{"id":1967,"date":"2011-12-20T08:59:33","date_gmt":"2011-12-20T13:59:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.catchingfireflies.com\/blog\/?p=1967"},"modified":"2011-12-20T12:10:51","modified_gmt":"2011-12-20T17:10:51","slug":"imported-from-bethlehem","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.catchingfirefliesgifts.com\/blog\/2011\/12\/imported-from-bethlehem\/","title":{"rendered":"imported from bethlehem"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>This year Steve &amp; I have a different perspective on Christmas since we spent a week in Bethlehem this past May.\u00a0 We had the opportunity to meet with a variety of Palestinian business owners who face difficult challenges doing business in the West Bank.\u00a0 <a href=\"http:\/\/www.catchingfirefliesgifts.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/12\/west-bank1.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-1968\" title=\"west bank\" src=\"http:\/\/www.catchingfirefliesgifts.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/12\/west-bank1.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"1535\" srcset=\"http:\/\/www.catchingfirefliesgifts.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/12\/west-bank1.jpg 600w, http:\/\/www.catchingfirefliesgifts.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/12\/west-bank1-117x300.jpg 117w, http:\/\/www.catchingfirefliesgifts.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/12\/west-bank1-400x1024.jpg 400w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>The group we were traveling with met with the Anastas.\u00a0 They own a <a href=\"http:\/\/anastas-bethlehem.com\/\" target=\"_blank\">tourist shop<\/a> in Bethlehem.\u00a0 Originally their shop was on busy street, but unfortunately in recent years the security wall that separates Israel from the West Bank has drastically changed the traffic flow &amp; customer volume.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.catchingfirefliesgifts.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/12\/west-bank3.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-1973\" title=\"tent of nations\" src=\"http:\/\/www.catchingfirefliesgifts.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/12\/west-bank3.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"599\" height=\"1326\" srcset=\"http:\/\/www.catchingfirefliesgifts.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/12\/west-bank3.jpg 599w, http:\/\/www.catchingfirefliesgifts.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/12\/west-bank3-135x300.jpg 135w, http:\/\/www.catchingfirefliesgifts.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/12\/west-bank3-462x1024.jpg 462w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, 599px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Another place we visited was the inspiring <a href=\"http:\/\/www.tentofnations.org\/about\/\" target=\"_blank\">Tent of Nations<\/a>.\u00a0 This land is owned by the Nassar family &amp; they&#8217;re using it to bring people of various cultures together to build bridges of understanding, reconciliation, and peace.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.catchingfirefliesgifts.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/12\/west-bank2.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-1969\" title=\"shepherds field\" src=\"http:\/\/www.catchingfirefliesgifts.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/12\/west-bank2.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"1238\" srcset=\"http:\/\/www.catchingfirefliesgifts.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/12\/west-bank2.jpg 600w, http:\/\/www.catchingfirefliesgifts.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/12\/west-bank2-145x300.jpg 145w, http:\/\/www.catchingfirefliesgifts.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/12\/west-bank2-496x1024.jpg 496w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>It&#8217;s hard to imagine the Prince of Peace was born in this land of conflict near shepherd&#8217;s fields like these.\u00a0 Hearing these people&#8217;s stories filled with passion for peace was incredibly moving.\u00a0 I personally felt overwhelmed &amp; couldn&#8217;t imagine living in their reality day after day.\u00a0 My spirit would be crushed, but their strength, vision &amp; hope for the future is unwavering.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.catchingfirefliesgifts.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/12\/west-bank5.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-1971\" title=\"love wins separation wall\" src=\"http:\/\/www.catchingfirefliesgifts.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/12\/west-bank5.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"450\" srcset=\"http:\/\/www.catchingfirefliesgifts.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/12\/west-bank5.jpg 600w, http:\/\/www.catchingfirefliesgifts.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/12\/west-bank5-300x225.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>We also spent time with Israelis and visited a nearby <a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Israeli_settlement\" target=\"_blank\">settlement<\/a>. There is such a rich history of this land &amp; such strong opinions about the future of it.\u00a0 Steve &amp; I left this part of the world heart broken about this ongoing conflict.\u00a0 <em>How can there be peace<\/em>?<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/kensingtonchristmas.com\/\" target=\"_blank\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-1972\" title=\"kensington church\" src=\"http:\/\/www.catchingfirefliesgifts.