Ah, Israel. The cradle of our faith. The place where Jesus walked.

One of the things I so love about our Lord is that Jesus was a master storyteller. We feel we can actually see the characters he so vividly renders in his teaching parables about widows and farmers and a prodigal and his family. But these imaginings can sometimes impede our knowledge that there were also real people who met Jesus and walked away forever changed. This distinction is so important–the ministry of Jesus is not just about his instructive teaching. We have a historical record to inspire and direct us still today. \

Knowing what Jesus accomplished encourages my faith and makes me more confident to claim that even today, he still heals. When I had the joy and privilege to travel to Israel in 2006 –  it was a life-changing encounter with the historic reality of the Bible lands whose stories had until then remained an abstraction.

And later, when it came time for me to write about Jesus, I knew I wanted to incorporate the historic reality I had found into my words about how Jesus’ ministry is still at work healing and helping us today. The next best thing to taking you to Israel with me is to bring someone to you who is expertly acquainted with helping people experience the joy of discovering the Holy Land.

Wayne Stiles is a Bible scholar who is dedicated to helping people connect the Bible to the geographic locations in the Holy Land today. He is captivated, as I was, by the reality of the land where Jesus walked. His blog is packed with resources like his series of Bible Land Devotions and gorgeous photos bringing Jesus’ homeland to life. I discovered Wayne’s work while searching out Bible history on reparative giving, a subject dear to the hearts of those recovering from abortion. He graciously agreed to join us to discuss this and explore the many themes of how God heals today.

Wayne shared his insights on encounters with Christ in the gospels as a way to encourage your faith and instill hope if you’ve been broken by sin.

Next best thing to a trip to Israel