 
Israel Travel Diary
March 1997
Francis
Kimmitt
Israel Trip
As I write these words, four months
have passed since I was privileged to make my first visit
to the Promised Land. I have been sitting down and
reviewing my slides to show to the students in my
Introduction to the Old Testament class. As I looked at
the slides, I found myself mentally going back to the
rolling hills of Galilee, the Jezreel Valley and the Dead
Sea, the Crusader city of Acco and the Old City of
Jerusalem, and the countless other places we visited.
Since my return from Israel, I have
been asked many times to describe the experience of
Israel. As I ponder that question again, I realize that
the true joy of my trip was being able to see and touch
and smell and walk upon the places where the men and
women of the Bible lived and walked in ages past and
where history is still being made today.
For example, I remember standing on Mt.
Carmel and looking out over the Kishon Brook and the
beautiful Jezreel Valley. I could see the hills of Lower
Galilee in the distance. I could almost see and hear
Elijah as he confronted the prophets of Baal on that very
spot.
As I reflect on my experiences in
Israel and on the country itself, I am reminded that
Israel is a land of dramatic contrasts. For instance, the
geographic contrasts are striking. In a relatively small
country, roughly the area of the state of New Jersey, we
traveled from the coastline of the Mediterranean Sea to
the Jordan River valley. We walked the lush, beautiful
rolling hills and mountains of Galilee and the Golan and
the imposing and barren Judean wilderness. We stood at
the foothills of Mt. Hermon and the sea floor of the Dead
Sea, the lowest elevation on the face of the Earth. We
walked on the agricultural plains of the upper Negev and
drove through the Judean foothills up to Jerusalem. In a
matter of hours, we traversed a microcosm of the planet.
Culturally and religiously, Israel is a
mix of Jews, Muslims, and Christians. All of these people
live and work in close proximity to each other, but I
could not help but notice an underlying uneasiness, a
tension just under the surface. The omnipresence of the
Israeli military speaks to that feeling of uneasiness.
Soldiers—young men and women—can be seen
everywhere in the country, often walking together in 2s
or 3s, with M-16s slung over their backs. I was always
aware of the security consciousness everywhere we went in
the country. One time our bags were searched as we entered
a shopping mall. Before we could approach the Wailing
Wall in the Old City, we passed through a military and
police checkpoint and a metal detector. Yet in spite of
these precautions and the subsurface tension, I never
feared for my well-being; I felt thankful to God for
giving me this opportunity.
All of these and other contrasts only
heightened my excitement and feeling of awe at being able
to stand in those biblical places that had previously
been only names on a map. Experiencing Israel has made
the Bible come alive for me in a more intimate way. I
will never again be able to read God’s word apart
from my Israel experience. Now when I hear a news story
from Israel, I stop and take notice, for I see real
people and real situations.
Perhaps God has blessed me with a
glimpse of this special land and these special peoples as
He has seen them throughout time. I do know that I will
never be the same after having experienced Israel, and I
hope it won’t be long before I can return.
Pray for the peace of Jerusalem! (Psalm
122:6)
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