Second chance for trip of a lifetime

All About Seniors

Bill Millby

 

Forty-five years ago a very

generous and anonymous benefactor gave me an all expense paid trip to Israel

with a touring group as a graduation present from college. Truly, it was the trip

of a lifetime with a senior Bible professor from LeTourneau University, where I

had just graduated. He was extremely knowledgeable and experienced in all

things Israeli.

If you do the math, sometimes a challenge for us seniors,

you’ll see that May 45 years ago was just before the historic 1967 Six-Day War

between Israel and her neighbors, Egypt, Syria and Jordan. The war began on

June 5 , 1967, and within six days, Israel had won a decisive land victory

taking control of the Gaza Strip and the Sinai Peninsula from Egypt, the West

Bank and East Jerusalem from Jordan, and the Golan Heights from Syria.

(Wikipedia)

If anyone in our group had known that a historic war was

about to break out, there is a very good chance that none of us would have

gone. And the fact is I didn’t go! Not because of the war, but because of a

prior commitment. The offer of the trip was so generous that I was overwhelmed

and torn between “love and duty” so to speak because I had already arranged to

go, immediately after graduation, for graduate engineering studies to the

University Of Michigan in Ann Arbor and The Chrysler Institute of Engineering

in Detroit. It was a hard decision but, in the end, I opted for the graduate

studies and gave the tour to another student.

It’s a good thing I did, because not long after going to

Detroit, I met and married the bride of my dreams. And now after 43 years of

talking and dreaming about it with her, we have a second chance at that trip of

a lifetime to Israel. And here it is again with the threat of war hanging over

the region like a dark cloud. I must admit that over the last few months of

escalating tension between Israel and Palestine I had my concerns about our

safety but our guide assured us that no tourist has ever been hurt or killed

while touring Israel … the tourist dollars are just too important to their

economy!

The trip is our anniversary and Christmas gifts to each

other (easy shopping this year, guys). Our hope is to see firsthand where

Messiah was born, where His death and resurrection occurred and where His

future kingdom will be set up in Jerusalem as foretold by the scriptures.

This time next week we should be just landing at the Tel

Aviv airport for our 10-day visit. Because of the packed itinerary, and limited

access we’ll have to internet service, there won’t be and “ALL ABOUT SENIORS”

column in next week’s paper. But the following week I hope to give you a

firsthand report of the trip. Should be some new insights to Christmas!

Bill Milby, CSA, is a Certified Senior Advisor and a

Director of Visiting Angels® of Macon, a non-medical, living assistance service

for seniors.  If you have questions

or comments about this column you can reach him at william.mercylink@gmail.com

or  search for  us at

www.facebook.com/VisitingAngelsMacon.