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From Holy Land

So you may be thinking “THIS is one of her best photos?” and yes its not the best picture but one of the coolest things about the hotels in the Holy Land. They cater to religious tourists and therefore they keep a kosher kitchen and all other applicable Levitical laws.

This picture is of the door post to my room. Inside this little box that is screwed to the frame is the Shema or Deuteronomy 6:4. Later on in Deut 6:9 it says “Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.” And so the hotel did. There is one of these on every door frame.

The elevators stop at every floor on the Sabbath (so that you don’t have to do the work of pushing the button to stop at your floor). I had no cheeseburgers while I was there. No bacon. No shrimp. And even my Coke had real sugar instead of high fructose corn syrup.

All of these customs were only Biblically familiar to me. I’d never experienced them first hand and I must say it really was joy. It gave me a glimpse of a different culture and an appreciation for these weird laws. Every morning when I left and every evening when I came back, I saw this and was reminded that the Lord is one and that I am to love the Lord with all my heart, soul and strength. It worked too. I started and ended the day with God on my mind.

When we got to hotel after the long plane flight, our guide, Jimmy, popped on our bus and said, “Welcome Home.” I was in a strange land, with strange foods, strange language and strange customs but because of this little piece of metal on my door, I felt like I was home.

Until Everyone Hears,