When Jesus descended down the path from the Mount of Olives, his followers began to shout and sing. Some of the Jewish leaders and Roman officials asked Jesus to make the crowds stop: "Teacher, order your disciples to stop!" Jesus answered, "I tell you, if these were silent, the very stones would shout out" (paraphrase of Luke 18:37-40) We made it to Israel after a 14 hour flight. Everything went well and my own casualty is that I left my journal on the plane. Perhaps this is the universe speaking to me in metaphors, that all the many worries I have in my head are silly compared to the grander scheme of things. Whoever finds that journal, may they not be appalled by the chaos of my mind.

We were picked up at the airport after a very long wait through passport control. I befriended a young Chemistry pHD student who is living in Haifa and studying nuclear medicinal chem. He's a Arab Christian from Texas and involved a few humanitarian causes around the world. Needless to say we became fast friends which helped the impossible wait.

It was about an hour drive from the airport to Jerusalem and by that time it was very dark. Peering out through the windows of the car I could see the hills lit up by thousands of lights. Cities on a hill-- never to be hidden, not even in the dark. When we got to Jerusalem, we drove into the old city through one of the 7 gates. Of what I could see in the night, Jerusalem reminds me a bit of my time in Marrakesh, Morocco and a bit of my time in Spain. Beyond either of those comparisons though, there is a deep soul to this place. Like the stone's are speaking out.

Tomorrow, I look forward to listening to their stories.