Typically, I write the skeleton of my posts while I’m actually at the local that I’m writing about. I usually park it at a coffee shop where I can get a caffeinated beverage, listen to conversations in a foreign tongue with people coming and going. I like the buzz and the energy. It helps me to write while I’m immersed in the culture, but I simply couldn’t do that in Jerusalem.
As I had mentioned in a previous post, the first time I went to Israel was in 1985 with my grandmother. It was my very first international trip and from it, I was bit. Bit by the hunger to experience the world in such a way that I framed my life to live overseas and ultimately establish the kind of career that would allow for convergence of my passion for travel into my profession. That makes Israel a pivotal place in my life in ways I had no understanding of while I was there the first time and that history made this time reflective. This place was part of my past in way that brought me to where I am in my present. A full circle if you will.
But what I hadn’t counted on was the emphasis of the prophetic, the future. My amazing hostesses Lily and Julie, are not only well versed about the locations we visited and their history, but also in bible prophecy and what is to happen at certain locations. I remember standing with them on the Mount of Olives, looking across the valley of Kidron to the walled up eastern gate of Jerusalem when Julie told me, “this is the spot where Jesus is to return. When his feet touch the ground here, there will be an earth quake and he will walk across this valley and through that walled up gate”. Even as I type this, it stirs me. It’s not a logical response, but it evoked a response that resonated very deeply and from there, all I could think about was the future. What’s next?
Julie & I with the Eastern Gate behind us 
Lily, Julie & I on the Mount of Olives
Based on the time of year, Christmas into New Year, this is a natural thought, but in this setting…it had weight. Everywhere we went, we talked about the past, took selfies in the present and talked about what was to come. Between the biblical and the personal, it felt like a vortex of the convergence of the 3Ps of the past, the present and the prophetic. That kind of depth requires some processing time before one can place fingers on a key board.
And while my faith is rooted in Christianity, I don’t think the P3 vortex of Israel (and surrounding areas) is limited to my stream of faith. I believe anyone who enters its borders will have an awakening of their 6th sense because the energy is palpable. It’s from this place that I’m writing. I doubt that my posts will be able to fully express this kind of experience, but I’ll sure try. Shalom for now…