Drives and Hypocrisy

The drives were some of the most interesting parts of our trip (I know, this is contrary to the premise for my blog name, "The Approach"). Puns aside, after the drive through the orthodox Jewish part of town on Tuesday morning, that evening we drove from Jerusalem to Ma'agan, via the highway following the Jordan River.


You might notice from the map that the drive was through West Bank territory. We were planning to stay out of the West Bank prior to the trip, but after talking with some of the locals we gained some confidence. The previous day, when we were done at Qumran, we had the decision to either cut across the West Bank into Jerusalem (30 minutes) or drive all the way back around (2 hours). We chose the former, and it was all highway and no big deal to pass through the check point.

So when we were coming out of Jerusalem that evening to go north, we didn't think twice about taking the shorter route again. This would have been no big deal had we stayed on the main roads. However, the GPS system evidently didn't prefer the main roads and took us right through a densely populated part of East Jerusalem (i.e. West Bank). It's tough to say if we were ever in any real danger. It felt in many ways like we were driving through an inner-city neighborhood - small convenience stores with bars, unattended kids running through the streets at night. We got a few looks from passersby, but the car that followed us most of the way was probably just taking the same route to the highway we were.

We got to the highway, breathed a sigh of relief and said thanks to God, and drove on. I was driving at the time, and after a cumulative 6 hours of sleep the previous two nights Erik asked me if I wanted him to drive. I said yes.

As we continued along, we discussed our heightened fears. I took some comfort in having a fair bit of experience in the inner-city. Somewhere along the way I said, somewhat boastfully, "Erik, you need to spend some more time in the hood." Of course Erik has spent some time in the hood, and I have been fairly naive in some of my experience. He got offended. I fell asleep.

I woke up occasionally and somewhere along the way I think I apologized. It's tough to remember. What I do remember is waking up on a particularly rough part of the road saying, "Oh no, we have a flat tire." The memory of Bill Cosby's son being shot dead while changing his tire on the side of an LA freeway immediately shot through my mind. Next I thought about how hypocritical my earlier comment was. Now I am reminded of Peter's denial and the many other examples of hypocrisy found throughout Scripture. It was a pertinent lesson to learn in the Holy Land.

The rest of the drive was non-eventful. And since it was dark, we didn't get a look at the Jordan River until the next morning.