Chapelwood Trip Virtual Pilgrim Blog

Video of Holy Land Trip

gracewhatisit — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 04:36:18 +0000

Check out the new show of our holy land trip: http://www.photodex.com/QNET3EG

Pilgrim Reflections

gracewhatisit — Sun, 21 Feb 2010 16:17:20 +0000

Now that we’ve been back home a couple of days, our minds are starting to reflect on the significance of our experience. I invite anyone who went on the Holy Land 2010 pilgrimage to share a comment about what it has meant to you. Just click on the comment link below.

Picture Party

gracewhatisit — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 19:21:26 +0000

Calling all pilgrims on Holy Land Trip 2010! We are planning a picture party in the near future. Get your pictures together, put them in an album if you want or leave them loose, and watch for the date. Leslie Hix has volunteered to host us! Thanks, Leslie. Angie and I will get together and figure out a date about a month or so down the road. – Bob

Ash Wednesday Service at Garden Tomb

gracewhatisit — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 17:27:04 +0000

Click here to see the video of our Ash Wednesday worship service at the Garden Tomb in Jerusalem. Thanks to Carleton Cole!

We Are in Houston

gracewhatisit — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 00:16:35 +0000

We’re on the ground in Houston. We are a bit tired having been up now 24 hours but glad to be home.

I’ll have a couple more photos and links to add once I get to my computer. So check back again soon.

We’re back in the USA

gracewhatisit — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 21:40:10 +0000

At baggage claim in Newark then Customs. Flight to Houston, CO88, leaves at 7 pm. Almost there!

At the Airport

gracewhatisit — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 07:36:54 +0000

Our flight, CO85, is set to leave at 11:15 Tel Aviv time. We arrived at Ben Gurion airport at 8:15 a.m. Looks like we’ll need all of those 3 hours to get through security! In addition to every bag going through a scanner, some of us were selected for having our bags inspected by hand. (Way to go James and Shiela Stroud. The law enforcement guy among us had every one of his five bags hand inspected.) Angie Schwartz and Fran Adams got interrogated for our group. But we’re through now and ready to get back to good ole US of A.

P.S. – Benjamin Netanyahu Visits Our Hotel

gracewhatisit — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 16:18:33 +0000

Here’s something we didn’t plan — Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, is speaking at our hotel tonight! Security is tight, men with guns are visible, but we had no trouble getting back in to our hotel. Hard to imagine doing that if President Obama were coming. We probably won’t get to see the Prime Minister (this photo is from the internet, we didn’t take it) and even if we did, he is probably going to speak in Hebrew. But it’s an extra thrill for us tonight.

The Garden Tomb and End of our Tour

gracewhatisit — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 15:35:06 +0000

We ended our Holy Land pilgrimmage in the Garden Tomb, accepted by many as the site of the crucifixion and place of Christ’s burial. (The alternative site is inside the Church of the Holy Sepulchre which we also saw.) We all got to enter the empty tomb! Yes it is empty! Then we had a wonderful Ash Wednesday service with Holy Communion in the beautiful garden around the tomb.

This concludes our trip and this blog. Thanks for following along. We all have much to tell you. See you soon!

- Bob Johnson

Holocaust Museum

gracewhatisit — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 10:17:55 +0000

We just finished visiting the Jewish holocaust museum. It is much like the one in Houston in terms of telling the story. But two things that strike me … First is the number of Jewish teens touring the museum and learning the story. All boys and girls must serve in the armed forces at 18. Here they are just before they turn 18 in this museum. Second, at the end of the tour you emerge at this big glass window with a gorgeous view of Israel. As a teen, now you know what is at stake. The rabbi I wrote about earlier reminded us there is still a nation seeking to become nuclear who is calling for the destruction of Israel.

The picture here is of a tree planted by Oscar Schlindler and his wife Emily before he died in the 1990s. It is planted in a section that acknowledges the help of Gentiles.