As we worked our way northward from the border of Egypt and Israel, we drove along the Dead Sea, which sits at the lowest point on Earth.

This sign at a rest stop said we were at 394 meters below sea level.

The countryside of southern Israel.

After traveling through a heavy security gate at The Wall, we arrived in Bethlehem which is a surprisingly hilly town. This is a view of Bethlehem from just outside our hotel, The Casa Nova.

Niveen is a Christian Palestinian who recently graduated from Evangelical Theological Seminary in Cairo. She is looking to continue her education in the United States. She and her family knew we would be visiting Palestine and invited us to their home for an amazing dinner. We chatted and experienced the wonderful Palestinian hospitality. They served us an amazing chicken dish.

Sarah in front of the Christmas Tree at Niveen's house. It was very chilly and rainy in Bethlehem and we all had to wear very warm clothes.

Jay sporting his usual goofy face, and Teri.

Niveen and Me.

Our hotel, Casa Nova, is attached to The Church of the Nativity, which made it a convenient place for Pope John Paul II to stay during his pilgrimage in 2002. He gave this mosaic to the hotel during his visit.

A view of modern day Bethlehem.

A walled-off Jewish settlement sat prominently on a nearby hill.

Another view of Bethlehem.

The bell tower of the Church of the Nativity.

Manger Square was empty in the morning, but it filled up with people in the afternoon.

In Manger Square there was a minaret indicating a mosque, and the tall tower in the distance is a Christian church.

Me and Teri standing outside of The Church of the Nativity. The door to enter the church was once a gothic arch, but was bricked in and shrunken several hundred years ago to force you to bow when you entered. This is a trick borrowed from the ancient Egyptians.

When I stepped through the small door I saw a beautiful spacious church with sunbeams cascading through the high windows. The wooden panels in the middle of the floor were opened so you could see the original mosaic floor.

The church is divided into several different sanctuaries, each under the care of a different church. This sanctuary is under the care of the Greek Orthodox Church, so it is loaded with all kinds of decorative items verging on the ostentatious. This was a brass oil lamp that hung from the ceiling.

Silver, gold, precious stones, and intricately carved wood were everywhere in the front of the sanctuary. The smell of incense drifted in the air.

You may remember several years ago, sometime in 2002 I think, that Israel attacked some Palestinian militants who collected some hostages and fled to The Church of the Nativity. They probably thought that the Israelis wouldn't dare attack a Christian holy place. For a time they were correct. The standoff lasted several days until the Israelis attacked the church causing millions of dollars in damage to the structure, killing several people, and injuring many more. The bullet hole in this window was left to remind people of the incident. The bullet passed through the window and struck a mosaic on the opposite wall. I don't remember exactly, but mosaic is probably 600-700 years old.

Another example of Greek Orthodox decoration. A painting of Madonna and Child surrounded by hammered silver.

We descended steps into the stable where Jesus was born. Contrary to most depictions of the stable, it was in a cave and the manger was made of stone instead of wood.

This is the location where Jesus was born. Many people would kneel down, and touch it (as did I), and some people would even kiss the silver starburst on the floor.

"Joseph also went from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to the city of David called Bethlehem, because he was descended from the house and family of David. He went to be registered with Mary, to whom he was engaged and who was expecting a child. While they were there, the time came for her to deliver the child. And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in bands of cloth, and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn." Luke 2:4-7

I turned around from the place where Jesus was born and saw a low opening in the wall which is the stone manger where he was laid. To our right a group of folks were softly singing "Silent Night" in another language.

Teri and Sarah in The Church of the Nativity.

In another part of the church we found the grave of St. Jerome who translated the bible into Latin. There were several pieces of art commemorating his work. In this stain glass window, Jerome is inspired by Jesus.

A sculpture hung over Jerome's grave, which had inscriptions in Latin carved into the stone.

A worship space near the birthplace was made in honor of Joseph. Another area nearby was made in memory of the Slaughter of the Innocents, when Herod called for every child under the age of three to be killed.

"When Herod saw that he had been tricked by the wise men, he was infuriated, and he sent and killed all the children in and around Bethlehem who were two years old or under, according to the time that he had learned from the wise men." Matthew 2:16

This sanctuary (still a part of The Church of the Nativity) is under the care of the Roman Catholic Church. It is the place where the Christmas Eve midnight mass is televised and broadcast all over the world. We lucked out and managed to attend the mass later that night.

A beautiful stain glass in the Roman Catholic sanctuary.

In the courtyard outside there was a statue of St. Jerome, and Mary was high up on the wall.

Palestinian security guards with automatic weapons were everywhere, all over the city.

As people gathered about Manger Square, waiting for the parade to start, Stephen was interviewed by two journalists. One of them worked for the AP so Stephen ended up being quoted in several news outlets including Yahoo.com. He was asked whether he felt safe in Bethlehem to which he replied, "Yes." But that comment was not mentioned in the reports. Sadly, journalists want to report about people being afraid.

Arab men sat on the side of the street waiting for the Christmas parade to start.

The parade consisted of dozens of scout troops from all over Palestine. They were all Christian, but there was definitely a strong Palestinian nationalistic feel to the parade. Most people probably think of Palestine as a Muslim area (as I certainly did) when in fact there are many Christians there.

These boy scouts were really fun to watch.

Look at this little guy with a trumpet. Isn't he adorable? Every troop seemed to have a marching band associated with it.

And some of them were pipe and drum corps. Who would have ever thought there are bagpipes in Palestine?

Streams of scouts poured through the streets for about half and hour. The scouts were certainly not limited to boys. There were many troops for girls too.

I began to think about the implications of what I was seeing. Here is a troop of very young girls wearing what amounts to military uniforms. It is very obvious that Palestinians are taught from an early age to fight for their cause.