Hi Everyone,

I don’t even know where to begin this evening. I try to write these posts like I was just getting home from my day and wanting to tell Connie what happened. I have a feeling that she would feel like she was being pummeled with thoughts after about 5 minutes of hearing what all happened in this day. I will try to narrow it down and stick to one subject even though i would like to sit here for the next three hours and fill you in on all of the details of a remarkable day. Let me take you to the Garden Tomb.

Our guide took us to the traditional place where they crucified Jesus and we sat and listened to him speak for several minutes about the site and how the Romans like to crucify people where things were most busy so that people would see and be afraid of what might happen to them if they broke the law. After we left Golgotha we walked around to the Garden Tomb. There were several groups situated throughout the Garden as they have created little sitting spaces for groups of 20-40 in several different areas. Our guide was describing the tomb we were looking at as a first century tomb of someone who was wealthy. Archeologists have determined that it was a wealthy person’s tomb because of the size of it. He also went into more detail about what Archeologists have said throughout the years, but as he was talking I heard the most gorgeous sound that distracted me. It wasn’t in English, but it was familiar. I continued to listen until I recognized the tune…”Shout To The Lord.” I left my group and followed the sound until I was standing in one of the little spaces created by those who own the Garden. There was a group of about 30 Germans, hands lifted in worship, and singing “Shout To The Lord” with all of their hearts. Ooo…I just got goose bumps again!

I went back and joined my group and David Darnell grabbed me and introduced me to some guy in Spanish. I think David speaks every language known to man except for maybe Pig Latin. ha! He had met a group of people from Nicaragua. David introduced me as his pastor to the pastor of the Nicaraguans and we hugged each other like brothers. We were separated by language by drawn together by the love of the Lord!

There were folks from Africa, England, Korea, Ireland, and David introduced me to a husband and wife that he had met from Spain. Why did these folks travel from all over the world? There is only one reason and His name is Jesus. Glory be to His precious name! It is the name of Jesus, and only the name of Jesus, that can bring a broken and fragmented world back together again. Sitting at the Garden Tomb and shifting my stare between the empty tomb and the full hearts of people from all over world made me realize that Jesus is the hope of this crazy, broken world. Pray for eyes to be opened and hearts to be touched with the Good News of Jesus our Savior.

You can see the pictures as I add them here on the website.

The Tomb Really Is Empty!