Day 8 - Our Intercessor

A man praying at the Western Wall

Our day started with a 05:45 wake-up call.  We were all on the bus and ready to go by 07:30 AM just like our guide, Hela, wanted.  She's a sweet lady with a ton of knowledge but slightly pushy.  I think all guides have to be a little annoying at times to stay on schedule around here.

We headed first to the Western Wall in the Old City.  The term Western Wall is used for the section traditionally used by Jews for prayer and it has also been called the "Wailing Wall", referring to the practice of Jews weeping at the site over the destruction of the Temples.  It is a section of the retaining wall originally erected as part of the expansion of the Second Jewish Temple by Herod the Great.

The Old City, or Old City of Jerusalem, is a 0.35 sq. mile area within Jerusalem that hold most of the key religious sites.   The Old City is roughly divided (going counterclockwise from the northeastern corner) into the Muslim Quarter, Christian Quarter, Armenian Quarter and Jewish Quarter. The Old City's monumental defensive walls and city gates were built in the years 1535-1542 by the Turkish sultan Suleiman the Magnificent and they are quite impressive.

When entering the Old City you must pass through security similar to an airport except in this case they are staffed by armed IDF soldiers.  Security is good.  You can bet even if you can't see them they can see you.

Honestly the Western Wall didn't do much for me.  I know the Jews believe that this is their most holy site for prayer because it is the closest to the former Second Temple. (destroyed by the Romans).  I think that is sad.

I thank God that I don't need a wall for access to the throne of grace.  I don't have to trust in the high priest interceding for me on the annual Day of Atonement.  Jesus is my great high priest and He continually intercedes for me.

Praise God from who all blessings flow

Praise him all creatures here below

Praise him above ye heavenly hosts

Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost

We also went into the rabbinical tunnels that run underneath and mostly parallel to the Western Wall.

Unfinished blocks being cut out of the stone

Tunnel running next to the Western Wall.
The Western Stone is top, right.

 They were really neat and it was quite interesting to see how much has been buried underground through the years.  Fortunately there weren't too many people down there.  Our guide told us that not all tour groups get approval to go into the tunnels.  There is an approval process where she provides our names and passport numbers to the authorities before we are cleared to enter.  Again, some good behind the scenes security.

The ancient people were very good at working with and moving rock.  Hela showed us one block of stone in the Western Wall that was around 45 feet long, 9 feet high, and weighs approx. 570 tons.  It is known as the Western Stone.

View from the Mount of Olives

After the tunnel we headed back to the bus and headed up to the Mount of Olives.  The Mount of Olives is east of the Old City.  Between the Old City and the Mount of Olives is the Kidron Valley.  Until 1967 the Mount of Olives was part of Jordan and has very narrow streets.  Our bus driver, Amir, is amazing and did a great job getting us there.  He is a great communicator with the two bus horns.

It was really busy on the Mount of Olives.  We took a quick group photo and then headed to a little alcove to read scripture.  It was an amazing location with a view over the Temple Mount and the rest of Jerusalem.  As a photographer I would love to be there at sunrise.

Panoramic view from the Mount of Olives

Teardrop Church is behind the trees.  We gathered near the
blue shirts.

We slowly made our way down the hillside and stopped at the location traditionally thought to be where Jesus wept over Jerusalem.  Hela read the passage in Luke Ch. 19 and then Reggie asked Mark Harris to read the Gethsemane passage from Mark Ch. 14 and then prayed.  Kim and I were asked to sing something so we did the doxology as quoted earlier.  Afterward, Hela asked for Find Us Faithful again.  In case I haven't mentioned it I've already sung it twice for her.  I'll cut her a little slack though.  It's her favorite song and she even got permission to use some of the words in the chorus as a quote in a book she wrote.

We moved into the nearby Teardrop Church, Dominus Flevit (which translates from Latin as "The Lord Wept", fashioned in the shape of a teardrop to symbolize the tears of Christ.) and very soon we had it almost to ourselves.  As Gethsemane doesn't have any place to gather as a group and since we had just read the scripture, we elected to sing the Gethsemane Hymn here.  The church is also known for great acoustics.  Yes, it has great acoustics.  It was amazing.  The song just seemed to build.  I heard that several people came in and watched as well.  What an appropriate song.

