STEPS ON THE WAY

about a „terrorist intrusion“, and that a war with Gaza was about to break out. Now my godmother was worried too, and asked us what we should do now. Chris and I, being familiar with the notifications of Red Alert, the israeli rocket warning app, didn`t think much of it in the beginning. We were trying to keep everyone calm, advised my godmother not to listen to the worry in the messages too much, and told everyone that these things are normal in Israel. We also told them that the German news were probably portraying the situation too dramatically, and that a bit of rocket exchange with Gaza usually didn`t harm anyone here.

So we packed up our stuff, entered our cars, and started driving up the curved mountain roads, slowly leaving the lowest walkable point on earth behind us. I remember that the memory of the beautiful engagement overwhelmed me in that moment, and I started crying happy tears in the car. When we were still on the way up, Chris & I, being in the front seats, started noticing the first Iron dome defense rocket trails in the sky. We told each other with our eyes, but didn`t say a word, so that no one would get worried. But then my godmother said from behind us: „A friend just texted me, that they`re shooting rockets now. She is asking me if we can see them from where we are.“ And then of course everyone started scanning the sky through the windows, and noticed the trails. So much for hiding the worry ^^ But so far the boys seemed fine. I think it was still more an adventure for them.

Our next stop was a gas station on our way up to Jerusalem. We wanted to fill up gas, grab some snacks, and use the restrooms. When we got off the cars, we felt really strange. It was as if we were the only people dressed in everyday clothes. All around us, were only soldiers! And soo many of them! Some seemed light-hearted, others serious. But overall the atmosphere was tense and concentrated. In the midst of this bunch of green uniforms, we sat down and talked about what to do. I had texted with my parents in the car, and the scope of the situation had slowly dawned on us. We decided not to drive to Jerusalem as we had planned, but to drive around it and head straight for Haifa in the north. Being as far away as possible from everything that was happening in the south, was the idea.

During the next half of our car ride, we were stopped by quite a few road checks. Soldiers with huge weapons, standing next to street blockades, where letting cars through only one by one. One of the times we had to wait on one of these, a fighter jet passed over our car, suuuuper low. What a crazy situation! The boys were amazed of course. Another stop we held at, was intensely smoky from fire on the fields left and right of us. None of the soldiers there tried to turn it off or anything… We didn`t know why it was there, but our idea was that maybe they were trying to hide an iron dome battery (one of the Israeli defense systems) from air surveillance? Who knows… 

After some hours of driving, we arrived in Haifa. The first thing we did was parking our cars close to the sea, and then we went swimming. The Airbnb we were trying to book spontaneously for this night, hadn`t responded yet. So we were waiting and getting our minds off the heavy topic, while the boys were able to let all their energy out after all this craziness and the long car ride. Surprisingly we were not the only ones at the beach. There were quite a few people, and none of them seemed as if they cared about what was going on just a bit further south. A few hours later our place to sleep was confirmed and we stayed there for the night. 

The next day we decided to head towards Tiberias. That would still be in the north, far away from everything, and we would probably be able to see some touristic spots. So we spent a day around the sea of Galilee, went to Kfar Nahum, and took a stroll around the habours of Tiberias. That evening, when the boys were asleep, my godmothers husband initiated a prayer time. It was a super cool idea, and helped very much with the peace and purpose of the whole situation. After that prayer time, he had the impression to go back to Haifa the next day, to spend some time in the prayer room of a local church over there. And that`s what we did. It was a very cool time of worship and prayer, only sometimes interrupted by the sounds of war planes over our heads. 

We stayed in Haifa for two more nights, still trying to create a nice holiday for everyone, while also trying to understand how the current political situation was unfolding. It wasn`t easy to keep up the holiday mood for the kids – the tension and current news checking was just too present. On one of the evenings, there was even a nation wide call to stand on ones balcony and sing Israels national anthem for a moment of hope. That was very touching for all of us, but surely also brought the reality of the situation even closer to our hearts. Another night the App for Rocket Warnings scared us with a huge strike directly over Haifa - but we couldn`t hear any sirens! Later we found out, there had been a bug in the app… Such an unnecessary shock! 

Then, with each passing day, the voice of friends, family, and the news became louder for foreigners to leave the country. Embassies started sending in emergency flights, and the talks about war increased. And when we realized that all the touristic areas would be closed or not safe anymore, we finally decided to head to the airport. 

