Jerusalem and The Old City

Day one of my pilgrimage to the Holy Land was awesome. So much to tell, so little time. Our hotel is really close to the old city, the ancient Jerusalem. We go from a very modern city to ancient stones in no time at all. Really liked the view of the Mount of Olives - the image of the white washed tombs aligning the hill leading up it has just stuck with me. The view from the Temple is incredible. Today I walked where Jesus and his disciples walked and I sat where Jesus taught, upon some steps with the city of David behind you. A highlight was definitely the Western Wall, also known as The Wailing Wall. This wall was a retaining wall for the second temple which was destroyed in 70 AD. The lower stones represent the actual wailing wall. There are cracks that you can put prayers into. I put my hand on the wall after stuffing a prayer into the wall. The wall was quite cold to the touch. What an incredible experience. I didn't really know what to expect, but after that experience I found myself emotional. I reckon it was the Spirit and His presence in hearing all of those prayers throughout the centuries. Further to the south of this wall is a relatively new excavation site in which a much larger section of the western wall has been discovered, including the original walkway where Jesus and his disciples would have trod. Crazy. There is also a pile of rubble which signals the Roman destruction of the temple. The smallest stone is said to weigh two and a half tons. The manpower that went into building this temple and many of the other structures we see is really hard to fathom.

At the end of the day we walked through Hezekiah's Tunnel. This tunnel was two feet wide and as much as eight feet high, higher in some spots. Made in like the 8th century, guys used pick axes for over eighteen hundred feet. This rock was hard. It would take jackhammers awhile. Water was knee high in places. It was so intense. When we entered the temple, it was kind of odd to see so much security, going to see such a religious place never would have been where I thought I would come within inches of an AK47 machine gun. I begin to wonder if having such a strong military presence is necessary. Yet both then and now things can escalate in such an emotionally charged location so it's easy to understand why certain measures (like having riot gear near by) are taken. Yes, this is truly holy ground. But it is also quite ordinary...