Road Trips to Northern Israel and the Mediterranean Sea

 I am writing this blog at 6:00 in the morning and the sunrise over the Sea of Galilee is in the later stages.  To be wearing shorts and a t-shirt this early in the morning and having light is something that I am not use to.  It also gets dark quite early - 5:00 - which means we need to take advantage of the light and start the day earlier than some would want!  In Saskatchewan, when it is warm out, we have sun til pass 10am, this sunset before supper plays tricks on my mind.

Monday started with a trip to the Northern edge of Israel where we saw the ancient city of the tribe of Dan.  A famous high place is there where the Northern Kingdom worshiped God and the gods of the lands around them.  There is water all around the nature reserve with some springs that flow with great speed.  The forrest is lush and beautiful.  At the edge of the park is a lookout where you can see towns of Lebanon and the trenches that Israeli soldiers used in 1948 to fight their war.  Modern day trenches right beside ancient walls that date to the time of Abraham.  Israel is the place to see history.

Abraham's Gate - Abraham went through this gate to rescue Lot!

The next stop was the ancient site of Caesarea Philippi, one of my favourite places.  It is where Jesus asked the disciples who they thought he was, and Peter answers the question with the Messiah.  Jesus says "upon this rock I will build MY church and the gates of hades will not overcome it".  We see the rock that Jesus may have used as the object lesson and a spot in the rock where occult worship happened and may of referred to the gates of hades.  I always find it powerful that Jesus brought the disciples to this spot, where pagan worship happened all around, to give the vision for HIS church.  Two thousand years later, His church is here giving tremendous strength to the declaration Christ made.

The park also had a waterfall that was great to see and a view of the Herman Mountain Range to the North.  From that spot, we could see a Fortress on a mountain top.  And we thought, why not go check out Nimrod's Fortress!  So we drove up a mountain and played around on the mountain top fortress made in the Middle Ages by the Amyyubids and Mamluks after the Muslims had conquered the Holy Land from the European Crusaders.  There are over 4000 years of history in this land to see and touch!  We had fun exploring the massive fortress and checking out the views from the mountain top!

When we made it back to our home at the Sea of Galilee, everyone was starving and we went out for falafel and shawarma pitas.  So much to see, do, taste, hear, touch and love.

The next road trip was to the magnificent Roman city of Caesarea along the Mediterranean coast.  We dipped our feet into the ocean water, walked along the beach, taking in the sites of an ancient hippodrome and a large Roman theatre that is still in existence today!  This was the city that Paul was taken prisoner before being sent to Rome.  It is also famous for the first gentile, Cornelius, hearing the good news from Peter and his whole family was baptized.  We then went to see the large aqueduct that brought fresh water to Caesarea.  The Romans lived well!!

The next stop was Mount Carmel, the site where fire came down from heaven to start Elijah's altar to Yahweh.  There is a famous statue at the site commemorating the event and a beautiful view of the Jezreel Valley.  This stretch of precious farmland stretches from the Mediterranean Sea to the Jordan River and is where many wars have been fought.  After viewing the sites (while ChristyAnn was having a great chat with the second group of Brazilians she met today), we sat down and had a study from 1 Kings 18.  The place was crowded when we came, but then everyone left, and we had the place to ourselves.  The group appreciated the time to connect, reflect and let it all soak in.

Next stop was Megiddo, an ancient city that is now a world heritage site.  Many archeologists have come to this site as 30 layers of civilization can be found at this spot.  It is also known to be where Armageddon will take place (another war in the Jezreel Valley).  We enjoyed seeing the video explaining the site and strolling around on ancient history.  We saw stables that Solomon made to keep his chariot horses, and a large water system that included walking through a 50 meter tunnel.  Then we went to the gift shop and people purchased different items - Jacob got a Hebrew-English Bible.

After driving back, we again were starving and went out for falafel and shawarma pitas.  So much to see, do, taste, hear, touch and love.

 We have had two great days on our pilgrimage to Israel.  Our desire is to soak in the experience and spend time praying, studying and walking.  We also want to meet other people who are here as visitors and as residents.  This has happened!

We are staying in a house located at Magdal, a few minute drive from the Sea of Galilee shore.  We purchase groceries at a small neighbourhood store (one block away) and a larger market that is a five minute drive.  We buy coffee at Aroma, connect with the neighbours and landlord, have people saying Shalom as they walk by our house.  We have a small feel for what it is to live in the Galilee area of Israel.

We met a Canadian named Paul at Magdala and he was so excited to see people from Saskatchewan that he asked to be our tour guide for Saturday.  After spending some time at Capernaum, the town where Jesus lived, we went to a local congregation of Messianic Jews and spend a few hours worshiping and listening to a sermon (translated into English from Hebrew).  It was great to be with the local Christian community of the Galilee.

