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By Dr. Paul Endrei
How we spent a trip of a lifetime running for our lives…
Pastor Patti Endrei and I from Non Denominational Ascent Church in Westlake had the privilege of leading 43 Pilgrims to the Holy Land from Feb 23rd to what was supposed to be March 4th!
We had three previous trips canceled dating back to Covid in 2020 our tour guide’s wife getting deathly sick in 2022 and then the October 7 attack by Hamas in 2023. We finally thought the coast was clear!
Our trip to Tel Aviv was peaceful and uneventful. We enjoyed seeing Tel Aviv, the Silicon Valley of the Middle East. Believe it or not Israel has more companies listed on the NASDAQ than all the EU countries combined. It’s a very economically strong country with scores of successful innovative companies.
As we journeyed in the land of the Bible we came to Nazareth where Jesus was raised and then to Cana of Galilee, where Jesus performed his first miracle of turning the water into wine. We had 8 couples renew their wedding vows in that city.
Then we went onto Capernaum, where Jesus’ base of ministry was set up and where He performed many miracles. We saw a double rainbow which I’ve only seen once in my entire life of 65 years up to that point!
Our tour then took us to the Valley of Megiddo, also known as the Biblical Setting for the Battle of Armageddon (Revelation 16:16) Our Holy Land journey took us to Tiberias, where we stayed on the actual Sea of Galilee. Our group had a worship service on a boat on the Sea of Galilee and many of us wept in the presence of the Lord knowing we were on the very same Sea where Jesus walked on the water!
Bomb Shelter
Our journey then took us to Jericho, where we saw some remnants of the 6-8 foot wide walls that came tumbling down when the Israelites under Joshua first entered into their promised land and conquered that heavily fortified city.
When we got to the Grand Court Hotel in Eastern Jerusalem on Friday evening February 27th little did we know that it would become our bomb shelter for the next two days!
On Saturday morning, February 28 we were loading up our crew of 43 on our touring bus when the air raid sirens blasted throughout the streets of Jerusalem!
We immediately headed inside the hotel where we were told that Israel had just attacked Iran and that they were going to likely be sending missiles our way! At moments like these, you discover whether your faith is real or not!
Keeping the Faith
The Bible says Faith without works is dead…Our people soon gathered together in a circle of prayer and begin praying for the peace of Jerusalem and for our protection and protection for the Jewish people all throughout Israel who have lived like this for decades!
We literally held a praise and worship service and sought the face of the Lord in the hotel lobby. Other people joined us in doing the same! It reminded me of the day of 9/11 where nearly 100 people came to our Ascent Church in Westlake to pray and to seek God!
No Atheists in Foxholes
As they say, there are no atheists in foxholes! Before we knew it, the hotel was ordering everyone into Bomb shelters! Each floor on this 10 floor high-rise hotel had multiple bomb shelters capable of holding 25-30 people comfortably… at times we had upwards to 50 people packed into the bomb shelter and I felt like I should share from my heart our love, care and compassion for the Jewish people that were surrounding us in our bomb shelter!
The Power of Prayer
I simply stood up and said that we were from a group of Christians visiting the Holy Land from Cleveland, Ohio, and that we love Israel and support Israel and are here to not only visit the holy sites but to pray for the protection of the Jewish State and the Jewish People and would it be OK for us to pray for them?
Needless to say we got an immediate yes, and had a Christian and Jewish prayer meeting right in the midst of a major Jerusalem Hotel bomb shelter!
The people were very thankful for our prayers and tourism, and we became instant friends!
Incoming Missiles
Later that evening we saw several missiles coming into Jerusalem, and one landed only a half a mile from our hotel and shook the hotel like an earthquake! We heard missiles exploding throughout the night and the next two days that sounded like loud thunder. We saw the iron dome at its finest as at least 90 percent of the missiles shot by Iran were intercepted and destroyed in the air!
What most people don’t realize is that when those incoming missiles are destroyed, there are large chunks of shrapnel that is dropped on the ground and that’s why when the air raid sirens go off, everyone must take cover!
Escape to Egypt
By Sunday night, it was obvious that the war was going to rage on for days and weeks, and so our tour company made arrangements for us to escape the country via bus on a 20 hour bus to Cairo, Egypt. We were only 7 miles away from Bethlehem and, like the Holy Family, we escaped to Egypt to avoid extreme danger. Little did we know that as we were passing through Egypt and its 17 security stops that we were now in Isis country!
We were in danger, even escaping from Israel to Egypt, but God was watching over us the whole time!
The Lord is our Bomb Shelter
How do you stay safe in an unsafe world? Let me tell you through our experience. It’s not just going to a bomb shelter, but making God Almighty, your shelter as Psalms 91:1 says, “He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will abide in the shadow of the Almighty.” It’s Gods 911 Psalm teaching us to make The Lord our bomb shelter. No matter if you are facing danger here or abroad I can assure you God will be your refuge and shelter when you put your trust in Him during your time of need!
We made lemonade out of lemons by spending the last two days of our trip visiting the pyramids of Giza, the brand new Great Museum (now the largest museum in the world) and taking a cruise down the Nile river!
(Ed. Note: Dr Paul Endrei will be speaking at the Ascent Church Good Friday service at 7pm and sharing more about the stories of God‘s protection and provision during the war in Israel! Ascent Church will host Good Friday services at 7 p.m. and Easter Sunday services at 10 a.m., Ascent Church is located at 3550 Crocker Road in Westlake, across from UH St. John Medical Center)
