Make a joyful noise unto the LORD, all ye lands
peter_asirvatham@yahoo.co.in

The Church of Transfiguration atop Mt. Tabor in Galilee, Israel, is inaccessible to large buses and can only be reached by LMVs. A mini-bus shuttle service operates between the bus terminal at Mt.Tabor (halfway up the mount) and the precincts of the church, for pilgrims. We visited the church on Day Seven (02.05.2008) of our pilgrimage.

Antonio Barluzzi, the Italian architect has designed the church in such a way that the spires would resemble three shelters (tents) that Peter suggested he would build for our Lord (see Mark 9: 5, Luke 9: 33). It was an awesome experience to be in the church. The painting of our Lord Jesus Christ flanked by Moses and Elijah inside the church reminded me of Jesus' words that he had come to fulfill prophecies concerning him - the Christ, in the Law (Moses) and Prophets (represented by Elijah).

After the visit to the church, we had to wait a long time for the mini-bus shuttle to take us back to our bus at the terminal. It was during this wait that Brother Selwyn of our group got us all to sing praises to the Lord. Our singing got an Italian pilgrim group waiting for their bus also to start singing. Selwyn, a videographer with a Christian Television Channel, started filming the pilgrims singing. Soon, he invited us to join the Italian group, and sing.

It was an evening when a group of Indians and Italians truly "made a joyful noise unto their LORD". Watch the 4: 40 min video posted below. (Or follow the link at YouTube.)

Brother Selwyn is a powerhouse of energy and enthusiasm for the Lord. He was a "Praise and Worship" leader in our bus journeys in The Holy Land.

This blog post is dedicated to Brother Selwyn.

(I bought the smallest Bible at the Mt.Tabor bus terminal)

The summit, where people used to worship God
peter_asirvatham@yahoo.co.in

Reading the Bible is a different experience for me since my return from The Holy Lands last year. My mind's projector starts whirring images of places every time I come across the names of places I visited in Egypt, Israel and Jordan.

Being a member of an Anglican (Tamil) Church, we celebrated our Lord's Ascension and the Day of Pentecost some weeks ago. On these days my mind's projector was playing scenes from our visit to The Chapel of Ascension on The Mount of Olives and, Jerusalem. The study of our Lord's Ascension in the gospels is interesting. Among the evangelists only Mark and Luke talk about Jesus' Ascension. The evangelist Matthew ends his gospel with The Great Commission on a (nameless) mountain in Galilee (Matthew 28: 16-20). The evangelist John ends his gospel where our Lord reinstated Peter by the shores of The Sea of Galilee (John 21: 15-25).

In the gospel of Mark, the evangelist writes that Jesus was "taken up into heaven" without mentioning the place from where our Lord ascended (Mark 16: 9-20). In the Luke's gospel the evangelist Luke, who is known for investigative and accurate reporting gives a sketchy report of our Lord's ascension. He writes "When [Jesus] had led them out to the vicinity of Bethany, he lifted up his hands and blessed them. While he was blessing them, he left them and was taken up into heaven. (Luke 24:50-51)

However, it is in the opening verses of the book of Acts that we read in some detail of our Lord's ascension. Yet, it is not clear or conclusive from where exactly our Lord ascended to heaven. We draw an inference from Acts 1: 12 where it reads that the disciples, after his ascension returned to Jerusalem from "the hill called the Mount of Olives."

One of the questions that repeated itself in my mind on my pilgrimage was, "Could this be the exact place where our Lord was born? or crucified?" and so on and so forth.

The Chapel of Ascension on The Mount of Olives is located on the summit of the mountain. There, on a small piece of rock, under the dome of the chapel is what is believed to be the site from where our Lord ascended to heaven. "Could this be the spot from where our Lord Jesus Christ ascended to heaven?" was a question that came to mind that morning. The answer I have now is: Very likely, yes.

A few days ago, I was reading the account of King David fleeing the capital, from possible danger when his son Absalom declared himself king at Hebron and, planned to move to Jerusalem to seize power (2 Samuel 15). King David's flight from Jerusalem was eastward. He and his household crossed the Kidron Valley (v.23) and ascended The Mount of Olives (v.30) weeping, with his head covered. Now, here is the clincher. 2 Samuel 15: 32 says, "When David arrived at the summit, where people used to worship God..."

Now, isn't that amazing? "the summit (of The Mount of Olives), where people used to worship God"! What a privilege it was to touch the spot of our Lord's Ascension.

My prayer is that I revisit The Holy Lands again. God willing.

Enter his gates with thanksgiving
peter_asirvatham@yahoo.co.in

"No, the walls and gates around Jerusalem are not the same ones which Nehemiah re-built. They were built by Sultan Suleiman" replied Mr. Sayed, our tour guide in Israel, to my question on the gates of Jerusalem. I was a little disappointed to hear that. Nehemiah is one of my Bible heroes.

