Dive and Trust
Hello everyone - just want to give an update about my time here so far from the first few days. I’ll be writing more about the most recent days probably a few days from now.
My second and third day out of the states were spent in Jordan.
Jordan is a very, very beautiful country and it’s capital Ammon has one of the wealthiest areas in the Middle East. The country is about three times larger than Israel.
The two biggest differences with staying in this country for me was the water and the bathrooms. The water is Jordan is not clean at all. We were told that we should brush our teeth with bottled water and to refrain from drinking their tap water. About 90% of my money was spent in Jordan buying water. There were a few times where I almost caught myself drinking the water because I have never been in a country that had infected tap water before. Also, in Jordan the bathrooms were very, very interesting. There were countless times where you had to have your own toilet paper and some of the toilets were literally holes in the ground.
Our second day was spent in Wadi-Rum at a Bedoin camp. During this time we rode camels, danced, had a delicious dinner, and went on a jeep tour.
The third day was spent in Petra. This was a really cool area because it was surrounded by some really legit rock-like architecture.
Today was spent in Mt. Nebo where Moses died. The view was breathtaking and as I re-read the account about Moses’ death in Deuteronomy it became extremely real. Also, we spent the other part of the day by this really epic Roman theater built in Jordan. Afterwards, we spent a few hours crossing the Israeli border and headed into Tiberius which is where we will be staying for 9 days. Staying in Tiberius for 9 days is a relief because we have spent the past 3 nights at 3 different hotels in 3 different cities.
There are so many different things that I am reflecting on all at once which would take me a century to write in here. When thinking about my experience thus far in the Middle East, I think the biggest way this trip has stretched me is probably summed up in the most practical and simplest phrase: “dive and trust.”
For me, thus far, this trip can be described as walking on the ledge of a rocky cliff and taking a spontaneous plunge into the unexpected—not knowing whether the water is deep, shallow, rocky, tumultuous, or if the waters even lead to dry land. While staying in Israel I don’t know what to expect. I don’t know what type of people I will encounter. I don’t know whether the food will make me sick. I don’t know the language. I don’t know whether or not I’m getting ripped off. I don’t even know where I can do my laundry for a reasonable price. I’m not familiar with the area. I don’t know if my stuff will be stolen by the bag-boys. All of these uncertainties are my little cliffhangers.
While contemplating this, I realized that these little cliffhangers have always existed and always will exist in my life. Being in the Middle East has just given me a deeper realization of the inevitable reality of these cliffhangers—these uncertainties that each day carries.
So what do you do when you’re hanging toward the ledge? Honestly, the simplest, yet best answer that I can conjure up is to dive—go all in. Dive and trust. This has been the phrase that I have been retelling myself each day.
As each day has its unexpected twists and turns—and there have been many so far—I have been gracefully thrusted to place all my weight upon God’s entire control of my time here as well as His control over whatever lies ahead in the future.
There is so much more that I want to say but I think that this is all my brain can handle!
I’ll leave you with a quote from Kevin DeYoung from his book Just Do Something that I’ve been thinking about during my time here: “We walk into the future in God-glorifying confidence, not because the future is known to us but because it is known to God. And that’s all we need to know.”
Yes. Dive and Trust.
