Wow! To think I had the opportunity to walk where Jesus walked during my recent trip to the Holy Land – an experience of which I felt totally unworthy – was life-changing.  To put my feet on the same cobblestone streets where my Savior struggled beneath the heavy cross was surreal.  To kneel on the floor of the dungeon where He spent the first night of his arrest made me more cognizant of the price Jesus paid for me. To view the place of the skull – Golgotha, also known as Calvary, made the life and death of Jesus resonate in my life in a more vivid way. To walk in the tomb (or one like His) of Jesus and touch the same surfaces that perhaps he touched was more than I can totally comprehend, even today. Unworthy, unworthy, unworthy describes how these experiences made me feel.  That Jesus would pay the supreme sacrifice, the perfect sacrifice for my sins so I can have life eternal and peace in this life humbles me to my knees.

Although many sites in the Holy Land are not totally proven to be the exact spots where events took place, that was insignificant because the WHO (Jesus Christ) and WHY (to pay the ultimate sacrifice for my sins) are so much more important the exact WHERE.  Nonetheless, I KNOW I walked where He walked. In His own country where most of His own people rejected Him and many persecuted Him, I saw people practicing various religions where loud chanting and even ritualistic body movements and other outward acts were their ways of trying to please God or gods.  I found it sad that the evidence of Jesus was so readily available to them, but their eyes are blinded to the fact He had already done all that was necessary, and if they would only believe and accept Him,  all their ritualism would be unnecessary. I can’t say thank you enough that we found Jesus’ tomb empty.  He is alive and lives in the hearts of believers today.

I take away from this experience much, but perhaps the greatest truth is we can’t do anything to earn what He has already bought and paid for.  All we can do is say thank you and praise him and glorify him in all we do.

Jesus tomb (are one like it)