Laurie Beth Jones remembers her...
Illustration
Object:
Laurie Beth Jones remembers her life-changing trip to the Holy Lands several years ago. The tour was titled a "Journey in Faith." Laurie Beth says that the Holy Land is not like other places she had visited. Tours of Europe or famous cities in the United States have to do with battles won or celebrities spotted.
The places she was visiting had nothing to do with battles won. She learned that Jesus most likely was not placed in a wooden manger, but a stone feeding trough. He wasn't born in a stable, but rather in a cave. Homes of the day were often carved out of caves. Jesus and the disciples probably slept in caves outside of Jerusalem. When Jesus was imprisoned awaiting trial he was actually in a limestone cave carved out underneath Caiphas' palace.
"As we walked to each site," Laurie Beth recalls, "I began to realize that these incredible holy sites had nothing to do with visitor and everything to do with surrender."
In the Garden of Gethsemane Jesus surrendered to the guards who came to arrest him. Jesus surrendered his life.
Later when a business leader asked about her trip, Laurie Beth replied that she learned "that the only path to glories lies in surrender."
As we begin Holy Week we remember how Jesus surrendered himself to follow God's will. The apostle Paul wrote that Jesus, "emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, being born in human likeness."
The places she was visiting had nothing to do with battles won. She learned that Jesus most likely was not placed in a wooden manger, but a stone feeding trough. He wasn't born in a stable, but rather in a cave. Homes of the day were often carved out of caves. Jesus and the disciples probably slept in caves outside of Jerusalem. When Jesus was imprisoned awaiting trial he was actually in a limestone cave carved out underneath Caiphas' palace.
"As we walked to each site," Laurie Beth recalls, "I began to realize that these incredible holy sites had nothing to do with visitor and everything to do with surrender."
In the Garden of Gethsemane Jesus surrendered to the guards who came to arrest him. Jesus surrendered his life.
Later when a business leader asked about her trip, Laurie Beth replied that she learned "that the only path to glories lies in surrender."
As we begin Holy Week we remember how Jesus surrendered himself to follow God's will. The apostle Paul wrote that Jesus, "emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, being born in human likeness."