Then we went with Paul to see some sights.  He took us to "the City on a Hill" where we spent some time looking at the ruins, found some pottery and glass shards from the Roman time period, and explored the city on the hill that Jesus talks about in Matthew 5.  This site is the city of Hippos and is not a common tourist site, it is new and will become one that is visited more in the future.  We then went back down the windy road (sorry Alysia for the fast turns) and came to a site that some think is where the demonic man was healed and the pigs went into the Galilee (the other option is the more traditional Kursi site).  Joe read the passage and along with Paul shared a great devotional.  Then a tour group from Oregon showed up and we listened to their pastor share on the same passage.  So great to join in with other Christian groups in Israel.

Joe, Daniel (Paul's Friend), Cassidy, Alysia, Jacob, ChristyAnn, Mark, Paul

On Sunday morning we went up to Mount of Beatitudes and read the sermon on the mount together.  We got there at 8:00am and could see the place get much busier as 14 tour busses pulled into the site.  ChristyAnn met a Brazilian family from Sao Paula and was able to practice her Portuguese.  We also were able to find a small quiet space where Jacob shared his testimony as we were next going to the Jordan River for his baptism.

We drove to the Yardenit Baptism Site and had a special moment as we participated in Jacob's baptism.  We had one of the entry areas to ourselves and were able to take some time to soak it in.  It was good!  We also saw lots of people from Mexico coming and getting baptized in the Jordan River.

We then went to Beit She'an and explored another Roman city, and it is massive.  Jacob and Alysia had fun acting out a scene from Shrek at the large stage.  We enjoyed exploring the large Roman Theatre, checking out the ancient public bathrooms, climbing a long hill to see the view from above.  We walked on a Roman road, and saw a gymnasium and ancient bathhouse with hot water cauldron, warm water pools and cold water swimming.  Who needs to go to Rome when you can see sites like this in Israel.

At the end of the day, we thought we might as well have a boat ride on the Galilee.  So we went to the dock and were able to join a tour group of Nigerians that were going for a cruise.  We sang and danced with them, they took more pictures of us than we took of them, and we saw the sunset from a boat on the Galilee.  It was great to hear their pastor share about the story of Jesus walking on water and spend time in prayer.  It was special.

An amazing pilgrimage to Israel.

Israel 2022 - The Sea of Galilee

 In November of 2022, six of us have journeyed together to be in Israel.  Four are a part of our internship program - ChristyAnn Dyck, Alysia Wielinga, Jacob Bendel and Cassidy Janzen.  We are also joined by Joe Siebel who lived in Israel for a school year while in a Masters program.  I feel blessed to be able to take this group to Israel, our second trip based out of the Youth Farm Bible Camp and my fourth journey to the Holy Land.  It was also nice to come to a land with Palm Trees.

We started by going to one of my favourite spots, Magdala.  This is only a 5 minute drive from the house we are staying at and has a recently discovered first century Jewish Synagogue.  A large retreat and conference centre has also been developed on the site.  My favourite building is the Doc Altum.  It is a piece of architectural beauty with many small chapels where individuals or small groups can gather for prayer, reflection or sharing.  The building is dedicated to women in the life of Jesus, both biblical figures and todays women who are disciples of Christ.  In the basement is a beautiful painting depicting the moment a women reached to touch the cloak of Jesus.

As we were sitting and reflecting on the shore of the Sea of Galilee, two men came by with paddle-boards.   I recognized one as Father Kelly, who led a tour for in February, 2022 when Candace, Cassidy and I were in Magdala.  We watched as he was taught how to paddle board and then he gave us a tour of the building, praying with us, and preaching the gospel of Christ.  It was beautiful.  He shared that Migdal has been a place where many denominations can come together and learn from one another, it is a great blessing.

We then went to Tabgha, the site where we believe that Jesus fed the 5000.  Jesus took the time out of a busy day for the people of the Galilee region.  He had just heard that his cousin, John the Baptist was killed.  Then the disciples wanted Jesus to spend time as there shared tales from the ministry trip they had just gone on.  Thousands started gathering all around and the disciples wanted to send the people away.  But Jesus wanted to share a meal with the crowd.  Five thousand received bread and fish that day in a miraculous meal.  I am reminded by this to show compassion to others, even when they seem annoying.

Close to this site is the spot where Jesus fed the disciples breakfast in John 21.  Jesus also commissioned Peter for ministry by asking him three times "do you love me".  A special spot where the resurrected Christ spent time with his disciples.  While there, someone went into the water of the Galilee and started reading the passage to a group of people.  We joined in and heard the scripture and some teaching on the passage.  His name was Adam Brown and he is a seminary professor from Gulf Theological Seminary in Dubai, and a Canadian.  It was great to connect and meet Canadians (we also met some in the morning at Magdala.

It was our first day in Israel and it was good.