Jerusalem-a city of hills

As the mts surround Jerusalem, so the Lord surrounds his people--Psm 125:2
It's 3 pm in Jerusalem...kris and I are trying to recovery for our walk up, down, around, and thru the mts of Jerusalem. We've been to Golgatha, the wailing wall, the Temple Mount, thru the Kidron Valley, up Mt of Olives, back down the Kidron up to the City of David, down to the Hinnom Valley and up to Mt Zion and back down to the old city and up to the Norte Dame Center. We're sipping a cappocino, with our feet up to reduce the swelling. We feel like a couple of old ladies. But we confident, having seen Galilee, the Jordan Valley, and the Judean wilderness and now the mts of Jerusalem that Jesus and the boys were in great shape. I'm convinced that discipleship happened on the road. Jesus seemed to be constantly moving thruout his ministry.
Jerusalem is a mix of cultures, every flavor of faith has laid some claim to this city. Besides American and Western European groups, we've pushed and jostled our way thru the narrow streets with Armenians, eastern europeans of all types, Koreans, Japanese, Indians, several large tour groups from Africa, etc etc. The area in front of the Wailing Wall was especially alive today, the shophar horns blasting away celebrating someone's bar mitzvah, the women yelling some kind of trilling sound as rabbi's held up copies of the torah, up on the Temple Mt the Muslim calls to prayers sounded thru cheap speaker systems, tourists from Kansas yelling at each other to hurry on thru the crowd. Though it sounded like chaos, it was some how alive. Kris turned to me and said "Man, I love this."
We got up onto the Temple Mt but they wouldn't let us in the Dome of the Rock. I really wanted to get Kris in there. Bummer. Anyway, the view was beautiful from up there looking over to the Mt of Olives. In some ways up there, you feel like you are at the center of the world.
From there we walked up up up to the Mt of Olives, from where Jesus ascended into heaven. After walking down the Kidron and up up to the Mt of Olives, I was ready to be translated somewhere. But no, iwe had to walk back down and the up to the city of David, and the down to the Hinnom valley. I wanted to show Kris where the altar to Molech was, where the waste from Jerusalem was burnt, where Judas committed suicide, where the term Gehenna or hell came from--all in all a very pleasant place.
Fortunately, we made it out of hell and up to Mt Zion where Sammy gave us a tour and couldn't be escaped from.
I need another cappacino.
Later, Jay
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