Highlights of An Amazing Trip

A group of twenty of us just returned from a full and fulling two-week trip to the Middle East visiting four countries: Lebanon, Syria, Jordan and Israel. In the following days and weeks I will journal insights that I feel folk might want to hear about, or that seem important for our larger pilgrimage through life. But the experience of returning "home" to the Middle East for Jackie and me, at least were almost magical. Our immediate impressions were these:

* The trip exceeded our expectations in every way. Each country was a different experience and as we entered those lands and interacted with their peoples we learned and saw so much.
* The Middle East was visually beautiful and even dramatic. Winter rains had brought good water to the region and it was Spring and green, with wild flowers everywhere, so it was stunning to see, at times. Also I was impressed not only with the beauty, but with the dramatic vistas and elevations of land. We were in the heights of the Mountains of Lebanon, and visited the lowest place on earth at the Dead see. We could see miles after a day-long dust storm from Saudi Arabia had settled and a cold "Norther" had brought clear skies on Mount Nebo, where Moses had looked across to Palestine.
* The peoples of Lebanon, Syria, and Jordan were gracious and welcoming. Syrians especially were thrilled that we had come and kept saying, "tell your people" we would love to have more from your country visit us. We like Americans. There was never any sense of danger or threat, except for the tensions swirling in and around Jerusalem.
* Israel was tense, and less welcoming we felt, and it was interesting that as we came back to Jordan from Israel, we felt a sense of relief and being welcomed back into something more familiar. (More on Israel later).
* Our group had read Rick Steves' text: Travel as a Political Act which encourages travelers to not simply be tourists, but to enter the whole experience of a country and interact directly with its people in every way. Our group of twenty were amazing in that they did exactly that. We talked to folk everywhere, and felt their openness to us. People were curious about us too, wondering just who these "friendly Americans" were. One of our guides said that someone asked him, "Are you sure they are not Canadians?" We took that as a compliment.
* We felt the warmth of people, the deep human need for contact and personal interaction, and a spiritual drawing to many folk all along the way. Our conversations were intense and good... and in some ways our group became "good will ambassadors."

These are simply "first impressions" but wanted to put them out there as a context for what shall come later.