A foreign reality

How do you share the improbable [I’d say impossible, but I’ve seen it, it’s real]? So much of the world I’ve been exposed to is so foreign to my reality that I’m not sure I can even comprehend it, never mind share it. But, I’ll try.

The Holy Land is an incredibly beautiful place. The landscape around Jerusalem is a testament to God’s creative magic. More than that, there is something special about this place that defies my understanding. I don’t know that I can describe it in words, but there is a feeling deep inside me, one that I get in Jerusalem, one that I get few other places. I share this because it is the backdrop where the stories of the Holy Land take place, both those of the past and those of the future.

While the backdrop is unbelievably beautiful, the stories themselves are plainly unbelievable. I could share stories of things I’ve heard, things I have seen that even I have trouble believing myself. But seeing as I’m not sure I believe them, I will keep them to myself for now.

What I can share, because I can’t deny its reality, no matter how much I may want to, is the extreme prejudice that is so blatantly obvious everywhere we go. This morning, on our way out of Bethlehem, we saw the lines of taxies on each side of the checkpoint waiting to take people to their destinations; not because the people here are incapable of driving themselves there, but because Palestinians in Bethlehem are not allowed to drive to Jerusalem. Instead, they have to walk through a Giant Checkpoint. We were told that people start lining up at 3:30 in the morning in order to get to work on time even though the checkpoint doesn’t open until 6 am.

For me as middle class Canadian, it is so incredibly foreign that because of completely uncontrollable circumstances [ethnic origin] a single person, never mind thousands of people, would not be allowed to drive themselves 10 minutes to work. It is completely ridiculous. I can think of no other words to describe it. And this from a country that claims to be a part of the ‘western world’ and shares ‘western’ values!

Being in the land where Christ was made known, I can’t help but wonder how His message has been so tragically lost. It’s not as if the stories aren’t remembered. Millions of people visit the Holy Land each year to see where Christ walked, to listen to the story of his life. But I can’t help but wonder if they are perhaps listening to the words without hearing the story.

-Allan