Travel advice

I have heard it said that there are only two kinds of people in the world those that like Neil Diamond and those that don’t. So wherever side you fall into I hope you will take to heart the following traveling tips when bound for Jerusalem. 

Slightly confused, Daniel stared intently into the ATM machine’s screen which was full of Hebrew letters. He knew there was an English button somewhere among the beautiful swaying characters but because of his age he ended up with only a blank look on his face. Mr. Levi sensed his dilemma and offered to help get him past several screens as the page displaying the differing amounts of shekels appeared.

Daniel had just met his tour guide only several hours before and noticed him watching as he entered his pin numbers. As he was weighing what to pay his guide, a blurry shadow swooped in and pushed the 600 shekel button. Daniel watched as the machine spit out one, two, three, four, five, six hundred shekel bills into the ATM’s tray.

It is really funny sometimes how the universe works. With all of its predisposed functions that run without oversight or help from us; night leads to day, red skies in the morning is a sailor’s warning of an approaching storm and fees from Israeli tour guides need to be first chiseled into a stone tablet. 

(Earlier that same day…) Daniel and Jerome walked toward the Jaffa Gate on the northwest corner of Jerusalem’s Old City. They had planned to take an early walk through the Christian Quarter whereby avoiding much of the tourist traffic that tends to swell like ocean waves building up against a coastal shoreline. However, the universe had other plans as Mr. Levi approached them with a smile and some important travel tips.

Saying that David Levi was a great salesman would be a gross understatement. He singled out Daniel and Jerome from a crowed street filled with people who were busy pouring out of tour buses with the enthusiasm of young school boys. Daniel smelt something rotten in Denmark as Mr. Levi blocked them from entering the Old City’s Jaffa gate.

“Where are you going? It’s Shabbat, nothings open. Besides, it is better to enter down this side road here and take a back door into the city.” said the man with the authority of an Israeli officer.

“We’re just walking around, we’re not really planning anything special.” replied David sternly. 

“Well, you don’t want to go by yourself. You will get lost and some Palestinians will grab you.” David replied with an air of sleekness while trying to bridle a slight grin. “Besides, I’m a very good tour guide. I even once showed Neil Diamond around the Old City when he was here on a concert tour. I know my way around the city and you will see places you never knew existed.”

As I started walking away towards the Jaffa gate I realized Jerome and David were already walking away, down the service road together, as if they had been good friends for years. I’m betting they are both Neil Diamond fans.

The fact is David took us swiftly through the crowded narrow streets with the precision of a fighter pilot. I didn’t realize what he was doing because I was too busy trying to keep up with his long strides and fast pace. Then it dawned on me that at each point of interest we entered by the exit, bypassing extremely long lines of angry, frustrated tourists. 

Our dynamic trio even got thrown out of a couple places for taking pictures or talking too loud. Nobody really seemed to notice our dastardly plan, no in fact, it was almost as if we were invisible. You know, I was even beginning to enjoy his rendition of “Crackling Rosie” as we bobbed, dodged and pushed our way through ethnic throng that filled the Holy City.

(Present time…) So all in all, David completed his task and now it was time to pay him at the ATM machine located on Nablus Road near the Damascus Gate. This is where things get a bit wobbly as his original quote of 380 shekels for the both of us almost doubled. 

“Money comes and goes; it is not important. Family, friends and the relationships we forge in life is what matters.” Was the phrase David had repeated over and over in-between his barrage of facts and figures a Jerusalem tour guide needs to know. 

So as my shekels evaporated, I reflected on how the universe will continue to function; the sun, moon and stars will continue in their circuit and there will always be only two kinds of people in this world, those that like Neil Diamond and those that don’t.

Please help! I need your support!

Please purchase my book in one format from Amazon.com rate it and leave a review. The e-book is only a few dollars.

Thanks to a good friend I have just published a book “The Well with the Holy Name" (Reflections on Messiah) and it is available for sale on Amazon.

If you could purchase the publication and leave a review it would bolster my position on their list of new books.The book is available as a Kindle e-book, in paperback and hardbound formats on Amazon, Westbow Press and other on line book stores.

