Leaving the JUC-box Community

After pulling back into Jaffa Gate, a grabbed my bags and practically ran the half mile back to campus.  I wasn't expecting to leave before 3 AM, so I knew I had to race to get my room packed up and checked out.  The boost of adrenaline helped as I finished up with a half an hour to spare.  I ended taking that time to go over to the academic building with a friend of mine who was leaving later that morning and praying.  Wow.  So much to pray about and process through.

And then came one of the most difficult things that I have ever had to do in my life... say good bye.  And it certainly didn't help that I was exhausted, dehydrated, emotional, and I flat out was not ready to leave my new found JUC family.  I held it together until it came time for me to say goodbye to my roommate Maria.  We just held each other and bawled silver tears of joy, thanksgiving, love, and sorrow all mixed together into one.  Puffy eyed and overwhelmed I then said goodbye to Dan and Trey, jumped in the Sherut, and attempted to regain my composure.  I didn't succeed in the least.  

The JUC community has changed me forever.  "Community" is one of those Christian buzz words that we throw around all the time, we know we need it, yet we rarely take the initiative to truly, whole-heartedly go through the pain and sometimes unpleasantness of making it happen as Christ intended.  Soon after arriving, my perceptions of JUC quickly moved on from a normal, typical dysfunctional family, to a group of students and adults who loved the Lord and sought His peace with a passion like I have seen in precious few.  The "standard", you might say, for living in community has forever been raised; I know the challenge set before me in reaching that same type of Christian fellowship, love, patience, and grace in all such environments.  

A few comments, though: (1) it isn't always pleasant, but the rewards of working through and putting one's effort into building such a community are entirely worthwhile and (2) all must give their all, surrender their wills, and be vulnerable and humble before both God and mankind.  I have heard people say that in a marriage, it's 50%/50% give and take.  No wonder there are so many dysfunctional marriages.  From what the Lord has showed me I know now it can't be a hair's breadth short of 100%/100% all the time.  It's the service Christ commanded in the Novum Maundum stated within the context of  Yeshuah washing His disciples' feet: we must lay down our lives as Christ Himself did, recklessly abandoning all to the message and theme of the cross of Christ.  Easier said than done, no?

And now I find myself at home.  Home is cozy and warm and comfortable... almost too comfortable.   I love being here with my family, don't get me wrong; they receive ample praise and thanksgiving for being willing vessels of the Lord in helping mold me into all that I am.  They have prepared me for and prayed me to this moment, the moment where I'm itching to go and accomplish all that the Lord has called me to.  Now I find myself seeking the Lord's peace, that glorious peace that passes all understanding, the peace that will grant me grace and contentment to live where the Lord has brought me here and now.  I must remember I am still in the training level, and though I have had a taste of the sweet fight for the Kingdom, it's my turn to return back to the warm up room, rest, and build up strength for when my time really does come.  And train hard I will that I might be all the more prepared and equipped for the glory of my King.

I think I'll move to Zimbabwe....

Egypt Day 08

2:15 AM we received a knock on our door and a man was calling, "Wake up! Time to wake up." About 10 minutes later, I had my 5 layers of clothing on (we were told the night before to dress as warmly as possible. A student who had done the same trip last year whose home is in Lombard, IL said he had never been so freezing cold in his life. Having lived a few miles from Lombard in Wheaton, I was terrified.) I wore a turtle neck, long sleeve, sweatshirt with hood, my North Face, double socks, gloves, scarves, hat, hood, PJ bottoms with sweatpants, etc. I thought to myself... nah, I can't get cold with all of these clothes.

Luckily it was a full moon which aided visibility greatly and we were allowed to hike up at our own pace. I don't know if it was because of adrenaline or I was too stupid or cold to know better, but I shot up there in just barely over 2 hours. If I could do it again, I would have gone much more slowly. I was drenched with sweat by the time I reached the top, which only froze on me and rapidly lowered my body temperature, making it much harder to stay warm. At the top, we were still about an hour away from sun rise, so we huddled in large groups and attempted to stay warm.

