Did I just book a flight to Israel?
Sunday 14th July 2019
On Monday I went to the library after work. As I sat there going through emails a message came through from my solicitor, “Can you come to the office this week and sign necessary papers. I think I can complete by Friday.”
This began a shift in me. The lift was moving to another level and I may be getting out on the next floor. My inner vision was beginning to see and I was trying to catch up with it.
“Jerusalem” I have always said I would like to go before I leave the planet. Once about half of half a century ago I went to book tickets but it didn’t happen. I let the thought linger. Tuesday it was still there. I haven’t a clue what the flights cost, the accommodation, whether you need a visa?
Did I find myself googling prices to Israel?
The inner vision is seeing beyond. I had booked some leave just a week ago to coincide with my birthday and the day I was married. The soul was wanting to mark the end of the marriage and this new phase with something different. I was hearing the inner voice ( or you may say my imagination) “ Go back to your roots, go back to where it started.”
I am not Jewish, I have never been to Israel, my roots, my beginning?
“Meet Jesus in Jerusalem” true I am reading the book of Luke and for the last month, I have been reading about Jesus going to Jerusalem. Right now he is teaching and preaching in the temple. Will he still be there in two weeks?
I know I am a Northern Irish Protestant but this Jesus has been a part of my life since I can remember. As one minister said to me, “ I admire your devotion to Jesus.” Until then I hadn’t considered myself a devotee but he and his words made me realize in a world of many faiths and teachers Jesus is mine.
What I have read all my life seems as real as the streets I walked. Lough Neagh could be the sea of Galilee and Belfast, Jerusalem.
Now it seemed it was time for me to come home and visit the ancestors and meet with the one who has been like an older brother.
Yesterday Saturday I was in St Albans, I called into STA travel. I enquired about trips to Israel and there were none. I called into Thomas Cook and they had a brochure. I fit somewhere between the independent traveller and the all-inclusive. I still travel with my backpack so I have never given up the idea of travel being the priority, not the add-ons. The library had a Lonely Planet guide to Israel and the Palestinian Territories. I have since discovered that it is hard to find a travel book on Israel. I began to read with the question in my mind, ‘How possible is this?’
Later on Saturday night, I found myself checking dates and flight prices. I had checked my accounts that morning and knew what I could afford (now being a single man with a new mortgage).
Do we create our own lives? That question also occurred as I thought what we want is what we create if we have the means. The prices seemed doable now I needed accommodation. I found a hostel that I had read about in the guidebook. I put in the dates and there was availability and the price was cheaper than the flights. I was in that place where it was all so possible and all that was required of me was to push the buttons. I decided I would wait and if it were for me I would still be thinking about it the next morning when I awoke and flights and accommodation would still be available.
I awoke this morning and Jerusalem was still on my mind. I made some toast to settle the excitement that had grown overnight and then began to repeat what I had done last night. The flights were still available as was the bed. I am pushing those buttons. Within moments I am booked on a flight to Israel and into Abraham Hostel, Jerusalem for a week. Not quite a twinkle of an eye but maybe 10 twinkles.
Saturday 20th July 2019
It is a week on and just yesterday I had the hostel contact me to ensure they had my passport, flight details etc. Is this super security Israel at work or super efficiency.
My head has moved on and it now wants to devour the guide book so I know exactly what I will do when I am there. I am familiar with this mind though I favour the heart which in its language says, “Just be.”
If I sit in Jerusalem for a week that is enough without the need for the mind wanting to plan.
Somewhere between heart and mind, I reside, it is for me to ride these two wild horses and get them to work for the best.
A week today all things being well I will be in Jerusalem. I know my body will be with me but it will be experiencing something very different, a transition, an ending, a new beginning. That excites me.
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