You can search the title "The Well with the Holy Name" by Daniel Thomas or use the link below to find the book. Daniel Thomas is my pen name. 

 The Well with the Holy Name

The book's contents is a anthology of six years of writing a weekly published faith column called "Carpenter's Corner" It is published through Westbow Press, a Thomas Nelson - Zondervan Company.

I could definitely use your help and prayers for the book's success! By purchasing my book, rating it and leaving a review it will help other readers see its value!

Thank you!
Dean Kellio
senior pastor
Oakzanita Springs Fellowship
Descanso, CA 91901

Desperate

Jason pealed back the roofing inspecting the plywood sheathing for signs of dry rot. He was having another bad day at work because his home life was in the toilet. Jason had worked for the Iron County School’s maintenance department for the last seven years. He married his wife at the local temple in Cedar City.

As Jason ripped back the roofing he thought about how his own life was being torn apart by his wife’s love for another man. Becka was on the quiet side, wore plain, drab cotton dresses that fell loosely from her neck down past her ankles and went to temple twice a week.  Each day she slipped on the same pair of black flats, put her hair up in a bun and never let makeup touch her pristine white skin. They had been separated for several months.

Jason missed his five children and had not seen them since Becka left. She had disappeared with another man into a commune compound located somewhere in the Arizona Sonora desert. As the sun continued to beat down on him he soon reached a boiling point. You see, Jason had been contemplating killing himself and had a loaded nine millimeter semi automatic pistol in his work overalls. 

As the sun’s heat burned so did his anger and in a moment of desperation Jason called out to God for forgiveness and reached for the pistol that was in his pocket. From the school’s flat roof area nobody would be able to see what was going to happen next.

Jason prayed quickly “God I’m sorry…so sorry, but I can’t go on. Please watch over my children and forgive Becka. Show me what I need now, send me the answer, send me peace”.

Only the loud echo of the pistol’s chamber firing a single lead bullet into the soft tissue of Jason’s skull would be the next sound heard. There would be no mess to clean up, no tragic scene for the Junior High kids to witness just a momentary sound like a crack of thunder and the silence of a man’s life evaporating into thin air.

Directly below the roof where Jason was working, a man from the Gideon Bible Society was busy handing out bibles to any girl or boy who would take one. A young man from the local temple named Kyle approached the Gideon representative and grabbing a bible out of his hand threw it as hard as he could up and out of sight up and onto the roof.

“We don’t need your shallow theology here mister, I belong to the only true church!” spouted Kyle as his arm followed through and the blue leather bound NKJV bible cleared the corner of the school’s ten foot high flat roof. 

Meanwhile, on the roof, Jason closed his eyes as his sweaty finger squeezed slowly on the pistol’s trigger. Suddenly, there was a loud sound as the blue, leather projectile found its mark hitting Jason squarely on the jaw knocking the pistol out of his hand. Jason blacked out as he fell limply to the tar roof. He awoke several hours later with an extreme headache and the blurry text from the open book his face was lying on.

“Yes, the Lord hears the good man when he calls to him for help, and saves him out of all his troubles.” Psalm 34:17 Living Bible.

Jason sat upright but was still a bit wobbly. “Thanks Lord, How did you ever manage that?” Jason mumbled as he looked around and continued to rub his chin.

Later that week Jason saw the man from the Gideon Bible Society. “I wanted to thank you sir, God used you to save my life and knock some sense in me.” Spoke Jason humbly as he vigorously shook the Gideon’s hand. 

The Gideon opened up his bible to the book of Romans and read “We know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.” Romans 8:28 NKJV.

The men smiled at each other, gave a quick hug and turned to go back to the lives that they both were living. This story, while being recreated, actually happened. While names and places have been changed, God is in the miracle business and showed up just at the right time in Jason’s life.  God hears the prayers of desperate men and women and will often intervene at the appropriate time. Nothing is impossible for God.

If you are desperate, thinking that it is time to check out, then think again. God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life, you just cannot see it at the moment but all things are working out for good so stick around and watch.