Your pastor likely has never seen in person the places he preaches about each week: the holy city of Jerusalem, the waves on the Sea of Galilee, the rocky slopes of the Judean wilderness. To him, these names may be mere words on the pages of his Bible—places he’s experienced only in his mind’s eye […]
Read MoreCategory Archives: Israel
How Traveling Can Boost Your Spiritual Journey: The Inestimable Value of a Trip to Israel
I thought I was ready for it. I had no clue. Reading the Bible and other books about Israel could not prepare me for what I saw when I got there. The emotional impact of the land, the sites, and the people was like walking through the pages of a captivating book. Every day and […]
Read MoreWhy Did God Choose the Middle East?
Christians in the West sometimes find it easy to dismiss the Middle East. Some prefer to direct their ministry resources elsewhere in the world, to places where people have been receiving the gospel with more openness. However, God has made it clear that the Middle East has been and continues to be part of His […]
Read MoreUnearthing Our Walk with Christ
On more than one occasion recently I’ve found myself pondering the words of Socrates: “The unexamined life is not worth living.” That statement rings true because things tend to get complicated over time. We begin our Christian life with utter delight and simplicity. But as tradition, religion, others’ expectations, and too many activities begin to […]
Read MoreMy Experience in God’s Land of Promise
Israel—what an incredible place! You can read about it. You can listen to others’ stories about it. You can see pictures of it. But you can’t truly appreciate it until you’ve experienced it in person. My wife, Laura, and I had the distinct privilege of accompanying Chuck and Cynthia Swindoll—along with about 600 other travellers—on […]
Read MoreLand of My Fathers
Half of my family are from Wales – coalminers and such who drifted towards the home counties to find work during the depression between the two World Wars. They brought their language and their songs with them. Consequently the culture I grew up in had a distinctly Welsh flavour to it. So once in a […]
Read MoreWaiting in a Weary Land
One of the favorite places I visited when touring Israel was the Judean Wilderness. Because this wasteland sits almost completely unchanged from biblical days, I found it easy—even eerie—to gaze across the landscape and ponder that men such as Joshua, David, Jeremiah, John the Baptist, and Jesus saw these hills almost exactly as I was […]
Read MoreLest I Forget
On one of Insight for Living’s tours of the Holy Land, Chuck Swindoll led a Communion service at the garden tomb in Jerusalem.. Here are a few excerpts of Chuck’s teaching from that memorable morning. “It was so different than the disciples had thought it would be. Instead of looking into the face of their […]
Read MoreIsrael – Like No Other Place on Earth
Israel is like no other place on earth. To an aged wanderer, it was the Land of Promise: “To your descendants I will give this land” (Genesis 12:7). It was the land of a proud man who limped away with a new name after his encounter with God: “Your name shall no longer be Jacob, […]
Read MoreA Splash of Colour in a Black-and-White World
I have spent the better part of my adult life studying the Bible—for papers in college and seminary, in preparation for church lessons, and while working on projects here at Insight for Living Ministries. In the faded blue, bare-bones NIV Bible I’ve worked with most often over the years, I know where to find just […]
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