JSam: Petra and transparency

Saying that our Wednesday visit to Petra was amazing is an understatement. It is remarkable to walk through these cave homes and the temples of the people who lived and worshiped here more than 2,000 years ago. To be able to do that as part of this Interfaith group, and to hear the various insights from the varied faith backgrounds, is a privilege.

I continue to be impressed with the transparency of the individuals and organizers of this journey. Conversation has been very candid, very caring for the most part, and particularly constructive to my ability to process what I’m seeing and hearing.

Some of our group are pretty nervous about crossing into Israel on New Year’s Day. They’ve heard stories--true or otherwise--about how tough the questioning can be as part of the entry process. I don’t think there will be any problem at all, but I remember the first time I came in I was very nervous, and some of it turned out to be justified. But this will be my 9th time to Israel in the last few years and I haven’t seen any problems beyond routine extra bag checking and a few extra questions. Getting out has actually been more stressful for me, but even that has been more positive than negative so I’m hoping that all holds true on Friday and the Israel portion of our journey gets off to a great start.

I’ve just learned that it’s supposed to be below zero (c) tomorrow night when we’ll be sleeping in desert tents. Today was cold enough that I had a shirt, two sweatshirts, and and a vest to keep me barely warm enough, so I may have to visit a local merchant on Thursday for an extra coat of some kind.

I’ve apparently lost my journal and audio notes of the trip to this point, so I’m particularly pleased to have this blog to remind me of at least some of the experiences I’ve been writing about to myself. Now, if I could just remember what else might be in those journals that could come back to bite me...

We’ve heard several reports that we have a bit of a following back there in Indiana and elsewhere. I don’t think that will warm my body on New Year’s Eve, but it does warm the heart and keeps us a little more connected. We also appreciate the comments you make to our posts. Thanks for staying with us...

The Petra pictures start here, and you can find a lot more photos of this journey by clicking my flickr site here...