Thank you, Israel, for having me. Ben asked me how this country compares to any place I’ve ever been. You are lush with greenery and waterfalls in places. You are hills and rocks and sea and wilderness. You are small and mighty. You are resilient and brave. You are divided, yet unified. You hold places where Jesus walked. Where He taught his followers and where He died and rose again. 

It was almost 30 days ago that I wrote this first note to you: 

I didn’t leave my heart in Israel. I found more of it there. It’s that way with Yahweh, isn’t it? You choose to follow Him and as you do, He reveals truth through His Word and His Spirit. This can happen anywhere we go with Him. It happened in such an intimate way in your land, though. 

You have beautiful people who became friends. Friends who taught me how to love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you. I saw the divided land and hurt that there are places where Jews are not allowed. Where prayer is prohibited. Where fear is a weapon. Then I remembered my land. Where people are not allowed. Where prayer is prohibited. Where fear is a weapon. 

I loved praying for your land and your people and I make a commitment to continue to do so. I left you, anticipating to preach at our church the following Sunday. To talk about the way Jesus engaged with Zaccheus in Jericho that day. To share spices and add stories to this year’s Easter Encounter. But when I returned to my land, it shut down. You were closing your borders too. It’s been in these days of shelter in place where I have found myself deep in Scripture early in the morning and longing to write these letters in pockets throughout the day, as I juggle being a temporary homeschool mom, Zoom small group leader, patient grocery shopper, cook of 21 meals a week, and virtual church goer. 

In this season, I’m learning how to commune and depend upon Yahweh, how to live with daily bread, and how to initiate prayer with my neighbors and friends. I’m also reflecting upon the Psalms of the Ascents in Psalm 120-134. These were songs sung by the Jews as they came up to Jerusalem three times a year to worship God. 

Feast of Passover in the spring. 

Feast of Pentecost in the summer.

Feast of Tabernacles in the fall. 

I share what Eugene Peterson said about these Psalms: 

“Three times a year faithful Hebrews made that trip (Exodus 23:14-17; 34:22-24)...They refreshed their memories of God’s saving ways at the Feast of Passover in the spring; they renewed their commitments as God’s covenant people at the Feast of Pentecost in early summer; they responded as blessed community to the best that God had for them at the Feast of Tabernacles in the autumn. They were a redeemed people, a commanded people, a blessed people. These foundational realities were preached and taught and praised at the annual feasts. Between feasts the people lived these realities in daily discipleship until the time came to go up to the mountain city again as pilgrims to renew the covenant. This picture of the Hebrews singing these fifteen psalms as they left their routines of discipleship and made their way from towns and villages, farms and cities, as pilgrims up to Jerusalem has become embedded in the Christian devotional imagination. It is our best background for understanding life as a faith-journey.” {Eugene H. Peterson, A Long Obedience in the Same Direction (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity, 1980), 14-15}.

I can picture your people ascending up to Jerusalem from their hometowns. Leaving behind their chores and laundry and daily rhythms. I can hear their collective voices singing, “My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth” (121.1) and with determined voices, “those who trust in the Lord are like Mount Zion, which cannot be moved, but abides forever.” (125.1) And to believe to my core, “I wait for the Lord, my soul waits, and in his word I hope;” (130.5)

Israel, my gift I bring home is the treasure I have in my heart that this life is a journey and I am grateful more than ever that my journey is with Jesus. 

I will return to you one day with Ben by my side,

A sojourner named Shauna

(Facts shared come from the Scriptures and from the tour with Insight for Living Ministries. Imagination from my own heart.)