Stay The Course

Here’s some food pictures. Can’t have an Israel trip without showing those!

After we put together our video, we thought it would be good if our tour guide did one. Here is Yuval’s debut doing a commercial for Israel.

We put together a promotional video from Jerusalem. We wanted to be able to say hello to everyone back home. Enjoy!

We had a long journey today from Galilee to Jerusalem. It was great to here all the gasps when everyone first laid eyes on the Golden City. We spent time in the City of David, the Southern steps and the Jewish Quarter. Everyone is thoroughly exhausted. Here’s a parting picture of Sunset in the Galilee, Hezekiah’s Tunnel and the Southern steps of the Temple Mount.

Today we visited Balvoir overlooking the Jordan Valley. It was a Crusader fortress with state of the art technology of the day. They actually used metal bands and hot lead to connect the stones. We use that idea today. We also visited Betshean a large Roman version located at the same spot of the Biblical Tel. I’ve included a picture of the public toilets. I’m sure glad we’ve progressed! We also had our Baptism today at Sachne. We had plenty of Sun and warmth and the water was warmer. Always a very special time and privilege for me. The kinds of requests that come from the heart is remarkable. Nobody really asks for anything materially, and nobody asks for a boyfriend or girlfriend or a husband or a wife. It’s completely spiritual in content such as, “I want to be close to him”, “I want to sense his presence more”, “I want to glorify him in a greater way”, “I want to do whatever he wants for my life”. So much of it is a heart of abandon and surrender and it is always pleasing to the Lord. Maranatha!

Because there was a foot of snow on the Golan the road was shutdown to go up further toward a bunker (a guy site). So we ended up going to a business started by a retired General of the IDF. He owns over 200,000 olive trees and makes olive wash and creams that are “good enough to eat”.
They harvest and crush the grapes right on site. They have their own labs and storage vats as well. I’m hoping to get some of the products in our Church Bookstore (ccfingerlakes.org/thechapelstore).

Another fantastic day in the Galillee. Yesterday Capernaum, time of worship on the sea, Mt. Of Beatitudes and more. Today a slower day, starting with Megiddo and ending with a great prayer meeting on the Arbel. The Lord has really been speaking to each individual in the group. I’ve included a front and backside picture of the Arbel and then one of Sunset…and yes, I took these pictures. Miracles happen in Israel! Maranatha!

The weather today was cold and wet, but fantastic anyway. We spent time at Caesarea Phillippi (C.P.) and Tel Dan. We were hoping to go up further into the Golan Heights toward Mt. Hermon, but the roads were shutdown due to a foot of snow! We had snow right around C.P. Israel is sure needing this rain and 3 headwaters of the Jordan are overflowing in record amounts. The Galilleans are parking their cars near the Jordan just to take pictures because they have never seen it like this. I’ve included pics of C.P. the Dan springs, snow covered mountains and the Jordan river overflowing. Oh, desert too. Maranatha!

Our first day we visited Caesarea where Paul was in prison. He gave a great message to Herod in the theatre found in Acts 26. The waves at the shore were 18’! The winds were 50-60mph. Maybe we should have done Acts 27. We also went to Mt. Carmel and looked at 1 Kings 18. The picture is from Carmel looking over the Jezreel valley.