The Hebron Herald

This weekend I spent the day turning over a mulch pile and creating a new garden bed for a heap of raspberry canes that were given to me. All that digging gives you time to ponder the secrets of the universe and the solution to world peace....or reflect on the immensity of Yehovah's love and mercy and how that has manifested through the nation of Israel.  Which then leads to more thoughts about how our little plot of land here in the Adelaide Hills relates to the bigger scheme of things.  Which then leads one to reflect on how this little plot of land relates to our fellowship. Investing time, energy and finances into that which benefits the whole and endeavours to honour and reflect Yehovah's instruction for community brings its own eternal reward.   Of course being able to enjoy a rural setting and see it develop has immense satisfaction of its own, and gathering together to celebrate the sabbath and the moedim here is blessing as well.  In six months

Realised I hadn't finished telling the last instalment of the Pilgrims' Progress ... Be'er Sheva We leave the Dead Sea Region behind and hit the road again, heading for Tel Aviv, where we will spend the next three days before flying out to Turkey and Berlin respectively. I thoroughly enjoyed this drive across to the coast and should I ever return to Israel I would love to spend more time in the Negev.  As it was Shabbat the roads were fairly quiet, which made the drive a lot more comfortable for Dad.  Driving through Be'er Sheva it was happenstance that we came across the War Cemetery.  I'm so glad that we were able to walk through the cemetery and had time to reflect on the contribution the Australian Light Horseman made to this land. The eucalyptus trees planted around the perimeter made it even more meaningful. Maybe it was because it was Shabbat the city was relatively quiet, but I was quite surprised by how much I liked the feel of the place.

I've been home here at Hebron for over a week and I don't want the memories to fade before I jot down our journey so I'll pick up our tale again at Petra.... Petra This is a place where I've always wanted to visit and it didn't disappoint.  The whole site is quite spectacular and the history, both ancient and recent, is very interesting.  Our Bedouin guide did a marvellous job and organised a couple of horse carriages to take us down to the Treasury site.  The carriage ride is certainly not very glamorous and in some ways didn't allow you the opportunity to take in the extraordinary carvings in the rock face but it certainly helped in saving time walking in the heat. Extraordinary to see the timelines represented by the tombs, temples and churches carved into the cliff face.  Being so hot it certainly dissipated the desire to walk for too many k's or scale the cliffs to investigate all of the structures but our guide spent the time going

Jordan I pick up the tale of our pilgrimage as we cross into Jordan at the Sheik Hussein northern border crossing.  This exercise is not for the faint hearted so it's just as well we were a band of four intrepid explorers.  Well, we probably looked like four disoriented, dazed, sweating over the hill pensioners (well 3 at least!) but don't let that fool you! The tour organiser did her best to prepare us for the crossing but when she said it can be a lengthy, convoluted process she was not exaggerating.  Those Jordanians certainly love their bureaucratic processes.  Bus it over there; walk here; stamp that; haul your suitcases through the heat to this shed for screening; now haul yourself over there for screening; now stamp that and show your passport again; now convince a taxi driver to take you to the gate; now fall in a grateful sweaty heap at the feet of your Eco Desert Tour driver.  Someone (not naming any names) decided to turn the heat up to the 40s just as we he