The opinions about it were mixed – from „Why do we already have to leave? We can still go swimming!“ to „Finally! I`m so sick of the rockets…!“ we had the whole range of emotions in our little travel group. Having arrived at the airport, we were overwhelmed by the sheer amount of people that were there. „Crowded“ was not a word sufficient to describe how full it was!! First, we parked our cars and went inside to get some information. We found numeral embassy people, trying to give some guidance to their fellow country men. We chatted with the Germans, the Austrians, the US-Americans, and then went back to our car. We decided that staying at the airport, until we would get on a flight back home, would be the smartest, looking at how quick things were changing. We grabbed our luggage, the parents brought back the cars, and we all met again to go inside. 

The next couple hours are a bit blurry in my mind. I know that a friendly lady from the Israeli Ministry of foreign affairs connected us with some other Germans, that were also waiting for a flight in the airport. So we went there and sat together in a corner, trying to reach our embassy by phone to book a space on an emergency flight. The waiting took endless hours, and getting through on the embassy calls wasn`t easy. We kept switching the „phone job“ around in our attempt to reach someone. But mostly we just got kicked out of the call after two hours in line. Very, very frustrating… 
While we waited, we did a lot of things. I don`t remember the order anymore, but I have memories of us sitting outside in the parking lot and playing cards. We also ate dinner there. Another memory is my godmother and me dancing to our favorite Hebrew Song from Ishay Ribo in front of the airport toilets – It must have been very late already ;) We also played catch with the boys in the big hall, and watched quite some movies on the Ipad. At night, we curled ourselves together around our luggage, covered with jackets, in the entry space between two lifts. 

At some point one of us finally reached the embassy and got seats on an emergency flight back to Germany! It would fly to a place very far from where my godmothers family actually lived, there would only be a specific amount of luggage allowed, and the flight still had to be paid out of the own pocket - but at least, they would get out of here :) Chris & I didn`t go with them. Since Chris was American and I was German, we would have had to seperate and fly to different countries. At least if we would have picked an emergency flight. So we said goodbye to the family of my godmother and booked an Airbnb in Tel Aviv, just in reach of the airport. The next three days we texted with my parents and googled flights, until we found an Israeli airline that was still flying normally. And then we too left the country.

And that was October 7th through our eyes. 
Knowing about the scope of the situation now, around two years later, makes it seem crazy that we have actually been there when it started. Looking back, we can definitely see how God protected us from numerous possible threats. Very often he made us leave to a different place, just around two hours before something happened in the place we had just been at. We also see it as great honor that God allowed us to be in the country in such a pivotle time, enabling us to pray and intereceed from an especially close strategic position. 

I believe God also wanted us there to teach us something for our future in Israel. Even though we only experienced a little-mini-bit of what people over there experience regularily, we learned something very important:
Fear in such situations, can easily sneak at you from behind, trying to eat you alive. But trusting that your life is in Gods hands, - and in his hands alone! -, will break the fear so suddenly, you may wonder if it has ever been there. This truth came to me in the picture of a shark: We meet it in the ocean, an environment that is foreign and hostile to us, it is dark all around, and then suddenly we see this huge, scary being approaching us, knowing it is totally able to tear us apart. And when we try to swim away from it, it will definitely be faster and reach us anyway. From a worldly view point, this would be the end. But in Gods kingdom it’s different! When we put our trust in him and don’t consider the might of fear, the shark will die as soon as he reaches us! „There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out all fear.“, it says in 1. John 4:18. And who else is perfect love, but God? The first three verses of Psalm 27 make it even more clear: „The Lord is my light and my salvation - whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life - of whom shall I be afraid? When the wicked advance against me to devour me, it is my enemies and my foes who will stumble and fall! Though an army besieges me, my heart will not fear; though war breaks out against me, even then I will be confident.“ That’s the kind of unshakable trust we need! It’s for sure a decision we have to make over and over again, but it’s so important! King David emphasizes this importance just a few verses later: „Lule he’emanti lir’ot letuv Adonai…“ - „Had I not believed to see the goodness of the Lord…“ - Yes, had we not! Who knows what would have happened to us and our hearts! 

So today the lesson of the story is the following simple statement: „Wait for the Lord; be strong, and let your heart take courage.“ (Psalm 27:14)

Greetings, Joy :)