Issa is still here!
Today, we arrived at the holy city of Jerusalem. It has been just over ten years since I was last here and as we drove up towards the Old City I felt my excitement growing. As we walked through the new gate into the city, I was met with the familiar sights, smells and sounds of this ancient city. One surprise was to look down the street near our hotel and see this graffiti that reads, “ISSA, NBA”. When my classmates and I were here during our pilgrimage quarter we were walking down this same street when we came across some young men playing basketball. One of them introduced himself as Issa, the Michael Jordan of the Middle East. Today I asked one our hotel workers if he knows Issa. He informed me that Issa still lives here but has given up his dream to play in the NBA for the dream of having a wife and family.
Issa is the Arabic translation of the English name Jesus. I can only speak for myself, but for me, being here in the places where Jesus walked and talked, where he lived and died, causes me to reflect more deeply on the fact that God has entered our world and is not content to simply watch in “some heaven light years away”. I am glad to know that Issa is still here, both the basketball legend and the God who redeemed the world by choosing to come among us as a man.
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