that's it time to get out of here

I guess we just aren't quite as resilient as our Israeli counterparts. This morning was enough for us. It is Sunday and we decided to go to church in Haifa. We thought it would be kind of interesting to attend worship in Israel, and especially with all the problems going on. We were pretty sure that current events with Lebanon would dominate the service, and it would be cool to be here and pray for peace with some of the locals. Our choices were limited, and so we decided on an Episcopalian church which began at 10:30. We had breakfast and went out to our local taxi stand to catch a cab to church. In a former blog I mentioned the cool cab driver Danny who rerouted our trip to go and look at the crater the first rocket made. Well who should be waiting at the cab stand but Danny and so we got in. About a block into the drive he asked us if we heard the boom boom of the rockets landing. We hadn't heard this from inside the hotel, and so he explained that just ten minutes earlier 15 rockets had slammed inro Haifa. It was early too soon to assess damage and casualties, but it was becoming apparent that there were many. We made a snap decision, and asked Danny if he could drive us to Tel Aviv. He said he would meet us back at the hotel in 30 minutes. The phone lines were all down and I think he wanted to check on his family. I felt bad asking him to drive us at a time like this, but he seemed willing.
If you have ever heard air raid sirens you will understand how on edge they make you feel. You could hear the air raid sirens all over the city, and the Israeli government had just ordered all citizens of Haifa to go to bomb shelters. We knew our window of opportunity was small and so we packed furiously, all the while an eerie voice was being broadcast in Hebrew over the entire hotel. We didn't know what it was saying (probably a good thing as it was ordering everyone in the hotel to go immediately to the basement and enter the bomb shelter, and when all these guys with guns tell you to do something you do it). We finished packing and grabbed our bags and ran. The elevators had quit working and so we took to the stairs (we were on the 7th floor) and ran to the front doors. The entire hotel was deserted except for the heavily armed guy at the front door who didn't want us to leave the hotel. We explained that we had a cab coming in 5 minutes and convinced him to let us wait.
5 minutes and still no Danny. I breated a quiet prayer that he would show up. Reports kept coming in...apparently the train staition had been hit(this was how we were going to go to Tel Aviv Mon. morning) and things were ungluing at an alarming rate. All of a sudden a taxi came screaming aroud the corner...Danny...I've never been so happy to see someone in my life. There was an eerie haze in the air from all the fires and explosions, and most likely from the train staition, a mere kilometer from our hotel. Some of the rockets apparently went over our hotel and landed beyond it. Danny expertly navigated the panick stricken drivers in Haifa and got us onto the hiway to Tel Aviv. We made it to Tel Aviv and Danny found us a good place to stay, and just in the nick of time as all the hotels in Tel Aviv were being flooded with people fleeing Haifa and looking for refuge beyond the range of the Lebanese rockets.
So what can we say about all of this? I'm sure a little time in between will help to sort all of this out in our minds, but for now I feel mostly pity for all the regular folks on both sides of this. On this trip we have met many Arabs who have been wonderful, from the muslims in Jerusalem to the Druze Arabs in Haifa. One of our cab drivers in Haifa was from Lebanon and he was going back there Saturday night as soon as he dropped us off. He was a really nice guy, but I suspect he was not going home to pay a social call. We met a nice young Jewish boy 17 years old who told us he was scared of having to do his mandatory 3 year stint in the army starting in Sept. And of course Danny who just wants to earn a living and raise his family. None of these people hate eachother but as in all wars (and this is quickly becoming full blown war) people are forced to choose sides and may even find themselves aiming a gun at someone they once called a freind. It is ironic this should happen in Haifa which is the poster child for how these groups can all get along in peace and harmony.
That's it. My brain is dead tonight and it will take a while to digest all of this anyway. Thank you all for your prayers, I feel today was a series of events that were in God's hand and not ours, and so we are grateful indeed. See you soon I hope as long as the airport stays open and there is every reason to think that it will, as Tel Aviv has not been attacked at all. OI Vey... it will be good to get home!!!