AND MY FAVORITE CITY IS...

Forty-five states and maybe even a few more countries, I've lost track the total number, but needless to say, my wife and I have traveled a lot. I won't denouement you here--my favorite city is Jerusalem.

I'd love to return and walk where Jesus walked. In 2006 when we visited for 4 days, we, too entered Jerusalem from the east as He did. Not on a colt, but in a bus. We started at the top of the Mount of Olives just like the Lord did, too.We walked the path where Jesus rode the donkey down to the Garden of Gethsemane.

Sitting across from the Eastern Gate where He will come again.(John 3) Some of the 20 or so trees in this grove, which may or may not have been "the" garden, are 1,500 years old. Yet the roots are from the time of Jesus. Once olive roots are cut, their shoots renew themselves. Details like that amaze me, and I hope they always will.

One simply cannot visit there and not reflect on the night Jesus spent there praying, when he was pressed as the olive is pressed and bleeds red. The Garden lies just above the Kidron Valley, the place of Christ's transfiguration and Peter's declaration of faith.

The Church of Nations or the Church of Gethsemane is just across from the Eastern Gate, called the Golden Gate by some, the only gate that has survived since the time of Jesus. The church was erected on top of the rock where Jesus grieved. Traditionally, its altar is called the Rock of Agony. Re-erected in 1920 by 24 Catholic nations, it has a beautiful mosaic depicting Jesus. On the right were those adoring Him, and on the left, those ignoring Him.

And that's only the start of our journey there. Though words cannot come close to painting the sights and emotions, the spirituality I felt there, I'll continue in the next few entries to detail why I love Jerusalem.