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Living in the Wilderness: 4-21-2010

ALICIA BORDER | STUDY ABROAD BLOGGER

The view from Mt. Nebo in Jordan looking toward Israel. This is where Moses stood at the end of his life looking into the Promised Land that he would never enter.

One month left in this land. That fact astounds me. The time that I have spent here has gone by entirely too fast, and the realization that these people aren’t going to be around next semester is beginning to set in. While that thought is true, this is not the reality that I would life to focus on. I have spent this semester in the Middle East. Before I left home, any time I told someone where I would be spending the next four months of my life they said, “wow, you’re much braver than I am,” or something to that extent. That truth has never been further from the truth. While yes, I am in the Middle East, there has been almost no threats of danger anywhere near me. There was the small riot things that happened a few weeks ago, but nothing huge. There was crazy tourists for Passover and Easter, but nothing crazy. But this week, the idea that we are currently residing in “terrorism land” became real.

Don’t worry yourselves yet, I’m not in danger. A bunch of my classmates and I had been planning a trip to Egypt: to Cairo and a beach town called Dahab. This trip had to be altered upon terrorist threats to capture Israeli tourists coming into Sinai. While Cairo isn’t in the Sinai, Dahab is. Our coordinators here at JUC have told us that we cannot go to Dahab, but directly to Cairo we should be fine. This means that most of us will not be going because out trip was only planned for two days to Cairo and the rest in Dahab. It is not often in America we find ourselves hindered by terrorist threats. Our plans remain unchanged and flexibility never seems to be needed. Being in the Middle East that is almost the exact opposite. The people here are on constant watch and are always ready to make changes to whatever they have going. Our comfort of security in America is something that we take so much for granted.

Though this reality somewhat hit me in the face today, yesterday came packed full of a sense of clarity through a picture that was able to give full expression to the thoughts I haven’t been able to express for quite some time. It was a beautiful thing. Yesterday was our last day on our last field study with Physical Settings of the Bible (our core class). We were at our last stop on Mount Nebo, where Moses is said to have looked into the promised land that he would never enter. Dr. Wright, our director, began to talk about our futures and our lives beyond Israel, beyond JUC. While it was one of the hardest lectures to sit through because we all started to realize our time here is almost over (though we still have a month left), it was also, for me at least, one of them most eye opening. The view was terrific. We opened up Deuteronomy 34 where God shows Moses the land and we pointed to where all of the places he saw were. We have seen most of them. We know the land, we know where things are. For the Israelites, they would have to travel down from this place into a bit of wilderness again to cross the Jordan to get into more wilderness before the finally reach arable land. They would mutter the words, “you brought us out of Egypt for this?” But they didn’t know what was coming. They couldn’t see Jerusalem. And, from Mt. Nebo yesterday, neither could we, because it was hazy, as it almost always is. Dr. Wright compared this to our futures. We come out of Egypt and wander for years and then just when we think we are getting somewhere, we enter again into another type of wilderness, and all we see in the distance is haze. But as we go along, day by day, whatever is in the distance gets clearer as we get closer. But we have assurance, because we know where we’ve been, and we have a God who goes before us. It says this in Deuteronomy 31:8, “It is the LORD who goes before you. He will be with you; He will not leave you or forsake you. Do not fear or be dismayed.”

For so long I have felt confused as to what the crap is going on in my life, what I am going to do with my future or even the next semester. But for once, with that picture engrained in my head, I have peace. Shalom (שלום). I know that I have a God who goes before me. So even though all I see is haze, there is a promised land out there, and regardless God is with me, even through what seems like wilderness. There are clear days few and far between, and those will give light to what is out there so that there is hope in the haze.

So with a month left here in the Holy Land, I plan to enjoy my time in the clear and beautiful place in front of me, with the people I’ve grown to love, and ignore the imminent haze.

Living In The Wilderness 3-24-2010

ALICIA BORDER | STUDY ABROAD BLOGGER

This morning I got the chance to be able to go and volunteer with an organization called Jerusalem Outreach. They are Palestinian evangelists. I went with another JUC student and the wife and daughter of one of the JUC masters’ students. We were asked to do very mundane assembly line work.

They were assembling story books with Bible stories. The books that they had received were missing pages and had to have two sticker pages placed in them as well as stamped/stickered with their contact info in the front cover. There were quite a lot of books, but time definitely flew with the conversation being fantastic and company even better. About 10 o’clock we were joined by an Arab woman who spoke a tiny bit of English. She was very nice. We didn’t talk too much because there was a quite a language gap, but we did get to learn a few Arabic words.

I learned that good morning is, “Sebach il-cheir.” That is terribly transliterated…but that’s the best I have…it might actually be wrong too, but who knows! It was definitely a good time. At about 1:30 we finished all of the boxes of books having fully equipped them with pages and stickers and the two people in charge drove us back to JUC’s campus. On our short 7 minute drive we got into a conversation about how Muslims came to know Jesus as their savior. Most Muslims are secret believers because of the extreme persecution that would become if they were public with it. At one point it was said that 25% of Muslim Background Believers (those Christians who come from a muslim background) come to know Jesus because He had appeared to them in a dream and because of that they choose to forego their Muslim life and pursue Christianity. twenty-five percent.

