I am sitting in a comfortable carpeted room with Christmas music playing and lights strung around the room. I thought it appropriate to update all of my readers on the status of my body and brain after a mentally straining last week in Israel and two days of traveling.

The last days of IBEX FAO5 We said our last good-bye’s on Saturday night and then drove to the airport. We had to go through some of the most careful security that I have ever seen. They scan your entire luggage and open it up and take everything out to search it. This meant that all the dirty laundry that we had accumulated over the last week was sprawled out in front of the Israeli security personnel. We all eventually got on the flight and fell asleep, cutting our flight from Tel Aviv to Newark to only a couple of hours. We landed in 30 degree weather in New Jersey, stayed a couple of hours and then boarded another plane to take us to Los Angeles. It was hard to say good-bye to all of the people that I had spent so much time with over the last 4 months. I am excited to see what God does with the 33 people who were at IBEX in the fall of 2005. I am praying that we all will be obedient to the word of God for the love of God.

Do I miss Israel? Yeah, I do. It is hard to be with the same people so long and to grow to love them so much and then suddenly drop the relationship all together. I also miss the land. There was something special about being in the land of our God and seeing where it is that His people have dwelt for thousands of years. I will miss learning so much about the Bible. I didn’t know that there was so much that I didn’t know about the Bible and I don’t think I will ever be so excited to learn so much. God displayed His love by allowing me to learn so much about Him and to grow in my love for Him. I can only give all honor glory and praise to Him for what I experienced and how my life was changed. I would be nice to go back some day.

Am I glad to be back? Well, the way I look at it is that God placed me in that season of life for a time and now that time is over. For a couple of months I was given the opportunity to dwell in the land of Israel and I don’t regret one minute of it, but it is nice to be back in familiar territory. I have enjoyed spending time with friends, especially Grant, who is so faithful to challenge me and encourage me from the word of God. It is nice to get some variety in the food too. I had Mexican food last night and American cereal and bagels this morning. There are so many things in the US that make things easy. We live in a society where things are so readily accessible that we rely on it in order to exist. I will be really happy when I see my family and friends in Washington finally after 4 months of separation.

What has changed? I see things totally different now; not everything, but many things. I was surprised at how much I notice American wealth and greed since being back. After seeing poverty in Egypt and the lack of American comfort in Israel, it is hard to come back and just live like everything used to be. My heart and life are changed forever and I will never see things differently, or so I hope. I read my Bible so differently now, with such a better understanding of the geography and the land in which it happened. God has also allowed me to worship Him in a deeper, more intimate way because of what showed me while in Israel. He is God of the nations, the One who orchestrates all of the actions of the nations desires that His gospel be spread abroad. Why is it that so many American Christians think that the US is the only place to go and they don’t even consider foreign missions? These are just few of my thoughts.

Anyways, I am caught up on my sleep and I am enjoying spending time with Charissa and Grant down here. It has been nice seeing some IBEXers as well.