On Monday, May 21, I will leave with thirty-seven folks for a study tour/pilgrimage to Israel. This ten-day journey is sponsored by two theological institutions: Central Baptist Theological Seminary and St. Paul School of Theology. My good friend Mike Graves, the William K. McElvaney Professor of Preaching, is the other co-host on this trip. I will attempt periodically to provide some commentary on the biblical sites, geography, and general experiences that occur on this trip. I have not been to Israel for awhile; so I am curious about what has changed and what remains the same.
Being in a land that is fraught with meaning is a difficult experience to describe. N. T. Wright in his book The Way of the Lord captures a sense of the experience when he writes, ” . . . when God is known, sought and wrestled with in a place, a memory of that remains, which those who know and love God can pick up” (p. 5). I am hopefully that all of those on this trip will sense those memories that still remain in the land called holy.
An aside: One of the differences I have noticed in packing this time versus the last time I traveled to Israel is the number of electrical cords: five separate cords (shaver, Nook, netbook, camera, iPhone).
NTStudies 