Stranger in an Holy Land

I'm going to be a lot more tolerant of non-native speakers when I get back to the USA. I'm one now. There are frequent misunderstandings. From numbers repeated in English after being called repeatedly in Hebrew, to the apparent absence of a Hebrew word for "washcloth" (small towel doesn't work) to how many minutes are available at the Internet cafe. (I didn't understand how I was going to be credited for the lack of minutes on my log in. The poor man must think I'm a dolt.) I'm going to remember that what is wrong is often just a misunderstanding instead of malice.

This is our day off of group travel. Some have gone bird watching, others to an archaeological dig, others like me, are just hanging around the hotel and the Tiberius business district preparing for our road trip to Jerusalem tomorrow. So we don't have our guide and leaders to help us navigate the culture and we are outside the English/dollar bubble of the tourist sites. (You know it is a tourist site when prices are in dollars instead of NIS (New Israeli Shekels)

A good woman in our church has a devotion she wrote that talked about the worship service in the church I serve last Sunday. I invited our "sister church" over. (OK--we rent space to their congregation, but we are working at being related in the Holy Lord instead of just landlord) Their congregation and ours don't speak the same worship language. Much understanding and patience was required on guest and host as music style, time, volume and energy levels was adjusted by both.

Maybe hospitality, understanding of non-native speakers, and patience is the best way approach God's work with us. We are strangers in God's holy land. We learn to be holy (and not all have the same teaching!) I hope this pilgrimage teaches me how to understand how to be more like a native as I visit the Holy Land now and the Kingdom of God the rest of my life.