Israel - Day 4. Speechless

I don't even know where to begin this blog.  Today was beyond words, I think perhaps the best day that we will have all trip.  I know that seems presumptuous when we're not even halfway through our trip, but I think you may agree shortly.  For you see, today we LITERALLY walked where Jesus walked.  We travelled all around the Sea of Galilee, exactly where Jesus ministered.

We started on the Mount of Beatitudes.  A church has been built on the mountain and the area has been 'beautified', so it's almost a bit difficult to get the picture of how it was.  That being said, there are spots, such as the picture below.  It was amazing to stand at the Mount of Beatitudes and see this view of the Sea of Galilee - the same view that Jesus had 2,000 years ago.

Our guide told us that Jesus was able to preach to the large crowd without going hoarse because of two reasons.  One is that it was a miracle.  The second reason is because of the way the mountain is built - it's a bit of a valley that's built up on three sides, so the acoustics in the area are good.  I think though, that no matter how good the acoustics are, it was not good enough to hit thousands of people without losing his voice.

 After preaching to the 5,000 men (not including women and children), they had to eat somewhere.  There were no fast food places around, and no cars to drive to them if they did exist.  So Jesus decided to feed them.  That happened at Tabgha, which is where we went next, a 2-minute drive.  Here, on the shores of the Galilee with our feet in the water, we read the story of Jesus feeding the 5,000 with 5 loaves and 2 fish.

Then it was off to Caperaum, the centre of Jesus Galilee ministry.  It's almost impossible to pick a highlight of today, but I think this was it for me.  Of the 3 years Jesus ministered, over 2 of those were in Capernaum.  We walked exactly where he walked.  We saw the house of Peter where Jesus stayed, slept, visited, and preached.  30 seconds from that was the shore of the Sea of Galilee.  30 seconds the other way was the synagogue.  It was incredible see all these sites we read about in the bible, and realize how close they are to each other.  I think this video sums it up.

That synagogue rock I was talking about can be seen in this picture.  The white rock is the synagogue built 500AD, and below it is the grey rock from the synagogue of the time of Jesus.  I had to touch it.

After we literally tore ourselves away from Capernaum, we headed down the road for a boat ride on the Sea of Galilee.  Coming into the trip I was most excited for this, and it did not disappoint.  Being on the boat, on the same sea where Jesus preformed so many miracles, and seeing the same view that he was seeing (the hills have not changed) was surreal.  I shared two bible stories - Jesus calming the storm, and Jesus and Peter walking on the water.  For the first story, I asked the captain of the ship about what storms were like on the Sea of Galilee.  The storms in the summer he said, brought 5 foot waves and very strong winds.  The storms in the winter brought 15 foot waves!  Captain Daniel said you don't want to be on the sea when a storm hits.  It was the perfect setting to read the story of Jesus calming the storm (Matthew 8).  Then it was on to Jesus walking on water, my favourite bible story (Matthew 14).  I've preached on that passage so many times, but preaching on it this time while actually being at the spot where it happened...it was beyond words.  There were so many tears from nearly everyone on our boat throughout the whole ride.  Captain Daniel showed us how they fished back in Jesus time.  And then, he surprised us with a time of worship (he runs the only Christian boat tour company on the Sea of Galilee).  This was a very powerful moment.

After disembarking, we went into the nearby building and had a look at a boat from Jesus time that was found in the mud about 20 years ago.  It was a very intricate process to bring it out of the mud in one piece, and then it had to be sealed for 10 years to dry up the wood.  It was put on display 10 years ago.  Our guide Raffi says we don't know who used the boat exactly, but he said he wouldn't be surprised if Jesus himself rode in it.  It's called 'The Jesus Boat'.

After the boat ride, we went to a nearby restaurant and ate "St. Peter's Fish", named of course after Peter the fisherman (and shortly thereafter, the fisher of men).

And as if this day wasn't mind-blowing and emotional enough, we had one more stop to make - the Jordan River, where anyone could get baptized or re-baptized.  Several members of our group decided to do so, and myself and Glen (also from the radio station) had the honour of baptizing.  My wife and I also got re-baptized.  We couldn't pass up the opportunity to be baptized in the same spot where Jesus was baptized.

This day was literally awe-inspiring.  I will never forget it for the rest of my life.  I am still in awe.  One more thing.  I started the day by sharing a devotional.  It centred around what today is - the International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church.  I shared that thousands of Christians around the world lose their lives every year for their faith.  I asked our group to keep that in mind as we toured these sites, realizing that this is why those Christians are so passionate.  I asked them to take it to heart, so that we would get just as excited and passionate as those who stand strong in the face of persecution and death.  After today, it's hard not to be that passionate.

