Monday, March 14th "Rivers in the Desert"

Up until today the weather had been wet, cold or a combination of the two. Today was a beautiful warm day, which was great because we went out to the Judean Wilderness in the morning. The spot we went to was about a twenty minute drive away. We drove out into the desert and started on these windy roads and then pulled off onto a little parking lot on the side of one of these roads. Walking down a rocky path which led to an old road brought us to an old British pumping station. From here we followed a little stream into the wilderness. After a little while we stopped and Andrew, the course director, gave a little reflection on the wilderness and then we had a little over an hour to wander around. I explored for about half the time then found a spot to sit and read some psalms. The wilderness was incredibly beautiful, the stark contrast of the lush wildlife surrounding the water only feet away from the desert rock (I'll post pictures when I get home). I don't know exactly what I was expecting or imagining when I read the biblical accounts of this wilderness, but it certainly wasn't this and I was definitely surprised in a breathtaking way.
Not much happened the rest of the day. A lot of reading, a little sermon prep. I also had my second cup of real coffee since getting here, it was wonderful. Although, I had been getting used to the instant coffee they have available for us at the college and now I'll probably have to readjust to it again. That is one thing I won't miss about this place, the terrible terrible coffee. At least there's good stuff nearby.
We're going to start traveling a little more now. Tomorrow we head to Bethlehem, the day after to Qumran, Masada and the Dead Sea, a couple days after that we're off to Galilee for a couple of days. Things are getting more and more exciting and are starting to pick up.