Open my eyes

  *We had an itinerary put together, and I've taken some words and phrases from it.*

Touching down in the Land of Israel in the wee morning hours, I desperately tried to gather all my thoughts and realize exactly where I was. Our tour coach managed to park beside the Israeli National Soccer Team, and of course I had a moment watching these ridiculously handsome guys enter the airport. LOL ....I then proceeded to board MY bus and immediately pull out the camcorder; I didn't want to miss a beat.

We visited and ate breakfast at the Kibbutz of Yad Mordechai. I learned that this Kibbutz held back overwhelming Egyptian forces for 6 days in their attempt to capture Tel-Aviv farther up along the coastal road. Yad Mordechai is such a cool place, while we walked through they were showing the film Defiance, and the room we were in was recreated as the events took place. It was really amazing.

After the visit and breakfast at the Kibbutz, we went to the small Israeli border town of Sderot, which suffered for 7 straight years from constant rocket fire from Gaza.

My experience of the Holy City for the first time from a panoramic observation point overlooking the entire city from the South was breathtaking. It looked like every postcard and photo I had ever seen. I felt like I was immediately transported 2,000+ years ago. It's so special that God preserved that land despite all it's been through. What more proof do you need to support the state of Israel and it's inhabitants? It's still an overwhelming experience for me to try to write on paper and this blog. It's hard to explain, but seeing the Temple Mount with all the homes and places around it, complete peace and solidarity encompassed my soul. It was as if my soul made a covenant with the land, and my will. It's so difficult to explain. I felt at "home". And even being back here in Michigan now writing this, things feel soooo different. I feel lonely, lacking, almost depressed. I'm going about my regular routine; work, food, friends, church, shopping; but I don't feel settled. I'm 90% (pretty sure) that I'm going to move to Israel within the next year. What's crazy is that, this is coming from someone who, less than 2 months ago secretly feared ever traveling to Israel because I thought it was too dangerous. Despite not personally want to come, it was this that continued to drive me to support and protect the land.

Nothing extra spectacular happened to me in Israel that would cause me an emotional reaction to want to live there. I didn't meet a hot guy that I fell in love with. I didn't cry hysterically at any of the sites. I didn't buy every Jewish memorabilia I saw for myself or others like most tourists do. And I expected some sort of reaction from all I was seeing, but an emotional one never happened. I discovered it was all occurring in my soul. My life was being changed before my eyes. I was viewing all that I saw, and it was downloading right in sync with my soul! I'm glad to be chosen by God to fulfill His desires. I am

Forever dedicated to the work of Israel. NEVER being a bystander in the midst of conflict.