Each moment of this trip will impact you in a different way, for a different reason. The Garden of Gethsemane was one place that touched my soul, in a way that no other place did.

After reading Matthew 26, we were given time on our own to ponder, pray, and process what took place in Gethsemane many centuries ago. I sat there thinking about what Jesus prayed whenhe was here. Knowing that Jesus prayed here for the cross to be met another way, knowing he was betrayed and arrested here, made me incredibly emotional. There were few words I could say in this moment. I was too overwhelmed with sadness and grief, as to what Jesus endured for me, but at the same time I felt the grace of God.

Jesus could have walked away and not endured the cross. Matthew 26:39 says, “Going a little farther, he fell with his face to the ground and prayed, ‘My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will.” Jesus fell on his face, he was so overcome with sorrow, he begged God three times for another way to save people. All the while, not praying for his will to be done but the will of God.

This moment rocked me to my core. I did nothing, and will never do anything, that makes me worthy of Jesus’ sacrifice. His sacrifice on the cross came from a place of pure, selfless love for me, with the hope that I would receive salvation and be with Him for all eternity. He not only gave me a way to be with Him, but he made it a way where it was my own choice, my free will.

What kind of a person does that? Who would endure such a gruesome death, without a guaranteethat people will accept salvation? That is my Jesus. That is the kind of God I serve, a God who cannot be measured, or matched, and who values me beyond all recognition.

The Garden of Gethsemane is where I experienced the value of the cross. It was here I realized how selfless and wonderful Jesus is. He loves beyond anything we could ever imagine, and that will never ever chang