It was the morning of Day Six of our pilgrimage and our second day in Jerusalem. We were heading to the old city and Sayed was giving a preamble to the first place of visit of the day's itinerary - The Temple Mount, and that we'd enter it through the Dung Gate. According to the Bible, the Dung Gate is one of the gates that Nehemiah repaired (Nehemiah 3: 14 and 12: 31).

The Dung gate is near the Temple Mount and is one of the many gates of the old city of Jerusalem. Disembarking from the bus, to the left of the road leading to the Dung gate I saw some excavation activities going on. 'Who knows what the dig might reveal?' I thought to myself 'Perhaps some archaeological evidence that might prove Biblical claims! Interesting' I thought and shot a photo of the site quietly. Then, before entering the Dung Gate, I shot a photo of it as well, in memory of my hero - Nehemiah. In fact I have shot quite a few photos of the gates and walls of Jerusalem.

A short distance from the centuries old Dung Gate, we came upon modern gates - gates made of steel, chrome and metal detectors and manned by Israeli police. The entrance to Judaism's most holy site - The Wailing Wall, Islam's third holy site - the al-aqsa Mosque and The Dome of The Rock is under very tight security.

So many names from the Bible and history crossed my mind that morning in Jerusalem. There was Abraham, bringing his only son Isaac - to this very mountain - willingly, to sacrifice him to The LORD. Little would have Father Abraham thought at that time that thousands of years later his descendants would fight over control of this mount.

There was King David, under whose kingship did Jerusalem come fully into the Judahites hands. Later he moved his capital from Hebron to Jerusalem. It was King David who bought the threshing floor from Araunah, the Jebusite and built an altar here. Later his son King Solomon built The First Temple here. Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon destroyed it and exiled the Israelites.

With the return of Ezra and Nehemiah, the second Temple of The LORD and walls around Jerusalem were rebuilt and restored. About 400 years later our Lord Jesus Christ's last days before his crucifixion was around this mountain.

The previous day (30.04.2008) as we made our descent from The Mount of Olives on The Palm Sunday Road, our pilgrim group re-enacted, in part, our Lord's Triumphal entry into Jerusalem.

There is something very significant with our Lord Jesus Christ riding the Donkey in the Triumphal entry: a king or a general who rides into a capital city on a Donkey signifies Peace, as against the same who rides into the capital on a horseback as the conqueror.

If you do not know why Jerusalem is the third holiest city, after Mecca and Medina for the Muslims, here is the reason. There is a belief that the Prophet Mohammed galloped to Jerusalem on a flying horse called "el-buraq" in a giant leap from Mecca to "the farthest mosque" (Jerusalem is never mentioned by name any where in the Qur' an) and from there he was taken up to the Heaven by the angel Gabriel. In rememberance of The Prophet's Night Journey the first Caliph after The Prophet of Islam, built a Mosque here - the al-aqsa Mosque.

The city of Jerusalem has changed hands so many times among kings, emperors, caliphs and crusaders in its long and bloody history.

In the last century, it changed hands two times, first during the First World war, from the Ottomans to the British in 1917. Next, when the British Mandate of Palestine ended, on 14th May 1948 Ben Gurion declared Israel's independence. Soon after war broke out among the Arabs and Jewish people. In that war the Jewish people captured more territory than they would have got had the Arabs and Muslims peacefully accepted the original Partition Plan. In the fight, west Jerusalem came into Jewish hands.

It's time now for me to take you to another gate of Jerusalem. While we entered the old city through the Dung gate in the morning, we re-entered the holy city in the evening for the Via Dolorosa through the Lion's Gate, also called St. Stephen's Gate, for Stephen was taken out of the city through this gate to be stoned.

When we were outside The Church of Flagellation, from where the Via Dolorosa starts, I saw a small company of Israeli soldiers marchng (it was not a disciplined flag march) on the narrow street. I've always been an admirer of Israeli soldiers and I wanted to march along with them, but better sense prevailed, instead I shot a few photos of these youngsters.

Seeing the soldiers there also reminded me of the Six Day war of 1967 (before we entered the Lion's Gate I saw soldiers of the New Airborne Brigade). It was through the Lion's Gate that Israeli paratroopers entered fighting for Jerusalem in June that year. When that fight ended, in east Jerusalem Judaism's most holiest site - The Western Wall - the surving wall of the Temple destroyed in 70 AD, fell into Jewish hands after two thousand years! The Israelies considered the capture of east Jerusalem as reunification of Jerusalem, that is; what they could not accomplish in the 1948 war, they'd done it in 1967. In 2007, Israel celebrated 40 years of the reunification.

When the Via Dolorosa ended, we exited the Holy city through the New gate. A golden sun was setting as we headed to our hotel in Modern Jerusalem. Incidentally, our hotel was called Jerusalem Gate Hotel.

