We Came Up Today

Its been quite a day.  We started the day in the desert on top of Masada, the site of the deaths of 960 zealots who killed themselves rather than become Roman slaves.  Men killed their family members.  They then drew lots for who would be the last one standing and commit suicide.  We concluded Herod was an eccentric and arrogant genius as far as construction was concerned.  Frescoes on the walls of his palace still exist.  We then stopped at the nature reserve of Ein Gedi where David hid out from Saul.  What a peaceful, beautiful place.  Following lunch, we went up into the Holy City of Jerusalem.  No matter how many times I see the Old City for the first time in a trip, my heart is still stirred.  After some camel rides and explanation at the top of the Mount of Olives, we went down the Palm Sunday road, the same path Jesus would have ridden on His donkey.  A quick stop at the tear drop church, Dominus Flevit, built over the site where Jesus sat and wept over the city, and we were on to Gethsemane.  We wondered if we would have kept watch with Jesus?  We ended our day at the home of Caiaphas the high priest and read Psalm 88 in the pit where Jesus was imprisoned.