Day 3 - Let My People Go

Cross on Mt. Nebo

It's late on Day 4 and I'm trying to catch up on writing and posting.  We actually got to our hotel before sunset so that was a nice change.

Yesterday, Day 3, or Day 2 in Jordan, started with ... you guessed it, the Muslim call to prayer at 4:00 AM.  Did it wake me up?  You bet.  Did I stay awake through the whole thing like the first day?  No way.  Not even close.  We're talking about 10 seconds here.

Ignoring how tired I was (or in engineering terms, "all things being equal"), what does that say about human nature?  The second day I could almost totally ignore it, which leads me to wonder how many Muslims ignore it completely.  But in reflection, how long does it take me to ignore the wrong things, to skip morning prayer, to skip devotions with my wife?  What a fallen people we are.  What a fallen person I am, saved by grace alone, sola gratia.

Outside the Church of St. George

We traveled first into Moab, specifically Madaba which has an old floor mosaic dating back to the 6th century.  It is a map of the Middle East and contains very detailed depictions of the Holy Land.  In fact, this mosaic is the oldest known geographic floor mosaic.  In fact as recent at 2010 archaeologists have discovered finds thanks to the details in this mosaic.  Pretty cool.  Here are a few photos from the church and area.  I also have a short video of our guide talking about it.

Entrance to church and mosaic sign

Inside the church of St. George

A section of the floor mosaic

Another section of the floor mosaic

 I was awarded this view of a mosque in Madaba while walking from the bus to the church.  Also of note is that the walk from the bus parking area to the church was notably cleaner with nicer sidewalks than seen anywhere else in the city, another nod to the importance of tourism in Jordan.

View of a mosque in Madaba

 From Madaba it was a short drive to Mt. Nebo (aka Mt. Pisgah).  This was the highlight of the day, to walk where Moses walked, to see what Moses saw while standing on top of the mountain, to hear Reggie speak of the law giver and the grace giver, and to raise our voices in song at the summit of the mountain.  It was a moving experience and a great blessing.

Kim led the group in Sweet Hour of Prayer and I led On Jordan's Stormy Banks.  Of course, Sweet Hour of Prayer has the verse that mentions Mt. Pisgah.  Here is a clip with that verse in it.

Sweet hour of prayer sweet hour of prayer

May I thy consolation share

Till from Mount Pisgah's lofty height

I view my home and take my flight

This robe of flesh I'll drop and rise

To seize the everlasting prize

And shout while passing through the air

Farewell farewell sweet hour of prayer

It was also fascinating to see the remnants of the churches that have been built through the years on this site, showing the significance or "gravity" if you will, to the location.  The building that displays the old churches and associated mosaics opened in 2016 and is very nice.  More pics.

New museum.  Mosaics on walls and glass floors

View north from Mt. Nebo

Obvious photo op

One of the old churches

Another church with baptistry

The oldest church and baptistry

Mosaic workshop on Mt. Nebo

From Mt. Nebo we visited a local non-profit that employs disabled artists that make mosaics.  Jordan is renowned for their mosaics and have several schools in Madaba for aspiring artists.  We visited the workshop and got to see firsthand how mosaics are made.  There were some fantastic pieces in there.

So we wandered in the desert long enough, seeing both the land of the Edomites and the land of the Moabites. Next was the border crossing at the Allenby Bridge into Israel.  Yes, we crossed over the river Jordan, and not that far from Jericho either.

No pictures here due to security.  The bus was checked for bombs before we made it to where we left the bus and went through security.  Let's just say they are thorough and leave it at that.

We met our new guide, Hela, and bus driver, Omar.  Hela is a Messianic Jew and Omar is Muslim.  Hela said we had about a one hour bus ride to Netanya, a coastal town just north of Tel Aviv.

Wrong.

Jordan traffic was a joke compared to this.    In Jordan a traffic jam was 5 camels and a donkey.  In Jordan there are speed bumps on the main north-south highway, the King's Highway, so traffic will go slower.

No need in Israel.  Traffic this day was horrendous.  What started as a one hour trip took somewhere around 4 hours.  Kim had Gilligan's Island lyrics running around in her head.  And there were "bladder issues".  Let's leave it there.

But we did finally get to our destination ... after dark.  Here is the view from my balcony that night.

Netanay, Israel at night (obviously)

Until the next post,

Shalom