Friday, July 9
It is now 8:30pm or 12:30pm in Decatur. It is Shabbat (Sabbath) and everything Jewish shuts down at 6pm. Friday is a Muslim holy day so most Muslim shops/restaurants were closed today. We took a taxi to Ben Yahuda Street which is a shopping street closed off to traffic in downtown (New) Jerusalem but we forgot it was after 6pm and nothing much was open. We were looking for a place for dinner so we settled on McDonalds which was the only thing we found open. Rest assured the Big Mac's are safe for there was an armed guard at the door and he checked backpacks of those coming in. We had 2 hamburgers, 1 large fry to share and 2 diet cokes and it came to 65 NIS which is about $22. The burgers were ok, fries pretty good, on with the quest to find dinner each night. Normally we are with a group and wonderful buffet breakfasts and dinners are provided at our hotel so we are not used to finding a place for dinner. Usually you can buy dinner here where we are staying but they do not have a large number of people here now so they are not providing dinner. We checked at the Novotel where we often stay (now The Leonardo Hotel) and for the buffet we usually eat with our groups it was $50 each so we declined and took a taxi to Ben Yahuda St. although not sure we came out much better. Tomorrow night is covered as we have been invited to have dinner with the staff at the Garden Tomb (Pizza from a little Arab place) - sounds interesting.

Today was good. We had our nice breakfast here at the guest house in the lovely garden and then went to the Garden Tomb to see what they had for us to do. I started by helping clean the reception office and Scotty started with sifting the compost. After I finished my task I went to help him which is what I preferred. I really wanted to be outside. We worked on the composting until about 11:30 and then had some quiet time in the garden. In the afternoon we followed some groups around to listen to the guides and listen to the groups worshipping. I helped some in the afternoon with some archiving as well.

It is amazing that people come from all over the world to this Garden Tomb. If it is not the actual tomb where Jesus was laid, the setting must be very similar to the actual tomb. The garden was definitely owned by a rich man as it contains one of the largest cisterns in the country. The tomb was carved out of a stone with two compartments, only 1 was ever finished and used (and if this is the tomb of Jesus then it was only used for a couple of days). The setting is just awesome and from the garden you can a hill that looks like a skull. It is actually just adjacent to the garden.

The main thing to remember about the garden tomb is that it is EMPTY! Our LORD is alive and at the right hand of the Father making intercession for us.

Matt 27
⁵⁷As evening approached, there came a rich man from Arimathea, named Joseph, who had himself become a disciple of Jesus. ⁵⁸Going to Pilate, he asked for Jesus' body, and Pilate ordered that it be given to him. ⁵⁹Joseph took the body, wrapped it in a clean linen cloth, ⁶⁰and placed it in his own new tomb that he had cut out of the rock.

Matt 28
⁵The angel said to the women, "Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. ⁶He is not here; he has risen, just as he said. Come and see the place where he lay. ⁷Then go quickly and tell his disciples: 'He has risen from the dead and is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him.' Now I have told you."