Garden Tomb

Alrighty, it looks like I'm more than a week behind on my blog. Awesome. I'm still planning to post about the days I've missed for journaling purposes, but right now I'm skipping ahead to our Sabbath visit to the Garden Tomb a few days ago. It's still fresh on my mind and I don't want to forget it. I didn't take a camera this time because I plan on going back as much as I can so I plan to take pictures later. Translation? You're getting a feelings post instead of a picture post.

We had a Baptist minister as our guide, and he was awesome. He is from the States, and he comes to Jerusalem twice a year for 3 months at a time w/ his wife to volunteer as tour guides for the Garden Tomb. He took us to the place they believe to be Golgatha and gave us their 'evidence' for this location, then he took us down to the tomb and gave us more 'evidence.' None of the evidence is entirely conclusive, but he told us that's when we have to let our hearts decide what we believe. The best part of his tour was when he told us that his heart tells him this truly is the place where Christ was resurrected. His words were so powerful and, little did he know, he was literally bearing his testimony to us. His is one of the best I've heard of our resurrected Lord and Savior.

After our tour we walked down to the tomb and got to go inside. I'm assuming this is the tomb the Mormon artists use as a reference, because it looked like all of the pictures I've seen at church. After going inside I walked back up the hill and stood for a few minutes overlooking the tomb. I tried to imagine the glorious events of the Resurrection as they took place. As I did this, I felt the Spirit stronger than I have felt it in a long, long time. I don't believe I felt it so strongly because this is without-a-doubt the correct location (like I said, evidence is not conclusive), but rather because I was focusing on and thinking about the Resurrection in a way I had never thought about before. The resurrection of Jesus is something that actually happened, and that is what matters. Instead of being a story that has been recited countless times, I realized, more than ever, the literality of it. It's interesting that being in the Garden Tomb isn't what made me feel the Spirit so strongly, rather it was my thought process. It is so important that each of us develops a personal relationship with our Savior. He lived on this earth just like every one of us and endured undescribeable pain on our behalf. Who then could possibly be a better Friend to each of us than Him?

Once we had all been in the tomb, our class had a mini-devotional and sang a few songs. The most significant song for me was the first song we sang which was "He Is Risen." Up until that point, the only thing I had really been thinking about at the Garden Tomb was Jesus and his final days on earth. But then, partway through the first verse, we sang the words "He has burst his three days' prison." For some reason when we sang these words my thoughts jumped to Tyler. The word prison really stood out to me, and I thought that is how Tyler must feel about his current ... situation. A prison, to be without his body. In that moment, it really necessitated the need for a resurrection. The next words in the song were "Let the whole wide earth rejoice." That phrase seemed so much more significant than it ever had before. Christ broke his three day prison and because of that we can rejoice. It is not the end when we die. Not even close, and we have Christ to thank for that most precious gift. Thinking that during the song, my eyes welled with tears. I'm not a big crier, but I've never realized quite to that extent just how grateful I am for my Savior.

I am so happy I got to go to the Garden Tomb. I loved it. When we got home, Kelsey came to my room to chat for a bit. In her talk at church she had briefly mentioned that she had been in a really bad car accident. Usually I don't like to hear a lot of details about car accidents these days, but for some reason I wanted to hear all about hers. To summarize, she got broadsided by a car and the car she was in rolled 2 1/2 times and then slid a long ways. The car was crunched in all around her (she was by herself), and they had to use a crow bar to get her out. Miraculously, she was fine, minus some bruises. Medics on the scene couldn't believe she had survived and kept running tests on her. I asked her what went through her mind when she got hit and she said the whole time she was rolling all she felt was peace. She wasn't scared at all and she knew she was going to be fine while everything was happening around her. Total peace of mind. The whole time she was explaining, I was thinking about Tyler since he had been on my mind a lot that day. When she said she felt peace during the whole thing, my eyes teared up for the second time that day. I hope so badly that that is what Tyler and his dear family felt. Listening to Kels made me feel like that is what had to have been going through Tyler's mind. He and his family were probably as prepared as anyone could be in such a circumstance. Kels was protected because it wasn't her time. Clearly, it had to have been Tyler's time. It seems like such a logical thing to say, but the more directly a situation effects you, the longer it takes to come to terms with a statement like that.

What a perfect day. I love the unexpected times when I learn and grow more in my understanding and feelings regarding Tyler. Throughout the last 8 years, my thought process has evolved a lot concerning him. To be completely honest, sometimes I really wish things weren't the way they are, but I'm so grateful for the opportunity I have had to grow in so many different ways.

Life is good, people. Oh, and so is Jerusalem. That's all.