The Sunday before we left on our pilgrimage, a little girl in our church asked us if everything in Israel was in black and white! I don’t know where she got such an idea, but her question caused me to look for colour everywhere we went. In my mind’s eye, Israel had always been the neutral colours of rock, sand and desert. A lot of it is, but there were many pops of colour to be found.

I was thankful for the bright colours on our bus, making it easy to spot wherever we went.

There were green fields in the fertile valleys of Galilee.

And green on the street in Bethlehem that made us laugh!

There were beautiful stained glass windows and paintings in churches.

There were flowers in February, always a marvel to someone from Canada!

There were bright coloured fabrics.

And everywhere, the olive colour of military uniforms.

There was, of course, the glistening gold of the Dome of the Rock.

But also bright yellow signs in many places warning of land mines.

When I think of the colours of Israel, however, I will always remember the rainbows. Yes, in a usually dry and dusty land, God blessed us with three rainbows; one over the Mediterranean Sea, one over the Sea of Galilee, and one over the Dead Sea! My photos of the first two, taken through the bus window in the rain, didn’t turn out very well, but here’s the one over the Dead Sea. An employee in the hotel told us that it was the first rainbow he’d seen in at least three years!

No, Victoria, Israel isn’t all in black and white!