As I write this the weekend before the trip begins on Tuesday the 28th of January, I'm trying to make sure I have pulled out everything I think I need without taking too many things I don't and getting all those items packed securely into my suitcase, my carry-on, or my one personal item that I can store under the seat in front of me.
I've also wound up sending out the blog web site address to way more people than I ever thought would be interested in this little adventure. What had started out solely as a way to share Dad's and my trip experience with my wife, my two sister's families and our kids has expanded to include friends, work colleagues, as well as several others. Those who have been following along for a while know that our trip to the Holy Land is organized by Educational Opportunities (EO) Travel and Dad and I are going with a group from his church near where I grew up in Pennsylvania. I got an email from Dad's Pastor, John Ciampa, earlier this week asking if the church could publish the blog address in the bulletin and on the website. Realizing that Dad's church friends and the Pastor's congregation may be just as interested in the trip as mine are, I replied to Pastor John with a very quick "yes." To be clear, "Dad" is Harold Sanner to you folks at church.
With that rather lengthy introduction complete, I'd like to formally welcome the recent addition of neighbors, more of my work friends, as well as everyone who stops by to view the blog from The Community United Methodist Church in Harrison City, PA. Stop by as often as you'd like. I've created an email group with all the addresses of those interested in updates and plan to send a notice when a new post is up.
I've also created draft posts for each day we're in the Holy Land with some basic information about each of the places we'll see. I plan to then add my impressions, stories about our group, other information, and any anecdotes from our tour guides. In addition, because I firmly believe in the adage "pics or it didn't happen," the text of our day's travel will be interspersed with pictures and possibly videos as well that will hopefully provide a visual tour of the amazing sites we see.
I started the blog back in November of 2013 about how the trip came to be and have added posts along the way with information that I thought was worth sharing about Israel and its amazing history. There is a post about getting there, as well as a another about the optional trips we can take. The blog software I'm using provides a "behind the scenes" capability for the author to manage posts, control access, and even shows statistics. Although there haven't been many comments to date (okay, just one), I can see through the statistics page that there are always several "hits" almost every time I've announced a new post. That's encouraging and I hope you keep coming back to read about our trip. I also noticed that several of you have clicked on the author profile which until very recently had not been filled in. It is now and, as you can see, shows up on the right side of the home page with a picture of yours truly enjoying a moment with my son, Kyle, from his wedding last March.
This was a pretty long way to say welcome but I'm happy to share this experience and hope that everyone that stops by enjoys following along our trip to the Holy Land. And, so this post on my Israel trip blog actually includes a little about Israel other than just being our destination for adventure, I'll leave you with some information about the Hebrew word "shalom."
I had always heard shalom used as a greeting or farewell but wasn't really aware of its meaning. Understood around most of the world as meaning "peace," shalom, as well as most other Hebrew words go beyond their spoken pronunciation to convey feeling, intent, and emotion. So saying "shalom" in a greeting or bidding someone goodbye indicates a desire for the recipient to experience not simply peace but contentment, wholeness, well-being, and harmony as well. What a wonderful blessing to wish on someone. With that, I will leave you until next time.
Shalom,
Tim
Only two days to go! :)
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