable as I was able to spend time friends that I had not seen all summer. Particularly, Grant, my former roommate, who allowed me to stay in his room for a couple of days and picked me up from the airport on Wednesday. It was good to be able to talk again with David Zimmer. We spent some time together on Wednesday as we swam in the Pacific Ocean and talked about life. By the way, check out David’s new CD, I have truly been blessed by the music that he has written and how God-centered it is.

Saturday morning at 8:30am we left for the Los Angeles International Airport. It was a time of joy and sadness, for even though I was leaving my sister and friends and my whole life up to this point, I was on my way to a great place. I guess going off to a concentration camp is similar, except you aren’t looking forward to where you are going…I don’t know… bad analogy.
The excitement was high as everyone regrouped inside the airport, we checked baggage, went through security, and proceeded to terminal 62. The first flight was not that bad, only four hours and I got a window seat. We arrived in Newark, New Jersey around 8:30pm and had a pleasant two-hour layover where many had their last American hamburger and root beer at A&W. Boarding the next flight was a bit more daunting as the rumored flight time was 10 hours. But to our relief it was only 9 hours and 53 minutes. I was in the very, very back corner of the plane. I sat next to a stinky man who was going to Israel for his sister’s wedding. The good thing about being seated there was that I was right next to food that they were cooking…or wait…they don’t cook airline food, well the warming process smelled good and made me hungry. Most of the students had not finished their reading or map assignment and so that filled most of the in flight time, myself included.

Arriving in Tel-Aviv was a very welcoming to our souls. One member of the group became ill the last portion of the flight and is still in bed as I type. It was quite the process getting 31 college students through the airport, with no older authority to provide direction and one student who is sick. We all made it to baggage claim, but then there was a mix-up on where some people were and we stayed on the one side of customs for an extra twenty minutes. Once we had met Todd on the other side and we were all in the bus, it was realized that one bag was not there. Todd and Christie went back inside and were in there for over 30 minutes trying to find the luggage. God is good and allowed the bag to be recovered and we were able to drive back to the Moshav.

During the drive, Todd gave us some introductory comments and things we needed to know. I knew that this semester was going to be interesting when Todd specifically said that we needed to listen to our room numbers, and so I started tracking with him. He goes through all of the ladies and comes to guys list. Now there are two things that distracted me. First was that he said my name first. I wasn’t expecting to hear my name so soon. Second, when he said the name of my roommate, I immediately said in my mind “Who?”. I started looking around the bus trying figure out how I could have spent so many hours with a group and not know one of the 11 guys over here. I then jumped back to what Todd was saying and realized that I missed what room I was in. Seriously, how stupid could I be, to follow everyone else’s room assignments and then when it gets to me, totally space. Oh well.
The first thing that I thought of when I actually saw Israel for the first time from the plane, was “God chose this to be the promised land?” We had just flown over many different bits of land, all of them beautiful, and yet this dust desert is where God wanted His chosen people to live? Personally, I would have chosen some place a lot more pleasing to eyes like Washington state. Something else that I realized was that Israel is no longer just some colored maps in the back of my Bible. It is the land that I’m walking on. I guess that is kind of a duh-principle, but it never really hit me until I was on the road that goes to Jerusalem.
Well, I’m kind of tired and classes start at 8am tomorrow, so I need some sleep. More to come later!