DBB 6.12.2018 Jerusalem Diary part 1

While in Israel, I hope to keep you posted on my travels.

I am staying in the American Colony area of east Jerusalem. This ‘colony’ was founded by Horatio Spafford, who wrote the hymn It is Well With My Soul, (a story worth looking up), as a residence for Christians in Jerusalem.

This morning I made my way to the St. John Eye Hospital where I met with the executives, toured the main campus, and saw their Muristan Clinic in the Old City. I am a member of the Order of St. John who raises funds for this worthy endeavor. They are doing a wonderful and remarkable job and I left encouraged by this work. (No comments about my wardrobe; I realize I am an anachronism.)

Me with the joint CEOs of St John of Jerusalem Eye Hospital Group, Dr. Ahmad Ma’ali and Mr. Peter Khoury

The beautiful swift sculpture at the Muristan Clinic in the Old City. (Look it up!)

I spent the rest of the afternoon walking around the Old City. I went by Christ Church, Jerusalem, the oldest Protestant church in the Old City of Jerusalem. Christ Church was established as an outreach to the Jewish people of Palestine and has maintained that mission. It’s a wonderful gospel church and would encourage anyone to visit them on a Sunday or look them up online.

Note the very Protestant interior – very beautiful in its simplicity:

From there I walked across the street to King David’s Citadel. The steps are where General Allenby read the declaration of marital law after the Ottomans surrendered Jerusalem. And, of course, a millennia old fortress:

– Andrew