Day 103

Thursday May 1st

Today was a long day. It started off once again riding a noisy bus across the Sinai Peninsula, trying to get some sleep or do some reading. I was pretty unsuccessful at both of these tasks. However, this time I did bring some earplugs and these did block out enough of the noise for me to fall asleep on the unfortunate Egyptian guy next to me, who according to my friends was squished up against the window trying to not be an awkward pillow. Sorry dude, my bad.
The border crossing took a ridiculous long time as we got caught behind a massive tourist group. Little did I know, this would be the start of a pattern of getting caught up with tourist groups. However, we didn't get held up as much as we were American and knew the ropes. Finally we got a taxi ride to Eliat and then took the bus to Jerusalem. I slept through most of this bus trip, but woke up to see the Dead Sea. It looked salty and had a ton of top-end resorts on it.
We arrived in Jerusalem and immediately got our return bus tickets. We walked to the old city, quite a trek, taking about 40 minutes, but finally got to our hotel, the New Imperial. The hotel is fairly nice, with free tea and breakfast, and most importantly it was right in the heart of the old city.
After settling down and getting a bite to eat we went to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. This is the holiest site in Christianity as it has Jesus' Tomb and Mount Calvary where he died. At first I thought the place was kind of a tourist mecca and not that holy, as everybody was walking around just taking pictures without a sense of reverence. However, this opinion changed as I waited in line for the Tomb and got some time to think and digest. I noticed that the line I stood in consisted of people from every color, every age, consisted of people speaking a myriad of languages and coming from different sects, who were all coming together to share in this experience of Christ. Although I found it ironic that people were pushing and jostling for position to see Christ's tombs, I still felt a sense of shared experience and belonging here. So, I took a candle from the tomb and lit it in a prayer for the perseverance of brotherly love.
Afterwards I got some time to sit and think about Christianity. I found that a lot of Christian Doctrine resonated with me. If there is a God, and this God is a God of Love, why is it so hard to conceive that Jesus is a Son of God who shows a way to God, through the ultimate sacrifice of love. He forgoes his lower ego in order to help the many. This is what finding truth is all about it, its about eliminating the personal desires and living for each other. Thus going to Mount Calvary and seeing where Jesus died in order to forgive our sins (don't understand this phrase yet) and died to show us love, was quite moving.
Afterwards he went to the Wailing Wall and I put a note in it to love thy brother as I felt this was the most important thing that I could wish for. So my resolutions after going to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre are to: 1. always treat others with respect and be courteous/kind and polite. 2. Treat others as an end not a means to my own personal benefit. 3 use my money/abilities to lift others up whenever possible; living frugally and not indulging myself.