First Snapshot: Abba

Shalom from Israel! =) It's hard to believe I've only been here a few days...I've already seen and experienced, thought and felt so much! What a beautiful, overwhelmingly rich and complex place Jerusalem is!

That's why, as I just posted on my facebook status, blogging my time in Israel is already starting to feel like a daunting task. I've just spent the past hour and a half working on an "impression report" for a tour of Old City Jerusalem that I took with one of my classes yesterday. I have a page and a half, single-spaced, and I feel like I've barely scratched the surface for even that event!

While I continue to work on that, I just wanted to provide you a few snapshots of my trip so far as I have time.

The first will be from my flight over. When I sat down on the plane departing from Philadelphia to Tel Aviv, I found myself surrounded Hebrew-speaking people. My first taste of Israel! Next to me, I could hear the Hebrew conversation between a man and his son the whole way there.

While I know almost no Hebrew, I did recognize one word used frequently by the little boy: Abba.

It instantly reminded me of Romans 8:15: "For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but a Spirit of sonship. And by him we cry, 'Abba, Father.'" This was sortof a theme verse of my pre-trip time, and it was so impactful to watch the pair beside me as a living reminder of my own Abba.

I think that's how my semester is going to be. While not everything I see here has been earth-shattering (as I'll explain more in the next post hopefully), it already has made some of the verses like this hit home in a new way. I'm excited to see what's next. =)