Now, the Golden Gate is a gate of Jerusalem that faces the east and can be seen from the Mount of Olives. It is very likely that our Lord Jesus Christ would have entered the Holy City triumphantly through this gate in its original form. During the time of Sultan Suleiman there was a Jewish belief that when the Messiah would come to Jerusalem, he'd enter it through this gate (Jews do not accept Jesus as the Messiah-The Christ). Fearing the entry of The Jewish Messiah, Sultan Suleiman blocked the Golden Gate with stone bricks. Incredible!

Here's an interesting tidbit that I read some days ago on the Internet. During the First World war, when Jerusalem fell into British hands under the command of General Edmund Allenby, the general, an accomplished horseman and a fine cavalry officer, walked into the Holy City on foot rather than on a horseback, in respect for the holy place.

Our two days in Jerusalem is so memorable to me. God willing, I'd like to visit the Holy City again. On that day, I'd like to touch the soil of the Holy City with my bare feet and recite the verse, "Enter his gates with thanksgiving."

Thank you Lord!

An archaeological excavation near The Dung Gate.

The Dung Gate.

The Al-Aqsa Mosque.

The Dome of The Rock.

Enterance to The Wailing Wall.

The Wailing Wall.

Jordanian army barracks abandoned during
The Six Day War 1967, The West Bank.

Soldiers of the New Airborne Brigade, near the Lion's Gate.

The Lion's Gate or St. Stephen's Gate.

Israeli generals enter east Jerusalem through the Lion's Gate immediately after the fall of the city in June 1967. From right to left. Gen. Yitzak rabin, chief of IDF, Gen (retired). Moshe Dayan, Defense Minister, Gen. Uzi Narkis, commander of Jerusalem forces.

IDF soldiers outside The Church of Flagellation.

IDF soldiers on the Via Dolorosa.

Israel celebrated 40 years of the reunification of Jerusalem in 2007. Logo depicting the 4oth anniversary,

outside the Jaffa Gate. (Photo: Wikipedia)

The Golden Gate. Blocked by Sultan Suleiman.

Our hotel foyer. The Jerusalem Gate Hotel.

Shalom. Welcome to Israel
peter_asirvatham@yahoo.co.in

"Shalom. Thank you." I said, beaming, to the twenty-something female customs officer as she returned my Passport, duly stamped. "Shalom. Welcome to Israel." she smiled back. Collecting my bags I stepped out of the customs office.

And I stepped into Israel.

As I walked towards the bus parked a few metres from the customs office, I thanked God for fulfilling a dream. The customs office at Eilat on the Egypt-Israel border is in the southernmost tip of Israel, literally at land's end-the office is at the very shore of the Red Sea and the foothill of Mount Tallul. Light breeze from the Red Sea was so soothing after a tiring early morning trek up Mount Sinai and a long day's travel from the foothills of Mount Katherine. "I am in Israel! Thank you Lord!" My mind kept replaying the words again and again. Years of dreaming of visting Israel came true that evening, the 28th of April 2008.

The dream which germinated as a secular one - after reading the book "90 minutes at Entebbe" many years ago - was simply to visit Israel and meet her brave soldiers, if possible. Over the years it developed into a dream to go on a pilgrimage.

When we were comfortably seated in the Mercedez Benz bus, Mr. Sayed our tour guide in Israel introduced himself and gave us all a map of Israel compliments of his in-bound tours company. Our journey in Israel started. "We are on High Road No. 90" announced Sayed on the bus' PA system. I spread the map and looked at High Road 90. The high roads were marked in red, these roads could easliy qualify as highways in India. High Road 90 runs on a South-North axis (and vice-versa) of Israel and parallel to the border with Jordan. We hit Route 90 again on our last day in Israel.

I had put my camera away a few hours before we crossed the border with Egypt. The previous day on our way to Mount Sinai, when we were nearing the Suez Canal, Brother Raphael our tour organiser had warned us of edgy soldiers who do not like nosy cameras pointing at sensitive locations (sometimes they would confiscate the cameras or mobile phones and erase the memory cards) - I did not want to take any chances with the border guards of Egypt and Israel.

As we sped along Route 90, Sayed kept feeding us with tidbits of information on the various locations we were traversing. There were so many vineyards and palm-grooves to our right. Then there was a zoo which housed the animals mentioned in the Bible, where it was not possible to aquire real animals the zoo authorities had fashioned look-alike dummies of the same for display. Fantastic, I thought, how ingenious.

I brought my camera out when we stopped for coffee along Route 90, and shot a few photos. "Are you from India?" asked a hypie like man coming out of the coffee shop. "Yes" I answered. "From where in India?" he continued. When I said, Chennai, he smacked his lips and smiled "Real spicy food!" I replied, "Shalom. Thank you."