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/12\/west-bank6.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"165\" srcset=\"http:\/\/www.catchingfirefliesgifts.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/12\/west-bank6.jpg 600w, http:\/\/www.catchingfirefliesgifts.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/12\/west-bank6-300x82.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>We&#8217;re really looking forward to our church, <a href=\"kensingtonchurch.org\/\" target=\"_blank\">Kensington<\/a> sharing more about where it all began this Christmas.\u00a0 If you&#8217;re looking to attend a Christmas service this season &amp; live in Metro Detroit, we invite you to experience this non-traditional, dynamic &amp; moving service.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"http:\/\/player.vimeo.com\/video\/32598800?title=0&amp;byline=0&amp;portrait=0\" frameborder=\"0\" width=\"520\" height=\"293\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>We&#8217;re blessed to be part of church that is all about bringing heaven to earth.\u00a0 We strive to do the same in our business &amp; personal life.\u00a0 Thank you for allowing us to continue to pursue our dreams.\u00a0 We&#8217;re grateful everyday for this amazing life God has given us.<\/p>\n<div id=\"flaresmith\" class=\"feedflare\"><script src=\"http:\/\/feeds.feedburner.com\/~s\/http:\/\/feeds.feedburner.com\/catchingfireflies\/TyNo?i=http:\/\/www.catchingfirefliesgifts.com\/blog\/2011\/12\/imported-from-bethlehem\/\" type=\"text\/javascript\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/div><div class=\"linkwithin_hook\" id=\"http:\/\/www.catchingfirefliesgifts.com\/blog\/2011\/12\/imported-from-bethlehem\/\"><\/div><script>\n<!-- \/\/LinkWithinCodeStart\nvar linkwithin_site_id = 944859;\nvar linkwithin_div_class = \"linkwithin_hook\";\n\/\/LinkWithinCodeEnd -->\n<\/script>\n<script src=\"http:\/\/www.linkwithin.com\/widget.js\"><\/script>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/www.linkwithin.com\/\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.linkwithin.com\/pixel.png\" alt=\"Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...\" style=\"border: 0\" \/><\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>This year Steve &amp; I have a different perspective on Christmas since we spent a week in Bethlehem this past May.\u00a0 We had the opportunity to meet with a variety of Palestinian business owners who face difficult challenges doing business in the West Bank.\u00a0 The group we were traveling with met with the Anastas.\u00a0 They own a tourist shop in Bethlehem.\u00a0 Originally their shop was on busy street, but unfortunately in recent years the security wall that separates Israel from the West Bank has drastically changed the traffic flow &amp; customer volume. Another place we visited was the inspiring Tent of Nations.\u00a0 This land is owned by the Nassar family &amp; they&#8217;re using it to bring people of various cultures together to build bridges of understanding, reconciliation, and peace. It&#8217;s hard to imagine the Prince of Peace was born in this land of conflict near shepherd&#8217;s fields like these.\u00a0 Hearing these people&#8217;s stories filled with passion for peace was incredibly moving.\u00a0 I personally felt overwhelmed &amp; couldn&#8217;t imagine living in their reality day after day.\u00a0 My spirit would be crushed, but their strength, vision &amp; hope for the future is unwavering. We also spent time with Israelis and visited a&hellip; <a class=\"read-more\" href=\"http:\/\/www.catchingfirefliesgifts.com\/blog\/2011\/12\/imported-from-bethlehem\/\">Read More<\/a><\/p>\n<script>\n<!-- \/\/LinkWithinCodeStart\nvar linkwithin_site_id = 944859;\nvar linkwithin_div_class = \"linkwithin_hook\";\n\/\/LinkWithinCodeEnd -->\n<\/script>\n<script src=\"http:\/\/www.linkwithin.com\/widget.js\"><\/script>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/www.linkwithin.com\/\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.linkwithin.com\/pixel.png\" alt=\"Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...\" style=\"border: 0\" \/><\/a>","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,2526],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1967","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-giving-back","category-i-like"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.catchingfirefliesgifts.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1967","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.catchingfirefliesgifts.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.catchingfirefliesgifts.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.catchingfirefliesgifts.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.catchingfirefliesgifts.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1967"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"http:\/\/www.catchingfirefliesgifts.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1967\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2011,"href":"http:\/\/www.catchingfirefliesgifts.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1967\/revisions\/2011"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.catchingfirefliesgifts.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1967"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.catchingfirefliesgifts.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1967"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.catchingfirefliesgifts.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1967"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}