ISRAEL - Part 4 The Team

Here's our team (plus THE BEST PHOTO BOMBER in history. The girl, second from the right in the back. Internet, do your work. I must know your name! You rock!)

Let me introduce the rest to you...

Hunter -
A true visionary. How about this for a resume: born in the Bible Belt (North Carolina), lived in God's Country (Montana), and settled in the Holy Land?

I have been a fan of his for years, but now I can claim him as a friend (I will still keep my fan status card, thank you)

My appreciation has only increased since getting to know his beautiful wife, Lauri (they have a better engagement(s) story than ours and that's saying something) and their wonderful daughter Haley, who helped me stave off homesickness by giving me three hugs a day.  

Now I miss Haley!

Haley! Visit me with you come to America this summer.

Scott - 
One of my dearest friends. It was an incredible treat to be with him for the week.

He was notoriously late...for everything! On one occasion we left him! It was part because we were on a time table, but I think it really was to teach him a lesson. He says he was stuck behind a police barricade, but his email betrays him ; )

Bruce and Alysia - 

Bruce and I had a moment I'll never forget. 

Picture this: singing the Star Spangled Banner on a boat in the middle of the Sea of Galilee. When Bruce throws his arm around me as we belt out the final part... Priceless. 

My moment with Alysia came on the last morning on the terrace in Jerusalem. Thanks Alysia. 

 

Steve and Annaliese - 

Steve is a professional storyteller. Many years ago he and his wife adopted Hunter. Over the course of the week, I think they adopted us. And we couldn't be happier about it! My favorite moment with the Maddox's happened in Jericho. It was dinner. There was wine. And we shared some great stories. (I owe them one actually.)

Annaliese is a professional smile-maker. She put one on me every day.

Allison - 

I have another name for her, but I won't share it.

We go to the same church. It's called Hope.

We didn't spray paint it. Thanks to whoever did.

Check out the smile she put on that camel. That's the kind of gal Allison is.

Mary Hil - 

She was a Young Life gal of mine, and still she turned out amazing!

She brought a lot of fun as well as a horde of snacks. My favorite Mary Hil moment was actually a meal we shared before leaving JFK. By the end of it, I think we had pretty much figured her entire life out. Ha!

And despite being the youngest, she fit in perfect. 

Yousef and Nisreen - 

Zebabdeh (sp?) born and bred. They got married on our anniversary. Yousef has promised to remind me, and vice versa.

One thing I love is Humor is universal. It's one of the fruits of the spirit. Seriously, they'll discover it someday in some ancient scroll (check back this week to read about our trip to Qumran)

And last but certainly not least...

Rich and Nancy - 

They remind Lia and I so much of Lia's parents I began to call Nancy "Sue"

And Rich, "Rich"!

Nancy was my partner in crime. Whenever I wanted to do something crazy, I knew I could count on her to do it with me. Rich got himself in his own trouble. He asked everyone. I mean everyone he met how they would solve the Israeli/Palestinian question. It was unbelievable. He even got cussed out! 

Leela and Me - 

This is us clean.

This is us dirty. 

(Dead Sea blog entry forthcoming as well)

ISRAEL - Part 3 Water Walking

How cool would it be to walk on water? Answer: very.

Needless to say, when we arrived at the Sea of Galilee, I had big plans to pull off the impossible because, after all, nothing is.

Right?

One evening when Anna Rose was three, I was talking to Lia about how impossible writing is when Anna Rose piped up and said those very words: "Daddy, nothing's impossible with God." Dang it. Wouldn't you believe she was right?

Which leads me here to the water's edge of the beautiful Sea of Galilee. A lake of many names: Gennesaret, Kinneret, and Tiberias to go along with Galilee - the largest fresh water lake in Israel, the second lowest (at 200 or so meters below sea level) in the world (we'll be visiting the lowest in a couple days!). I had an amazing run there. It was like the opposite of running at altitude - no, it wasn't like the opposite, it was!

But running is one thing - water walking is another.

All I needed was faith.

No problem.

Here, my partner in crime, Scott Steele sizes up my chances. 

We were standing on the beach at a place called Peter's Primacy.

It's the "traditional" (we talked about traditional already) location where Jesus and Peter had their conversation on the beach.

John 21. It's one of our favorite stories in the New Testament, one of the most beautiful pictures of love and forgiveness ever written. And we were standing there.

You could almost smell the fish Jesus had been frying.

And Lia and I had just tag-teamed the devotion.

So it was about as good a time as any.

I rolled up my pants. (Quite a display of faith, wouldn't you say).

I approached the water's edge. Tiny waves lapped at my toes.

I closed my eyes.

I prayed.

I mustered all the faith I could muster.

And stepped...

Granted, it would have been riskier trying a water walk in the middle of the lake. But my options were limited.

I sunk right in.

Dead on arrival. 

The faith of a gnat. Actually, gnat's float. I've got less faith than a gnat. 

Which gets me thinking about the significance of the place...the point Jesus was making to Peter when he restored him that day.

It was like he was saying the same thing to me: "Ned, don't you get it? It's not your belief in me but my belief in you that matters."

Dang it. He's right, of course. You'd think I'd learn it by now.

ISRAEL - Part 2 Nazareth

For a country that is only 2% Christian, Israel has some churches. The ones we visited were ones at or near places where Jesus did things. 

The Basilica of the Annunciation in Nazareth

looks like a Star Wars time warp on the inside. 

It's the "traditional" place where Gabriel appeared to Mary. "Traditional" is the word they throw in when they're pretty sure they're wrong, but maybe they're right.

Anyway, Mary and little Baby Jesus play a prominent role here. The garden outside is full of Mary and Baby Jesus' from across the world. Here is China's:

I had a hard time getting Talladega nights out of my head.

