Saying Good Bye to Israel March '10

We got up this morning to a very solid rain coming down. An hour later the sky had cleared and the sun was shining down on Jerusalem as it usually does.
Today was our last day in Israel for this IFL March 2010 tour. We started off at the Garden Tomb for a Praise and Communion Service. What a way to start a day and to end a week and a half in Israel.
We also had a chance today to visit the Western Hill (today called Mt. Zion) where we saw the traditional place of the denials of Peter, then the Upper Room, the Jewish Quarter including Hezekiah's Broad Wall, the Roman Cardo, a great Jewish bagel lunch, before I sent the bus pilgrims back to the hotel to pack. Since Sharon and I don't leave until 10:15 am Friday, I spent a couple of hours in the Old City. I was able to help Dr. Dan Wallace make a good contact for possible future visits, I brought my wife a couple of gifts for next Christmas or some other good excuse to give him a gift, and then the Wallaces and I walked through the Muslim Quarter (Pati got some spices) and boarded an Arab bus back to our hotel. All this is quite a culturally stretching time for us as Americans and is something I've really come to enjoy doing.
Before I end my blog tonight I thought I'd add some pictures Sharon took yesterday. The first is of me in "Zedikiah's Cave." The next is of Steve Green in his concert last night at the Pavilion in Jerusalem (a church concert hall). I'm going to miss being here in the days ahead. I've gotten a couple of requests to return here to address Palestinian believers on a number of Scriptural questions as well as preaching opportunities. I'll be praying in the days ahead if this is somewhere I should be spending some time when my sabbatical comes up in 2011-12. Will you pray with me?