Thursday Decemebr 6, 2007

Jenessa Simmons

December 6, 2007



Today was so much fun! We went snorkeling in the Red Sea! How many of my friends can say something that cool? We had to load the busses by 6 o'clock in the morning, which was sort of ridiculously early, but it turned out okay because the bus ride was 4 hours long, so we got to sleep.

We went to a coral reef in Eilat, which is an illustrious place to divers, and learned a little bit about coral and fish from this middle-aged, suntanned, snorkeling dude who had sort of an Australian accent. It was interesting.

The water was unpleasantly chilly at first, but it was worth it. There was this rock called "Moses' Rock" that had all kinds of fish and life and plants around it. It was swarming with schools of fish, and it was remarkable to dive down into the water and just swim around with them. I felt so peaceful, like I was becoming one with nature and the sea and what not. Until I remembered that I'm actually not a fish and I can't breathe when I'm 6 feet underwater, even with a snorkel… it was still really cool though. Besides all the pretty, cool fish we saw there was also a bunch of jelly fish chilling in the water with us. At first it was scary swimming with jelly fish, but I warmed up to them and learned that they wouldn't bother us if we didn't bother them, in general.

On the way home from Eilat we stopped at a mall for about an hour for dinner at the food court. The mall made me feel like I was sort of almost in America again. When Holly, Erin and I were walking back to the bus we stopped to look at what we thought was a ghetto hotel. It wasn't a hotel, it was a home for little black children, which seems really random, but they were so cute. The guy at the front desk asked if we were there to visit the children… I wish we would've had time to!

All in all it was a crazy fun day, and totally worth 100 shekels. I love the red sea!

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At the moment my favorite passage in the New Testament is in Luke 2: 8-14:

"And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night…

And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them…

'Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.'

And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising god, and saying,

Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men."

I think my favoritism in this case is highly influenced by the fact that Christmas is rapidly approaching, and every day we sing songs imitating the angels in this passage. Nevertheless, I truly do love these verses because they create a beautiful mental picture of angels singing praises and glories to the Lord who sent his son to earth for us. The angels bring a message of peace and love and fill the shepherds with wonder and awe. I wonder if I was there when baby Jesus was born, pure, and straight from God. I hope I was! Even if I wasn't, I'm glad that I can sing praises to him now, at Christmas time, 2000 years later. And even when it's not Christmas time, I think it would be a marvelous idea if we could keep peace and "good will toward men" in our hearts all year round.