Today, Bryan Smith and I embark on a long-anticipated excursion to the country of Israel. We are currently waiting to board a Delta flight to JFK, and there we will take the 10-hour flight to Tel Aviv, landing late Thursday morning. Bryan’s son, Judah, plans to meet us at the airport in Tel Aviv and drive us north a short distance to Caesarea where we can lunch on the Mediterranean.

Travel to Israel has been discouraged by the U.S. Embassy since last year’s October 7th massacre and the continued war in the Gaza strip. But visiting Israel has not proved hazardous to tourists in the past several months, as long as travelers stay well south of the Lebanon boarder to the north, keeping near and around the sea of Galilee. However, tensions have risen in the past week since a terrorist missile struck a soccer field where children were playing, killing 12 and injuring many others. This happened in the little town of Majdal Shams in the Golan Heights, up above the Galilee region. Missiles and drone strikes have occurred daily in those regions, along what is called the “Confrontation Line.” Most of the villages and towns have been evacuated so rarely is someone injured by these daily incursions. Tragically, however, all of that changed when the missile missed its target (so some have claimed) and went down a hill and landed in the town. If you’ve been watching the situation unfold since then, Israel responded by striking military sites in Lebanon that resulted in the death of a top Hezbollah terrorist commander. In this same timeframe, a top Hamas official believed to be partly responsible for the October 7 attack has also been assassinated. So, on the one hand, the way has been paved for Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu and his cabinet to have a more significant conversation about a cease-fire. On the other hand, the latest conflict could escalate the situation. Please pray for us in light of these developments for wisdom and safety as we visit various locations in Israel.

We have several goals in making this trip. First, we are looking forward to encouraging Judah by our visit and also to be an encouragement to the believers in the congregations we will visit while we are here. Many of them have had their families torn apart in this conflict either directly in the October 7 massacre or through members of their families being called up to serve in the military. We are also asking the Lord to give us spiritual refreshment as we immerse in the Scriptures. And, of course, we are hoping to learn much about the historical matrix from which the Scriptures were written as we visit various biblical sites.

I will try to update this blog daily to share stories and tell you what we’re learning about the Scripture and about the Israeli people.

Pastor Greg!

UPDATE AT 5:00

Whenever I am writing about what I am going to do, I try to remember to say we “plan” to do this or that. James 4:15 comes immediately to mind. “You ought to say, ‘If the Lord wills we will live and do this or that.’’”

Well, we are still alive. But we probably will not be doing this or that in the same way as planned.

Delta canceled all flights to Israel citing security concerns. (Imagine.) so we have spent a better part of the afternoon trying to figure out a way to Tel Aviv. After retrieving my luggage, which thankfully did not make the trip without me, we ran around the  airport and finally found a shuttle to LaGuardia. We have tickets to fly out to Miami tomorrow at 7 o’clock, but we are going to try to get on a standby flight this evening. That is, if we make it there in time. Tomorrow at noon, Israeli airline El Al (meaning, “Onward and Upward”) will fly us to Tel Aviv from Miami. (“If the Lord wills.”) We haven’t eaten yet today as a result of all this. But we’re trusting the Lord that we’ll get somewhere to solve that soon.

I think Bryan is really hungry. I asked him if he had a good quote about the providence of God, but all that came to his mind was Judges 16:20. “The Philistines are upon you!”

I’m still unraveling the wisdom of that allusion. But what can you expect from and OT guy.