Last Steps (Doug)

At the beginning of this year Mandy and I finally found a walking route through our neighborhood that allowed us a decent 30 minute walk. That might not seem like a terribly difficult task that would take two college educated young adults the better part of a year and a half to accomplish. Yet it is more challenging than one might assume. Lest you forget, we have been living in what is biblically referred to as the “hill country of Judah.” They don’t call it that for nothing. Unless you want your walk to contain sharp ascents and descents you’d better be prepared to be creative. So as we got to know our Little Town of Bethlehem we finally discovered a route that was relatively flat. Tonight after the blazing middle-eastern sun had finally dipped safely behind the hills of Beit Jala we embarked upon what will probably be our last daily walk through Bethlehem.

These last steps are sort of symbolic of the many ‘steps’ we’ve been taking of late. We cleaned our classrooms, handed in our books, cleaned our apartment, and threw away a ton of junk. (It is amazing how much junk two human beings can acquire in only two years. We’ve pretty much filled the big green dumpster down in the playground.) And of course there are the goodbyes. There has barely been a day this week where we haven’t been invited over to someone’s house for a huge Arabic meal and a goodbye. Today we had two! (Hence the importance of the aforementioned 30 minute walk.) It will be so hard to say goodbye to this land. It has a piece of our hearts and always will. More importantly these people have a piece of hearts. Our students, our colleagues and our friends will be sorely missed. We place them in God’s hands knowing that He who watches over Israel & Palestine “will neither slumber nor sleep”.

I’ll miss our walks here. Most days I wouldn’t have said that. Looking back though, our walks were beauty mixed with ugliness. We would walk past a beautiful rose garden, then a trash dumpster that had been set on fire. We would see palm trees and cedars of Lebanon and then someone would drive by and throw trash out the window. We would stare in amazement as a flock of sheep would waddle up the road behind a shepherd who looked like he walked straight out of a Bible story. Then we would have to cross over to the other side of the road because man, do sheep leave a mess! We would watch children playing in the dirt, flying kites, or kicking a worn out soccer ball and then we’d be stared at by a group of young men who would make your skin crawl. We saw amazing sunsets, bright blue skies, full moons, crescent moons, starry skies, we laughed and talked.

Walking is good.

A few weeks ago in church we sang a song that I first learned in Mrs. Bloem’s second grade class. It was called “This is My Father’s World.” The third verse struck me so that it bought me to tears. I guess when some look at all that is wrong and ugly here they might lose heart and say there’s no hope. I look at all that God is doing here in the lives of students, colleagues, and friends not to mention the beauty of sunsets, sheep, and cedars and I brought back to verse three of that beautiful song. So as this will most likely be our last post from the Holy Land, I leave you with these words…

This is my Father's world.
O let me ne'er forget
that though the wrong seems oft so strong,
God is the ruler yet.
This is my Father's world:
why should my heart be sad?
The Lord is King; let the heavens ring!
God reigns; let the earth be glad!