Israel - Day 3

We started out day three in Tel Dan.  When I first saw 'Tel Dan' on our schedule, I thought it was just a nature preserve.  It is, but so much more!  It's the ancient city of the tribe of Dan from the old testament - 3,200 years ago, dating back to the time of Samuel and the prophets.  I'll get to the city in a second, but at the beginning of Tel Dan is one of the tops of the Jordan River (there are three sources to the river).

Further down the Jordan the water is only good for irrigation, but at the top where the river starts, it's so clean that you can drink it.  It was both delicious and refreshing.  I'd say it tasted like water, haha

Then it was actually into the city of Dan, which was built with rocks pulled out of the Jordan river, that were smoothed by the river.  All the rocks are rounded instead of square like many other ancient walls that you see - the reason is that it's literally so old that they didn't have the skills to square the blocks.  I actually liked it better though, really cool look.

What was even more unique though was seeing the literalness of something described in the Bible.  The bible talks about how pagan tribes would try to lure Christians away by building altars around the city.  I never gave that a second thought until I saw it at Tel Dan.  In the picture below, the city gates are in behind (where the lady in the pink is), and in the foreground centre-right is an altar built by pagans trying to lure Christians away.  The idea is that everyone passes through this entrance into the city, and therefore everyone would see the pagan altar and possibly be tempted to leave their own faith for that of the pagans.  Talk about temptation.

Finally in Tel Dan, we came upon an incredible piece of history.  This is the gate where Abraham went through to get Lot (Genesis 14).  The wooden part is support to keep the opening open now.  Barely visible is what is thought to be the oldest arch in the world.  It's a few feet above the door, and it's significant because you can build on top of an arch, and this is the first time it was put into practice.

Then it was off to Caesarea-Philippi.  This is an incredible site.  It's the site where Jesus asks his disciples who people said He was, and then who the disciples said he was (Matthew 16:13).  Peter replied that He was the son of God, the Christ.  Jesus said, "Blessed are you...and I tell you that you are Peter (which means rock), and on this rock I will build my church."  Being here though, you realize the imagery Jesus was referring to.  It wasn't just a metaphor, it was an actual rock at Caesarea-Philippi that they could look at to understand what Jesus meant.  Here's the site, and Glen Sye, a salesperson at LIFE 100.3, leading a devotional for our group while there.

After the devotional, we had some time to explore the area for ourselves.  As we were walking around, trying to put ourselves back 2,000 years ago to picture Jesus talking to the disciples, a group of Nigerians were there, and this happened

This was a totally unplanned God-moment.  I was fighting back tears.  Incredible.  I also met one of the Nigerians, Jonathan, and we talked together as brothers in Christ and encouraged each other.  That too was a cool moment, especially as I do the 'Beyond the Comfort Zone' feature on LIFE, talking about struggles that Christians around the world are facing - Nigeria is one of the worst places.  But his - and his group's faith - was just incredible.

Then it was off to our last stop of the day, the Golan Heights where we were on the top of a mountain.  It was COLD up there,  I was surprised!  Anyway, on this mountain we looked across to Syria, not far away at all.

The green part is Israel, everything else is Syria.  Here we said a prayer for the people of Syria who are stuck in a civil war, with thousands losing their lives.  And this was also a war zone in the past when Syria and Israel fought.  We saw a tank in the middle of a field below, left over from one of the wars.  At the top of the mountain were several bunkers where soldiers could look out and fire on incoming enemies.  And at this point came an unexpected highlight for my wife and I.  We came upon one of the bunkers that descended into complete darkness.

We debated entering and decided to go for it with 27-year old Charles and 73-year old Fran from our group.  As we got to the bottom where we couldn't see anything, we debated what to do as it was literally pitch black and we didn't know what was around us in this damp, dark bunker.  We debated turning back, and that's when Fran piped up - "Come on, follow me", and took the front and led the way through the black tunnel.  It was a wild feel, and Fran quickly became our fearless hero.  My wife and I are uber-impressed with her, especially after finding out later today that she went back to school at 60, and then started a successful PSW business after graduating.  This lady is amazing.

Day three, another incredible day. The cool part was that this was the first place so far that we know FOR SURE that Jesus walked.  Excited for day four tomorrow.

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 !

Getting Ready

Travelling is awesome.  I love going anywhere.  I love to fly.  I love to experience different cultures.  I love history and walking in ancient places.  I love different landscapes, foods, languages, customs...  And I can't wait to jump on a plane in 5 days to head to Israel with 34 LIFE listeners.  It's going to be amazing walking in the places where Jesus and his disciples walked.