We toured all over Israel in the next six days, from the Dead Sea (Salt Sea in The Bible) in the east to the Mediterranean Sea (The Great Sea) in the west and to Caesarea Philippi - close to the border with Lebanon in the north.

The sun slowly set behind the mountains to our left as we continued the long journey along Route 90. We caught a glimpse of Jerusalem before we reached our destination - Bethlehem, in the Palestinian Authority area of The West Bank.

The Day Three's sunset and sunrise are so memorable to me.

About 12 hours previously I saw the most brilliant sunrise in my life, from Mount Sinai, Egypt. Many years ago I had a humble dream of visiting Israel, but God in His Graciousness and Providence had added three counties; Egypt, Jordan and Dubai as bonus to my dream.

God makes all things beautiful in its time. Thank you LORD!

This is the bus that picked us at the Israeli border and took us around all the places and, upto the border with Jordan. The photo was taken when we stopped for coffee along Route 90.

The fridge magnet map of Israel was bought on our last day in Israel. The Bible is an illustrated KJV, printed in 1954, commemorating 150 years of The British and Foreign Bible Societies. The papyrus sheet on which The Bible is placed, was bought in Egypt.

The photos below are from Wikipedia.

This is the Customs office on the Eilat-Taba border between Israel and Egypt.

View from the Israeli side, Eilat - the Customs office is at the very edge of Israel, to the left is The Red Sea and to the right, Mount Tallul.

My best birthday ever
Isaac P. Benedict X 'B'

I could not really sleep well on the night of 25th April, 2008, I was so excited, for, in a few hours my family and I had to leave home to the airport. I was about to make my maiden flight!

On arriving at the airport, my dad announced it was the first time he had come to this part of the Chennai airport to board a flight, for we were at the Anna International terminal to take our flight to Cairo, Egypt.

We first flew to Bahrain and from there to Cairo. I thoroughly enjoyed my flight, the in-flight food could have been better though. On arriving at Cairo International airport, I started the video camera running, my dad had given me that responsibility. Cairo city has many fly-over bridges, and one fly-over went on for almost 20 minutes. We crossed the river Nile two or three times. The Nile looked really really clean, our own Cooum and the Adyar rivers can never be compared.

Later that afternoon, our group of 29 pilgrims (on a pilgrimage to Egypt, Israel and Jordan) went for a "cruise" in the Nile. The Nile is not only a long river but also very broad. Taking a break from filming, I listened to my favourite music on my dad's mobile phone. After the boat ride, we were taken to the Khan-e-khaily market for souvenir shopping. I had my first Turkish coffee here, eeks! our south Indian filter coffee is the best anywhere in the world! Tired after the hectic shopping, I went to bed soon after dinner.

And then the big day arrived, 27th April, my birthday! My dad and mom came over to my hotel room early in the morning to wish me and pray for me. My grandfather blessed me and gave me some money, I wish he had given me US Dollars. I was happy when my parents gave me birthday gifts, which they had hidden from me while packing our bags. But I was sad too, because no cousins of mine could be present to share my joy.

The breakfast I had that morning, my first continental breakfast outside the country, was a lavish spread. There was so much meat on the buffet table and I piled up my plate with sausages, salami and egg omelette.

Our first place of visit was The Pyramids at Giza. It was awesome to look at the Pyramids and touch the stones. Our Egyptian tour guide Mr. Sayed gave interesting details about the precision and planning, and the hard labour that its builders had to go through to build this marvelous Wonder of the Ancient world. We took a few photos with the Pyramids in the background. Next we went to see The Sphinx, which also is built with stones and has the face of a man and body of a lion. Seeing the Sphinx with its broken nose reminded me of the comic "Asterix and Cleopatra" in which Obelix accidentally breaks its nose.

Though there was no birthday cake, my parents had brought some milk sweets, which I distributed to my fellow pilgrims in the tourist bus. When they learnt that it was my birthday they started singing "Happy birthday." The Egyptian bus driver and tour guide liked the Indian sweets and wanted more of it, they wished me well too. We had lunch in a restaurant built like a boat on the bank of the river Nile. Here too the food was fantastic. With the visit to the Sphinx, our "secular" part of the tour ended and the pilgrimage started.

Later in the afternoon we visited Elim, where Prophet Moses got good water for the Israelites on their exodus from Egypt. Our next stop was at the Red Sea, which was parted in two so that the Israelites could cross it like on dry ground. Unlike the Marina in Chennai, the shore here has pebbles. We couldn't stay here for long, the sun was setting and we had to move on. Our next place of visit was to be the Mount Sinai where God gave mankind the Ten Commandments.

We reached the foothills of Mount Sinai late at night. After dinner I went to bed, I had to rest and get energised for the trek up Mount Sinai in a few hours. With that my 14th birthday got over. It is one birthday that I'll never forget in my life.