It was also said that in North Africa it a frequent thing for missionaries to show up in villages where the people tell them stories about how they once Muslim until one day, there was a miracle healing amongst their villagers, and because of it the whole village left their Muslim ways and believed in the True God, they tore down their mosques and made them into churches. When this happened they had no idea who God was and had no Bible and had never met a missionary or ever heard anything of the Gospel, yet they still had such a faith through just one miracle to follow blindly a God they barely knew.

What serious faith it would take to forsake entirely the faith that you had always known and turn 180 degrees to follow faithfully a God who you knew almost nothing about. There is almost so much to say that I can barely begin to put words to how hearing these things makes me feel. Our God is a God who reveals Himself to people in dreams and healings SO VIVIDLY that these people, knowing nothing about Him at all completely chase after Him and let everything they’ve ever known go. This God is the God we seem to have read about in our Bibles from day one of our spiritual journey. Why then is it that as Americans we so easily accept the idea that “God just doesn’t work with those types of miracles anymore?”

That is the biggest load of crap I have ever heard. My God, your God, the True God still shows up and reveals Himself in such manifest ways. How amazing it will be for those Muslim Background Believers to reach heaven and hear, “Well done good and faithful servant” from God because they turned aside with almost no “proof” (by Western standards) and chose to follow God. We barely follow God and we have the WORLD to use to know Him, our Bibles, the Church, the miracles in our lives (that we don’t even see), everything. Yet they had nothing but a single vision and no knowledge of the Bible and they still whole heartedly pursued God.

It reminds me so much of Luke 16 in the parable about the rich man and Lazarus where after death the rich man begs Abraham to rise Lazarus from the dead to go tell his family so that they might not be condemned. Abraham says this to them in verse 31, “If they do not listen to Moses and te Prophets, they will not be persuaded even if someone rises from the dead.” That is our story as westerners. We have been given so much, the Bible and the Church and miracles (even the small ones) in everyday life, and yet we don’t see God. And it is true, if we cannot listen to that, we wouldn’t be persuaded even by the big miracles. There are so many things that are hugely miraculous that we write off as “science” or “nature” or whatever it might be, but really? God shows up. And even through “the rising of the dead” we don’t see it.

twenty-five percent. that is a huge number. 25% of all Muslim Background Believers come to know Jesus and the True God through His revealing Himself through a dream or vision. God shows up. God rescues. That is our God. Thank the LORD that is OUR GOD. I cannot help but worship Him hearing that. That we have a God who is still alive and active and pursuing. My heart cannot contain itself. I have no words to describe the joy that it brings to know that God shows up to rescue His people. To rescue us. Hallelujah.

Living In The Wilderness: 3-17-2010

ALICIA BORDER | STUDY ABROAD BLOGGER

The calm Jerusalem desert

Being in Israel there are several things that I am do detached from that I barely even recognize their absence. In ways this is a nice luxury, in others I worry that I might struggle going back to the states. The two major examples that I can think of at the moment have to do with my phone and television.

I have a phone with an Israeli number while I am here, but I can count the number of times that I have used it on one hand, most of which were just to get a hold of people in the states when the internet wouldn?t suffice. Going from day to day not having the ability to call or text anyone is a strange thing coming from having an iphone and being completely attached to my phone. If I need to get a hold of anyone on campus I have no choice but to find them. I also don?t have constant access to facebook or twitter. It also forces me to have real conversations instead of resorting to texting. It makes quality time with people so much easier because we aren?t even tempted to look at our phones. To be so disconnected with the world of a cell phone is such a glorious place to be. I think that I have come to conclude that when I get back to the states I will be putting set schedules on my phone usage. I think that during the school day it will be off all the time. And it will only be on at night (thinking about this it might cause issues for work?but i?ll figure it out). And there will be one day where I will have it completely off all day. It will definitely limit my time and focus on something that is entirely unnecessary on a daily basis.

Being without a television is another thing. Being without daily news is pretty hard, though i suppose i could just go pick up a paper or check out online news. I haven?t seen a TV show since I?ve been here and I have only watched two movies. For those of you who know me that in itself is quite a feat. I think that I will cut back on the shows that I watch in the states. I might limit it to three shows that I keep up on and only watch the news when i?m at the gym (which was normal anyway). I think I also will only watch  movies on the weekend as well. These things are tentative right now, but I feel like they are a good idea.I am not sure which shows I will cut, but I will have to cut somewhere.

There are been a lot of realizations while I am studying here and I feel that there will be a bit of change in the lifestyle I live when I return, hopefully for the better. The goal is to cut out the unnecessary things to make room for more Kingdom focused ideas. After all, to quote the phrase that I hated hearing so much for the past two year from our Jr high director Daniel Huskey, ?its not about you (me).? Life is so that God can be glorified and I am but a tool. I pray that that is evident and that it is not me that shines but Him.

Living In The Wilderness: 3-1-2010

ALICIA BORDER | STUDY ABROAD BLOGGER

A lone tree stands in the Jerusalem dessert

A slight change in topic form the past few blogs, but I have been thinking lately about the differences in culture between America and Israel. While in so many ways Israel is a very westernized country there are still so many things about being here that differ so much from what I am used to back in the states.

