There are times when my good intentions turn out to be harder to execute than I thought. Initially, I thought I could keep up with my friend, contemporary Christian Musician, Michael Schroeder who is also my Wausau Whitewater President this year as he toured the Holy Land. Since his original plans for the blog he was writing was to do it on MySpace fell through with too many photos, I thought I could give him more traffic by letting him guest host / post to my blog. I couldn’t keep up with the photos. SO if you would like to share his travels, Go to http://www.rgsrecords.com/ and if you are interested in his other tours in the US or want to sample his music, go to www.michaelschroeder.com
I will leave you with a few of Mike’s words that were the reason I wanted to share his travels with you to begin with:
April 24th
A note for those who have been following along, is that I have updated some of the earlier days and blogs below by adding a few pictures and items I did not have time for earlier. So recheck some of those earlier postings if you’re interested.
Today is my last day in Jerusalem before leaving for Egypt very early tomorrow morning. I am sad to leave Jerusalem and Israel for reasons I can explain in part, but would fail to be able to put into words otherwise. leave by vehicle tomorrow morning around 4:30 am from Jerusalem with a 4 hour drive to the border of Israel and Egypt before crossing over.
I’ve been writing a completely new worship song here in Jerusalem the past few days that I am very happy with, and will record it once I arrive back home for the new worship CD I plan to release this fall. I’m very happy with the song’s potential for worship and am feeling the high from working on all of the songs for the project in this deeply spiritual place.
Southern Temple Steps
This was a very moving place for me,…..there are sites where tradition holds and often for very good reason for it’s Biblical probability due to the available evidence, site history and tradition,…and then there are sites where there is no doubt that Jesus was at a location. This is one of those locations where we know for sure that Jesus walked according to historical and Biblical accounts. These steps below are the southern steps leading up to the Temple. They are on the southeastern end of the wall leading up to the Temple. Going UP to the temple was a requirement and so each temple built has a entrance designed regardless of location so that you would walk steps Up to the Temple. This is that location for the Temple here in Jerusalem. There are two steps one for going, another for returning. There are many accounts of Jesus at the Temple in Jerusalem. Matthew 21:11-13 & Matthew 24:1-2 are just a couple but there are many if you look, and so He would have had to walk these very steps to go into the temple each time. Some of the steps are restored, some are not and are the same as from the first century time of Jesus. To be in the footsteps of Jesus is something moving beyond what words can express for me. I could have stayed here all day, and I look forward to returning.
As I was working on songs tonight from my balcony overlooking Jerusalem, I was treated to a spectacular Sunset over the city from the greatest Creator of all. So I grabbed my camera briefly to take the shot below. I am sad to leave the city and country and wish I could stay longer for more time, for all things in the Word, worship, learning and writing, but the schedule calls and on to Egypt I go. But God willing, I will come back again some day.
– Michael Schroeder