This is one such group. Heather, Trey, me, Cyndi, and Doug. Oh, do I have fun memories from that hour and a half. There were actually a couple hundred people who were gathered there with us, so we rock climbed up to the top of a little chapel building and sat on the roof away from everyone. Up there we were also blocked from the wind.

And then the sun rose. It was one of the most incredible and beautiful things that I have ever witnessed in my life. Every drop of sweat along the way, every ache in my muscles, every pound of my heart and head suddenly disappeared and I gained a whole new appreciation for the Lord's majesty and beauty as revealed in His creation. And to think that Moses climbed this mountain so many times to meet face to face with the Lord! I wonder how he kept warm. I wonder how he didn't drop the tablets of stone while climbing down the rough spot near the top? Where did all those Israelites stand near the base of the mountain so that they could see the glory of the Lord coming down? What on earth possessed them to build a golden calf? As you can imagine, my mind was alive with questions on the way back down.

What a perfect end to the Egypt trip. Probably the highlight of my experience there and one of the most memorable of my time at JUC. I wanted to end my Egypt posts with the following picture of two of my closest friends that I have gained over this last semester: Trey and Maria. Trey is a warrior of the Lord in His faith, completely devoted to the furtherance of the Kingdom through sacrifice and service. And MIA MARIA--I'm going to cry! Ah, the Lord knew I needed such a woman as my roommate to encourage and inspire me this semester. This precious sister prayed and mentored me through so many things. My favorite memories with her are up on the roof late at night outside of our dorm room overlooking Jerusalem, singing praise songs to the Almighty. Hopefully I will be able to see her this summer when she and I road trip up to Alaska to visit our beloved and better third, Megan.

At this point, we began the descent. We had a short stop at the hotel to shower, pack up, then load up the bus for the long ride home. I slept only a portion of the way as I had a fantastic conversation with a friend of mine about church development and the modern American youth group crisis. The border crossing was uneventful, so I spent the remainder of my time standing along the Red Sea in 85 degree weather, looking for little rocks and shells to pick up and smuggle home in my back pack. We pulled into JUC about 6:30 PM.... I would be leaving at 12:30 AM to catch my flight back the the US.

Egypt Day 07

Day 07 began with getting off the overnight train in Cairo.  Funny story: the JUC group took over two of the first class train cabins, so we were all bunched up into one large group.  A friend of mine named Matt had woken up especially early, and thought it would be hilarious to throw a practical joke.  We had received a very stern lecture the night before that we absolutely needed to be ready to get off the train at Cairo because the train was continuing up to Alexandria; if we failed to get off on our stop, it would be our own responsibility to find our way back into Israel and up to JUC.  Needless to say we were all rather paranoid.  So, about 5:45 that morning, Matt runs into the hall way of the second car, puts on an Egyptian accent that sounds exactly like Mina our tour guide and yells, "JUC!  This is our stop... Let's go!"  My classmates were throwing this bags out into the hall ways, swearing under their breaths, trying to throw their clothes on over their PJs, all with looks of panic in their eyes.  Matt was soon thereafter banished to my car and labeled as the jerk of the trip.

We had about a 3.5 hour bus ride toward the Sinai out of Cairo.  We stopped at t rest station for a bathroom break and so people could purchase water at will.  We were outside for a few minutes before a caravan of jeeps come screeching around the corner.  Dr. Wright and Nayer told us that we would be taking jeeps across the sand dunes up to a temple dedicated to Hathor and to go explore some turquoise mines.  SO MUCH FUN!

I can't even describe it.  It felt like we were driving on ice most of the time.  This picture was taken from further back in the caravan, but I was up in the front with Dan and Dr. Wright.  The leader was the teacher and all of the other drivers were the students.  I thought that he was going to be a boring driver, but apparently I was mistaken.  He obviously wanted to prove to us and the rest of the caravan that he was the teacher for a reason... if that meant going faster, further, and the more treacherous route, so be it.  I literally thought I was going to die on several occasions.