The first and most evident is the idea of time and schedule. Here time is very fluid, things change and being on time isn't something that is emphasized. Being super punctual, let alone early, is not something that happens very frequently from what I have gathered over the past month or so that I have been living here. I have always been one of those people who leaves more early than I need to and I like to be at least fifteen minutes early for almost everything like work and classes. I find that doing that here is getting increasingly more difficult. To give an example I will talk about my classes for a second. This campus is very small and it takes me no more than a minute to walk to the classroom from my dorm room. I left my room ten minutes early the first few days of class and I was the only one in the classroom, including the professor (and that's my American professors, the Israeli ones are later than all of the students). This seemed to be the norm amongst the student body that are here for the semester. Over the past few months we have all seemed to become accustom to this whole "middle eastern time" thing. Now when I sit down in class and look at my watch it is just at the time class is supposed to start and only half of the class (if that) is there. We also never leave on time for our field studies and our professors make a habit of telling us we will be leaving at a certain time expecting to leave at least fifteen minutes later. It is a strange phenomena, but I am rather growing to like it. The whole culture is so much more laid back and less on edge. It is such a difference form the up tight, go go go, culture in the states. It is beginning to seem that it will be hard to transition back to that lifestyle that I was so used to living at home, especially being that I live in the LA area.

Other than time there is also a vast difference in the orientation of people with their families. Family is such a huge deal here. In ways I think they have it more right here than we do in our world. Family is the unit you go to for help. Family is on what you rely. Family is who you are. They help each other out. It, in ways, breaks my heart that we have somehow missed this in our culture. This is how it was Biblically. We are meant to have those people on whom to rely in our lives.

One last thing, while not so much an aspect of cultural differences, but rather a change in thinking. This semester of being in this place and with these people has already taught me a lot about myself and is continuing to stretch me in so many ways. Learning to let go of a lot of images and preconceived notions is such a freeing thing and I am very grateful for the opportunity to grow while I am here. This semester is beginning to seem to be characterized by growth not only spiritually but mentally and emotionally as well. God is working in great ways here, not only in me, but through all of us studying here as a group. I pray that He continues to do so for the rest of the semester and for the rest of our lives. God is so good.

Living In The Wilderness: 3-3-2010

ALICIA BORDER | STUDY ABROAD BLOGGER

Alicia Border is a Junior at Azusa Pacific University and is studying abroad in Jerusalem and will be blogging weekly, so check back every week for her posts.

I have never seen a place as beautiful in my life as the rolling hills of Senonian chalk running through the Judean wilderness. It rained this weekend and everywhere was green, there were pools of mud and muck in any low spot that caught water through the hills. All sides of the rolling waves of soft limestone were dotted with green life from the once a year that they actually receive adequate rainfall. The deep Wadis that were just a week ago bone dry were filled, flash flooded, with rich fertile soil filled water, running through them so fast that it seemed they could take out anything in their way. Seeing the wilderness in its most fertile state, just after the rains, watching the land that has nothing, have everything it needed was a sight I will never be able to get out of my head.

One of my classes hiked into the middle of the wilderness in order to climb a mountain that was once a Herodian fortress. It was about a two mile walk up, most of which consisted of wandering amongst the soft rolling hills before reaching the actual climb of the mountain. It was almost hard not to stop and just gaze into the nothingness around as we walked. Looking off the top we could see the Dead Sea in the distance. The sunlight was there, looming over the water while everywhere else over the land of nothingness were clouds, ever moving on, shadowing the wilderness for a much-needed rain.

On our walk back we there was a pool surrounded by more green than anyone ever expects to find in the desert wasteland. The pool was about six feet long and no more than two feet wide. It was mud filled and there were little ripples filling it from the wind and sprinkling rain that was falling. Everywhere around it was the sand colored dirt that is stereotypical of the wilderness. Looking at that pool and its surroundings gave a beautiful picture of who God is, and was, for His people.

God provides. Even in places that seem that no life could ever possibly exist, not to mention flourish, God shows up. God intervenes when everything is dry, lifeless, and seems hopeless. Even in places that only get four inches of rain a year, the rain that does come, (or the mercy, love, presence, forgiveness, grace etc. of God) comes in such abundance as to provide life enough to sustain until the rain returns. Even in times where it seems helpless and dry, the hope of knowing that the abundant rains will come to the rescue is how we get through. It is in the contrast between the dirt dry barrenness of the desert and the amazing green life it takes on after the rain that God shows who He is for those who know Him. God restores. The wilderness itself is a wonderful sight to see, whether dry or full of life, it takes your breath away at its vastness and greatness. Likewise, God is beautiful, and will make you stand in awe of Him.

All of that to say, that standing there in the wilderness I felt the qualities of God that I have just been told of my whole life. God is good. God provides. God sustains. God shows up even when all is helpless. God is beautiful. God is always present, regardless of what His presence looks like at certain times. God captures your attention. God is a never-ending mystery and will always continue to keep you coming back for more.