Tour Of Jerusalem And Bethlehem

This is actually two stories in one. They happened on a port visit to Israel. (For those who don't know I am retired Navy.)

The first experience happened to my friend and Liberty Partner (we had to leave the ship and return in pairs for safety reasons) we had purchased tickets for us to go on a tour of Jerusalem and Bethlehem when our ship pulled into Haifa, Israel for a port visit.

Some background. Jerusalem is a wonderful city, many sites to see and in nearly all of them there was some sort of archeological excavation going on. In one place, right in the middle of the sidewalk there was a clear plastic covered dig site where you could look down through history, there were at least 4 separate levels. Jerusalem is a town built up on itself.

At one point during the tour there was an overlook and our tour guide directed our attention to the remains of an ancient road that was about 60-70' feet lower than us. The guide told us that it was part of the road that had existed during the time when Christ was alive, part of the ancient city. My friend, 'Tom', gasped and turned away from the view. I looked at him kind of funny, I knew he wasn't afraid of heights (he was a RM (radioman) and he would work on the mast of the ship doing maintenance on the antennas.) I found out just what had 'freaked' him out when we stopped for lunch.

We got our food and had taken a seat when he looked at me and said," Remember when we were at the overlook?" I nodded my head, "I saw you walking down there, dressed in robes, and I saw you. You were walking alone and you looked right up at me. I know it was you." I didn't know how to reply, At first I thought he was joking, I do medieval re-enactment as a hobby and at first I thought he could 'picture' me in that time frame... Then I thought about how he had said what he'd said. He wouldn't talk about it anymore but by the time lunch was over he seemed to have put it behind.

The next part of the tour took us to Bethlehem, to see the Church built on the 'exact' place where Christ had been born. The Oral Traditions handed down indicated that this location was the birth place of Christ and a Church had been built there.

The main entrance had to be lowered because 'heathens' would ride their horses into the Church and desecrate the whole place. (It's low enough you have to almost duck walk to get under it.) Once inside our guide told us that we would be going downstairs to see the birthplace, someone asked why down into the basement, they thought Christ was born in a stable. Our guide explained that 'back in the days' when you built your home or business that you excavated the rock right at the sight and built over the 'hole'. This allowed for you to keep your livestock underneath your home, their body heat helped to keep the home/business warm in the winter and saved on wood (being expensive) for a barn. So to them 'down' was their stable/barn.

We entered the small room and while in there I was overcome with emotion. I saw a baby girl's face and a name flashed across my mind. I raced out of the space and out into the open air of the courtyard. 'Tom' caught up with me and asked, "Are you alright? You spooked a lot of people back there." I said, "Tell them I was feeling closed in, I'll be alright." He did so then came back and he didn't have to ask, "So what really happened?" I just started talking, "Dru's pregnant, it's a girl, I saw her face, and I know what her name is." Tom didn't say anything, he just kind of nodded his head and we rejoined the group.

First chance I got I called my wife. (Her full name is Druene) She told me she had tested positive and was about 6 weeks pregnant. I said "Her name is Patrica Ruth." Dru didn't even argue with me, not over the name, not over the gender.

We returned from the cruise and on April 2nd my wife gave birth to Patrica Ruth, she was still born. As sad as this is I feel there was a reason, It's deep in my Churches' Teachings and I will not go into it here, but I will say it wasn't long before Dru was pregnant again and we were Blessed with Margaret Josephine who will turn 13 this year. (We have 3 children total... 16 (boy) almost 13 (Maggie) and almost 10 (boy).)

I don't know what happened either time. Did Tom see me from a past life? Did my unborn daughter reach out at tell me her name? I just don't know.

Respectfully,

Rook