To see the King of heaven fall

In anguish to His knees

The Light and Hope of all the world

Now overwhelmed with grief

What nameless horrors must He see

To cry out in the garden

Oh take this cup away from Me

Yet not My will but Yours

Yet not My will but Yours.

The view from the church

We continued on down the Mount of Olives (that sounds surreal) to the Garden of Gethsemane, home

2,000 yr old trees in the Garden of Gethsemane

of the oldest known trees (olive trees) in the world according to National Geographic (and our guide, maybe we need a fact checker for these guides).  I'm surprised there isn't a church built around it as well, but not yet.  There IS a church right next to it though, the Church of All Nations, also known as the Church or Basilica of the Agony.  It enshrines a section of bedrock where Jesus is said to have prayed before his arrest.

Outside the Basilica of the Agony

Inside the Basilica of the Agony

From here we got on the bus and went to lunch.

After lunch we headed over to Bethlehem, just over 4 miles from Jerusalem.  However, it's in the West Bank under Palestinian control so Hela could not go with us because she is Jewish and they are forbidden.  Our bus driver took us through the security checkpoint and then we met our Palestinian guide on the other side.

Bethlehem is very commercialized and also full of tourists.  There was a cruise ship group there

The Church of the Angels

today, somewhere around 17 buses of people so we did a little shopping in an olive wood store first.  After 30 minutes or so there our guide told us that the queue was still very long at the birthplace of Jesus so we headed over to the shepherd's field.  There's nothing particularly sacred about the site per se, but it does have some Byzantine ruins, the Church of  the Angels, and a good view of the hills and distant Jerusalem.  Did the shepherds hear the Good News here?  Maybe, maybe not, but it's possible and anyway the location would've been very similar.

View near the Church of the Angels.  Jerusalem can be seen in the distance.

More scripture was read in the church and then we were supposed to sing Emmanual (Hallowed Manger Ground).  However,  I forgot to bring the backpack with words and I got a bunch of blank stares when I asked how many knew the song so instead we sang the first verse of O Come, O Come Emmanuel.  More great acoustics.  The minor key sounded great.  We had the small church to ourselves so it was another great moment of worship.  Unsure of video.  Haven't found any yet.

We finally headed to the Church of the Nativity and found that our timing was good.  The line into the small cave or grotto where many

Heading down into the grotto

people believe Jesus to have been born was short.  Our guide was very helpful in getting us time in the small grotto and also was able to get us a small space in the side of the cave to sing.  Fresh out of songs we sang Joy To The World and it was awesome.  We sang it loud and clear and rejoiced that He rules the world with truth and grace.

And it was really hot down there.  Too many people, not enough air.

Greek Orthodox part of the church

We walked back to the bus and rode back to the hotel where Hela met us and gave our marching orders for tomorrow morning, a mirror image of today's start.

I need a vacation.

Randy

Day 7 - Approaching Jerusalem

David Dead Sea Resort & Spa

No wake-up call today.  We didn't leave the David Dead Sea Resort & Spa until 10:00 AM.  That was a nice change.  It's a little breather for the last, final days in Jerusalem.

Actually, that got me thinking today about what Jesus must have been thinking in the days before he
arrived at Jerusalem for the final time.  We traveled today from approximately 1500 feet below sea level and steadily rose up to around 2500 feet as we reached Jerusalem late in the day.

And our arrival was a little bittersweet for me.  It marks the beginning of the end of our journey.  We
only have 2 full days left, all in Jerusalem or Bethlehem, while at the same time seeing Jerusalem was like coming home.  We stopped at an overlook with a great view of the old city, the wall and temple mount, and there was a great longing to be there even knowing that it's the end.

Pool area at the resort

Good and bad, but all necessary.

But I get ahead of myself.

I actually crawled out of bed early and got to the beach area just after sunrise.  Found another photographer already there, a wild man from Tennessee.  No wind so I was able to compose this photo, my favorite of the morning.

