Sorry for the delay

You ever get those moments where three or four days go by and you wonder where they went and what you did and how seemingly moments ago it was last Thursday and now it's Monday?

Well that's not the case, I was just curious.

But in all seriousness, it's been a rather full week/weekend/whatever since the last time I typed. The Junior High Boys Choir has gained members, I waver between baritone and bass these days and yesterday it felt like John Henry was using my face for his next phenomenal feat. But fortunately the pressure in my face has diminished to where it now only has the capacity to blow up a few dozen volleyballs. But I really can't complain. I've been blessed with pretty great health in the last few years, it makes sense that I get it eventually. God has been good to remind me that I am healthy every other day only because He takes care of me. When one is sick (and surrounded by sickness) one realizes the amazingness that takes place in a single day of not coughing. We have a pretty cool immune system folks.

I like typing because I can say as much as I want without increasing the number of coughing interruptions. But enough shooting the breeze. Let's get back to last week's southerly adventure.

If I recall we left our fearless hero perched on the precipice at the great Mactesh Ramon (Ramon means "exalted" by the way, so I stood on the edge of an exalted crater :) So... let's see. Day 2: Some crazies got up for the sunrise, I slept like a normal person and had no regrets. We drove south (through the floor of the crater) into the wilderness of Paran, where our friends the Israelites would have wandered for a real long time. We stopped right by the sign that says something like "danger, live firing area" or some such safety indicator. We wandered in the wilderness for a mere 40 minutes. Taking time to wander alone, Bill had us read Deuteronomy 8 and consider the words with the wilderness all around us. You read that chapter sometime, it means a lot in general, but so much more when you look at your clothes and shoes and see how worn they are after a month in the land and you look all around you and see rocks, a few bushes, no clouds, and a lot of brown nothing... God's protection and provision is much more than astounding.

From there we continued south, pausing momentarily at an overlook. It's rather weird to see Egypt, Israel, and Jordan all withing a few miles of each other. But it was a great view, I am excited to go to Egypt next month! Plus the view of the gulf of Aqaba was amazing (the gulf is part of the Red Sea, though pretty much definitely Not where Moses parted it, wrong side of the Sinai peninsula). Then we drove down to Elat (the coastal tourist trap of Israel) and snorkeled for the afternoon. One thing about IBEX is that we see where our money goes - and it usually goes right to us. We get to travel like nobody's business, eat, snorkel, get a daily stipend on trips to cover meals, and all sorts of other joys that I have yet to discover. Hooray for good stewardship over here.

I have never snorkeled before, I liked it, there are some amazing fish over here, my salt intake was raised to the 20th power that day and it was overall just super.

Then we slept.

Then we woke up. Some crazies got up for sunrise again, I slept like a smart person.

This time we headed the other direction, away from oceans and beaches and 1 inch of rainfall per year. We drove up the Rift Valley (aka Aravah aka the border regions between Israel and Jordan) and stopped in the area of Mt. Timnah. Back in the day (and even some still) it was a big copper mining area. The Egyptians left behind some scratches in a rock wall, a little temple, and the big rocks deemed "Solomon's Pillars" are there. It is funny to me that anything big and impressive and old gets to be Solomon's, weird names around here...

The coolest thing there was the replica of the Tabernacle. Built in 1999 by some college in Germany, this model is pretty cool. Unfortunately the recent storms came upon the Tabernacle in great winds and blew off the main cover and ruined some "fence" cloths. But it was cool to see the layout and how cool our God is for dwelling among His people. He did not have a big room, let me tell you, that Holy of Holies is like a Davidson dorm room. That is one huge God saying something pretty big to us little specks.

From there we got to hike around in the sandstone, see a mushroom rock, and leave one of our own to die in the wilderness. Just kidding. But back in the day it might have been that way, who knows? She sprained her ankle on one of the bazillions of rocks that make walking not so easy. So if you are worried when you look at the pictures and see the author of this blog carrying someone do not be dismayed, I was merely recruited as - and I quote - "another pack horse" by Bill. Then we went to a zoo of desert predators, which would have been much cooler had I not been part of aforementioned injured woman's chariot squad. But nonetheless it was sweet. You know how we have coyotes back home and we shoot them? Well over here we put them in behind safe fences under witness protection programs and call them jackals. We also saw some vultures like the ones from The Jungle Book (Disney version), but still playing the role of one of the noble steeds I didn't get to see as much of the rare and terrifying animals as I would have liked. But it was cool.

Then we went to the Masada guest house, played some intense ultimate frisbee on a little basketball court and hiked through the Marl Canyons at night. It's like walking on the moon. The chalky dirt in moonlight really does make it look like the moon, it was amazing.

After not too many hours of sleep we got up to hike Masada. I'm glad we did it in half-light because it is a killer hike, particularly at 5:30 in the morning. I don't love getting up early, but when it involves climbing a mountain I tend to get out of bed with a lot better attitude. And it was so worth it. The sunrise was wonderful times ten. A great way to start a day, the Word, sunrise, Israel, huge rock fortresses... so great.

I played tour guide for about 5 of the guys in the group, it's amazing how much I can remember from last time and the reading we've done, it was a ton of fun. Fast-forward: we hiked down, left, went to Qumran, hiked around the ruins of the Essenes settlement, and drove a little way and hiked up to cave number one. This is the cave where the first Dead Sea Scrolls were found, but NOT by a shepherd throwing stones. Contrary to that little myth, it was archaeologist-type people who were looking for something beside lost sheep. Just call Bill the newest host of Myth-Busters, he and Abner continually shatter our false presuppositions.

Then we went home. And it was great. It was so cool to see all of the southern parts of Israel, such desolate country demands an outside source of survival. Good thing God was there for the Israelites huh?

