Litter. Trash. Broken glass.

I love living in Israel. But the “Holy Land” is not exactly “holy.” In fact there are a number of things here that we find challenging, annoying, frustrating or just really sad. There are numerous things that are “broken” in this place. Here are a couple examples:

1. The constant, unnecessary honking of car horns. In Israel, the traffic lights turn yellow before turning red AND before they turn green. So, if the first car in line isn’t going by the time the light shines green, a car ten cars back will start laying on the horn telling everyone to go. Is this a drag race? Do we really need to be in that big of hurry all the time? Also, many times the “honking” is a far cry from a “love tap.” “Why is there so much aggression in the way you are honking your horn sir?” Especially as a frequent pedestrian, the constant, extra, “unnecessary” noise can be quite rattling at times.

2. In America, the customer is always right. Do whatever you can to keep him or her happy, right? Here? Not the case. If the person behind the counter is having a bad day, you’ll know it. In fact, it seems as though that’s often the case. Last week we had to pick up our student visas. Let’s just say she wasn’t extremely kind, patient or helpful. It often seems like the people here are pushy and rude. (Often, not always, we’ve met REALLY GREAT people here). Is it just the culture? How does a kind, quiet, selfless person survive here? How much of this “in your face” culture should we adapt in order to be heard or respected? How much should we push in order to get on the bus, or buy bread at the shuk (market)? After all, there are no lines here in Israel. What does Jesus think about all this?

3. Litter. Trash. Broken glass. Everywhere. Do people care? Isn’t this the “Holy Land?” Isn’t this the land God commanded His people to take care of? Isn’t this the land people are constantly fighting over because they want it so badly? This too, drives me crazy. Especially the broken glass. There are glass shards on the streets, sidewalks, in the parks and in the Sea of Galilee. While walking, if a small stone gets caught in my Chacos, I need to stop right away and make sure it’s not a broken Coca-Cola or Heineken bottle getting embedded into my foot. Why are they still putting things in glass bottles in this country anyway? Haven’t they learned? Does anybody else care, or even ask these questions?



For many months now I have done my share of grumbling about all of them, along with others unlisted here. I’ve tried to understand the logic or culture behind some of these. I even asked Ishmael, our Arab taxi driver about “why all the horn honking?” All have led to nowhere. No solutions. No changes.

It seems as though many of us do similar things. Complain about the way certain things are in the world. Then go and do nothing about it. Whine some more. Do less. Does my verbal criticism change anything? Does it even make me feel better? Is it just nice and to my credit that I can see the things that are not as they “should” be?

I had been feeling convicted about my attitude lately and have tried really hard to not be negative and also have been challenged by figuring out what I can do to make it better. To make a difference. Change. Not simply complain to my wife, or the locals, or the sidewalk about it. A few weeks ago Stacie and I began going to a new church here in Jerusalem, and we have really been enjoying it. The first week there, they were kicking off a new “campaign” to clean up the streets in Jerusalem. Serving God. Serving the community. As we pick up the trash and broken glass of the streets, maybe God will clean them up spiritually.

So this past Friday, our friend Mark, Stacie and I joined a group of people from the church for a couple hours.

Strapped on some latex gloves.

Filled some plastic bags.

Received a free t-shirt.

And we picked up some litter, trash and broken glass.

The t-shirt is fun, but it wasn’t about a free t-shirt. It felt good picking up broken glass.

As it should.