ONE OF THE DAYS THE HOLY SPIRIT GOT MY ATTENTION

I had been a member of the same church for 53 years. It was the same church my parents, my grandparents, and on and on forever had attended. Now that my parents and grandparents had died and just about all the rest of my really close family had died or moved away, I found myself wanting something new and exciting in my faith. I began the search for the possibility of a new church home and church family. My biggest problem was that 53 years in the same church was a real comfort zone!

Hayes Barton UMC became my new church home, and that “new and exciting in my faith” did not take long to start happening. However, little did I know that “new and exciting” would include 4 pilgrimages to the Holy Land in the next 8 years. All four of these trips were fantastic and I could never put one above the other, but the one I share with you now was, as you probably anticipate – the first one, in February of 1992.

Jimmie Wall

My tour host was Tommy Smith, who was the current senior minister at HBUMC. I had the opportunity to sit with him for a while as we soared over the Atlantic. We had a good conversation about the trip. He asked me why was I going to the Holy Land? I replied that I was a bit skeptical about that. He wanted to know why. I told him I had been to Natural Bridge when I was much younger, and I had seen all the carvings and writings on the rock and it was very disappointing to me. I told him I was afraid that what I was going to see had been written on and carved in and messed up – typical tourist response!

It was then that Tommy gave me some good advice that I always pass along to people I take on this trip. He told me if I was going to look for commercialization, if I was going to see Jesus’ footprints and exactly where he stepped, and if I was going to waste my time shopping constantly for gifts to take home, I would miss the purpose of the trip. However if I was going to see where the history of my faith took place my trip would be meaningful. He also told me to look for the unexpected; and then he told me a story that I have never forgotten, but I will save that for another time.

By the middle of the ten-day trip, I was really getting into the history of the Holy Land and I think osmosis had taken over as I sounded rather knowledgeable. On this particular morning we started our day early, and it was a cloudy, dreary, overcast day and quite cool. We were making our way by bus through the winding, narrow streets and the city traffic on our way to the Upper Room. The bus drive pulled to the side at a scenic stop and let us off the bus. As I stepped from the bus, I thought to myself what a waste of time. There was this huge valley, and you could hardly see the other side as the clouds were so low.

Then our guide began to speak. He told us if we looked very carefully across the Kidron Valley in the direction he was pointing we could see Caiaphas’ palace where Peter denied Jesus 3 times there in the courtyard area. All of a sudden what did I hear but a rooster crowing. I was at one end of the group and Tommy was at the other end of the group, but our eyes locked in fixed stares. He and I both knew that at that very moment, I had found my unexpected moment. I felt completely wrapped by the Holy Spirit, warmed by God, filled with his love and grace. I truly felt that I knew how Peter must have felt when the cock crowed the third time! WOW! What a moment! To this day I cannot think about this time or speak of it that the hair on my arms does not stand on ends.

Mike Frese, my traveling companion on my next 3 trips to the Holy Land, asked why I wanted to keep going to the Holy Land. I told him I would wait until he came back from his first trip and let him answer that. To see the faith of first time travelers come alive in their eyes and hearts is worth the price of the trip. Mike agreed with me on the way home from his first trip, and he made his fifth trip this past February. We also agreed that every time we visit the Holy Land we see something new and different we have not seen before.

Jimmie Wall