Acacia

We went to see this amazing tree

 a huge tree in the middle of nothing

You know there must be water sometimes otherwise there wouldn't be a tree
This is a tree planted by streams of water

 Blessed is the one
    who does not walk in step with the wicked
or stand in the way that sinners take
    or sit in the company of mockers, 

 but whose delight is in the law of the Lord,
    and who meditates on his law day and night.  

That person is like a tree planted by streams of water,

This is how we are to be

people should be able to look at us and know

 that our roots are planted in the living water

That we get nourished by our faith

 ^{Coleen took these pictures}

^{we sure had good food}

Wilderness of Zin

 We had again a wonderful lunch

pita bread with fresh vegetables, cheese, hummus etc.

In a shaded place

close to another wadi

We had our picture taken (by Coleen)

filled up our water bladders in our camel packs and went down into this wadi

We walked on sand

“Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock.  The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock.  But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand.  The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash.”

 This desert was beautiful
but it is the floods that leave the sand

This water looks like still water, water that is not dangerous

but when there is a flood it is very dangerous to be here

he leads me beside quiet waters,

 we walked deeper into the canyon

behind our rabbi Todd

I was adjusting my picture of desert

this is the kind of place the Israelite nation stayed for 40 years

  In the first month the whole Israelite community arrived at the Desert of Zin, and they stayed at Kadesh. There Miriam died and was buried.

I am so glad I took the time to take these pictures

We came to a grove of trees

 We sat down

and here we shared our own desert stories

times of loss and times of loneliness

times when we needed community and it wasn't there

times of testing

I shared the year of loss, when in 7 weeks time we had

4 funerals, 3 unexpected.

But also seeing community as a help in those times.

and knowing that we can go with all our questions to our Lord.

 sitting under the trees a deer (Ibex) came by

we were reminded of the many places deer are mentioned in the Psalms

He makes my feet like the feet of a deer;
    he causes me to stand on the heights.

 Psalm 42: As the deer pants for streams of water,
    so my soul pants for you, my God.

It was good to share and to trust each other with our hurts

 time to leave the desert on Zin

we walked to the walls and it seemed we were going straight up

just like the deer :)

See the grove down there

This was a fun part of the hike

Made it to the top

Wadi Zohar

On top of the wadi the modern city of Arad

a zigzag path going up

Jeanet & Brent going up

Jeanet has fallen on her face, we called out Hazak!

Talking about desert is...

thinking about Jeanet we get more images

in desert we need each other

we need community

if live is like a desert one of our primary needs is community 

with God and each other

You can almost see the soft green glow on the hill, 

made by the tufts of grass

we walked on the sheep paths, the straight paths

Teach me your way, Lord;
    lead me in a straight path

Back in the bus, drive to the next hike

 we saw a lot of Bedouin dwellings

 

Desert Shade

 This was the biggest shade from trees, in the morning

we still had shade from the rocks at few places, 

one of those we sat down, opposite this broom tree

The broom tree is the shade tree of the desert

just enough to get a bit of shade, mostly your head

 The Lord watches over you—
    the Lord is your shade at your right hand;

When water runs through this wadi it is in the form of a flood

It takes out the pavement by the hotel on the dead sea

every year shepherds get lost in a flood

some they never find back

These are the tufts of grass the sheep eat

we saw droppings but were to late to see the flock

These are the green pastures of Psalm 23:

 The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing.      

He makes me lie down in green pastures,
he leads me beside quiet waters,      

he refreshes my soul.
He guides me along the right paths
    for his name’s sake. Even though I walk
    through the darkest valley,
I will fear no evil,
    for you are with me;
your rod and your staff,
    they comfort me.

 You prepare a table before me
    in the presence of my enemies.
You anoint my head with oil;
    my cup overflows.  

Surely your goodness and love will follow me
    all the days of my life,
and I will dwell in the house of the Lord
    forever.

Some of my thoughts:

Desert is....

hot

intense

relentless

beauty

surprising

rocks

flowers

dry

Live is a desert ands

the desert is God's land

Pray for feet for the path

follow the shepherd, he knows where there is enough feed 

You shall love the LORD your God with all your 

heart (that's what makes decisions), 

soul (desire to live) and 

mind (strength, power)

It's not easy hiking in the desert, lots of rocks

 But you would be fed with the finest of wheat;
    with honey from the rock I would satisfy you.”

The bible is filled with desert images 
as you see, honey comes from the rock

Desert is ....

Todd, our rabbi had tried to expose us to enough sun 

to go into the desert. Today was the day.

The bus dropped us off at a wadi, a dry river bed. 

often translated in the bible as river

As you can see, this river is pretty dry

although at some places with smooth stones 

you could see that water does run through it at times

Our rabbi set a fast pace intentional and we tried to keep up

usually I had people in view, but there was precious little time 

to take pictures

While hiking we were asked to finish this sentence:

Desert is .......