Dead Sea Reflection

Our fist stop was Masada.  Masada is the most visited site in all of Israel and that's saying something.  It is not really a religious site from a protestant point of view but it is very important to the Israeli's due to its history.  You can read about it here.  It was packed with people.  Once again Hela was able to find a space for us to gather out of the crowds.  Reggie read Psalm 18 and then we sang two verses of A Mighty Fortress is Our God (due to time limitations).

Reggie took a video of one verse and has posted it on Facebook.  I figured out how to imbed the video from Facebook.  Here you go:

After that the group split up.  About half the group decided to hike down from Masada and the rest of the group continued the tour and rode the cable car down to the base where we would meet up.  Yes, I did the hike.  It was fun.  Good to stretch the legs and exercise a little and the views across to the Dead Sea were fantastic.

View down the Snake Trail and out to the Dead Sea

Desert canyon viewed from the Snake Trail

Vew back up the Snake Trail to Masada.
Our crew can be seen on the slope.

From Masada we took a quick stop at En Gedi.  En Gedi is where David hid from Saul.  Crazy that I

En Gedi

Small waterfall at En Gedi

was there.  It is literally an oasis in the desert.  There is fresh running water and waterfalls and, of course, caves in the hills.  It was a beautiful spot but little time to enjoy.  We had to keep a tight appointment at Abraham's tent because Max's people were coming after us.  On the way out of the park we spotted a couple of small Ibex (wild goat) in the distance.

Acacia tree at En Gedi

Abraham's tent is located in Judea near the possible location in Canaan that he would have lived.  It is really just a tourist location for lunch but they provide a camel ride to the tents and Abraham speaks to you about his life and what it means to be a guest in his tent.  It was the best food we've had on the

View from Abraham's tent

trip.  And they would keep bringing it until you begged them to stop.  And it was part of the trip so no additional cost.

And those who rode a camel got their international camel driver's license.  That may come in handy when I get back to Kentucky.

From Abraham's tent it was a relatively short drive to Jerusalem.  We stopped at an overlook so Hela could give us a little background and overview and then we headed to our hotel in East Jerusalem, the Grand Hotel.

Shalom

Day 6 - Breaking Chains

We had another gorgeous sunrise this morning in Tiberius.  This IS the day that the Lord has made.

Late 4th century synagogue built on top of  the ruins
of the "Synagogue of Jesus"

We started by driving to the northern end of the Sea of Galilee to Capernaum.  Capernaum was great.  Weather was fantastic.  Crowds were low.  We saw Peter's house. Crazy, I know.

We had another amazing devotion time near the shore.  Another convicting talk by Reggie.  He's gotta stop that.  We had a little talk about it afterwards but I don't think I made any progress.  He's a stubborn man.  Can you believe he basically laughed in my face?  Here's the devotional:

Briefly explored the site afterwards, including the synagogue area.  The main one you see in the photos was built around 400 AD on top of the synagogue from the time of Jesus.  You can see the stones from the original building underneath.  Well, you can't.  But I did.

Byzantine church at Kursi, circa 6th century

From Capernaum we added a stop at Kursi, also known as Gergessa or the "Land of the Gadarenes" where the miracle of the swine took place.  See Luke 8:26-39.  This is actually the eastern side of the Sea of Galilee which was where gentiles lived at the time.  Reggie talks about that in the video below.  This is the longest video so far at around 8 minutes.  He got on a roll.  Aren't you glad that Jesus wasn't afraid to visit the "other side"?

We threw in Tomlin's Amazing Grace (My Chains are Gone) afterward.  No video.  The chorus was quite appropriate.

My chains are gone

I"ve been set free

My God my Savior 

Has ransomed me

And like a flood His mercy reigns

Unending love, amazing grace

From there we began our trek to southern Israel with our final destination at the Dead Sea.

First stop south was a baptismal site on the Jordan River.  This particular place on the Jordan is just south of the Sea of Galilee so it was a short drive.  There was 1 baptism and about 19 re-dedications including myself.  Kim elected to not do it and that was probably a good decision because the women had a little trouble with footing and she is still struggling with her ankle.

It was a great time with the group.  Several of the couples did the re-dedication together with the husband baptizing the wife and it was obviously a special occasion for all and many tears were shed.

