Israel’s War

Photo of the Dead Sea. Image by Kim Shaftner from Pixabay

Imagine this

You finally get to go on your dream missions trip to Israel with others from your church. You are assigned with the task of helping bring in the grape harvest in a kibbutz where the lush vineyards of Israel’s finest agricultural lands are spread out as far as the eye can see. After a day of rest as your Jewish hosts celebrate their holiest of Holy Days; Yom Kippur, you are ready to return to your mission. You are happily working side by side with your new Jewish friends, enjoying the satisfying fulfillment of your soul as you work steadily to fill containers of the sweet crop of fruit. You look around you and smile, watching others from your church in conversation with your hosts; hearing laughter and the clatter of equipment. You drink in the warm sunshine, feel the gentle breeze as it blows through your hair and stretch a bit to get some of the kinks out before you move to the next vine and begin cutting at another stem to remove one mouth-watering cluster of beautiful grapes after another; gently place them into the crate next to you.

Suddenly, without warning, your breath is taken from you and the deafening thud after thud of earth-shattering bombs begin falling near and far and you freeze in fear, not knowing what was happening. You see people running and screaming. You don’t know what to do so you follow, covering your ears trying to muffle the intense sound of the barrage of bombs hitting the ground and spewing debris everywhere. You are sure you are about to die while running to save your life. Heavy explosions are going off everywhere as you flee; finally reaching a shelter where you take cover with the others. Your chest heaves as you try to suck in breaths of clean air. You look around at the others with you, searching for a familiar face. Crying, screaming, whimpering is heard. Blood is observed on children and adults. Someone locks the entrance door you came through. You are terrified. You check to see if you are hurt. You breathe a quick prayer of thanks to God that you are not. You find yourself locked in a bomb shelter trying to understand what just happened. You hear the continued explosions outside and wonder what comes next.

You are in the shelter for hours. Someone has a radio and you hear that Israel has been attacked by terrorists. Hundreds have been captured and taken into Gaza and even more Israeli people have been slaughtered. The supplies are running dangerously low when you hear shouts from outside in a language you don’t understand but recognize some Hebrew words that you taught yourself before leaving America. Someone unlocks and opens the door. Israeli military soldiers walk through quickly bringing survival goods; food, water, candles, basic medical supplies, blankets and so forth. They say everyone must stay in the shelter as it is too dangerous to be outside. You worry about your family. They have no idea what has happened to you. Days go by.

The shelter entrance door opens. You then find yourself and others who were with you being hurried through the door by Israeli Special Forces and into a armoured vehicle. Time passes by as you are whisked through the country. You have no idea how long you have been riding. An hour? Two hours? Your mind can’t quite focus but you have been told you are being taken to an air field to escape the danger. The fear that has engulfed you through the days past has never lessened. You see crumbled buildings, burned out vehicles. What was that? A dead body? You tremble at the thought of how much danger you have been and still are in.

You see an airfield coming into view and see a large plane with an American flag emblem on the side. You allow yourself a sigh of relief. Perhaps you will live. Perhaps you will get home and see your family again. You get out of the vehicle once it stops. You are met by a group of soldiers giving you directions. You are relieved to hear a soldier in uniform speaking perfect English. You later learn that they are United States Navy Seals that had been deployed to Israel to rescue as many Americans as they can in the short time they are allowed. You and your fellow church members are told to quickly form a line and are escorted by armed soldiers into the belly of the United States Air Force cargo plane. You find a seat and buckle in. You have nothing with you. Everything you brought with you for the trip to Israel was left behind.

You were told that your group is being flown to Turkey where there will be other rescued Americans boarding the plane. After taking off from Turkey, you land at an American military base in Germany. You are then put on a commercial airplane and flown back to the states; the soonest flight leaving and it was headed for Los Angeles, California which is over 600 miles from your home. You don’t care where you land, you just want to be back in your own country. Your mind is numb, trying to recount what has happened to you in the past week. You thank God many times that you have been rescued.

Now in LA, you call and are picked up by church friends from Reno, Nevada who are the nearest people to LA that you know that can get you. You stay for a short time until your nephew can pick you up and take you back home. You are so happy to see him that you don’t want to stop hugging him. On the long trip home you realize that you will never be able to forget the terrorizing events since that last grape cluster you tossed into the crate. You are unable to speak to anyone about your experience. You may never do so. It was so horrifying and heart wrenching you may never be able to put words to it. You have survived against all odds.

This is a true story

This is an actual event that happened to my uncle’s sister-in-law. I used a bit more color in telling the story but the facts are true. Please pray for the safety of the hostages, civilians and Israeli military. Pray that they win their war against terror. They deserve to live in peace, just like everyone else. No one should mess with Israel. God has their back. And thank you God for keeping my Aunt Sharon’s sister safe and for bringing her and the others home.