I have been thinking much about the Desert Fathers, many of whom lived in Jersusalem as second century Christians. The monastic movement originated from their influence. Largely the movement began as Constantine authorized that Christianity was the religion of the empire. Some Christians began to move then to the desert to escape the cities and the influence of the city. While we might argue with some of the extreme expressions of their faith in denying themselves so much in order to follow Christ, their basic belief was that the Christian life one of struggle and in the desert the struggle with the sin in one's heart became apparent.
As I shared with the camp counselors, every generation has a struggle and if we in the west think it's any different then we are sadly mistaken. This generation of college students has a struggle that they must embrace if they are to begin to deal with the deep sin that lies in their hearts. This generation of young Israeli and Palestinian believers have a struggle they must embrace - not one of violence but one marked by the Spirit. Messianic and Palestinian believers in Jesus must not get tired of the struggle to live out the peace of Christ which surpasses all of our human understanding. This is a huge task but I am confident that God is doing something in people's lives here that will astound people in the future.
Today we are headed out for a bit of touring! We are leaving in a few minutes for the Dead Sea and Qumrun (where the Dead Sea Scrolls were discovered). Exciting day but busy! Then we are off to the Sea of Galilee where we will have a few days of debrief in a Christian run retreat center close to the city of Tiberias. These will be great days as we begin to share what God did in us and through us! I might not be able to write another blog until we return so if not, we'll see you all on Wednesday! Thanks for praying for us and the camp. We sensed the incredible covering of prayer while we've been here!
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