"Sheroot'eem" (bathrooms)

March 15 was our first day of many that held the pattern of going to sites, break for lunch at a local eating establishment and get back on the bus to go see more sites, pray and intercede. After Mt. Carmel and before we actually hit Tzippori we stopped for lunch on the lower slope of Mt. Carmel for lunch. This location remains a hit with me because of the best Falafel it served and because Tracee and I discovered the Israeli custom of the common bathroom. These were no common unisex bathrooms, rather large areas with a common washing area, sink, mirror and such; and only an angle of wall to prevent one sex from more fully appreciating the other sex’s endeavors. There were stalls to provide visual privacy but not much auditory privacy, as it were. Tracee commented that she was not used to going to the bathroom with business men, much less pastors and worship leaders!

As Americans we value our privacy for many things besides going to the bathroom. I sincerely don’t know why “privacy” is held as a value as high as it is when that is not the case in most of the world. Do we value privacy because we also are wealthy as a society?

I don’t have a prayer or deep thought this morning…but I wonder what value Jesus put on privacy other than the appropriate modest dress and all. How did large groups of 5,000 eating fish and bread deal with bathroom issues? There certainly are plenty of rocks and boulders in Israel…and what do you do when you are fishing all night in the middle of the Galilee? I really don’t know but that sometimes life is about the very practical and not always the heavenly. So be it.