Thoughts On [insert religious topic(s) here]

The journey has begun. I’m writing this from aboard a Boeing 777 flying over the North Atlantic. The flight is only two hours in and already my back is aching and I’m ready to be in Tel Aviv. The trip has not been without its surprises though. I spent much of my time in Tampa International putting together a resume to submit for an assistant youth minister position. I find resumes to be an all too brief way of applying for positions of ministry and thankfully, there is also an interview process. But more on that at a later date. The surprise with all this came when I tried to e-mail the final copy, only to find that the airport I was presently at (Newark) charged for an intermittent, weak wireless signal. I barely got the e-mail sent before we were getting on the plane to Tel Aviv.

The flight out of Tampa was a connecting flight that stopped off in Newark, NJ. On the flight over, I sat next to a Rutgers grad that had been to Israel three years prior. We talked about her experiences over there and it gave me a great primer for some of the sights that I was going to see. I really have no idea what to expect when I get over there, but I know I’ll be floored when I step out of Ben Gurion Airport.

I’m looking for an opportunity to get something other than text up here but I don’t have any material that I feel comfortable shooting. If I had less tact, I totally could have whipped out the camera as the Hassidic Jewish men were doing their evening prayers on our flight to Tel Aviv about 15 minutes ago, but I doubt I’ll shoot too much of any prayer time because something in me finds that invasive and demeaning. I’d be interested to hear other takes on this. Perhaps someone can convince me otherwise.

I’m going to try and catch a few hours of sleep on this flight because my body is telling me that it is about 11 PM our time. I look forward to posting more for you all in the coming days.

Shalom,

Mat