Our tour group awakened on a bright Sunday morning in Israel. We were slated for a much-anticipated treat: a trip to Ramat David Air Force Base. We had been through background checks and had gotten special permission to visit the infamous airbase in the middle of the Jezreel Valley.

But at breakfast, our tour guide burst my bubble when she informed me Ramat David was off-limits that day due to a military operation. But she had worked out another opportunity for us to visit a place called Misgav Am a few days later, where a small military outpost is located. What a disappointment, but hey…we were in Israel. How bad could it be?

Three days later, our disappointment turned to shear wonder as our bus pulled into Misgav Am where we were met by an Israeli Merkava tank! (See the pictures and read about our visit here!) The amazing part is that the outpost is located in a very small plot of land that juts up into Lebanon and is surrounded on 3 sides by Hezbollah! We looked across the border fence to a beautiful new neighborhood of Iranian-funded homes built to conceal missiles and rockets meant for Israel.

We returned to Misgav Am with another tour group in 2023, seeing the same beautiful neighborhood filled with homes storing missiles. We also received a briefing from an IDF officer who pointed out the border wall near Metula under which Hezbollah had dug a tunnel for the purpose of attacking Metula and kidnapping Israelis. The IDF had recently destroyed the tunnel and had things well under control.

Seated in an observation room overlooking that border wall, the officer pointed out a white pickup far in the distance driving a switch-back road up a hill to a beautiful mansion. They knew who he was (a terrorist) and what he was doing (connecting to a high-ranking Hezbollah leader). Just a normal day in the neighborhood of Kfar Kila, a Lebanese village just across the border fence from Metula (Israel).

Fast forward to recent news. I follow well-informed and well-connected Israelis, and just days ago videos were posted of that mansion (and others) blown to pieces by the Israeli Air Force! (Here is a story about the destruction of Kfar Kila.) Real life became news! I know the soldiers, I recognize the area, I distinctly remember gazing at the mansion on the hill. At times it is surreal.

Below are actual pictures from the 2023 trip. The fence between Kfar Kila (Lebanon) and Metula (Israel) is seen in the photo to the left. In the photo to the right, you see the winding road that white pickup was traveling on its way to a mansion on the hillside. While that mansion is not visible in the photo, the large white mansion with the pinkish tile roof in that photo was also blown up by Israeli jet fighters. I wonder who lived there?

As much as I wanted our group to see Ramat David Airbase, there is a special connection to the soldiers at the outpost in Mizgav Am. We met them, we gave them snacks, our tour group climbed on their tank! I had the blessed privilege of a private conversation with the 22-year-old tank commander while my tour group enjoyed the experience. Those soldiers are beloved friends, and I have many other friends in Israel whose husbands, sons and daughters are serving in the wars with Hamas and Hezbollah. It feels like family.

While I am extremely proud of what the IDF has accomplished in their 7-front war, I am also reminded of families who have lost brave soldiers fighting in those battles. This is a fun story that brings back very fond memories. But it is also a stark reminder that young men and women are literally in battle every single day for their own survival, as well as the survival of the Jewish homeland.

I pray for them regularly. I hope you will join that effort as well!