My Time in the Israeli Army

----Our team with Calev and John Myers after our day at the base----

Each day in Israel started with a devotional and worship. It was one of my highlights from the trip. Dustin, one of the guys from Gateway, brought his guitar and we crammed 9 guys into a room and belted out praise to the One who had sent us to this chosen corner of the earth. I wish I could start everyday like this.

At the end of our time of worship, we were joined by Calev Myers founder of the Jerusalem Institute of Justice and his father John Myers, who leads a congregation in Jerusalem. Calev fights for the rights of the marginalized and the oppressed in Israel. We spent some time talking with him about the different issues facing Israel today, including the difficulty for Jews who believe that their Messiah has already come and that he is Yeshua.

After listening to some unbelievable stories, all 11 of us (including Calev and his John) piled into the cars to head to our next adventure a couple hours away.

We arrived at an Israeli military base in the middle of the Negev desert and were in for a crazy cool expereince.

Through a friend of Calev’s they had set up an in-depth tour/description of what they do on the base.

We started in a briefing room and were shown footage from the recent Lebanon war. They then took us outside where they had many of their weapons lined up for our perusal and handling. It was so cool. There’s some pretty hi-tech weaponry out there.

After that they took us over to their tank battery, where we got to go inside one of the tanks, while they turned it on and showed us a lot of the internal specifics. While it was unbelievable, there were some parts that were highly sensitive.

From there we went into a pitch black room where they handed us night vision goggles. I was shocked at the clarity of my vision in complete darkness. It was as if a neon green sun was shedding light on everything.

Reentering the light brought us to their weapons simulation room. We were handed real weapons that were connected electronically to a full-wall-sized screen. Bad guys with guns blazing began to appear and it was our mission to take them out. The guy that handed me my gun pointed and said get that guy. I took him out with one shot. He seemed impressed and said something to the officer behind him in Hebrew.

That’s right. I’m a sniper.

Before we left, they fed us an incredible meal. One of the guys felt lead to pray, and one of the soldiers was curious.

“We only read our prayers, it’s interesting that you just seem to talk,” she said.

It started a whole dialogue that culminated with her asking, really out of the blue “why did Jesus have to die?” And Geoff shared the story.

The night ended with some incredible shoarma and good conversation with the guys along the streets of Jerusalem.