Carley: "Hey, um, you know, sweetie, Jesus did grow up. You don't always have to call him, 'baby.' It's a bit odd and off-putting to pray to a baby." 

Ricky: "Well, I like the Christmas Jesus best and I'm saying grace. When you say grace, you can say it to grownup Jesus or teenage Jesus or bearded Jesus, or whoever you want."

Cal: "I like to picture Jesus in a Tuxedo T-shirt because it says, like, 'I wanna be formal, but I'm here to party too.'" 

The United States pictures Mary as Lady Gaga. 

It reminds me of the quote attributed to many: God created man in his own image, and we have been returning the favor ever since. 

Germany made the door. There's a sculpture inlaid in the bottom left corner of Jesus as a teenager. This is Jesus in Nazareth: The boy who grew and became strong; was filled with wisdom, and the grace of God was on him (Luke 2:40).

It's pretty cool, no, downright amazing, that of all the places Hunter could start Young Life he's starting it in the town where Jesus was a teenager. I couldn't help imagining Jesus in the crowd of high schoolers we met. Kids like Sari and Fareed and Anas and Jameel. He would have been in a Jewish high school, I guess - no, they didn't have high school back then...but you get what I mean.  

I saw the rocks he played on. I swung from trees in the place he swung from trees. And it didn't matter to me one dot or iota whether it was the "traditional" tree or not.

ISRAEL - Part 1

Lia and I just returned from a life-transforming trip to Israel. In the coming days, I am going to do my best to share it with you.

I am daunted. The task will not be easy. For one, there is much to be said. For two, there is much I'm still absorbing. For three, there is a magnitude to this region that is better experienced than read. (Plus, the fear the Mossad could be eavesdropping and never let me return!)

Here, Lia and I stand on the precipice over the city of Nazareth (the same precipice the Nazarenes threatened to throw Jesus off!) with so much to see and so many things to discover. It is day one of our trip and already we are filled to overflow.

So come. Consider this an invitation. Join me as I share over the next couple weeks some observations on this beautiful, strange, complex, volatile, explosive, and remarkable confluence of cultures, religions, ethnicities and peoples.

Hunter Lambeth (along with is wife Lauri and daughter Haley) is the Young Life Area Director for the Middle East. We're on his committee (not sure how or why, but I'm not asking questions), which is the reason we were invited on the committee trip overseas to see what's going on. Here, Hunter (can you pick him out in the crowd? Lia's in the way back) prepares to speak to the ninth and tenth graders at Nazareth Baptist School (where he does Young Life). 

  

He starts with a picture. What do you see? There are whispers. Points. Then, ahh's. Then, more ahh's as people begin to see that there are not one but two pictures, two faces - one old, one young. (Do you see them?) He transitions into the point that so often we can look at the same picture but see entirely different things. It's a great point - 

- a point that hit home over and over again throughout the course of our visit. 

A picture that for me would change day to day as I met people from every side of the issues and from every walk of life - the privileged to the oppressed - and I was forced to face my prejudices and racism - and discovered a new appreciation and love for the people who live here. Every single one. 

Young Life Club

Islam our van driver - takes me back to China with the peace sign

Nancy Keshian and girls at Young Life

House of Hope - Bethlehem

Osam and I - both dads. 

Priest at the Church of the Nativity, checking how his stocks are doing

House of Hope - Lia and Ibrahim our tour guide

Gary and Cindy Bayer - the two most hospitable people on the planet

Lia gets yelled at by a nun for showing too much skin

Ari spends his Sabbath with me at the Western Wall

Yousef and Nisreen share our anniversary!

The best falafel in Jerusalem

My entry for next year's National Geographic amateur photo competition.

Foaling

The "Wild" Ponies at Grayson Highlands are foaling. Get on your high horse and visit them!!!

Grayson Highlands

Doe Eyes

who could say no to this face?

"Spring" Break 2013: It was so cold last week in Philly we had to organize our errands around trips to the hot chocolate store (what my kids call coffee shops).

We went to a shop I'd never been to before. Since leaving Media, my hometown (and yours, apparently - the town motto is "Everybody's Hometown" so there you have it), it has become quite the cool place. From what I understand, Seven Stones is but one of several places to drink hot chocolate. When I was growing up, the only place I knew to go was Dunkin Donuts, and they didn't do or did the whipping cream there.

We entered Seven Stones, my mother placed the order, and we found a round table. Anna Rose came up with a game called "Score" which involved a stone she had picked up from somewhere and a curled up arch of a receipt. Think finger-soccer and you'll get the picture.

We played until our hot chocolates arrived. The children drank theirs with vigor. (The barista had their drinks temperatured just right.) Anna Rose was making vacuum cleaner noises with her straw and Dave Dave was wiping whipping cream from his top lip when I heard from his mouth a phrase I had never heard before.

"I want to talk to her."

I followed his line of sight to a doey-eyed brunette the age of three. Perhaps it was the velocity of sugar intake that created such boldness. I'd never seen him so determined.

"Go for it," I said.

Dave Dave hopped down from his chair. He walked halfway up to her.

As it happened, her mother was bussing their mid-morning snack in the trash bin across the room. Doe Eyes was standing alone, innocent as can be.

He loaded at her. She looked at him.

"How you doing?" my son said. (I'm not making this up)

Doe Eyes replied, "Get out of my way!" And brushing poor Dave Dave aside, she brusquely walked passed her mother (horrified) and out the door.

no bumpers in life

Man! Philly girls are tough.

Or maybe I'm wrong. As my friend Drew said - "That's how most marriages start in Philly."

All I gots to say is Doe Eyes didn't know what she was missing.