Day 4 - May 18, 2013 - Caesarea

Exciting day to Caesarea, Magido, Sepphoris, Nazareth, and Mount Precipice and just when I did not think yesterday could be topped.  Full day.

Caesarea - beautiful city on the Mediterranean Sea.  Built by Herod the Great in 4 BC as a place for Roman soldiers to reside in Israel.  An engineering marvel.  Jesus never journeyed through here because it was considered an unclean city.  However Peter and Paul both came through here.  I realized something today in that ths was the site of a different Upper Room - for Gentiles.  Through a different series of 3s, Peter was called to this city and even though he dud not want to go, he did, and preached to the Gentile family and friends of Cornelius.  A good lesson on obedience and God can use it to change the world.  The theatre and chariot race track were amazing.

Megiddo - Another Tel, but this one was 25 DIFFERENT civilizations.  It was in a strategic location and also had water.  It was a military outpost from 2000 BC.  Ahab had a stable of 2000 horses here.  This is also noted as the place for Armageddon.

Sepphoris - Or Zippori, was not a Tel but a city dating back before Christ and the home of Mary's parents.  It is also believed that Joseph worked there since jobs were probably scare in Nazareth.  It is not a Tel because the original city was found and a very affluent city it was.  Marble roads and tile floors.  I'm not talking 10" square tiles but pieces 1/2 inch or less.  Incredibly beautiful.

Nazareth - church of Annuciation, supposedly where an angel appeared before Mary.  A very unexpected and emotional experience.  We saw Mary's original house and while make our way to he new an beautiful contemporary church Ava Maria was being sung in the background. We got there in time to see a Nazareth wedding.  A beautiful church and with portraits/art of Mary from every country.

Mount Precipice -the place where the Nazarethans were going to throw Jesus off a cliff.  A very high,  windy and scenic spot.  It was a little ironic that there were young men parked in the parking lot, drinking beer and about to become obnoxious.  It reminded me of what others said about Christ - and that "nothing good came out of Nazareth ". I did experience Havla and and iced coffee from a Nazarethan wearing a Hawaii hat while there.

Another awesome day and a great day of breathing in.

 Acts 10:36 You know the message God sent to the people of Israel, announcing the good news of peace through Jesus Christ, who is Lord of all. 

Pictures - Day 4

Day 3 - May 17, 2013 - Mount of Beatitudes

Full day starting at the Mount of Beatitudes and then to Tel Hazor, Tel Dan, Temple of Pan, the Golan Heights, an overlook to Syria.  An awesome day and any given sight is worthy of a full day.

The start was spiritually and emotionally very overwhelming - to be at the same site as the beautitudes, the feeding of  the 5,000 - awesome.  Our morning devotion was there and was on he blessed and salt and light - my favorite.

BTW - and to simplify my updates, I will post all pics at a URL - to be listed later.

I will share notes only through his blog. I will also try to add captions when able.  

Our first stop was at Tel Hazor. To appreciate, you need to understand "Tel" which is like an archeological hill or communities or cities built on top of each other.  Hazor dates back to Joshua and then Solomon and then Ahab's water supply system. Hazor has 21 cities stacked on top of each other.

Tel Dan was the more interesting and dated back to Abraham and Lot.  A nature trail led us to that site and it also had us at he foot of Mt Hermon- which is believed to be the place of the transfiguration.

Tel Dan springs is the largest of 3 streams that feed the Jordan River.  And Jor means descending so the Jordan River descends from Dan.  The Jordan flows into the Sea of Galilee and that flows into the Dead Sea.

(I will likely add notes these posts as I am reminded of more of the details.  Doran, our guide is full of inormationand is hard to keep up with.

We also visited the Temple of Pan - a pagan temple.  Human babies and goats were sacrificed there.

Lunch at the Golan Heights and the last stop was a landmark of the 6 day war between Syria and Israel. We were no more than 1/2 mile from Syria.

Pictures Day 3


Matthew 5:3 

3 “Blessed are the poor in spirit,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Day 2 - May 16, 2013 - Nof Ginosar

Good news, bad news and bad news first.  Sleep did not come easy for the 11 hour flight here.  Good news is there is probably no better way to adjust to a 7 hour increase  in time zones other than a good dose of sleep  deprivation.

We arrived at the David Ben Gurion airport in Tel Aviv and take our motor coach to our hotel at Nof Ginosar, on the northern shore of the Sea of Galilee.  We meet our guide, Doron Heiliger, for the first time. The hotel is a kubbutz (sp?) which means run by a commune.  They started as farming communes but have now branched out into other businesses.  And Doron is incredibly knowledgable and balanced on his understanding of this country and the history of our Savior.  Breathing in for the day....

I am struck by the distinctions in culture and community between Jews and Arabs.  This history and how they came to be is incredible.  Arab communities can be just beside Jewish communities.  The Arab communities have a towering landmark which is their worship center.

No brick or wooden houses - all block or concrete block.  The Arab homes tend to have more direct or indirect family members.  Almost all of he homes had a white or black large water barrel on the roof which is their source for hot water.

The geography is much hillier than I expected.  There is already a greater respect for distances.  Although the towns are somewhat close by - these are huge distances when walking.

Tomorrow is a big day with a start at the Mount of Olives.  The pics for today: Group ready to depart Tel Aviv airport, Example of housing architecture, Sea of Galilee, Our Hotel

Day 2 pictures Here

Mark 1:14-15 

14 After John was put in prison, Jesus went into Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God. 15 “The time has come,” he said. “The kingdom of God has come near. Repent and believe the good news!”

Day 1 - May 15, 2013 - Travel

Travel from RDU to Philadelphia.  A 4 hour layover in Philadelphia, with a chance to visit my favorite burrito bar.  (Yes, a fan of a teriyaki burrito - discovered at the Philadelphia airport.)  We depart Philadelphia at 9:15 p.m. on 05/15.  It is ironic that one must travel 7 hours ahead to go back 2,000 years. There are 37 of us making this journey.  All are either students or friends of Campbell University.  One of our travelers made small pom-poms for each of us and to tag our bags.  (Orange and white are the school colors.) Our flight will take 11 hours and we will land at 3:00 pm Thursday - Tel Aviv time.  And then.....time to breathe in.



Psalm 48:12-14
12     Walk about Zion, go around her, count her towers,13 consider well her ramparts, view her citadels, that you may tell of them to the next generation. 14     For this God is our God for ever and ever; he will be our guide even to the end.

Commissioning

Many thanks to my church family at Rosewood First Baptist Church.  They commissioned me with prayers, encouragement and an overwhelming bounty of supplies.  Our missions-minded church donated these supplies to the Bethlehem Bible College, a stop along our journey scheduled for Wednesday 05/22.  Almost all of the items on their "wish-list" were collected which amounted to 2 large suitcases weighing a total of over 100 pounds.

The most profound words spoken during this short commissioning service were spoken by Dr Cogdill.  He shared that our lives are full of "breathing in" and "breathing out" and mostly "breathing out".  He encouraged  me to "breathe in every day" - the glory and majesty of our Lord and this the land of His birth and His ministry.

THANK YOU Rosewood First Baptist Church for your graciousness, kindness, prayers and support.

Cool hat

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Shoes and signs

Time is fast approaching and time to start strategic packing. My lovely daughter recommended a light weight versatile pair of sandals that she wore on her mission trip to Africa.  I understand that the shore of the Sea of Galilee is very rocky and sandals or water shoes will be needed for the swim.  Makes you wonder how they made the sign of the fish in the sand :)