This was Friday, the 13th

Can you guess where this is?  See number 2, below.

We spent a night in Amman before crossing into Israel. (I said I wasn't exactly going in order.) I have a picture from our hotel room, looking out upon a beautiful city, nothing like what we saw out the windows in Cairo.

Maybe you can't see it here, but the city was gleaming white. And clean.

However, before we laid our heads on Jordanian pillows, we visited two important places, seeing them from the Jordanian side.

1. The Jordan River, perhaps near where Jesus was baptized by his cousin, John the Baptist. You will note the color of the water, and perhaps you will notice the people on Israel's side of the river. They are baptizing themselves. That is what appeared to me to be happening. They looked very happy.

I know that Jesus was baptized in the Jordan, near Jericho. This place is near Jericho. Somehow, it does not matter to me whether or not we can know the exact spot. I do think about the joy of the two men that day, and we have the record of this event in all four gospels, what they said and what happened. (See Matthew 3:13-17; Mark 1:9-11; Luke 3:21-22; John 1:29-34.)

"I saw the mighty Jordan roll" was not written about this place. The water hardly moves at all.
Either that or the person who wrote the song never went to Israel.

Here we are together at the Jordan. Next trip to Israel I'll take better clothes. I think. Trouble was that you couldn't always tell which day to wear grubbies and which to wear something decent.

2. The Dead Sea. I have many pictures of that water from the bus and from Masada, but I couldn't take pictures while in the water. Floating, of course. You can't do much else. It's so buoyant that walking is a challenge. Here's what you do in the Dead Sea: Walk in, lean forward a little, sit down. Then, when you want to get out, have someone, or two someones, help you stand up.

Thanks to Brian for this picture. I know right where I am, too.