About 2 hours into the jeep ride, we stopped at a Bedouin camp for lunch.  We hadn't eaten since 6:00 AM, so a 3:00 lunch was greatly appreciated.  The food was pretty much the same as we had been eating since crossing the border, but the goat cheese was about as authentic as you can get. 

Then we hopped back into the jeeps and traveled another half and hour or so until we reached the base of the mountain we were going to climb to get to the Hathor Temple.  Our guide spoke no English and was not interested in rushing through the experience in the least.  My divide and conquer attitude learned some patience on the way up.

The temple was beautiful, with incredible views to a huge portion of the Sinai area.  Dr. Wright pointed out to us Jebal Musa, or Mt. Sinai that we would be waking up at 2:30 AM to climb the next morning.  I looked at it and thought, "Well, so much for that.   I'll just get a good night's sleep back at the hotel."  9,000 ft?  That's a long ways.

This is a picture of one of the Turquoise mines that we were able to explore.  I was a bit disappointed, but that's probably because I had visions of the 7 dwarves whistling while they worked among sparkling wall of diamonds, rubies, sapphires, emeralds, etc. In any case, I spent more time watching the sun set and the full moon rise than searching for a speck of turquoise. 

We off road-ed it back to the bus, droved until 11:30 PM when we reached out hotel, Maria and I skipped dinner and went straight to bed, and we held our breaths, knowing that 2:30 AM was going to come all together too quickly.

Egypt Day 06

Alright, Day 6 was mainly "Tomb Day" but we ended up at another temple or two along the way.  It was also another early morning, so much so that they ordered another wake up call.  I believe Maria's first words when she looked at her watch were, "SERIOUSLY?!"  About an hour after breakfast, the sun was just beginning to rise over the Valley of the Kings and we could see all of the hot air balloons rising over the grave sites.

I can't even remember all of the tombs that we went to.  They didn't allow cameras inside, which probably would have helped me in recall.  I do know that we saw the tomb that was involved in one of the Indiana Jones movies as well as the famous tomb of King Tut.  Like I mentioned in one of my earlier posts, I couldn't believe that all of the loot that we saw in the Cairo museum was crammed into such a small area.  How exciting it must have been when it was discovered.

We then went to Deir el-Medina which was a workers camp just outside of the Valley of the Kings.  It is quite possible that the Israelites lived in a similar camp during their time in Egypt.  Please note that I am NOT saying that we visited where the ancient Israelites lived... it isn't even in the right part of the country for that statement to have an ounce of historical reliability.

Next came Hatchepsut's temple.  I had a very strong burst of energy at this point and was ready to run a marathon.  There were a few, namely Dr. Wright, Dan, and a member of the JUC Board named Doug who used this opportunity to tease me incessantly.  Needless to say, they finally got the reaction out of me that they were looking for.  Apparently when I get miffed, I stamp my foot in exasperation.  

After we finished up at Hatchepsut's temple, we went to Habu temple.  Nothing too exciting to report from there.

Egypt is famous for her alabaster.  We went to a factory where they gave us a demonstration on how it is made and how you can tell the real from the fake.  While leaving Hatchepsut's temple, I had purchased an alabaster scarab bug somewhat unintentionally.  I named him Amun and Amun now sits on my desk.  

Our final stop was the funerary monument for Amenhotep III.  The sun was setting and it was beautiful. We also went to the Ramasseum, where the colossal statue of Ramses II lies in ruins.  It is sobering to think about a man who had so much power, altered the course of history in so many ways, who was looked up to and revered by the world, ended the same way you and I will.  Yet with all of his wisdom, power, and strength, he still missed the purpose and essence of life.  Some argue that he may have been the Pharaoh of the Exodus...I won't make a judgment at this point, but if he were, how much more true everything I just wrote.

