Mount Zion 2012: Baptism at Jordan, Sunset from Mt. Scopus

Today Edith, Maureen and I are taking two young men, Philip and Charley (students at JUC) to the Baptismal site on the Jordan River. This is the traditional (and probably pretty accurate) site of where John the Baptist was baptizing people, including Jesus' baptism. Many pilgrims that come to Israel get baptized at Yardenit, which is a site near the Sea of Galilee, but this site is much more likely to be where Jesus was baptized. Also it is the site (or very near) where the Israelites crossed over the Jordan with Joshua.

Philip is reading and declaring the scripture about the "voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare the way of the Lord!", etc. He is an intense young man with a awesome call on his life and a "John the Baptist" anointing.

Edith is sounding the shofar over the Jordan river prior to the young men being baptized.

Charley and Philip are ready, having been prayed and prophesied over.

Here's the video of their baptism!!

Coming up out of the water...the joy of the Lord on their faces.

Edith has a way of finding soldiers to talk to. These two are here guarding the border (Jordan - country- is right across the river, so they are the border patrol here). Edith actually blew the shofar standing between the two soldiers, prior to taking this picture. She was telling them how much we care about the IDF and pray protection over them, and they were all smiles, very grateful.

Next we went to the on-site gift store. The young man in the right is an Israeli who works for the park service there. He asked Edith to blow the shofar, and he could not believe his ears. Charlie is laughing in the middle. There aren't very many women who blow shofars in Israel, and most men don't do it as well as she does. You can see the disbelief on his face:)

Late that afternoon, in the early evening we drove up to Mount Scopus to watch the sun set. Mount Scopus is the mountain (or hill) right next to the Mount of Olives. Up here is where the famous Hebrew University is. Here is a picture looking down on the Old City of Jerusalem and the Temple Mount taken at dusk. You can see the Dome of the Rock.

The first rays of the sun setting over the new city of Jerusalem.

Time to blow the Shofar...it's a call to wake up, to gather, to worship the Lord, to declare His Lordship.

Beautiful rays of light falling on Jerusalem.

I couldn't have planned this picture, it was really nice of this bird to fly by:)

Do you notice the harp to the right of the setting sun? That is a huge suspension bridge in the New City of Jerusalem...and they call it David's harp.