I spent last Saturday night in a Bedouin tent in the Negev Desert (sounds cool, huh?). After starting out bright and early on Saturday morning with about 28 other people from Bridges for Peace, we spent the day climbing "tels" (and learning what a "tel" actually is); seeing the valley where David bested Goliath (pix #1); hiking through a desert pass (pix #2)and climbing 139 horrifically steep and narrow steps (pix #3) carved into the side of a canyon wall (not good for the claustrophobically challenged). I saw an ibex for the first time. Actually I saw quite a few. They look kinda like deer to me, but are amazing to watch climbing canyon walls.
Our tour guide was a wonderfully informed and experienced Christian. He was also ex-military. I wanted to kill him by the end of the day. We finally got to the Bedouin site and saw the long black tent (pix #4) that we would be sleeping in that night—boys on one side, girls on the other. My friend noticed the somewhat agonizing look on my face as I took it all in and commented that this should be a piece of cake for me since I had spent time in China. I must have forgotten to tell him that I stayed in five-star hotels in China.
We were able to rest for a bit before the traditional Bedouin "feast" which consisted of sitting on cushions around little trays of food—roasted chicken on rice and veggies with flatbread, followed by dessert of baklava and the worst coffee I have ever tasted and also the best tea I've ever tasted. This was all mingled with our host, Salim, telling stories about the Bedouin lifestyle—men with 5 wives and 45 children and giving camels for wedding presents and how a tracker could tell that a camel didn't have a tail by the way his poop hit the ground (only he used different word for "poop" if you know what I mean).
Then came the night walk and study of the stars. I'm not sure why the tour guide asked us to bring our torches (flashlights) since he wouldn't let us use them at all. He started out by making us do some military-type maneuvers. My group was definitely the worst. We could never find each other and I busted it a time or two trying to get into formation. It was really cool to let my eyes adjust to be able to see in the darkness, though. The only bummer was that on the way back to the camp, the guide was going a little too fast and dear, sweet Bob, who's in his seventies, fell head-first and ended up fracturing two bones in his hand and hurting his knee. They had to take him to the emergency room and didn't get back to camp until about 2:30 am.
Some of us were to go on a camel ride at 7:00 the next morning. I managed to somehow wake up about 15 minutes before my alarm went off (yay! I didn't want to wake the whole tent!), and with a borrowed, semi-wet towel in hand, I headed to the shower. I didn't care about the big ol' bugs crawling around on the floor, I just kept my sandals on and rejoiced under that stream of warm water. It was one of the nicest feelings ever. So then we were on to the camel ride. Two people per camel, and I was in the front saddle of mine. Now a camel gets up back-side first, and I thought I was going to tumble headfirst into the rear end of the camel in front of me, but somehow managed to avoid that catastrophe. I gotta say that the ride was my favorite part of the trip, even if I did walk like a bow-legged cowboy for the rest of the day. Camels have the cutest little faces in the world and I loved watching their feet (hooves?) as they confidently walked the path!!!!
After breakfast, we went to some Nabatean ruins, and from there my memory is a little shaky. I fell asleep in the car and I just remember stopping at some point and everybody else climbing a big hill while I slept. Then I awoke as we were driving down into this giant crater and I wasn't sure we would ever get out, but we did eventually. The last sight-seeing stop of the day was this place where they have all these greenhouses. Right in the middle of the dessert, about a 100 ft. from the Jordanian border, they are growing all these fruits and vegetables and sunflowers. We read Isaiah 35 while we were driving through and it just became so alive... "The desert and the parched land will be glad; the wilderness will rejoice and blossom....Water will gush forth in the wilderness and streams in the desert....The burning sand will become a pool, the thirsty ground bubbling springs. In the haunts where jackals once lay, grass and reeds and papyrus will grow."
From there it was back home to Jerusalem, and overall, I'm really glad I went. The desert seems to magnify any issues that one may be dealing with, and if you are willing, you can learn a lot about yourself, and hopefully let God deal with your heart on those things.
I learned that I don't particularly like the desert. When you grow up in the beautiffuly inviting, lush Appalachian Mountains, surrounded by nature's green and cool mountain lakes, non-descript tannish brown sand and little scrubby growing things just don't cut it. Especially when that's all you see for mile after mile after mile. I was able to endure it because I knew that I would soon be returning to my cute little apartment by the park in Jerusalem. Maybe that's why Paul tells us to set our minds on the things above (Col. 3:2); if our minds are set on the good to come, we can better endure the hard times here on earth.
I also learned that somewhere along the way I transitioned from an all-out tomboy to a complete girly-girl. When did THAT happen? I didn't even notice. I mean, I knew I was getting a little more girly, but I think I finally crossed over. I didn't feel like a girly-girl in the desert, and I didn't like it! I don't know if that's a good or a bad thing; I think it's just a thing in general.
I learned that I really like to go my own pace when I'm exploring and trying to keep someone elses pace just wears me out. I think I could have handled the weekend so much better if I had been going my own pace. Unfortunately, that just doesn't get to happen in big groups, and if you do decide to break off and go your own pace, chances are that you'll get a label attached to you—something like "loner" or "rebel" or that you're not a "team player." Funny how nobody ever says, "Boy, that Melissa knows who she is and she knows her limits and abilities—it's cool that she understands who she is..." Nope. Nobody says anything like that. I'm not saying that anybody actually labeled me; but experience has taught that if I had broken away it wouldn't have reflected well on me. I know this to be true because a few did actually walk to their own drum beat and unfortunately they were labelled. It's a silly game we play with each other, and the only way to break out is to have grace for one another. But you can't really force that, can you?
Well, now I can say that I've truly been to the desert. I can also say that I don't want to go back any time soon. Hallelujah! I know who I am and I know what I like!!!!
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