From the World Traveler...

Sorry I have not said anything about my trip to Lebanon yet. It's been kinda busy. I figured I better go ahead and do this for those of you who asked before I forget what I did there. I went with the Pastor from the Church at Riverbend (our latest church plant) back in October. I'll explain some of the pictures I have in the post. The pictures, however are not that great. When you travel with just two males, the photography was less than stellar.

Although we thought we were going to assist the missionaries there with their ministry, it turned out we were on a vision trip. So, Brian and I built a relationship with the missionaries there, and are looking for ways to partner with them long term. That being said, we spent the first leg of the trip in Beirut, the middle part in Rahbe, a village in north Lebanon, and then back to Beirut for the last part of the trip.

The best part for me was the time we spent in Rahbe. We spent the weekend with a Pastor there (Pastor Shadi) visiting community leaders and church members. Pastor Shadi is a young guy with a great passion for the people of Rahbe. They took us there to encourage him and his church, but left encouraged ourselves. One of the highlights was singing in their church. I sang "How Great Thou Art" a capella and I could tell they were really worshiping. When I ended, Pastor Shadi said they know that song and if I would sing one more verse they would join me on the chorus in Arabic. So, there we were, me singing in English and the church singing in Arabic all together. It was an incredible experience for me. All I could think was, "This might be a glimpse of what it might sound like with every nation, tribe, and tongue gathered around the throne.

We also stopped and did some tourist stuff in the ancient city of Biblos. I've never been one to really be interested in history and the like, but it was really neat. We had a tour guide take ua through a Crusaders castle. It's amazing how vulnerable Lebanon has been to takeovers through the centuries. It seems every surrounding nation has laid claim to Lebanon and some time or another. That being said, no one informed us before we started traveling north that the Syrian army was at the border waiting on an excuse to come in and start taking over. We were only 90ish miles from the border I think. Syria is still there waiting by the way.

Okay, on to the pictures. Again, they're not great, but it's what I've got.

This is the Crusader's castle in Byblos.

This is the result of an archaeological dig outside the castle. It was the city at one time. The small square shaped structures you see is the outline of houses. Families lived in those tiny spaces.

View of the Mediterranean Sea from the top of the castle overlooking the above mentioned dig.

This is where the Crusader could position himself to shoot arrows at the enemy outside. They can get the weapon to go outside, but they're protected for the enemy shooting at them.

If you pull the rock out of the center of the star, the entire roof will collapse.

This is the view from the front porch of our living quarters in Rahbe.

We were visiting one of village mayors in Rahbe, and these guys came in with an eagle they had just killed. They love hunting birds in Lebanon.

One of the churches we visited has an Awana ministry. I thought that was pretty neat.

To the left of the church building is the slab with their Awana circle. And many churches in the US won't commit to Awana because they don't have a gym. Our churches in the states take breaks from Awana during summer months. In Lebanon they take a break during the cold months. It gets really cold there.

This is a house where a house church of about 10 folks attend. They are encouraged and trained by Pastor Shadi.

Operation Christmas Child boxes for the kids of Rahbe. I wonder if any boxes from Longview Point are in there.

This is Pastor Shadi's church. Their building needs lots of maintenance.

Here's me addressing the church before I sang. I told them about how I became a believer, then sang "How Great Thou Art" and "Made Me Glad." I rarely wear a tie anymore, so I was ready to get that thing off. That's Pastor Shadi in the background interpreting.

That kid on the roof has a gun in his hand. We were sitting on the porch waiting for lunch to be served and he was hunting birds from his roof across the street.

Almost every house had something like this either on ther roof or over the parking area and they were usually covered with grape vines. One family we visited cut the grapes while we watched and we ate them fresh off the vine. They were not seedless, but very good.

Electricity in the country (north Lebanon) is very unreliable, so lots of folks have a generator for periodic use.

This is me and Brian with Pastor Shadi and his family. His kids were precious.

Downtown Beirut. This mosque was built after the civil war ended. I think it ended in 1990.

Beirut Baptist School

A bus of Lebanese army was bombed the day before we left the states to go there. As a result there were tanks and military checkpoints all over the place.

That building was destroyed during the civil war. The shell is still standing today.

I guess that's about it. God is good, and I hope to go back someday. It is a place that is in need of the Gospel. I pray that our churches would be burdened with the lostness, not only in Lebanon, but all over the world, and do something about it.

Joey