I know it’s taken me awhile but alas here it is, the much awaited recap of my experience in Israel. No one asked for this, I just decided to do it myself because I wanted video memory of this experience that was unlike any other.

I usually write recaps of experiences via my blog, written out hoping that you experience some type of visual along the way but this time I wanted to reverse the experience, give you more visual than words. Oddly enough, this was a very personal experience even though I went with a group of individuals and shared most of it on my instagram stories as much as possible but the takeaways? The takeaways were personal, they are deeply planted in my soul for moments I have yet to experience. There was a new found intimacy with Jesus and my awareness of him like no other from this trip, the moment it began with lots of intense questioning from customs and a delayed flight there was a pulling I experienced.

“Come here, come find me.” It was like in everyday God wanted to speak something new to me and it was new. My mind was blown during this trip, learning about the context and history of the Bible in a whole different way. 

I had the honor of being chosen to attend this trip nominated by Initiative Network for the Israel Collective Trip. Throughout the year, Israel Collective sends leaders, speakers and anyone else who wants to experience the Holy land on trips to dive deep into biblical, political and historical contexts of what we’ve come to believe as Christians. We literally walked where Jesus walked, sat in spaces where it is believed that he preached his transformative messages and learned about the country as it exists today. 

You can watch my video recap here, I share some moments I was grasping as we visited places like the City of David, rode a boat on the Sea of Galilee (which is actually… fun fact: A LAKE!!), visited the places where it is proposed could be the Garden tombs, rode camels at the Dead Sea and thought deeply along the way around what all that history and life looks like today. 

In this written portion of remembering this experience, I want to share some of the poems I wrote on the trip. Though I did not intend to, I wrote many times a day, little quotes and poems that were put on my heart so that I could remember what I was experiencing in a way I know how to express best: through words.

Israel travel day one:

May this step be a breaking,

Not so that it stays broken 

But so that there is space

for healing to show up

there is room for your pride to crumble

replaced with sprinkles of humanity 

that does not make you smaller or less 

but reminds you of the bigness 

of the hands in which you were created 

In fact, 

this is not a breaking

this is an unfolding

an unclenching of newborn petals

this is the beginning of your remaking

Do not fight it,

lean into the discomfort 

that this blooming will create 

It will deconstruct your expectations 

cause your hope to press in 

faith, is birthed here 

Israel travel day two:

In the Istanbul airport, 

there are rooms for praying 

one for men and one for women,

to the American eye they will look like restrooms, 

clean and intentional 

except here is a place for your shoes to go 

while your bare feet step on blue carpeted holy ground 

It is the most well kept airport I have ever traveled to, 

there are trees and planters scattered around clean walkaways 

there is holy in this airport, 

though it is not the holy I am used to

there are two places of releasing something

two places to wash your hands from where you come from, 

in order to center yourself for what comes next 

Yes there is holy in an airport,

greenery laced around windows 

reminding you that maybe the holy is not 

something you go to 

but something you bring with you 

Part 2

We are foreign here,

this is not our home.

we are not familiar to these lands

and some reason, knowing this makes me step lighter

less like I own the place and more tender to lands 

who are welcoming us 

temporarily into its arms

I wonder if you love something better,

knowing it is not yours to hold forever. 

Part 3

Our tour guide tells us of a winemaker in Judea

says he is quiet, introverted, keeps to himself 

No one knows much about him except that he makes really amazing wine

this man, ambiguous in his existence 

and yet permanent in his marking 

teaches us, a generation of social media followers 

and public lives

how to keep some things sacred, 

how to keep some things to ourselves 

that you can still be talented, gifted and not public

not known for anything, 

except for what your hands create 

your name is irrelevant, 

unnecessary perhaps 

but your legacy, 

the things you make, 

the things you leave behind 

will be the only thing remembered 

Bethlehem 

Their gospel must be lived out

not declared at the top of their lungs

not screamed from the streets

for the risk of their lives 

It starts first from the inside,

shared quietly to those that they love 

of their transformation 

and then divine appointments for conversations 

to arise around the change 

that has shaped you

To love is a wild risk,

to change from the inside out,

a rebellion to the system around you

the system that made you 

How radical a gospel, 

one that is first seen, 

then felt, experienced,

not always heard 

and yet deeply known

Garden Tomb: a note from the risen King 

I am not where you left me 

And I am not where you think I am 

I left the tomb for a reason, so that you 

Nor I never have to go back there 

You are not where I left you 

You are made new, filled with light,

Walking in faith 

You will not find me in the emptiness 

Cup overflowing, 

I am in the places you feel the most full, the most alive 

I offer new life for a reason,

so that you leave what you once knew

to find something better 

release and let go your expectations

of who I am and how I move 

and come find me,

no I am not where you left me 

and where I’m going, you’ll go too 

have faith, follow me 

Shabbat 

Worship is not always language,

sometimes it is breath

sometimes it is swaying in silence

sometimes it is melodies on repeat

sometimes it is every dialect 

thrown up into the air 

erupting as If it were to 

bounce off the sky 

and fall right back down

On earth as it is heaven

Sometimes worship is 

quietly tucked into walls 

repeated scriptures 

Holy verbiage memorized

On a day of rejoicing and rest

Some days worship is existing,

is simply living

some days it is proclaiming,

“Look at how alive I am 

despite everything,

Isn’t that some kind of miracle?

isn’t that a gift?”

Jerusalem

In Hebrew, good morning 

Is said backwards, 

“morning good”

You don’t respond back 

saying the same thing,

Instead you respond with 

“Morning light”

Recognizing 

the good and the light

In the day before you recognize the busy

Before you have a chance to speak negative over what the day will hold

From now on, 

I will drip each day 

with good and light 

Open my hands to receive 

the holy tucked into each beam of sun 

To start each day 

reciting a reminder 

Of the good and the light 

not just said on your tongue 

but living within your whole existence 

So friends, 

may you learn to walk in your 

good and light today and everyday

And may you meet the God who created both