St. Augustine wrote, "The world is a book and those who don't travel read only one page." Touring the Biblical lands has been a blessing. We've seen a lot and we've leaned much! Now it is time to travel home. Crossing the River Jordan for one final time we exited Israel to drive the 90 kilometres through the Jordan Valley and wind our way up the mountains of Moab to Amman. The higher we ascended the vista of fruitful Israel behind us and the stony Bedouin Arab desert before us grew larger. As our bus labored slowly along the steep roads and sharp turns, I noticed a hawk circling effortlessly above the cliffs and canyons of the Gilead mountains. Life at ground level for many people in the Middle East is full of struggle and strife but that hawk, hovering freely over the holy land - is it a parable of possibility? A poetic illustration of what God will one day do for his people?

Gilead bird,

You fly so high and free,

Yet down below these river lands

(Their stories set in sand and stone

of land and loss, of hope and home)

Have no wings with which to soar

Beyond the past

Make peace to last,

Til Jesus who once walked your shores

And rose with healing in his wings

Returns, restores his rule as king.

Gilead bird,

Then these lands, like you,

Will soar and sing.