Bedouin Dinner with Beth Moore in Judean Desert

My dear friend, Linda Thomas (r), with Beth Moore (c) and me (l) in Israel

My journey to Israel really began in September, 1999, when I began the Beth Moore Bible Study, Breaking Free, and met my dear friend, Linda Thomas, in our small discussion group. During this Bible study, we both received a postcard in the mail from Living Proof ministries with the question, Would you like to join Beth Moore in Israel for the filming of her newest Bible Study, Jesus, the One and Only? Our immediate answer was, "Yes!" 

Our journey to Israel was March 14-22, 2000, but our spiritual journey had only just begun. Once we returned from the trip, it was the beginning of each of us spending daily quiet time in prayer and study of God's word, getting together weekly for lunch and accountability, sharing our joys and sorrows in this daily walk of life.

To prepare for our trip, a friend recommended the excellent book, Meeting God in Holy Places by F. LaGard Smith, and we bought three of them, one for each of us, and one we gave to Beth Moore when we saw her at a Living Proof Live event in Orlando in January 2000. On Friday, March 17, 2000, about 6 p.m. our group arrived at the Judean desert site of Kfar Nokdim for an authentic Bedouin "Hafla" dinner. We were served under large tents with oriental-type rugs and cushions on the ground. Large trays of food were set on short wooden stands, as we sat on the cushions to eat. There were camels to ride and entertainment.

The highlight of the night was our opportunity to have our picture taken with Beth Moore. I took my copy of Meeting God in Holy Places, which was the book we had given her in Orlando in January. She said, "I was hoping I would get to see you to tell you I love the book, and I brought it with me on this trip. Everyone who has come in my room has asked me where I got it." Then she added, "I love the part about the graves of Mary and Martha in Bethany. I wanted to go look to see if I could find them, and then I realized that their names would be written in Hebrew, it would not say, "Mary" and "Martha" in English." She laughed, signed our books, and hugged us, and said, "Whose line is longer, mine or the one for the camel rides?"  As she signed our books she wrote, "Dearest Beth, I have loved this book! He's Life! Beth Moore"...indeed, He IS!!!

Linking up with (in)courage on the theme of Friendship--On Purpose