We also sang Shall We Gather at The River.  It's a rather obvious choice here.  Nonetheless I think all will agree that the songs we sing here will have more significance in the future.

Yes we'll gather at the river

The beautiful the beautiful river

Gather with the saints at the river

That flows by the throne of God

After the dunking, we traveled south to the Qumran Caves where the Dead Sea scrolls were found.

Again today I was struck by the sudden changes in landscape and climate within a very small area.  Less than 5 minutes from the Jordan River baptism site we were in the arid desert.  Here are some pictures around the Qumran Caves.

View of the Dead Sea from the Qumran ruins.  The hills of Moab
are on the other side of the sea

The first cave where scrolls were found

Looking closely you can see additional caves in the hills.
More may yet be undiscovered.

The Dead Sea is the lowest point in the world at 1412 feet below sea level.  Actually the level is less than this now as it continues to drop every year.  The water is a beautiful blue/green hue with salt along the edges.  The water is very high in salt and other minerals so nothing can live in it.  In fact, it has 34.2 percent salinity, almost 10X higher than normal salt water.  We were cautioned not to get any water in our eyes as it is very painful and dangerous.  I can confirm that any small scratch will burn in the water also.

From our last stop we drove on down to our stop for the day, the David Dead Sea Resort & Spa.  It was a very nice hotel.

We quickly changed and made our way down to the beach.  It took some time to get towels and wraps from the hotel staff but we managed.  Swimming in the Dead Sea was really cool but there can't be any horseplay because it is dangerous as discussed earlier.  The water is more for therapeutic purposes and for your skin.  There are skin products everywhere.  After being in the water and floating (phenomenal) your skin does indeed feel different.  It was a neat experience. I didn't get my camera close to the water but a guy in our group did and took our picture as we floated.  Hopefully I'll get the photo to post here.

Another wonderful day.

Randy

Day 5 - The Master of the Sea

Day 5 started with a really short night.  Somehow we managed to arrange our trip so we could

Sunrise in Tiberias

experience losing sleep as a freebie.  In this case the whole Daylight "Savings" Time thing caught us.  So, one less hour last night.  The big plus is that sunrise is later and there is more daylight at the end of the day for photography.  Here is sunrise this morning over the Sea of Galilee from our balcony. Very nice start to the day.

We had a busy day scheduled and traveled first to the Mount of Beatitudes.  The Lucado group was already there and it was busy.  Still, we were able to find a nice area to meet as a group and read scripture.  The grounds are beautiful and really well done.  There are many areas that groups can use for devotional times and reflection.

Looking towards the Sea of Galilee from the
Mount of Beatitudes

 Indeed, the side of the hill does slope gradually down towards the water and with some imagination you could easily see several thousand people sharing the hillside.

I don't know what it was about the place, whether it was the scripture reading or perhaps just grasping the significance and history of the location but I was deeply moved.  We decided to do an improptu song at the end of the devotion and sang the traditional version of Amazing Grace.  It was a sweet time with sweet people.  Reggie uploaded a short clip and I finally figured out how to embed the video here.

I can only imagine how amazing the place can be without the crowds.  Our guide counted 25 buses.  It didn't bother us in the least.

The view near Abraham's Gate toward Syria (other side
of mountain)

From there we headed north to Tel Dan National Park.  We were literally 36 miles from Damascus, Syria and even closer to Lebanon.

First of all, the area was beautiful.  This is near the headwaters of the Jordan River and has several cold springs and mountain springs from Mt. Hermon on the Syrian border.

We read about Jeroboam and how he set up idol worship and how God cut him off, him and his offspring.  We saw the actual altar and worship site.  Reggie brought up the point that while Jeroboam's idol worship was public and obvious, we all have our own idols.  We all have things that we deem more important than God, things that we spend more time with than God and they are all idols, false gods that should be destroyed.  I didn't like it.  He stepped all over my toes.

Wall from Jeroboam's time

This is the remains of the actual altar that Jeroboam set up
for idol worship

Abraham's Gate, circa 1750 B.C.

