And not the lovely, touristy setting on the northern shore of the Sea of Galilee part of the river either, but the spot below the southern shore where the Jordan bottlenecks before it flows into the Dead Sea. Which was certainly the case three and a half years ago when I got to take Missy to Israel on a trip with Lifeway and Inspiration Cruises & Tours.īecause we were coming off another international trip to Australia, Missy and I arrived in Jerusalem a day and a half behind everybody else on the tour, so the first holy site we were able to join the group was at the Jordan River. She wisely told me that was terrible theology-that the Bible doesn’t reveal a quota on our Heavenly Father’s blessings-and I know she’s right, but sometimes I just feel gobsmacked by the grace He’s already lavished on our little family. I went on to tell her that if God never gave me another gift, it’d be okay with me because He’s already spoiled me rotten. He provided on a silver platter and allowed me to become Missy’s mom through the miracle of adoption in 2014. I was talking with a dear friend recently about how I still feel like pinching myself over how Jesus restored the years I’d served up to locusts. I think Paul says it best at the beginning of Romans 1:20: “Since earliest times men have seen the earth and sky and all God made, and have known of his existence and great eternal power” (TLB). From my earliest memories, travel has opened the proverbial doors of my life wider to adventure it’s opened my arms wider to God’s image bearers who don’t look, talk or even have the same belief system as me and most importantly, it’s opened the eyes of my heart much wider to how transcendently powerful yet mercifully accessible our Creator Redeemer is.

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