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.