The reason why I was wearing modern day Jesus sandals in the middle of the New York airport wasn’t because I was experimenting with my fashion sense. It was because where I was headed, the walks would be long, the weather would be hot, and the terrain would be dusty. And in true Kristen fashion, I wanted to be prepared. But what I didn’t know is that I never could have prepared myself enough to see and experience the places where those shoes would accompany me to. 

For ten days, I had the opportunity to tour all throughout The Holy Land. I went to Jericho and Bethany and Capernaum and Galilee and Bethlehem and Jerusalem. I traveled all over the area, seeing with my own eyes places I’d been reading about and hearing about since I was a little girl. I got to see where Jesus lived and slept and walked and healed and preached and died. My faith came alive more in those ten days than it ever had, because these places weren’t just settings of stories to me anymore. They were real.