July 4 in the West Bank

Yesterday was a day I won't forget for a very long time, if ever. It was a day in which I confronted fear and insecurity full in the face (and won), a day in which I saw true hospitality in human form, and a day in which media stereotypes were exposed and I was reminded again that news stories are exaggerated versions of real people with flesh and blood and interests.

At the invitation of a friend of a friend, I spent the day in the West Bank. I was given walking directions and a bus route and a chance to prove to myself that I am capable of more than I realize. There were some glitches along the way (like walking through the entire Old City to the Arab bus stop at the Damascus Gate because I thought the sign just down the street from my hotel wasn't right since it didn't have that particular bus number on it ... and getting off too early (there are no numbers or names on the stops, so you just hope to match the description), calling Jamison and saying, "I'm standing beside a Panorama Market yellow sign" and him asking me to describe the view from where I was, then coming to pick up this bumbling Southerner), but I did it. I also met a complete stranger, joined his family in their home, then shared Bible study and a meal with them and their small group. Me. The one who sometimes feels out of place in the company of family and friends. I think this trip is giving me a chance to grow in more ways than I had realized.

I'm doing a She Reads Truth Study (in the evenings) on Hospitality. Last night's reading centered around Acts 28:2: "The islanders showed us unusual kindness." It was perfect timing for that particular study because that is exactly what I encountered today. Jamison and Kelli went out of their way to invite a perfect stranger into their home, Jamison took the time to meet me at my (wrong) bus stop, take me on a tour through the Church of the Nativity, and drive me all the way back to my Jerusalem hotel at the end of the night. They shared their couch, their conversation, their children, their small group, and their table. Every Saturday night, they invite people into their home to share the Word and a meal. I felt like it was too much of a commitment to host 12 weeks of AD in mine. Woah. It was incredibly meaningful to me to have a chance to study His word with fellow Arab, Israeli, and American believers in the land where it all began.

If you've ever turned on the news, you haven't had to wait long for some sort of story about Israel, Palestine, the West Bank, Gaza. I will admit that, prior to my trip in October, I honestly believed that people were crouching around corners shooting at each other all the time. That rockets dropped from the sky every day. October killed a lot of that media hysteria for me, but yesterday dispelled even more media stereotypes. Yesterday I was in the West Bank. Outside the fence. Through the checkpoint. And do you know what I found? Not gangs of weapon-toting, hostile people. No, I found adorable brown-eyed boys sucking on two fingers outside a store... kids on bicycles flying through parking lots... gentle men singing "Oh Holy Night" in the cave of the Nativity... families walking home from buying groceries... I guess if there is ONE THING I want my kids to gain from this trip, it's this: People are people. No matter where they live or what their political affiliation is or what religion they are, they are still people who laugh, love, and live just like you. And if you cut them, they will bleed like you. It's a little ironic that the people I was with yesterday are considered by many to be "enemies of Israel (read: the Jews)" and I want to use their lives to further my purpose in Holocaust education. But to me, that's THE WHOLE POINT of Holocaust education. We have to see what happens when people are stripped of their humanity, demonized, monster-ized, viewed as "other". It's not about politics at all, as Jamison shared yesterday. It's not about kingdoms of this world. It's about the Kingdom of God. And He has called us to love Him, and love others. That's it.