{"id":1622,"date":"2013-01-21T17:05:05","date_gmt":"2013-01-21T21:05:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/crosscultural\/?p=1622"},"modified":"2013-01-23T13:56:58","modified_gmt":"2013-01-23T17:56:58","slug":"exploring-jordan-from-desert-wadi-rum-to-the-red-sea","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/intercultural\/2013\/01\/21\/exploring-jordan-from-desert-wadi-rum-to-the-red-sea\/","title":{"rendered":"Exploring Jordan from the desert Wadi Rum to the Red Sea"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Wadi<\/a> Eight hours ahead of our home in Harrisonburg VA, we are all together on a Sunday night after enjoying a worship service together as a group.\u00a0 This is not an easy task to summarize what we\u2019ve done so far.\u00a0 In the past week, we have been all over the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan and experienced so many things and learned so much history, it is nearly impossible to write about it all.<\/p>\n

Day 1: We met our beloved tour guide Mohammad and we took our first bus trip as a group.\u00a0 We saw the River Jabbok where Jacob wrestled an angel.\u00a0 Then we travelled on to the ancient city of Jerash and explored the ruins, sang on an ancient Roman stage, walked through Hadrian\u2019s Gate and visited Artemis\u2019 temple and Zeus\u2019 temple.\u00a0 Then we got back on the bus and travelled to Ajlun Castle, where we learned about Saladin and his defense of Jordan.<\/p>\n

Day 2: We travelled down King\u2019s Road to Shobak Castle.\u00a0 However, Mohammad insisted we take a detour and view Arnon Valley, also known as the \u201cGrand Canyon of Jordan.\u201d\u00a0 The view was well worth the detour.\u00a0 When we got back on the bus and finally reached the road leading up to Shobak Castle, the road was too snowy and icy for the bus to make it.\u00a0 Instead, we hopped out and enjoyed a snowball fight.\u00a0 After that, we made our way to Little Petra and explored the ancient catacombs and amazing view Little Petra had to offer.<\/p>\n

Day 3: \u00a0We explored Petra, a bigger version of Petra.\u00a0 We learned about Nabateans and enjoyed a very long hike with an amazing view.\u00a0 We then travelled to Wadi Rum to stay overnight in a Bedouin Camp.<\/p>\n

Day 4:\u00a0 Man, do the Bedouins know how to have a good time!\u00a0 We enjoyed such good food and hospitality, with specialty dishes like \u201cmagluba\u201d and \u201czareb.\u201d\u00a0 We also enjoyed a long camel ride through the desert.<\/p>\n

Day 5:\u00a0 We left the Bedouins and travelled to Aqaba to swim in the Red Sea.<\/p>\n

Day 6:\u00a0 We came back to Amman.\u00a0 On the long journey back, we enjoyed a stop at Lot\u2019s Cave and a very nice view of the Dead Sea.<\/p>\n

The very first site that our group visited was the Jabbok River, where\"\"<\/a> Jacob wrestled with an angel before going off to meet with his slightly pissed off brother, Esau, whom Jacob had cheated out of his inheritance. As we all stood and looked out over Jabbok, leader Linford Stutzman read the story of Jacob aloud.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat night Jacob got up and took his two wives, two maidservants and his eleven sons and crossed the ford of the Jabbok.\u00a0 After he had sent them across the stream, he sent over his possessions.\u00a0 So Jacob was left alone and a man wrestled with him until daybreak.\u00a0 When the man saw that he could not overpower him, he touched the socket of Jacob\u2019s hip so that his hip was wrenched as he wrestled with the man.\u00a0 Then the man said, \u2018Let me go, for it is day break.\u2019\u00a0 But Jacob replied, \u2018I will not let you go unless you bless me.\u2019\u00a0 The man asked him, \u2018What is your name?\u2019 \u2018Jacob,\u2019 he answered.\u00a0 The man said, \u2018Your name will no longer be Jacob but Israel.\u00a0 Because you have struggled with God and with men and have overcome.\u201d\u00a0 Genesis 32: 22-28<\/p>\n

Like Jacob, all of us were uncertain of what would lie in store for us. As Jacob left the land, home, and comforts he knew and embarked on his journey, he must have been worried and full of doubt, as many of us on this trip currently are as well. But, the part that resounds prominently is Jacob overcoming, wrestling with God, and wading through the Jabbock and starting his uncertain journey.<\/p>\n

This week, our group has been thinking about what it means to have faith in the face of such uncertainty.\u00a0 We wrestled with the idea that believers are meant to be travelers; uncertainty is a part of this life and faith a necessity.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Eight hours ahead of our home in Harrisonburg VA, we are all together on a Sunday night after enjoying a worship service together as a group.\u00a0 This is not an easy task to summarize what we\u2019ve done so far.\u00a0 In the past week, we have been all over the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan and experienced … Continue reading Exploring Jordan from the desert Wadi Rum to the Red Sea<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":95,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4014],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1622","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-middle-east-2013"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/intercultural\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1622","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/intercultural\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/intercultural\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/intercultural\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/95"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/intercultural\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1622"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/intercultural\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1622\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1628,"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/intercultural\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1622\/revisions\/1628"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/intercultural\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1622"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/intercultural\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1622"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/intercultural\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1622"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}