yes, yes..i know it's been awhile. i give you permission to ostrasize me; but honestly, i'm not sure if anyone reads this anyways so i may just ostrasize myself. i have full intentions to blog regularly this summer...we'll see how that goes.
anyway.
i spent the month of may in the middle east. i spent two weeks in jordan, living in a small village named orjan. the other two weeks were spent in the mountains and desert land of egypt's sinai peninsula.
there are a million things i could talk about in regards to this adventure and my future blogs will probably touch on a few of these topics but for today, i would simply like to talk about mt. sinai.
yes, thee mt. sinai.
as in moses and the 10 commandments.
i got to hike up and camp on the side of mt. sinai as i was transitioning from my time in the mountains to my time spent in desert. now, i'm a religion major and i want to do graduate studies in christianity. climbing up mt. sinai should be kind of a big deal.
but it wasn't.
i was expecting being on mt. sinai to be this huge, pivitol, life changing moment for me and it just wasn't. with my time spent in the middle east i climbed several mountains and mt. sinai felt like any old mountain.
i found an overlook on the mountain and sat down to catch my breath and to analyze this lack luster reaction. this got me thinking about pilgrimages. as i sat on the peaceful, "road less traveled" side of mt. sinai i thought about the thousands of tourists on the other side being safely escorted to the top.
i wonder, what brings them? what do they expect to experience from an air conditioned charter bus? why mt. sinai?
i wonder, why do people feel the need to go on such pilgrimages? why are they so often encouraged? certainly, they're not bad things but why is it so important to visit places such as mt. sinai?
i believe in a faith that is alive and active. my faith is not just alive on mt. sinai, it is everywhere. God does not reside on sinai alone, i believe God is in the hearts and souls of everyone, whether we recognize that or not.
certainly, i believe that mt. sinai is a holy place but i can affirm that this world is covered in holy ground.
from egypt to jordan. from the red light district of amsterdam to the projects in davenport, iowa. from the most beautiful mountain peaks to the unimpressive flatlands of fargo-moorhead. this planet is holy.
i had much more of faith building experience while spending the afternoon laughing with my muslim friends in their mountain garden than i ever will on mt. sinai.
i saw God much clearer in their eyes than i ever would while staring into a pile of red granite.
i don't think this discounts anything that happened on mt. sinai, or it's biblical importance. instead i think this view gives credit to the amazing power of God. how awesome is our God that he can reside in the hearts of all who love Him, even those who don't.
something to think about.
peace,
m.
