I know on New Years Eve 2021 that I was hopeful and expectant of a better 2022. Having had two years of travel pause, I was prayerfully asking the Lord to make a way for Selah to re-open. Our travel partners in Europe, Israel, Greece and beyond were constantly emailing me “Come!”. But when I dug deep and looked at the practical realities of running Selah tours in 2022 it became apparent that the time is still not now. Imagine with me if someone on your tour tested positive to Covid-19. They would need to immediately isolate in their hotel room or cruise cabin for 5 days. Meanwhile the tour itinerary stipulates that the tour moves on to the next city or town, leaving these people behind. How do they ever “catch up” with the group? What about the other passengers on the tour? Are they now considered close contacts? Do we stop our scheduled visits for the day & all go and get tested? As you can see, this is not fun and it is not a holiday! So it was a sad but easy decision not to proceed with our planned tours for the European summer of 2022,…

The Coronavirus pandemic has changed all of our worlds. Entire nations have been ordered to stay home; airlines and travel agents and tour operators have collapsed or dramatically scaled back. When things return to “normal”, a new covid-normal, what will international travel look like? Here are a few of the changes that we anticipate, or are already in place. INFLIGHT Leaving the middle seat empty has been bandied around by the media, and some US airlines tried it for a while, but the airlines have made it clear that that is not an option for them economically speaking. We expect that wearing a face mask inflight will be mandatory for both passengers and crew. Crew will also have some form of PPE such as protective eye wear, gloves and possibly disposable coveralls. You know those times when you snag a flight with lots of empty seats and as soon as the door is closed or straight after take off there’s a scramble for a row of spare seats. With the need to track close contacts it is unlikely that moving seats without the permission of the crew will be possible. The inflight amenity kit has already changed with the additions…

The site of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem is identified as the place both of the crucifixion and the tomb of Jesus of Nazareth. According to the New Testament, Jesus was crucified at Golgotha, “the place of the skull” (Matt. 27:33–35; Mark 15:22–25; John 19:17–24). This has been identified as an area of abandoned stone quarries just outside the city wall of the time. About 10 years after the crucifixion, a third wall was built that enclosed the area of the execution and burial within the city, and this accounts for the Holy Sepulchre’s location inside the Old City of Jerusalem today. Roman emperor Constantine I, a convert to Christianity, had the temple of Venus in Jerusalem demolished to make way for a church. In the course of the demolition a tomb was discovered that was thought to be the tomb of Jesus. The first Church of the Holy Sepulchre was approached by a flight of steps from the Cardo, main street of Jerusalem. Then pilgrims went through a narthex; a basilica; and an open area, the “holy garden,” which had in it the rock of Golgotha, finally reaching the Holy Sepulchre itself. In 614, a Persian…