Cairo: Jesus in Egypt & God's Unusual Leaning
God seldom gives us all we need to understand, but He always gives us what we need in order to obey. The story of Jesus in Egypt as a boy offers a...
You’ve finally decided to take a spiritual journey to the Holy Land—to the land of the Bible. I can promise you, you won’t come home from Israel the same! But there’s something else you need to know.
(Photo: the aqueduct at Caesarea)
You already realize you are investing a lot of money this trip, and you want to make the most of your time. But you will get twice as much out of your Holy Land tour if you’ll also invest some time preparing for it.
Here are some ways that will help you maximize your trip—by preparing mentally, practically, physically, and spiritually.
This may seem academic and even unnecessary, but believe me; it will make a huge difference.
Basic Israel Geography. If you don’t have one already, buy a good Bible atlas. (See my recommendations.) Before your trip, use your atlas and learn the names of Israel’s geographic areas as well as their locations:
Basic Jerusalem Geography. You can learn the basic geography of Jerusalem in about 5 minutes. Dr. Charlie Dyer taught me to visualize Jerusalem as an ice cream cone inside two hamburger buns. (See my graphic below.)
(Visualize Jerusalem as an ice cream cone inside two hamburger buns.)
Get a road map of Israel and follow along your journey. Once I even highlighted the roads we took. If your bus has Wi-Fi, and you have a Smart Phone, you can use the Google Maps app to find your location. I love doing this. (Just make sure you’re only accessing the Web via Wi-Fi and not over an expensive overseas network.)
Take a Small Bible or a Digital Tablet. You probably don’t want to take your three-pound study Bible to Israel. For one thing, it’s too heavy for the suitcase and for your daily journey. But you also don’t want it to suffer any damage from travel.
(Photo: Studying the life of Christ, overlooking the Jezreel Valley)
Don’t Forget the Basics. Hopefully, you’ve thought of these. But just in case:
Get in Shape. Every tour I lead has stragglers. Some lag behind because they’re physically unable to climb stairs, walk briskly, or navigate uneven terrain. You’ll enjoy the trip much better if you’ll get used to walking a lot before you go.
Prepare for Jet Lag. It will take your body a couple of days to adjust to the new time zone. You can really help yourself if you’ll follow the advice in Overcoming Jet Lag, by Charles F. Ehret and Lynne Waller Scanlon. You can probably also find some good advice on the Internet. Staying hydrated on the flight over will help as well.
(Photo: Reading the Word of God in the Capernaum Synagogue)
A tour to Israel is far more than a vacation. It’s a spiritual journey. I interviewed hundreds of people for my doctoral research, and I discovered that 99% of those who participate in a Holy Land tour will have their spiritual lives affected.
Here are a couple of ways to prepare for your trip spiritually.
Wow! We’ve covered a lot of ground.
In the next post, I’ll share 8 tips to maximize your Holy Land tour while you’re there, including taking pictures, journaling, and growing spiritually.
Tell me what you think: What other preparation tips can you offer? To leave a comment, just click here.
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