I thank my God, Lord Jesus Christ for giving me this wonderful birthday gift.

(At the Bahrain Airport Transit lounge)

(Me listening to music-cruise in the Nile)

(Our family photo, with The Great Pyramids in the background)

An artist's impression
peter_asirvatham@yahoo.co.in

The Day Five of our pilgrimage to the Holy Lands in April-May 2008 was a truly memorable one. The day's itinerary started with the visit to The Chapel of Ascension on the Mount of Olives and ended at The Garden Tomb of Jesus Christ - chronology wise - Ascension and Resurrection.

When I first saw the tour itinerary from Brother Raphael, our tour organiser, I wondered how awesome it'd be if the itinerary had been planned in such a way to visit the places in a chronological order of the life of Jesus (something like Michael Palin's travelogues). The itinerary should have been something like the following: start from Bethlehem (Jesus' birth place), then go to Egypt (where the Holy family fled to), return to Israel - Nazareth (where Jesus grew up), then to Jerusalem (where the Holy family visited every year), from there to Galilee/Caphernaum (where he ministered), go to Caesarea Philippi and so on and so forth and, finally end at the Mount of Olives from where Jesus ascended to Heaven.

Indeed such an itinerary would have been wonderful, tracing the steps of Jesus' life, martyrdom and ascension, but practical it would not have been for the tour organiser and for the pilgrims.
This Lent as I reflect upon that memorable day's itinerary (which included St. Peter's Church - where the Apostle Peter denied knowing Jesus), another chronology from the Bible comes to mind. This is from the first two chapters of Acts.

Then [the disciples] returned to Jerusalem from the hill called the Mount of Olives (after Jesus' Ascension), a Sabbath day's walk from the city. When they arrived, they went upstairs to the room where they were staying. (Acts 1: 12-13)

In all probability the disciples would have taken the same route that we took that day, that is, descended from the Mount of Olives, down the Palm Sunday road, cross the Kidron Valley and reach Mount Zion where the "Upper room" is. (The difference being we were driven in a Mercedez Benz bus from the Garden of Gethsemane to Mount Zion.)

Again, when the Holy Spirit descended on the disciples on the day of Pentecost, Peter witnessed about Jesus Christ.

Brothers, I can tell you confidently that the patriarch David died and was buried, and his tomb is here to this day. But he was a prophet and knew that God had promised him on oath that he would place one of his descendants on his throne. Seeing what was ahead, he spoke of the resurrection of the Christ, that he was not abandoned to the grave, nor did his body see decay. God has raised this Jesus to life, and we are all witnesses of the fact. (Acts 2: 14-41)

In the chronology of events described above, the itinerary of our Day Five (April 30, 2008) fits perfectly - the Ascension at The Mount of Olives and Resurrection from The Garden Tomb of Jesus Christ!

Our first day in Jerusalem (two days and two nights) ended at The Garden Tomb of Jesus Christ. In the serene garden that evening we had the Holy Communion. What a privilege it was to renew our faith by partaking of the bread and wine from near a place believed to be the tomb of our Lord.

The Garden Tomb is one of those rare places we saw in our tour that was preserved in its near original form. As I stood before the empty tomb, listening to Mr. Bob McLean the guide present evidence that fits the tomb's description from the gospels, I could visualise the shock and confusion and later the joy that came upon the women and apostles' minds that first Easter. Now, "How would the tomb of Jesus Christ looked like two thousand years ago?" is a question I can answer with some imagination.

Presented below is "my impression" of how the Tomb could have looked like that first Easter evening. I had used Adobe Photoshop (an image editing software) to remove and add some elements in the original photograph. The "sky" is from another image - the Judean wilderness where Jesus fasted for forty days before the beginning of his ministry. Hope you like the picture.

"HE IS NOT HERE-FOR HE IS RISEN" Happy Easter!

"An artist's impression" of how The Tomb of Jesus Christ could have looked like on the evening of the first Easter Sunday.

The Garden Tomb of Jesus Christ as it existed on the evening of April 30, 2008

Those interested in visiting the official website of

The Garden Tomb click here.

If you are pleased with me, teach me your ways
peter_asirvatham@yahoo.co.in

"At 6,988 ft above sea level, it's the closest you could get to heaven," read the advert headline my copywriter colleague had written for a time-share resort at Shimla, many years ago. For my part as an art director, to add fillip to the insightful headline, I designed the advert as a "vertical' one (54 cm h X 19.5 cm w). I laid out the headline at the top, got a beautiful photo of Shimla, cropped it vertical, and added a layer of clouds some distance above the peak. The fonts for the ad were condensed fonts, kerned to create space and, set in thin columns. As young advertising "Creatives," my colleague and I felt sure that the headline and the way Shimla was shown would rope in many time-shares for our client. While our client generally appreciated our idea, the marketing manager commented, "Shimla would sell by itself, you don't need to run such an expensive colour ad." So, the ad was "right-sized" to a smaller black and white ad. In its mutilated form the advert did not generate the desired response.