A little boy came up to me and tried to sell me one of his necklaces.  I didn't have any money one me (it was all back on the bus) so I decided that I would play with him instead.  I took out my notebook and drew the different trinkets that were on the bottom of each of the necklaces.  He thought that was great fun.  A few minutes later, 4-5 more children ran over and kept holding up things for me to sketch out.  My friend Seth helped divert some of them but I stayed busy from then until we got on the bus.

Egypt Day 05

Temple Day!  It was Maria's birthday and we saw so many temples and processed through so much information, I must admit not being able to relay very much.  We went to 4-5 major temples in the Upper Kingdom, including Kom-Ombo, Edfu, Carnack, and Luxor.  

Carnack and Luxor were definitely the highlights of the day.  There were several wall documentaries that we had studied in class that several fellow classmates presented on.  Again, after having looked at the text book pages, we couldn't comprehend how huge they were.

At the third temple, I hit a wall mentally and physically.  The strain of being sick after Jordan, having my family here, finals week, and the strain of the last few days with no sleep finally caught up with me.  I found a little cubby hole near the back of one of the temples, taking some personal time to be alone and rest.  While I sat there praying and journaling, I heard a woman trying to get my attention.  She had her husband and child with her and motioned to her camera as if to ask if she could take my picture.  When I nodded my head "yes" she came and sat down next to me.  A friend of mine saw what happened and snuck the following picture of us.

After a quick stop back at the new hotel in Luxor to claim our rooms, we then went to the temple site at Luxor for a night time tour of the ruins.  Oh, it was so beautiful.  The moon was quickly approaching its fullest and brightest point.  There were a few presentations on Egyptian astronomy and the Sphinxes, some free time to wonder as we pleased, then back to the hotel for dinner.

I was able to eat dinner with a young couple on the group who worked at JUC as the student body leaders while taking classes to finish up the MAs.  Abby and Tim have been such an encouragement and inspiration to me this semester.  Both are planning to go out on the mission field but are continuing in their academic studies through their first years of marriage to better equip and prepare themselves for all that lies ahead.  I have learned so much from both of them.

Egypt Day 04

We got off the train at Aswan and headed straight to the hotel to unload our luggage before beginning the actual academic side of the day.  This is the train... it's actually much nicer on the outside than on the inside. 

Our first stop was what Brad Grey called "A really bad day."  It was the granite quarry in Aswan where the "unfinished" or better titled "failed" obelisk is located.  There are only 12 great Obelisks still standing through the millennia, and only four can still be found in Egypt.  To see the rest, you would need to travel to New York, Rome, Paris, London, and Istambul.  I'm all for the Egyptian government reclaiming then now that they have the means to honor and preserve them as they ought.  If this obelisk had succeeded, it would have reached the monstrous height of 126 feet.  Unfortunately, about 75% of the way through the digging, the granite cracked and they had to abandon it.

We then traveled to see what Aswan is known for within the last century: the great dam that prevents the Nile from flooding every year as it did for centuries upon centuries though ancient Egyptian history.  Both Dr. Wright and Mina felt it necessary to camp upon this point each for a good 30 mins, but I believe the last statement will suffice for now.  You can send me an email if you would like some more details...

After lunch back at the hotel, we went for a walk along the Nile until we reached a boating place and Dr. Wright told us to climb in and hold on.  

We took a 10-15 minute ride until we reached what is known as "Philae temple."  Apparently the temple holds the most Greco-Roman influence of any of the ancient monuments.  The temple was originally located on another island but was salvaged in reconstruction work a few years ago.  Because of its location on the Nile, for a good 1/3 of the Egyptian calender year the monument would have been underwater.  It then held more significance in the summer months as the water receded and the people could rejoice in the coming harvests.

One of the highlights of the entire Egypt came when we went over into the Sahara Desert about 50 feet beyond the Nile to a camp of camel herders who offer rides to visitors up to a monastery tucked back in the dunes of the desert.  I think I caught on pretty quickly to the whole camel riding phenomena; the man who owned my animal asked if I was okay, and when I responded to the affirmative, he hit the thing on its backside so it galloped all the way up into the desert.  Did you know camels could run?  Now you know.

