Thursday Decemebr 6, 2007

Amber Patterson
6 December 2007

Today the vast majority of students took a bus trip to Elat to
snorkel at Coral Beach. The group left very early that morning,
sleeping through the majority of the long bus ride and talking through
the latter portion. They arrived in Elat around 10:30am and received
some very valuable information about coral reefs. The group spent the
afternoon snorkeling and admiring God's creation until about 2:00, at
which point they trekked over to the local mall to do some shopping.
Everyone grabbed dinner and they students were on their way home
around 5:30
Some students remained at the center instead of going to Elat. These
students paid a visit to the Mary Magdalene church and wandered
through the Cld City. There they encountered two young American girls
in search of a hostel and decided to help the girls find it. When
they finally managed to find the hostel, the owner directed them to a
different hostel which was cleaner and ran for 30 shekels a night.
The group went out for pizza together and split to go shopping.
Later, some of the students had the opportunity to sample Chinese
cuisine from Jerusalem.
The New Testament holds many scriptural gems; one of my favorite
scriptures is found in John's account of Jesus raising His friend
Lazarus from the dead. After both Mary and Martha have spoken to the
Lord, lamenting the fact he had not been there to save their brother,
He asks where they have laid Lazarus. The interaction is followed by
the simple statement, "Jesus wept." Though short, this statement
accurately illustrates the perfect love of our Savior. Even though
Christ knew that He would soon have His friend back, He shared in the
grief of others and felt the loss personally. To me, this verse
exemplifies Christ's empathy and love for all of us in all aspects of
our lived.