There are still old men in Greece who will bow to you when they learn you have been to Jerusalem.

Pilgrims have been traveling to the Holy Land for over two millennia hoping to walk where Jesus walked. As a history buff, however, I couldn’t help but think about how even before the time of Jesus Jerusalem was a Holy City and men and women from around the world traveled to the Jewish temples to honor the God of Abraham, Issac, and Jacob.

Our pilgrimage began back in December of last year when we saw a flyer at our church, St Thomas Orthodox Church, from Father Ilya Gotlinksy’s company Orthodox Tours. I looked through the flyer and got down to the bottom line and thought, “Hmm that’s actually quite affordable for almost two weeks in Israel, the West Bank, and Jordan”.

I went home and did some research and found out it was quite a great deal and since our priest Father Methodios and his wife Dannielle were planning on going Ilene and I started talking it over. Long story short, even though it was a bit of a stretch financially we knew it was probably a once in a lifetime opportunity.

Thus began nearly a year of preparation for what became one of the highlights of our lives as a couple and Christians.

Over the next couple of months I’m going to recount the highlights of our trip. I plan to add photos and commentary on what we experienced and I’ll be brutally honest, I’m going to talk about what this trip has done to reinforce my faith in God.

I am not a religious scholar, I am not a clergy member, I’m just a guy who has been searching for what many have searched for in their lives; answers to the questions who are we and why are we here. These will be MY reflections and musings. I am not looking for debate or commentary. I am not looking to “convert” anyone to my way of thinking.

I believe that the best way to explain my faith is to live it. I don’t need to cram it down anyone’s throat. I don’t need to get into debates about what I believe or how I live. All I can do is to try, humbly, to live up to the two commandments emphasized by our Lord Jesus to:

1. 1. 1. Love God with all your heart, all you mind, and all your being.
      2. Love your neighbor as you do yourself.

In fact I’m going to take a bold step and turn off commentary on these posts in order to express my opinion, my beliefs, and not, hopefully, create controversy and animus with my readers. I will, however, be happy to answer questions or read commentaries emailed to me at keith@keithgshafer.com. I’m hoping that this way we don’t get into the FaceBook/anti-social media propensity to troll and comment uncivilly with one another.

Again, I just want a place where I can share our adventures, some photos, and some thoughts about what we saw, what we experienced, and why it was such an important event in MY life. I’ll also be writing about our other adventures as we travel this beautiful, exciting world.

May God Bless You and I hope you’ll come along for the ride.