Also at Tel Dan and discovered in 1979 is an old city gate, called the Canaanite Gate or Abraham's Gate that is from the 18th century B.C., the time of Abraham.  Yes, that's right.  It's the oldest site in Israel.  It's called Abraham's Gate because it is thought that Abraham may have entered through this gate to rescue his nephew Lot from the people of Dan.

Ok, so now we've also walked with Abraham.  Cool.

Next was Caesarea Phillipi, I'll let Reggie do the talking.  It was convicting and I told him to stop it. (sarcasm)

It was another beautiful site in northern Israel.  Not much remains to be seen here but remnants of the temples to various gods.

The temple to Pan was at the base of the bluff.  The clear waters
flow from Mt. Harmon to form the Jordan River

Next was lunch.  We drove back down to the Sea of Galilee to have a little fish.  The locally raised

fish is called the St. Peter's fish.  If there is another name I don't know it.  We ate outdoors under a huge pavilion near the shore.  Fish was average to be honest, about like tilapia but it was more about the experience.

Next we drove to see the traditional location in John Ch. 21 where Jesus appeared to the disciples for the fourth time after his resurrection (when Jesus told them to cast their net on the right side of the boat to catch fish).  Our guide discussed the reasons why this was the likely site and it was logical.  The Church of the Primacy of St. Peter is built around the rock where Jesus would have likely prepared their breakfast.  An interesting place.

The rock.  Not Peter the rock, just the rock.

The church built around the rock and the shoreline

It's hard to pick a highlight for this day but perhaps it was the boat ride across the Sea of Galilee.  It was an opportunity to slow down and relax, to really absorb what I had seen and where I was.  Again, Reggie gave a great devotion and then Kim and I sang Master of the Sea, an old Squire Parsons song that could not have possibly been more appropriate.

One night upon the sea

A ship was tossing to and fro

Breakers dashed on ev'ry hand

Angry winds around did blow

All on board were filled with fright

As the mighty billows rolled

Then they called upon the One

Who the winds and waves controlled

When He reaches out His hand

Billows cease at His command

Winds and waves obey His will

When He says to them be still

What Man is this they all did say

That the winds and sea obey

He's the One who sails with me

He's still the Master of the sea

Here is Reggie's devotion minus some funny stuff that Teana did to him.  I may post that to facebook later.

Reggie took a video of us singing and posted it to vimeo.  However, it's about the same as this one below.

We landed at our hotel and called it a day.

Ok, we ate first, then we went to bed.

Not exactly.  Kim went to bed and I stayed up late working on yesterday's blog.

Like right now.

Shalom.

Randy

Day 4 - Find Us Faithful

I decided to start early today for a couple of reasons.  First, I wanted some quiet time to reflect on what I've experienced and what is to come.  I also wanted to do a little photography in early morning light.

Well, no great weather for photography.  It was windy and overcast.  I've looked at my shots and they're blah.  But it was a great time to slow down and have quiet reflection in preparation for a busy schedule.  I'll share a couple just because it still gives an impression of the area.

Just across the street from our hotel

View down the cliff to the Med.

Today we were starting at Caesarea by the Sea( or Caesarea Maritima, still known as Caesarea today), followed by Mt. Carmel and Nazareth and then overnighting in Tiberius on the shore of the Sea of Galilee.

The Pilate Stone

Caesarea was built by Herod and the ruins are fantastic.  We primarily looked at the amphitheater,
hippodrome, and what is known as the Pilate Stone.  The Pilate Stone is the only ancient item that mentions the Roman prefect Pontius Pilate besides the Bible.

We also ran into a huge group of tourists following some guy named Max Lucado around the Holy Land.  I heard some part-time singer named Matt Maher is doing the music too.  We've got Reggie Weems and ... yea, never mind.

The Roman amphitheater with 350 Lucado fans

Good and bad about this little turn of events, mostly bad for us as they have about 350 people and they seem to be following the same schedule as our group.  We ran into the "masses" a few times today.

Anyway, as a result we got run out of the amphitheater where our guide was going over the scriptural background for Ceasarea.  Oh, and I was going to sing in the amphitheater too.  It was a great location.  That didn't happen (big sigh, but how many can say they got bumped by Matt Maher?) and our guide was really miffed when she was told they had the place "reserved".  How can you reserve a free and open space in a national park she argued.  To no avail obviously.

