Application.

It was my first experience leading a tour.  And it wasn't even really a tour.  Really, I was just showing a couple friends around the country, trying to give them some insight into the land. 

Examining maps.

This whole last semester of school had been spent mostly trying to take knowledge I had gained in the last two years and put it in a format that I could pass on to others in a 15 day period.  This, of course, is impossible.  Thus, even lame attempts (such as mine) earn a passing grade.  That aside, it was a useful project, forcing me to think through the important aspects of each site.  However, it's difficult to design lessons without the chance to practice them on real people.  Thus, it was a blessing that about a week after the conclusion of the project these guests showed up and gave me the opportunity to put some of these hypothetical lessons into practice.

It was quite a week.  We went everywhere.  Well, almost everywhere.  We were severely limited by time...and exhaustion...but we made the most of the time we had.  The first day was spent exploring the Old City, City of David, and Mount of Olives.

Hanging out in Hezekiah's Tunnel

The next day we spent by the Dead Sea, visiting Masada, En Gedi, and Qumran (and, of course, pausing to smear mud on our bodies).  Saturday (the third day) was spent partially on an excursion to Bethlehem where we visited the Church of the Nativity, Stars and Bucks, an olive wood shop, and looked at some wall graffiti.  That took about half the day.  The other half was spent in the Old City, visiting the Church of the Holy Sepulcher and shopping.  Lots of shopping.  

In Bethlehem, proudly displaying our Stars and Bucks purchases.

Sunday we headed north to Galilee, stopping at Caesarea on the way.  We visited the monastery on Mount Carmel, Megiddo, drove over Mount Gilboa, stopping at a couple places to admire the view.  We swung by Beit-Shean for a view of the tel and for a McDonald's ice cream cone before heading on to our campsite on the Sea of Galilee, just in time for a spectacular sunset.

After a rather sleepless night on the hard ground we arose to a scorcher of a day around the lake.  After visiting Capernaum, the Mount of Beatitudes, and Chorazin, we were ready for something cooler.

Visiting the Capernaum Synagogue.

Dan it was, and then Banias.  We drove through the Golan Heights, stopping at Har Bental for a view of Syria, before making our way to Tiberias for dinner.  Chinese.

At this point I should probably mention a small tour group that we kept running into.  I think we first saw them at Mt. Carmel.  No big deal.  Until they followed us to Megiddo.  And Banias.  And then, just as we sat down for dinner at the Chinese restaurant, guess who walked in the door?  We all had a good laugh about that.

We camped out again that night and slept better.  We were the first visitors of the morning at Mount Arbel.  Then to the Turan Ridge were I had heard of another great look-out point.  It was.  A stop at Sepphoris to talk about the life of Christ and Judaism after the destruction of the temple.  Our last stop (of almost the whole trip) was at Azekah, overlooking the Elah Valley were we considered the geographical context of David and Goliath.  We took the scenic route home and ended up wandering through Jerusalem a bit.  It turns out that I only know a very small section of the city well.  We made it home eventually, though, with relatively few problems.

Looking down at our car from the Turan Ridge look-out.

Their last full day was also my last full day, so I needed to pack and clean.  I dropped them off at Yad Veshem and went home to perform those necessary tasks.  And, of course, they ran into the same tour group there.  

Thursday we had a little time before their sherut was to come, so they helped me move stuff into storage at the school and then we went back to the Old City one last time.

Looking back on the "tour," I think I learned a lot.  I learned, for one thing, how exhausting it is to be constantly teaching and trying to answer questions - and I only had two people.  I learned that I have much left to learn and study and put in my notes if I ever want to do a good job as an instructor for a study course (maybe, hopefully, someday?).  I learned that it can be a great blessing, to help people understand the Bible better as they see the land where it took place.