Israel - Days 1 and 2

I was hoping to blog yesterday but we didn't have good internet access, so days 1 and 2 will be one entry.  Also, forgive this blog if the punctuation is off - it's actually in Hebrew on my computer translated into English, and written from left to right...and I can't change it.  Hopefully it's showing up well on your computer.

I've heard many people say they are a bit overwhelmed when they come to a place like Israel…being here, I totally get it.  Christian Journeys told us before we came that literally, with every step you take in Israel, you are stepping somewhere in history.  Being here and thinking about that has blown my mind.  There's so much, you can't take it all in - on this 10 day trip, we will just be scratching the surface.  Let me start at the beginning of our trip though.

Wednesday afternoon we flew out from Pearson airport.  I love flying for reasons like this - flying over the Alps at sunrise.

 Eleven hours later we landed in Tel Aviv, Israel.  It was 11am in Israel, 4am Ontario time, so we were a bit tired, but we jumped right into action.  The first thing we did, even before going to our hotel, was to head to the city of Joppa, where Jonah fled from God (instead of going to Ninevah), where cedars were shipped in for Solomon's temples, where Peter raised Tabitha from the dead (Acts 9), and where Peter got the vision about eating unclean food - that it's okay to eat outside of the Jewish laws that they had been abiding by up until that point (Acts 10).  The port of Joppa is one of the oldest in the world, and is simply no longer used because of these rocks below - modern day ships are too large.  But in Jesus time, this is where Peter came into Joppa, and if Jesus ever came, he came through here…

This is the view from our hotel - that's the Mediterranean - unfortunately, we only got to enjoy this view for one night because the next morning (this morning) we were off again.

We started out with our bus driver taking us to a site overlooking the Mediterranean.  There we did a 5 minute devotional where I shared Psalm 121, and specifically verse 4, "indeed, He who watches over Israel will neither slumber nor sleep."  I've read that verse dozens of times, but I read it a lot differently this morning.  Then I shared about how although we were driving through a lot of developed areas, we had to remember that this is exactly where Jesus and his disciples walked.  That's when our tour guide piped in perfectly by telling us that where we were standing (below) actually used to be the road from    Joppa to Caesarea, and that Jesus, Peter, and the disciples likely walked this road many times (that's Tel Aviv in the background( .

After the devotional, we shot north 30 miles to Caesarea, which is incredible!  Remember Peter's vision in Joppa above?  Well the next day he walked to Caesarea (we did it by bus in 25 minutes) and shared with Cornelius and his household about the Christian faith (Acts 10).  They believed and were baptized, and Peter realized that his vision was not just about food, it was about believers - that the message was not just for Jews, it was for the Gentiles too (that's you and me).  Caesarea also housed ) Herod The Great's palace - this is his swimming pool (note the tile floor at the bottom of the picture.

In the public part of the palace is where Paul gave his defence of the faith to King Agrippa (Acts 25-26).  This is the exact room where he stood, giving his defence.  Shivers standing here.

Then it was off to Mount Carmel (which is actually a string of mountains), where Elijah and 450 prophets of Baal went at it.  They called on their gods, nothing happened.  Elijah called on the TRUE God, and fire reigned down from heaven.  The thought in my head as stood there…"Do I have enough faith to do that?"  This sculpture commemorates Elijah slaying the prophets of Baal.

As we stood on Mount Carmel, we also overlooked the Armageddon Valley (not the proper name), which is where many battles have been fought in the past, and where Revelation 16:16 says the final battle will take place.  Some believe it to be literal, others metaphorical.  Either way, it was amazing to be here and realize the battles that were fought, and the one that may be fought on this very land.

Finally, we rounded out the day by visiting Megiddo, which is actually where the name Armageddon comes from (although we had a better view of the Armageddon Valley from Mount Carmel).  Megiddo is a tel, which is a large hill that is prime for excavating.  A tel is created by one city being built on top of another city, and so forth.  At Megiddo, they cut out a swath of land 70 years ago and found 27 different civilizations or cities that were built on top of each other, including buildings from King Solomon's kingdom (the picture below is only a part of the swath).

This made me realize the difficulty of excavation - that if you want to get to the bottom levels, you have to destroy all the levels above, and in that way you're destroying pieces of history.  Tough choice to make.

Anyway, that's a synopsis of days one and two.  We're still a bit jet-lagged, but loving this journey. Two quick notes - the food...Oh. My. Goodness.  I'm not going to bother posting a picture, it won't do it justice.  The second thing is that we're in shorts and t-shirts.  Not bad !