Author Archives: John Schroeder

Just for fun, I checked my pedometer for our ‘travel’ day: It reads 11,598 steps.

No wonder, then, that it feels like I walked half of the way home from the Holy Land.

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Imagine my surprise to discover there’s a shopkeeper on St. Mark Street in the Old City who knows me by name.

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I did not expect to encounter dancing when we made our visit to the Wailing Wall today. But there it was…

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…at which I praise the Lord, on the sixth anniversary of my blog of ‘found spirituality’…

The queues to venerate the Calvary grotto have been impressive each time we’ve visited Jerusalem’s Church of the Holy Sepulcher.

But they couldn’t hold a candle to the line of people we encountered today in Bethlehem…waiting to see and touch the star that marks the place of Jesus’ birth.

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Wandering about Gethsemane today put “agony” into a whole new perspective for me.

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For thousands of years, pilgrims have spoken of their desire to “go up” to Jerusalem.

They weren’t kidding.

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You didn’t want to pick the wrong elevator at our hotel today, particularly if your room’s on one of the upper floors.

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Our witty and intrepid guide, Nasser, has witnessed a lot through the years…as he’s shepherded various groups and pilgrimages throughout Israel.

Even he was surprised, however, to see the water level in the River Jordan today.

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For lunch today, I had my eye on a delicious fish from the Sea of Galilee.

And it had its eye on me.

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