Egypt

Wednesday, May 23

Mt. Sinai! We will spend about 24 hours in the Sinai Penninsula, plunging us back into the desert. We took a ferry across the gulf of Acaba and landed in Egypt. A crazy border crossing with people loading up carpets, luggage, food ... at the dock and we are winding our way through. Two hours of driving through the desert and we land at an oasis. In the evening, Max takes us to the monastary of St. Catherine tells us its history from the hill side as we watch the sun set. This monastary was created on the site of a chaple erected here by Helen, the mother of Constantine and has enjoyed the protection of both Mohammed and Napolean. The orthodox order of brothers here works and prays along side the Muslim families that maintain the grounds of the monastary here at the foot of Mt. Sinai. Prayer rugs and incense mark this holy place where one can see the original burning bush and Jethro's well. In the middle of the night (1:30 a.m.) we arose to begin our trek up Mt. Sinai. Camels would take us 3/4 of the way to the top and then we would climb the last 800 steps to the peak where we would sit listening to people from all over the world to watch the sun rise. This mountain top experience was marked by three deeply spiritual experiences for me. First, I was touched by the nearness of my camel and the gentleness of the camel driver with his animals. The night was generally silent with only the sound of my camel's feet on the path and the camel driver's gentle encouragement. This intimacy was balanced with the astounding vastness of a star lit sky - more stars than I had ever seen before. I was reminded of the sovereignty of God, balanced with God's gentle intimacy and knowledge of each one of us. The one who flung the stars into the heavens calls each one of us by name. Then at the top of the mountain it was like Pentacost or the great feast to come in the kingdom of heaven. People had come from north and south and east and west to worship on God's holy mountain. My third revelation came on the way down. Walking with my friends Christian and David, we were suddenly struck with the need to take our shoes off - we were aware that we were on holy ground. And there we read the story of Moses before the burning bush. Moses asks, who shall I say sent me? And God replies, tell them that "I am" has sent you. There is nothing left but awe.