I quite liked the play of words my colleague had crafted for the advert. Advertising executives, especially in the creative department, while promoting tourist destinations try and draw parallels with "Heaven." For example, many years ago, the advertising agency I worked for ran an advertising campaign for Kerala with the baseline, "Kerala-God's own country." But there is an element of truth in the line my colleague had written for Shimla. Man's experience in mountains. Perhaps its the nippy mountain air and the scenic view of the valley below, or simply, the nature that confronts man at such heights, theistic man sometimes feels drawn close to God from the top of a mountain. Man's closeness with God in mountains is mentioned quite a number of times in the Bible. It was at Mount Ararat that Noah and his family thanked God for his act of salvation, before descending to the plains. Mount Moriah was the mountain that the LORD designated where Abraham would sacrifice his only son Isaac. Abraham passed the test and there, on the mount, the LORD reconfirmed his covenant with Abraham. Jesus Christ, our Lord, took three of his closest disciples up a mountain in Galilee, and there (called Mt. Tabor) he was Transfigured, and his garment shone brightly. Here the disciples heard The Father, from Heaven certifying The Son he loved. Some months later Jesus Christ ascended to Heaven from The Mount of Olives. As the disciples looked heaven ward on Jesus' ascension, two men in shining clothes announced, that the same Jesus who was taken up will one day return.

For some days now, I have been reading the story of Moses and the Israelites' arrival at the foot of The Mountain of God-Horeb, also called Mount Sinai. Here as the Israelites camped, Moses ascended and descended the mountain to deliver The Word of the LORD and ultimately the Ten Commandments written by the finger of God. On these days my mind's projector has been re-playing scenes from my trek up Mt. Sinai on the morning of 28th April 2008.

That morning 12-14 pilgrims from our group set out at about 3:00 am. Grace and my father stayed back. Isaac, my son and Binu, my friend and I put on warm clothes and armed with cameras set out for the trek. At the entrance to the mountain, we had to go through metal detector door frames, and our bags were checked and we, frisked by the Egyptian Antiquities police. A young Bedouin, Mohammed (my friend Binu re-christened him Romeo) was our guide for the trek. The code word for recognising our group, should we stray in the dark, was "Sai-da." In Arabic, if I had got it correct, "Sai-da"could mean anything from "Good morning," to "Good day," to "Good night." We had learnt the word from our tour guide to The Pyramids, Mr. Sayyed-el-faraq, the previous day.

It was a grueling walk, about 7-8 kms one way, from St. Katherine's Monastery at the foothills to the summit of Mt. Sinai. The sky was clear and the constellations of stars above the Sinai Peninsula emitted faint light on the tracks as we climbed the mountain. Though camel drivers along the way tempted us with a dollar discount on the "Camel taxi," (the going rate was $12-16) I had resolved that I'd walk all the way up. If an 80 year old Moses could do it, so could I. I wish I had carried a tripod for my camera. The stars and the faint twilight against the mountain ranges was awesome. I managed to shoot a couple of photos on slow shutter speed by placing the camera on rocks. When there was sufficient light, I selected a small flat stone, as a souvenir, from the stones and rocks on the way. Someday, when I find time, I want to inscribe the verse from Exodus 33:13(a) on it.

When we stopped for tea at the end of the road, we saw a brilliant sunrise. The "camel taxis" stopped here, and the climb became arduous. About half the number from our group, dropped out here. The remaining half straggled up the rocky climb to the summit. Isaac and Binu, at one place, stopped, exhausted, they were contemplating giving up the idea of going for the summit. I continued the ascent.

Four men, including one pastor from our group had reached the summit a few minutes before I reached there. We were the only pilgrims at the top. The chapel at the summit was shut for the day and I felt so disappointed. We requested the pastor to pray. And standing outside the door of the chapel we prayed. Shortly, Isaac and Binu reached the summit. I was so happy to see the two.

Though we had arrived behind "schedule" at the summit and, therefore had to leave soon, we spent sometime in prayers. Did I feel any closer to God or Heaven from the summit of Mount Sinai, than in the plains? Well, not really. However, in my prayer I was overwhelmed, with God's graciousness. God has been so good to me in the past. The present was so exciting. We were in Egypt, later today, we would cross into Israel. And I laid the future in his caring hands. "If you are pleased with me, teach me your ways so I may know you and continue to find favor with you." Exodus 33:13 (a) Isaac prayed too, the previous day (27 th April) was his birthday. I piled up seven small stones as an "altar" at the summit, in remembrance of God's graciousness.

