No Christian pilgrimage is complete without a tour of Jordan. And no tour of this ‘other holy land’ is complete without walking where Jesus walked to the place where John the Baptist helped initiate Christ’s ministry - Bethany Beyond the Jordan. A now muddy, oily creek that separates Israel from Jordan, while uniting the hearts of Believers for decades - as reflected in some of the following blog posts by the posts of pilgrims visiting its banks:
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Getting married? Want to honeymoon someplace spectacularly more memorable than the Magic Kingdom for about the same price? Then how about a couple of weeks exploring the wonders Jordan has to offer? A point well made by a recent post entitled “Honeymooning Outside of the Box” on a blog entitled D.C. NearlyWeds.
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Described as ‘Vast and echoing and god-like’ by T.E. Lawrence in his famed 7 Pillars of Wisdom, rarely does a visitor leave unawed and uninspired by this moonscape. In fact the only regret of this writer is that he did not have enough time to spend the night in this “magically haunted [2]” moonscape - vowing to come back one day with his family to take a 2 day camel caravan to fully drink in its arid beauty.
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Posted in 2007 Tour, Dean's blog on Nov 3rd, 2007
Who ever it was who said that the longest journey begins with the first step never sat on their behinds for several hours on a plane. Even though I’ve earned my iron-butt flying wings for 28 hour hauls to and from Malaysia - twice in a six month period - international travel is fatiguing if [...]
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Posted in Dean's blog on Mar 11th, 2004
Today we saw the location we enjoyed a quiet but stirring communion where Elija ascended into Heaven, where Joshua lead Israel across the Jordan, and where Jesus was Baptized by John. I am so incredibly grateful to the Jordan Tourism Board for this once in a lifetime opportunity . It is my prayer that this blog will encourage readers to visit this amazing country and enjoy the gracious hospitality of the Jordanian people. Shokran Gazillan.
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Posted in Dean's blog on Mar 10th, 2004
Lot’s get-away cave, his wife’s pillar, spa treatments and floating about the Dead Sea, all in one day. With our journey is about to end, we’re getting a little relaxtion in before having to return home.
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Posted in Dean's blog on Mar 9th, 2004
Just as T.E. Lawrence did almost 90 years ago, we traveled south towards the Red Sea, only we under more comfortable circumstances. In fact, Aqaba is the only port city in the country of Jordan, which it was why it was so important the British, the Arabian revolt, and to those of us in the 21st century who though in love with the desert, now sought greener pastures.
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Posted in Dean's blog on Mar 8th, 2004
If Petra is the oil of Jordan, then Wadi Rum is the silver. A moonscape described by T.E.Lawrence as “vast, echoing and godlike.” There, we enjoyed a four hour drive in the desert with a stop in a Bedouin encampment and a once in a lifetime view of the sunset.
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Posted in Dean's blog on Mar 7th, 2004
Petra has too be seen, mere words cannot describe its grandeur. If you’ve seen the “Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade” you may recall Harrison Ford’s character races through a narrow gully (the Siq) which ends in front of a huge, red temple carved out of the side of a mountain. Well that was no movie set folks, that is actually a structure called the Khazneh, or the Treasury, part of a series of buildings carved out of sandstone back in the 6th century B.C. by the Nabataeans. A city of rock, appropriately bearing the Greek name of Petra.
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Posted in Dean's blog on Mar 6th, 2004
Today we travel to Mukawir. Here atop a 700 meter hill are the ruins of a fortress overlooking the Dead Sea and surrounding terrain. It is at this strategic place that Mark 6 tells us John the Baptist was imprisoned and beheaded. It is also the place where Herod Antipas’ daughter, Salome, danced the dance [...]
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