A friend of mine and I shared a camel on the way back, which provided a much slower, more manageable pace.  This second camel, aka Mickey Mouse, had a real mean streak... I love this next picture.  I looked him in the eye and growled and he returned the favor by making one of the funniest noises I have ever heard in my life.  My friend Trey caught it at just the right second.

We then got back on the boat and went to a Nubian village for some cultural experiences and to celebrate the end to a fantastic year.  The man who sang and led the music portion of the celebration tried long and hard to find a JUC girl to add to his collection of wives back at his home but to no avail.  We sang, danced, drank tea with loads of sugar, got henna tatooes, and then said our sad goodbyes.

This is the little girl that I fell in love with.  She wasn't quite yet in school so Nayer couldn't communicate with her in Arabic to learn her name.  She was so affectionate and would copy anything I said or did.  The only negative of Egypt Day #4 was saying goodbye to her.  

Egypt Day 03

Well, we didn't begin bright and early, we began ridiculously early.  So much so that they had to provide a wake up call at 5:00 to make sure we all made it out to the bus on time.  We were headed to the Hyksos Tel Yehudia which represented the era when Joseph probably would have entered into Egypt and was raised up as the number two man in charge.  We were met up by an army caravan who was required by the Egyptian government to provide us with protection while we were in the area as well as the protect the tel from us.  I don't think that second part was entirely necessary, but I've learned to throw my hands up in the air and not let it bother me.

We then visited a series of Coptic churches in the southern part of Cairo all of which interested me greatly.  I did stop and wonder what exactly the churches had to do with "Ancient Egypt and the Biblical World" but Mina really gave a bunch of valuable information regarding the history of Eastern Christianity in Egypt and how it all plays into the current religious and social tensions of the country.  Perhaps is was good for us to be pulled out of our little academic bubble to gain more of a comprehensive picture on modern day realities.

As we were leaving the churches, Dr. Wright gathered up the group and told us that over the course of our time at JUC we had studied much about the geological significances of the Levant land, learning to identify Cenomanian, Senonian, and Eocine limestone, Basalt rock, the Jurassic rock in the Mahkteshes, and the various coastal soils along the Plains of Philistia.  As we drove into the Sinai we had learned about another rock called granite was extremely prevalent in Egyptian history.  As this trip was about celebrating the end of a semester, he had Mina and Nayer work long and hard to find a lunch place that would continue this rock theme.  The bus exploded into cheers at this point.  We ate at Hard Rock, and rocked hard.

We had about a half an hour of free time after lunch, so a few of us went outside to catch our breaths and give our ears a break from the loud music.  There was a pleasant little walk along the Nile where a friend of mine grabbed the following picture... I think one of my favorites from the entire trip.  Egypt really does have some beautiful spots.

Our final event for the day was the Cairo museum.  The gave us 4 hours with Mina our tour guide and another hour or so by ourselves to explore.  What a fantastic experience.  I have been through a few Egyptian museums before, the largest of which was the Egyptian section of the British Museum in London.  This was 100 times better than everything I had seen combined with every history and art history text book I have been through on Egyptian artifacts.  And they have a basement packed full of things they don't have anywhere to put.  

We weren't allowed to take cameras inside the museum, so I put my sketching skills (or lack thereof) to work, filling my journal will little quarter page pencil drawings of the various artifacts.  One of the highlights of the museum was seeing all of King Tut's tomb booty.  There were rooms upon rooms of statues, pieces of jewry, furniture, everything that symbolized his power and accomplishments.  We would see later on our Tomb day where he was buried in the Valley of the Kings, and I couldn't wrap my mind around how they fit everything into that little room.  

Later that evening, we had some time to shop in the markets and went to a papyrus factory.  We drove over to the Cairo train station, hopped the train, then tried to fall asleep, knowing we would wake up and find ourselves in Aswan in southern Egypt.