It was time to move. There were no camel taxis on our way down. Ahamad, our tour guide in Egypt was waiting for us in our tourist bus. We were driven to our hotel. Famished and fatigued, we hurried to the restaurant. None of our group members were angry at us for returning so late, the older ones appreciated the privilege that we could exercise. Even our tour organiser, Brother Raphael, in a lighter vein, commented that our faces were radiant like Moses' on his return from the Mountain of God.

Our pilgrimage ended seven days later, on another mountain, in Jordan, at Mount Nebo. It was from here that The LORD showed Moses The Promised Land. At the end of the forty year journey in the wilderness, God had kept his promise to his friend Moses.

In my life, God fulfilled my dream of visiting Israel.

Link to the photo album.

When I consider your heavens
peter_asirvatham@yahoo.co.in

As I gazed intently at the moon on the night of 20th July 1969, I wished I had a telescope. A few days earlier my father had got us all excited about an American rocket called Apollo 11, which was on its journey to the moon and that soon men would walk on it. As a six year old I figured that the moon being so small and a rocket big, I'd be able to see the rocket land on the moon through a telescope. Like the rest of the world, I too was fascinated at the thought of human beings walking on the moon.

In a couple of days, Neil Armstrong's words, as he stepped out of the lunar module-Eagle, "That's one small step for (a) man, one giant leap for mankind." became famous all over the world. Soon photographs of the famous "moon landing" and man's footprint on the lunar surface were splashed in newspapers and magazines. As a kid I loved drawing and painting the subject of man on moon. One time, my father, seeing me take great trouble to paint the dark sky with little stars, demonstrated how easily it could be done. Bringing an old toothbrush, he loaded it with white paint and holding it above my painting, gently brushed his thumb on the bristles. Lo and behold! There appeared on the inky black sky of my painting, stars! By varying the distance of the toothbrush to the painting, father showed me how I can paint small clusters of stars or scatter them in the expanse.

On 4th October 2007 our world celebrated 50 years of Space age. It was on this day in 1957, the then Soviet Union successfully placed in orbit an artificial satellite, Sputnik. The event marked the beginning of the space race between America and the USSR (now Russia). In the 50 years since, thanks to the race between the two for military superiority, science and technology in the field of astronomy has advanced by leaps and bounds. Man, now can look into the far reaches of an expanding universe.

In those days-the beginning of Space Age-my father used to share with us fascinating tidbits of information on space journey that he came across. One such incident was that, when Yuri Gagarin, the first human being to enter space, a Russian, looking out of his rocket window, commented,"I don't see any God up here." Whether the cosmonaut actually said it or not is a matter of debate. But what is central to the comment is, the question of the existence of god. In spite of God leaving a lot of clues to his handiwork, the universe and everything in it, above all, the unique creature called man, many intelligent human beings cannot accept the idea of creation by a creator.

The Holy Bible's opening verse, "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth." (Gen 1:1) is a summary statement of God's creative act. The subsequent verses reveal clearly the six days of "forming and filling" of the blue planet that we live in. But what is clear for the Jew and Christian is not so clear for the atheist and agnostic, and of course, the Muslim.

On a cloudless, star studded night thousands of years ago, an ageing old man was asked to, "Look up at the heavens and count the stars—if indeed you can count them." And as he looked up, the LORD said, "So shall your offspring be." (Gen 15: 5) The Bible says that "Abram believed the LORD, and he credited it to him as righteousness." (Gen 15:6) The simple belief that Abraham had in God's word, mind you, he was eighty five years old at that time, and, the first promise of fatherhood had been given him ten years earlier, is the hallmark of absolute faith.

I believe in a creator God, not only because the Bible says, "By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God's command..." (Hebrews 11:3) or because, "without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him." (Hebrews 11:6) Or yet again, because I confess the creed, "I believe in God, the Father almighty, creator of heaven and earth." every Sunday.

No. I believe in God, also because science, to me, in some ways, points to a creator.

Even with the oodles of data scientists have, they cannot prove evolution. Evolution is still a theory. I guess, as long as man is around in this world, there will be the two kinds of people. One, obstinate and unwilling to admit God. The other, simply believing, and pleasing his creator.

A few days after man walked on the moon, my mother read to us Psalm 8.

Awesome!

Our feet are standing in your gates, O Jerusalem
peter_asirvatham@yahoo.co.in

As I beheld Jerusalem for the first time in daylight, I recalled three verses from Psalm 122:- I rejoiced with those who said to me, Let us go to the house of the LORD." Our feet are standing in your gates, O Jerusalem. (v. 1,2) and, "Pray for the peace of Jerusalem" (v.6) It was the morning of 30th April, 2008, my family and I were on The Mount of Olives, Israel, part of a 29 member pilgrim group led by brother Raphael of our church and, head of Family of Jesus Tours. Earlier that morning after leaving Bethlehem, we went to The Chapel of Ascension on Mount of Olives, from where Lord Jesus Christ had ascended to heaven. From there we visited The Church of Pater Noster, where Jesus had taught his disciples "Our Father" - The LORD's prayer. Now, we were still on Mount of Olives, looking at Jerusalem, more specifically, the walled city of old Jerusalem.

