by Lacey Crenshaw
"As I reflect on our day, all I can think about is how blessed we are as Christians to have a God that loves us so much and had a plan for our lives from the very beginning."
Today we had the great privilege of being the first ETBU group to visit the country of Jordan. Once arriving to the border of Israel and Jordan, we said our sweet goodbyes to our beloved bus driver, Amer. After finally making it through customs, we began our journey to Mt. Nebo. During our two hour drive, we traveled parallel with the Jordan River and our guide told us some important information about Jordan. He told us about their monarchy, economy, and where they stand in regards to religion.
When we arrived at Mt. Nebo, we sat at the top to read scripture and worship. In Deuteronomy 34, Moses climbs Mt. Nebo to look onto the land promised by God to Abraham and his descendants. God allowed Moses to see this land but was not allowed to enter.
Before his death, Moses told the people of Israel to be strong and courageous (Deut. 31:6). We read later on that Joshua reminds Israel again to be strong and courageous (Joshua 1:9). The relation between these two verses is so important to me personally. I just graduated from ETBU and plan to serve as a children’s minister. These verses show the importance of bringing up others. Although Moses was not able to enter into the Promised Land, he brought up Joshua as a leader who did. As a children’s minister, I strive to bring up children in the way of the Lord. The Lord tells us to also be strong and courageous!
After Mt. Nebo, we visited a mosaic shop where we learned how mosaics are made. Mosaics are a very important part of Jordan; it is essentially their way of doing art. While in Jordan we saw that almost everything has a mosaic, including some of the bathrooms. Next, we went to Madaba to see a famous ancient mosaic that portrays Jerusalem as the center of the world.
We ended our day by traveling to Petra, where we spent the night at a high quality hotel. As I reflect on our day, all I can think about is how blessed we are as Christians to have a God that loves us so much and had a plan for our lives from the very beginning.