That concludes this broadcast hour, sorry that it was so long, but I wanted to get the whole trip in there. Hope you didn't fall asleep.

Rocks, talks, flips, and floats

Yesterday we went down South.

The day before that it rained like crazy over here, the Old City was near empty, we enjoyed walking around without crowds. It's like Milton-Freewater compared to Disneyland when it rains.

Anyway, back to yesterday. - Confused yet? I'll just try to skip around days a little more if you want.- So we went down to the Dead Sea. It was not a scorching day, which I liked very much, but it was a little bit colder than one wishes if one is to swim in a large body of water.

The Dead Sea is amazing. It's very pretty from far away and very weird when you're in it. But at least I can float in it! Not like freshwater pools, those I sink in even when I hold my breath, something about density and low body-fat percentages I hear. In honor of my last visit to such places I orchestrated the 2nd annual amateur American synchronized swim-team practice. Here's to you Drs. Anderson and Trull!

Then we cleaned ourselves from the "refreshing" waters of the Sea and headed toward another famous place, En Gedi. We hiked in from the back side, stopping at a spring on the hill and then at some cool natural rock spires, where we IBEXers climbed around like a bunch of Ibex (or look at this website or this one.) As we looked out over the Dead Sea and the plains of Moab and Edom over in Jordan, Abner talked to us about Sodom and Gomorrah. The Dead Sea was pretty likely not dead before those days, now it stands as evidence of God's wrath and judgment. A big freshwater lake gets hit with the aftermath of God's fire and brimstone target practice and it stays fresh no more, for like 3 or 4,000 years no more... It was an unexpected and interesting thing to consider. What a great testament to the power, justice, and wrath of our mighty God. I think it would be good to not take Him quite so lightly folks, He is far more than we really think about. Far, far more.

We got to the aforementioned spring shortly thereafter, where we looked at a couple of Psalms. When one reads something like this "O God, you are my God; earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you; my flesh faints for you, as in a dry and weary land where there is no water" (Ps. 63:1) in such a place as that it means more. Let me share a little: So you stand there, at a spring that essentially is the only freshwater for miles and miles and miles and miles, you are looking down at a beautiful body of water - beautiful, but oh-so-deadly and worthless to you - there are rocks as far as you can see in most directions. Chances are its been a while since you had any fresh water of any kind, you're running from someone who wants you dead (for 17 years... how much that would stink) and yet when everything in your body cries out for one sip of fresh water you say something that shows just how much you have your priorities in order. David thirsted for God when literally he was thirsty out of his mind, I don't think I know very many people like that - and I am certainly not one who can claim that in the least. Let's try something new and make the Lord the thing that we long for most.

Let me tell you another little story that relates to that. It's about me, in case that isn't clear in the first 7 words or so. Being in Israel there is a lot I can miss. I miss such mundane things as clothes dryers that dry your clothes in one cycle (though I'm too stingy to use the one here anyway :), I miss having classes in more than just one classroom. I miss chapel three times a week. I miss eating real portions of meat. I miss playing soccer in grassy fields. I miss my family. I miss wearing more than 6 different shirts. I miss my friends that will too soon be graduating. I miss lemonade and root beer (not together, just in general) I miss little kids. I miss sliding down the handrail in front of Davidson. I miss honey bunches of oats on the occasional saturday morning. I miss sunday school. I miss one Person in particular. In short, there are many things that I miss. Not that I would trade this part of my life, oh no, not at all! I love being here.

But the point of the list, though maybe having the appearance of complaint (which again, it's not :), is to explain something. Those things are things that I long for, be they every day or just occasionally. Nevertheless, those are things that I think about, desire, look forward to, etc. And those things are probably, no, definitely, on my mind far too often. Most likely far more than the Lord is on my list of desires. Not only that, I would venture to say that even when He is I don't often give him priority. I don't think like David. I don't write like him or rely on the Lord like him. It would be nice to for sure, but I don't. It's a challenging thought. What is on the priority list in my life? You could ask me a few to-the-point questions and have a pretty good idea.

But I'll tell you what I'd like to have. I'd like to have a one-item list of desires. A one-item list that is so obvious in my life that you folks when presented with the "give one word to explain Elijah R Conlee" it would be the only thing that came to mind, not just the first, but the only. I'm far from this I can tell you, but I think that if one truly makes EVERY effort to live this way than by His grace and strength it is possible.

You want to know what that list would look like?
Here's how I picture it, more or less: When I'm an old man, or dead and gone, someone will reach for my old worn Bible. They will thumb through the pages that are filled with notes and underlining and highlighting and dates and a piece of paper will fall. It would be old and yellowed, the edges wrinkled and torn, like it had been held and considered a hundred times a hundred times. Because it had. It probably has a few words in black pen, my name maybe, but the word that stands at the center is just one: God. -- and not God like we so loosely say it, but "God" written down with reverence. "God" written with respect and honor and love. "God" written with Fear. Who knows, maybe it will have another name for the Lord, or maybe on the back it will be written in Hebrew or something. Regardless of what form it comes in, it's going to fall on the floor, whoever sees it will pick it up and read it (which won't take long :) and have no doubts about that being the way my life was lived. If they didn't know me then the one with them will get to explain how my life was just canvas, God used it for something far greater.

I had more I was going to say, but this tangent has got me thinking too much. I can't go on when such things are going on inside. It's a challenge, sure, but what greater challenge have we than to honor the LORD as such.

In class this morning someone said my name in Hebrew, causing Abner to question, and that sparked a short conversation about what it means. I can look at it in Hebrew and know what it means, which is cool (and a story for another time), but more importantly it is a reminder of how I should live.

Elijah: My God is Yahweh.

I think it is about time that I go and make that a true statement.