We did catch a glimpse of Jerusalem from our bus on the evening (28.04.2008) as we crossed into Israel from Egypt. The view of Jerusalem from outside the Church of Dominus Flevit was breathtaking. It was from here that Lord Jesus Christ had wept for Jerusalem.

The Dome of the Rock-the Islamic mosque with the golden dome that dominates every other landmark on the Temple Mount shone brilliantly and seemed to attract every ones attention from other holy sites. As our tour guide kept pointing out the places of biblical interest around Jerusalem, I was looking through the view-finder of my camera-mounted with a tele-lens, for that one place which in Jesus' time would have been easily recognisable-the surviving western wall of The Temple. It was not easy to spot the Western or Wailing Wall but, beyond The Dome of The Rock I could see two blue coloured domes. While the golden dome of the mosque seemed to dwarf the ones of The Church of The Holy Sepulchre in magnificence; the domes of the church dwarfed the brilliant Dome of The Rock in sheer significance-martyrdom of the highest order for all mankind. It is the place venerated by Orthodox Christians as the place where Jesus was crucified, buried and later, resurrected.

After feasting our eyes on the historic Holy City we made our way downhill, down The Palm Sunday Road to The Garden of Gethsemane. We couldn't keep quiet like the people who marched along with Jesus on his Triumphal Entry of Jerusalem, even though we had no palm fronds we all sang, "Osanna paaduvoum." Mr. Sayed, our tour guide, an Israeli-Arab Christian who knows quite a few Tamil words like "Vaangae, vaangae sheekeram vaangae, busikku pongae," informed us that to our left was the "kidhron palathaaku". When we heard the way he pronounced "kidhron palathaaku" we couldn't stop but laugh and correct his Tamil. We corrected him that "palathaaku" means, literally, "attack the tooth." Perhaps he knew the meaning all along and wanted to make our walk memorable. It was, thanks to Sayed's meticulous planning we could visit so many places.

The Church of Agony is built around the bedrock in the garden where Jesus, in anguish sweated blood on the night he was betrayed. Here we had to maintain silence as a church service was in progress. Left to ourselves we would have sung, "Paareer gethsemane, poongavil yaen nesara ai, paavi aenakaai..." The Garden of Gethsemane is divided in two by a road running through; one part adjoining The Church of Agony. Here the olive trees are cordoned off from pilgrims as some of the trees are believed to be more than 2000 years old. We had some peace and quiet in the second part of the garden where, brother Raphael led us in prayer. Many of us felt overwhelmed here, tears flowed down our cheeks. Some of my family and colleagues had requested me to pray for them from here. It was such a privilege to be on this pilgrimage. Leaving the garden of Gethsemane, we went to Mount Zion. The "Upper room" is a small room some short distance from the Tomb of David. Here, I could only say silent prayers in my heart as I tried to imagine our Lord's Last Supper. As we exited the room, I was strangely reminded of Judas Iscariot, leaving the room to collect his thirty pieces of silver.

Cute paintings of roosters on small tiles on compound walls directed us to The Church of St. Peter. Here, some pieces of art poignantly depicted the hours leading up to Jesus' passion. One, a mosaic showing Jesus being mocked by soldiers. A bas-relief showing Jesus being bound and dragged away to Caiaphas' house and, a bronze sculpture where Peter is surrounded by two soldiers and vehemently denying knowing Jesus to a young woman. A rooster above the shade of the sculpture brought to mind how Jesus' words came true regarding Peter's bravado earlier that night in the Upper Room. How Peter wept bitterly when Jesus turned and looked at him! Words cannot really express some of the feelings I went through in this tour.

My family and I thank the Lord, for, in His Providence he had allowed us to see the Holy Land.

The places and events narrated are only half-a-day's itinerary of Day Five of our pilgrimage. There were so many places of biblical importance we visited in the ten day tour of Egypt, Israel and Jordan. What an awesome experience it was to stand in "Terra Sancta" or "Sacred terrain," to tread upon, with my unworthy feet, the places where Jesus Christ had walked two thousand years ago!
On day nine of our tour we crossed the Israel-Jordan border. While I was pushing the trolley with my baggage towards the Jordanian customs office, suddenly the trolley veered off and made a small U-turn. Seeing this, my wife Grace commented, "Your suitcase doesn't want to leave Israel." I retorted, "May be I'll come back to Israel again!" How awesome it would be to come back and behold The Holy places, and recite the verse all over again, "Our feet are standing in your gates, O Jerusalem."

A selection of (24) photos taken on Day Five.