A Special Place in the Garden Tomb…
(Jerusalem)
Flowers in the Garden
Woke up early this morning to a nice warm shower! We were still umming & arrhing whether to go to Galilee or not…we decided no because of the price, which is ok with us because it’s a beautiful day here in Jerusalem. So that said, we decided to go to the Ramparts, the Israel museum and to return to the Garden Tomb. At first, we walked to the Jaffa gate to do the Rampart walk only to find out that we couldn’t buy tickets because it’s Shabbat. I wonder what it would mean for our society if Christians kept the sabbath? We were told to book them online and return with a receipt- the problem, the internet café was still closed and our hospice told us that we were unable to print from their computer No luck there so we decided to spend some time meditating on God’s Word & praying at the Garden Tomb. It was well worth it!
Gospel Truth!
I spent the time meditating on the resurrection & our hope from 1 Corinthians 15. It was quite beautiful! We love the sign of the door of the tomb – ‘He is not here. He is Risen!’ Also around the garden were these like plaques that had the various ‘I am’ statements from the Gospel of John. A great testimony to our Saviour in a city that desperately needs Him! When were done, we had a nice chat with Roy who was one of the volunteers at the garden. He’s English and has a son living at Sylvan Lake.
“Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?” 1 Cor 15:54-5.
On our Ramparts Walk
After we were done talking we returned back to the Hospice only to leave a short time later. We grabbed some food from my now favorite vendor- a shwarma with fries! Again it was awesome. We then headed to the Jaffa gate and were in luck- the internet café was open. Actually the guy did our tickets for us. So we went and did our Rampart Walk after all. It was a nice walk though with a lot of stairs. I was a little disappointed that it dropped to street level just before the Western Wall & Dome. That said still enjoyable. I needed the toilet bad and so decided to go through the Dung gate and use the ones near the Wall. I thought it would be ok seeing it’s a bit touristy but I was DEAD WRONG. I entered and instantly the smell hit you. I walked around the corner to the cubicles and was astounded- every toilet was filled to or above the seat with crap & paper. It was revolting! So I ask the question, “Is it lawful for a man to flush the toilet on the Sabbath?” I guess not! I left without going and we took a cab to the Museum.
Model of Jerusalem in the 2nd Temple Period
The Museum is going through a series of renovations at the moment and a lot of it is closed. When we first got in we got to see the stunning miniature model of the 2nd Temple period in Jerusalem. Very detailed, Mozel Tov! We then proceeded to the Shrine of the Book where the Dead Sea Scrolls are housed. I was a little disappointed with the display- the museum is supposed to have the largest collection but only a few were displayed. It was still good to see some though. From the museum we caught a cab to the Mount of Olives. What a difference a day makes! It was beautiful up there. We were harassed by an Arab man selling panoramic pics of Jerusalem- I politely said no twice and turned my back…he then in turn commented that I hat Arabs & won’t buy from them. Funny that all of our souvenirs were from Arab vendors. We did the nice walk back through the Lion gate, grabbed some snacks & returned to the hospice only to find no water was working- no showers & no toilets. Should be an interesting night
Anyways, we have to go and pack tonight for we are leaving for Jordan in the morning. We enjoyed the sunset from the roof of the hospice.
