Day 4

Bethshan-
Today we left the Galilee region and traveled south or up to Jerusalem. We stopped at Bethshan, on of the Decapolis cities where the body of King Saul was hung ont he wall. Jason and I sung in the Theater and we explored some of the most amazing Roman ruins I could ever imagine. Bethshan is located at the cross roads of the Jordan and Herod vallies, this place is an archeological treasure. It was a Roman pagan place and became the capitol city of the Decapolis. It was destroyed January 18, 749 A.D. by an earthquake. What an amazing place to explore, one I could have spent hours and hours walking around in. The Romans really knew how to live comfortably.

Mt. Gilboa-After the Decapolis we traveled up the mountain to see Mt. Gilboa which over looks the valley where Bethshan is. Here we learned about forgiveness as we heard the story of how David showed amazing forgiveness to King Saul after he died. Here David wrote David's "lament". The prayer is still taught today and one of the neatest things of our time there was to see a group of Israeli children on a trip to the same place to hear the same story and learn that prayer. 

Jericho, Dead Sea, Jerusalem-
From there we traveled toward Jerusalem and in doing so, we went through the Jericho area, traveled along the Jordan river by the Jordan boarder which is Palestinian occupied lands. It was a stark contrast in living styles from the Galilee area. They dont' care about the land around them, they have trash everywhere, and lots of plastic just strewn across everything. From that area we continued to travel toward the Dead Sea or Salt Sea as it is called here. We stopped for a quick lunch and a short camel ride, then headed up the mountains to Jerusalem. As we came upon the Holy City, we went through a tunnel, and as we came out the other end, the city emerged. What a spectacular site, a once in a lifetime experience to see the city that has seen generations upon generations of people.

We went inside the city walls through the Lions Gate, otherwise known as Stephens Gate and went to St Annes church. There we tested out the acoustics and sang a few songs. Jason Holliday sang verse one of Amazing Grace by himself and gave time for each line to resonate in the room. What an amazing time of singing and hearing the song ring through the church. We visited the pool of Bethesda and saw a portion of that excavation. Tomorrow we will spend the whole day inside the city in the Old City. Looking forward to seeing more.

Day Three

Capernaum - Called Jesus's home town by Matthew in 9:, this town was practically just that. Jesus taught and spent much time in this place. The white synagogue was built upon the black foundation of the original synagogue that Jesus taught in, that is to say, the remnants of the synagogue that we see today is not the same synagogue that Jesus taught in. Rather the foundation we see, the black stone, is the foundation of the synagogue of Jesus time. It was neat to know that I was standing in the same place as Christ once stood and taught. Situated close to the Sea of Galilee's coast line, it was a fishing and farming community. Only the town center has been excavated to this point.

Sea of Galilee - A wonderful time spent floating on the water. We motored out into the sea and shut the engine off, everyone was perfectly quiet and it was the most peaceful place I think I have ever been. The mountains all around, the water perfectly calm, just an amazing place. From one central point, one could see many places where Jesus had been, teaching, healing and spending time. The Bible stories start to come to life all around you.

Tabgha - This is the traditional spot where it is believed that Jesus multiplied the two fish and five loaves of bread feeding the multitudes. It was a quiet and peaceful place as a church has been built over the site, as in almost all the cases where it was believed that Jesus did a miracle. One thing about the picture below, you will see two fish, and four loaves of bread in the basket, the fifth loaf of bread is Christ himself, (artistic idea behind the mosaic.)

Chorazin (Korazin) - a synagogue also of the Jesus time period, this city is mentioned in Luke 10:13-15

Kursi (Gergesa) - Better known as the place where Jesus sent the legion of demons into the herd of swine that then rushed down the hillside into the water and drown. The synagogue that now stands was built as a memorial and dates back to the 5th century C.E. There are ruins up the hill side of an old church that is believed to have been built as a result of the man that was healed of the demons. If you recall, after he was healed, he ran to the one of the cities of the Decapolis and spread the word of what was done for him by Christ.

Jordan River - A last minute change in plans place Jason Holliday and I in the place of officiating the baptisms of 15+ people in the Jordan. It was a wonderful and humbling experience, and baptizing my wife in the Jordan was a special blessing for me.

Day Two

We had wonderful day today. It was a long day again, but a wonderful day of visiting many places such as the Mt. of Beatitudes, and the border of Lebanon and Seria(not sure if I spelled that right). We went on to visit the Tel of Dan, and an Olive Oil company just around the corner of Dan. We ate lunch at a Lebanese restaurant (wonderful food) as well as seeing the Jordan river (at a distance, the real visit is tomorrow) and Caesarea Philippi where Jesus questioned the disciples as to who they said He was. So that is a snap shot of our day with more short details and pictures below. Tomorrow we will both be baptized in the Jordan River, and I will get to assist in the baptism of some of the others. Very exciting and humbling all at the same time. The food is wonderful, the relationships are growing and the weather is absolutely beautiful. We are being told that we are seeing Israel at it's most beautiful time. Everything is green with grass and vegetation due to the rains they received shortly before we arrived. In just a short period of time, things will all turn yellow then brown and it will remain like that till next spring, so we lucked out.

Mt. of Beatitudes
Is located opposite side of the Sea of Galilee from where we are staying and the church located on the hill is currently being run by the Catholic church, se we didn't get to stand on the actual hill, but I could see the hill through the gate and approximate where Jesus would have stood to give his sermon. What an amazing place to see how the wind,topography and surrounding area made it possible for Jesus to speak to so many at one time.