That being said, I haven't started preparing for it nearly as much as I'd like.  Ever notice that when you go away, on vacation or a work trip, you're swamped in the couple of weeks leading up to the trip, and swamped when you get back?  The first is because you're working ahead to make sure everything runs smoothly while you're away.  The second is to catch up after you get back.  Travelling is great, but it's a lot of work before and after!

So while I'm excited and it's starting to hit me, I still have about 274 things on my plate that I need to finish first.  Sufficed to say, it's going to be a long weekend  :)   One thing I definitely want to make sure to do is read my bible a lot more this weekend - kind of like studying for an exam where you prepare for what's on the test, here, I'm trying to prepare myself for what I'm going to see, so that I gain so much more of the biblical and historical context.  I'm hoping to blog and/or journal a lot when I'm there, so you can follow along.

On another note and completely unrelated, this video has kept me laughing for the past few weeks, so I thought I'd share.  JEN!

Bittersweet

I've spent the last 6 days cooped up inside my house.  Oh the fall season and it's sickness!  It's been a bittersweet few days.

The bitter:

- I'm going stir-crazy!  I love to be active and love to be outside, so sitting inside for 6 days trying to get better...it's a tough thing for a guy like me.

- I've had to miss a few things I'd like to do - get-togethers with friends, small group, etc

- While you might think, "Oh, six days at home, that's awesome!  It's almost like a vacation!", that's so far from the truth.  There are several reasons: 1) I'm constantly thinking about work, and everything that needs to get done...and with every day that I'm at home, I'm thinking about how much more I'll need to do because I'm falling even more behind.  2) As mentioned above, I haven't done anything - fun or work around the house.  For some that's a great vacation, not so much for me - again, stir-crazy!  3) I've been feeling terrible.  Hence why they're sick days - because you're sick.


The sweet:

- I've spent 6 days at home with my wife and son.  And while I can't do much with them, it's been nice to enjoy their company for an extended period of time.  Despite all the horribleness of the 'bitter' above, this part has been really nice.

- I have a newfound respect for my wife.  I always knew she worked hard at home while I'm at work, but sometimes it's easy to forget just how much she does.  This past week I've seen it first hand - taking care of our son and keeping him entertained (which in itself can be a huge task), keeping the house tidy, making meals, running errands, etc...  She's keeps the house chugging along.


I'm feeling better and am planning to be in at work tomorrow.  So long bitter!...but I'll miss the sweet.

Food for thought

Get it?  Food for thought?  Because it's Thanksgiving...  I'm hilarious.

What are you thankful for?

That's the standard question we all ask and are asked on this weekend.  It's a great time to reflect on the blessings in our lives, and there are so many.  Our families, jobs, food on the table, our warm homes in the winter and cool homes in the summer, money in our bank accounts...the list goes on.  One big one is freedom.  This Thanksgiving weekend, a church will be bombed somewhere in the world.  It won't be in central Ontario because we don't have to worry about that - we have freedom to worship.  Big thanks for that.

But to look at the larger picture, Thanksgiving is one weekend out of 52.  How many other times this year have we stopped just to give thanks to God?  These blessings listed above are not just Thanksgiving blessings, they're with us everyday of our lives.  So why don't we remember them and give thanks for them more often?  Probably because we're used to them.  Probably because we take them for granted.  Probably because we forget how lucky - blessed - we actually are.  Probably because we're selfish and every other day of the year besides Thanksgiving, we complain about how little we have and we want more.

A few years ago I had an epiphany.  We don't give thanks NEARLY enough.  We ask and ask of God, but give thanks so much less.  Let's be honest, a 10 minute prayer would consist of one minute of "Thank you God for..." and nine minutes of "Okay, here's what I need..."  God loves to hear from and help his children, but still, shouldn't it be the other way around?  It's a privilege to talk to God, not a right.  We don't deserve to talk to Him, so it's a bit inconsiderate when all we do is ask.  No one likes that friend who just uses them, but doesn't really want to get to know them.

Tell me if this rings true...you've got a big event coming up at your church/family/personal life.  You spend months in advance praying for it.  You organize prayer meetings at your church, make sure you spend time in prayer everyday as a family, spend lots of time in personal in prayer asking that all would go well.  The big event comes, everything goes perfectly.  You're thrilled!  On a high!  So thankful to God!  You get together with your organizing committee/family and you have a celebratory dinner for a job well done.  You make sure give thanks to God.  And then it's done.  Months of prayer in leading up to it, and a few short, measly prayers afterward to say thanks.  Doesn't really seem equal, does it?

Friday

Ah, it's Friday.  I usually post pretty serious stuff, but today...yep, it's Friday, enjoy a laugh!