Israel Day 3

We started our day with a boat ride on the Sea of Galilee.  This is where Jesus walked on water, Peter tried to walk on water, and Jesus calmed a storm.

They hoisted the American flag and played the national anthem!  It was such a special moment for us all to sing together.

This is the the hill where the demon possessed swine ran into the sea.

Mason read John 6:16-24 where Jesus walked on the water.

They tried to catch some fish in a net to show us how the disciples fished.  No luck.

This is the church at the Mount of the Beatitudes.

Here you can see the area where the crowds likely gathered to hear Jesus preach the sermon on the mount.

That is the Sea of Galilee in the background.

As a family we read some of the sermon on the mount and prayed. It was so neat!

Next we visited Caesarea Philippi.  This is probably the farthest point north that Jesus traveled. It was the central place for the worship of the Greek god Pan.  In the past few years this site has been excavated extensively and some of the excavators have been from ACU.

The idols were placed in these carved out areas.

We had St. Peter’s fish (tilapia) for lunch.  You had several options, but Tim, Mason and I decided to go with the local fare.  Mal had chicken.  It was pretty good - just quite a bit of work to get the meat out.

In all the churches we went in girls had to have their knees covered.  It was too hot to wear jeans everyday, so most girls just put on a scarf to go in.  Faith and Hannah shared theirs with us, but they were still in the lost suitcase at this point.

Olive trees are everywhere.  This is an olive press that was used to extract the olive oil.

It is said that Jesus prayed on this rock for God to multiply the loves and fish.  Of course, no one knows for sure.  It was nice to just be in that area.

Mal in the Sea of Galilee.

In Capernaum a church was built over the supposed home of Peter’s mother-in-law.  This is also believed to  be the house where the lame man was lowered through the roof to be healed by Jesus.

This shows the homes from Jesus’ times.  The homes were tiny and many people lived in the same house.

This temple was built after the time of Jesus over the site where the temple Jesus went to was located.

This picture of the side of the temple shows the foundation of the temple that was there during Jesus’ time.  The dark stones on the bottom were from the temple that Jesus went to.  The lighter ones were the new temple.

You can see the Ark of the Covenant on wheels carved into this stone.  The intricate stone work is truly amazing.

We ended the day with some baptisms and baptism affirmations in the Jordan River.  This is not the site where Jesus was baptized, although we will be visiting that site.  It is too contaminated to be in now.

Mallory decided to affirm her baptism, and we were so blessed to watch it.  What a wonderful memory for her!  

Israel Day 4

The pictures above and below are two of my favorite pictures from the trip.  As we were leaving Tiberius, the sun was shining through the clouds lighting up the Sea of Galilee.  It really struck me in an emotional way.  I could just picture God shining His light down on Jesus as he walked on this water.  It is hard to explain, but different things here hit people in different ways.  A rush of emotion can come over you as you feel God's presence at these sites.

Beth Shan was an important Canaanite city in OT times.  Some information from the book prepared for us said that two temples were here during the time of Saul and David - the temples of Ashtaroth and Dagon.  The bodies of Saul and his sons were hung on the city wall here to humiliate them after their deaths.  During the 1st century AD the Romans developed the city into one of the most imposing in all Palestine.  The ruins you see are from the Romans.  The Egyptians built their city at the top of the mountain.  That is where Saul and his sons were hung. 

This shows how they transported very large stones for the buildings.

This area was excavated to show the heating system under the floor.  A fire was built outside the room and the heat was pumped into the floor.  It circulated around these structures and heated the floor and therefore the room.

Here is the city's amphitheater.

This was taken from the top - where the Egyptians had their city.

This is the city of Jericho.  Our bus drove the route that the Israelites would have marched around the city.  It is also the mountain area where Jesus was tempted by Satan.

Mallory started getting car sick in the back of the bus, so she moved up to the front and sat with Charlie.  They were bus buddies the rest of the trip.

Tim took credit for all the wonderful things about Bethany since she "has his blood."  He donated and his blood went specifically to her when she was a premature baby.

Jericho is considered to be the world’s oldest town.  The ruins are from 1800bc.  That is 800 years before King David.   This is a tower there they are excavating that they say is 10,000 years old. 

Here is a sycamore tree - like the one Zacchaeus climbed.  It is in the same area that this event took place.

Heroduim was another place built by Herod the Great.  He wanted a palace that he could see Jerusalem and Bethlehem from so he had slaves move dirt to build a huge hill (think mountain) where he could build his palace.  These are the ruins from the palace.

Herod’s swimming pool was at the foot of the hill.  There were 200 white marble steps that led up to the palace.

The Bethlehem area is where the story of Ruth and Boaz took place.  There are still wheat fields here.

This is the area where the shepherds were believed to be watching their sheep when the angels appeared to them to say that Jesus had been born.  Inside are cave-like structures that the shepherds would have rested in.  

The street vendors are quite aggressive.  One was trying hard to sell Tim a “shepherds hat.”  Not sure the shepherds wore anything remotely like that…Anyway, Charlie took the pressure of Tim when he decided to buy one of these beauties!

This spot marks where they say the manger was. 

This spot marks where they say Jesus was born.  Plenty of people there were kissing the floor at these sites.