The Tel of Dan was neat to see. This tel is only two layers thick so it was easier for the excavators to dig through to find the layers and walls of the last civilization. Herod's sacrifice alter was there, a total pagan place, but in terms of architecture, wonderful to look at.

The Golan Heights - Ancient Qasrin - A Talmudic Village and Synagogue
This place so very cool in that we were able to see a synagogue and an excavated village that dates back to the time of Jesus. It is not a replica, but the actual thing. Pretty cool to see how the houses were built, laid out and all together in a group.

Lunch at the Lebanese Restaurant

Caesarea Philippi
What a place, so many misconceptions I had prior to coming here. The place, it's distance from the Sea of Galilee, and what was here when Jesus visited. Now it all makes sense.

That's it for now. More to come tomorrow!!

We Made It

WE MADE IT!!
Well we made it safe and sound. The flight was very long and uncomfortable, but we have settled in and are enjoying the trip. It is amazing how hilly and how rocky this region is, almost impossible to build in from a westerners view point, but it is quite populated with new construction happening almost every where you look. Our first night was spent on the coast of the Mediterranean Sea. Lisa and I walked down and I had to take my shoes off and walk in the surf just to say I had. It was cold and the sand was nice, although there was an amazing abundance of sea shells and rocks in certain places, only telling me that sea life is abounding in that area.


     Our first day started off with an amazing breakfast spread of fruit, vegetables cheeses and breads. I loved the fresh cottage cheese and the tuna/vegi salad they had. Our first stop of the day was Caesarea by the Sea.

Caesarea by the Sea

What a wonderful place. Located right on the Mediterranean Sea, It was built by King Herod the Great who ruled the land from 37 to 4 B.C. Herod created a wonderful, yet seemingly impossible port in honor of Caesar Augustus, it was also functional in  which to accept boats for trading and goods. We stood in the Theater that had a seating capacity of 3500 and is the same place that Acts 12 records the death of Herod Agrippa. We also saw the Hippodrome where they would hold horse and chariot races, Gladiators would fight and they would have foot races. The Promontory Palace is also located in this same place. A wonderful view of the sea and centrally located in all of the other places mentioned. Herod built an olympic sized pool that was filled by the sea daily and then would drain out daily refreshing the water. I (chris) stood out in the stone that comprised this pool, and it was amazing how something like that could be built using hand tools. It was truly amazing to think of what it must have looked like in the day. I have a feeling I will be saying that a lot through out this trip. The feats of engineering they accomplished is simply astounding. 

Roman Road 

Our next stop of the day was a quick 2 minute stop to see a recently uncovered Roman road. You could see the marble floor that they had used to cover the road, there were also two wonderfully preserved Roman statues that were larger than life. 

Roman Aqua Ducts 

This was also a short stop, as we didn’t actually stop. We drove through the parking lot slowly to get a glimpse of another of Herod’s great inventions and that was of the Aqua-duct. It measures some 12 miles long and was built to bring fresh water to Caesarea by the Sea because there was only salt water there. Varying the size of the water flow channel on top of the duct would create pressure allowing for further distances to be traveled by the water.

Mount Carmel

Mt. Carmel over looks the Valley of Armageddon and give you a spectacular understanding of why this valley is such an important place. This is the same mountain that Elijah called down fire from heaven to prove that God is the true God. Here we ate lunch, and I (chris) had my first taste of a Falafal which which is chic peas that are deep fried into balls and put into a pita bread. Lisa had deep fried chicken stuff in a pita bread. There two tables loaded with all kind of vegetables and a wonderful sunny porch to eat on. It was a very peaceful lunch.

Megiddo 

One of the most important Tel’s in the land as it is called the doorway to the valley. It used to be a military base that stored the likes of Solomon's horse stables, and is also the place where one of the most cruelest sacrifice practices took place. People used to sacrifice their children to appease the fertility gods hoping that by doing so, it would bring them fortune in their crops. A very humbling place to stand as you think about how mighty this place was in terms of protecting the valley and who traveled through it, and also in terms of how many young lives were ended in hopes for good and plentiful food.  Megiddo was also home to a very interesting water tunnel that was dug from the inside of the fortress under ground through solid rock to the outside of the protective walls that enabled the inhabitants of Megiddo to get fresh water from a spring. The vertical shaft is 60 meters straight down and the tunnel itself is about 120 meters long. It is about 6 feet wide and about 8 feet tall. As you walk through it, you can’t help but imagine how hard it must have been to make this happen. it is almost perfectly straight and how they accomplished it is beyond me.

Nazareth

The home town of Jesus. At the time of Jesus, there were only about 30-40 families (approximately 200 people) that inhabited the area. Nazareth sits on top of a large hill and also over looks the valley of Armageddon. Today the mountain is covered with a large population of people, approx. 60,000 in all. Standing on Mt. Precipice gave one an amazing view of not only Nazareth but also the valley. This is the point they believe that Jesus as going to be tossed off the cliff because of what he had preached to his home town. Our trip to Nazareth was short, but while there we did see the only spring for the town that was an original spring from His day. It now has a Greek orthodox church built over it, (which is common for most, if not all of the holly sites) but we were still able to see the running spring and marvel at the art of the old church.

Scotts Hotel 

This our home for the next three nights. Located on the Sea of Galilee we will be able to spend three full days here in Galilee seeing the various places that Jesus taught and spent time. We will take a boat ride tomorrow on the sea and spend time talking about Jesus’s ministry.