Pam Schwartz

“Why am I going to Israel? I want to see, hear, touch, and smell the land of the Bible.” Those were the first words in the journal I kept during my life changing adventure to Israel under the Spirit-led direction of Dr. Widbin. Upon being greeted with an almond blossom, I knew that this experience would be one of a kind…and it surely was.

Beyond the where, what, and when of each place we visited, Dr. Widbin invited us into the who, how, and why, that left us most times moved to tears, at a loss for words, pondering, and praising God. It was most remarkable to know that we were moving through a land that the greatest nations in history fought for and in which the greatest King of kings lived and died.

I seemed to be most taken by the desert portion of our journey. Living only ever in a ‘Land of Honey’ it was striking to experience the harsh beauty of the ‘Land of Milk’. Climbing through a wadi, standing atop Masada, or merely driving through the desert, the struggle for life seemed to permeate the very air we breathed.
“O God, you are my God,
earnestly I seek you;
my soul thirsts for you,
my body longs for you,
in a dry and weary land
where there is no water.”
Psalm 63:1

“When you are in Israel, what will you leave here” Dr Widbin asks, “and what will you take back home with you?”
Those were the closing remarks of my journal. For each seeker, I’m sure it will be different. But one thing will be the same for all, it will be God’s gift for you.

Date of Posting: 09 August 2011
Posted By: Pam Schwartz
Seminary Student-Old Testament, Croton on Hudson NY