Back to Caesarea.  It is mentioned many times in Acts and was visited by Paul on numerous occasions.  And so we stood on the ruins of the Roman empire and considered all of those who had gone before us and sang these words:

Oh may all who come behind us find us faithful

May the fire of our devotion light their way

May the footprints that we leave lead them to believe

And the lives we live inspire them to obey

Oh may all who come behind us find us faithful

Here is a clip from the first part of the song:

It was a good theme for the day as we began following in the footsteps of Christ.

One can almost imagine how magnificent Herod's palace was next to the sea along with the nearby entertainment venues, the hippodrome and amphitheater.  Here are a few shots from the grounds.

View looking down the hippodrome from near Herod's palace

The front of the palace

The end of the hippodrome where the chariots have to make the tight turn.
Remember the movie Ben Hur?  Herod's palace is in the background
towards the sea.  Part of the ruins are underwater. He had a nice breeze.

More ruins next to the hippodrome.  Didn't read what they were.

Leaving this specific area, we headed down to see the nearby ruins of the Roman aquaduct.  Very nice also.

Modern Caesarea is once again the residence of the local authorities as Israel's prime minister has a home here and this entire area on the coast of the Mediterranean is well maintained with beautiful landscaping and flowers in abundance.

From the aquaduct we headed up to Mt. Carmel.  Fairly significant traffic but manageable.

Mt. Carmel was super busy and to be honest didn't do much for me.  We read the scriptures in I Kings that describes Elijah's challenge to the prophets of Baal and what occurred on the mountain but the busy-ness took all of the joy out of it for me.  Just being honest.  The view was pretty good but hazy.  All the wildflowers around the mountain were probably the highlight for me.  Ha ha.

View from Mt. Carmel

Next we stopped for lunch before heading to Megiddo.  Another good lunch.  The restaurant is owned by a Druze family.  I have never heard of this people group but they consider themselves descendants of Jethro.  Info on them.

Megiddo is a tel or artificial hill made from the remains of past civilizations and it overlooks the Jezreel valley.  The Greek name for Megiddo is Armageddon.  Archaeologists have found the remains of 20 discreet civilizations here.  We had very little time here because we had to keep an appointment in Nazareth to see a carpenter.  Just kidding, but we did have an appointment.  Here is Megiddo.  It was cool to see some really, really old remains but that got dwarfed on Day 5.  Yes, that's a teaser.  I'm a tease.  A few pics from Armageddon.

Layers of civilization

The Jezreel Valley in the distance

Late Bronze Age city gate

Ok.  Across the Jezreel Valley to Nazareth.  Nazareth was not what I expected.  For some reason I had imagined Jesus growing up in this dusty, little village that was in a semi-arid and flat topography.  Not so, my friend.

Shepherd at Nazareth

Nazareth is very hilly and, at least in March, lush with green grass and wild flowers in abundance.  But it IS really hilly and rocky.  In fact, Hela pointed out the mostly likely route that Jesus would have taken from Nazareth to the Sea of Galilee and it wasn't easy.  A road trip back then was an entirely different adventure my friend.  

We went to Nazareth Village which is an authentic recreation of life in the time of Jesus.  They use similar materials to make the buildings and practice the skills that were common, such as weaving, carpentry, and tending a flock.  Our guide was excellent.  The time of Christ came alive and many parables and object lessons were made clearer simply by seeing and touching and hearing.

Probably my favorite part was seeing the vineyard.  They have uncovered a

Top Lt, watchtower, middle is the wine
press and wine flowed through the notch
into a small cistern at the bottom

wine press and terraces on the property that date to the time of Christ along with nearby ruins of a watchtower.  What?  A vineyard maybe 15 minutes from where Jesus grew up?  What are the odds that it was this particular vineyard that Jesus describes in Matthew 21:33 -

"There was a master of a house who planted a vineyard and put a fence around it and dug a wine press in it and built a tower ..."

I think the odds are good.

A long day, but a good day.  Last stop was the hotel in Tiberius, next to the Sea of Galilee.

Tiberius

Until next time,

Randy