Author: Allan (Page 228 of 492)

I wanted to share a couple of pictures before I hit the sack after a long first day of sight-seeing in Israel which included our first schnitzels and falafels and re-learning how to pronounce Armageddon (with the emphasis on the second syllable; you try it).

The day began in beautiful Caesarea Maritima, the sprawling government complex of King Herod the Great. The Mediterranean Sea’s deep blue waves were coming in especially fast and high today, providing a dramatic backdrop to the two thousand year old ruins of Herod’s luxurious palace, his administrative buildings, the theater, and the hippodrome. In the pictures above, Anton explains the party patio concept of Herod’s back yard to our group and he leads us through the tunnel into the massive theater.

We are staying on the shores of the Sea of Galilee tonight and will make this our home base for our next three days of touring.

All those same Indians fans from Cleveland are in our hotel tonight and are scrambling trying to find a way to watch tonight’s historic Game Seven. It’ll get underway at just after 2:30am Israel time. I wish them luck. I don’t have a dog in this fight. But I do regret not being able to watch what’s promising to be a game for the ages.

Shalom!

Allan

Well, we’ve made it to Israel. And as Jerry Garcia once sang so well, what a long, strange trip it’s been. Our flight out of Newark was delayed by three-and-a-half hours so we didn’t take off until 330am EST. If we look exhausted in the above picture, it’s because we are. We sat in the airport for almost eight hours; a person can only play about two hours of Spades with Elaine’s family. The ten hour flight got us to Tel Aviv at 730pm Israel time. It took an hour to get all nineteen of us through customs and another hour or so to get to the beautiful Dan Hotel on the Mediterranean Sea in Caesarea. We just rushed through a super quick and super late dinner. And now we’re all in our rooms, attempting to get acclimated quickly to the time change.

It’s 1130pm here, 430pm Texas time. We’re seven hours ahead. So I should already know who won Game Six.

Speaking of baseball, we stood in the customs line with another church group of really nice people from Cleveland, Ohio. Every single one of them was wearing Indians gear. On behalf of all the still-numb Rangers fans, I thanked them for beating the Blue Jays.

Tomorrow we visit the remains of King Herod’s spectacular palace and administrative and entertainment centers at Caesarea, Mount Carmel, Armageddon, and the Sea of Galilee in Tiberias.

Shalom,

Allan

It keeps happening.

Against all odds, against all math, against all formulas, the Central Church of Christ in Amarillo, Texas keeps giving and giving and giving to its foreign missions efforts in numbers that just don’t add up. Yesterday’s ambitious Missions Sunday goal of $325,000 was blown completely out of the water when, by the grace of God and the power of his Spirit, our church family offered over $421,515!

We keep raising the goal and the church keeps blowing it away!

Thank you to the Central church family for your extravagant generosity and your compassionate hearts. Thank you for sacrificing and saving to make days like yesterday so powerful and so eternally significant. Thank you for the faith you have so clearly placed in our God to make the money accomplish more than we can ever ask or imagine for the sake of his great name. And thank you for having such fun with it.

May our God be praised.

If you still need to turn in your one-time gift or a pledge, you can do that all this week with Vickie at the church office. As the money continues to come in, we’ll update the totals on the Central website and Facebook.

I’m reminded how blessed I am to be the preacher at Central, to enjoy a place and a role with this congregation of Christ-followers in whom God is effecting tremendous change and through whom he is impacting the world for eternity. Thank you, Central, for listening to God, for being so open to the leading of his Spirit, and for participating so fully in his mission. And thanks for letting me come along for the ride.

Peace,

Allan