Galilee, Day 3

October 27, 2008

Time for more tea and more impressions. Today was another full day. I’ll start with the highlights (places I enjoyed most).

1. I got to see the Jordan River! I think I may have caught a glimpse of it before, but for heaven’s sake! This is the end of my second month in Israel on my second trip here. The Jordan is one of the most famous places in this land, probably mostly because of spirituals. I mean, really, rarely would you meet someone who has heard of Beth Shean, much less knows where it is. Everyone knows about the Jordan. So it was about time that I got to see it! I was a little disappointed that the waters didn’t part when I put my foot in it, but I guess I wasn’t carrying the ark, after all, and shouldn’t be too distraught. I did get to see an amazing green and orange bird, though, so that made up for it.

2. Dr. Wright surprised us with a boat ride this morning! We just went out for a bit and came back, but it was lovely. It was interesting to learn a bit about fishing and the types of nets used. The best part was seeing Dr. Wright walk on water, though. It was nice that the rain let up for most of the ride too.
3. Mt. Arbel. Enough said. Ok, maybe not. We got to hike down the cliff and look into a few of the caves.
I didn’t see as many caves as I would have liked because I didn’t think I’d have time before it got dark. Oh well. It still amuses me so much that they have hand hold and foot holds built into the trail. I mean, it’s really nice. I’m not sure that I would have been brave enough otherwise to come down it, especially since it was a bit slick after the rain. But the trail really wasn’t much worse than some places around Natural Bridge or Monument, and those don’t have hand-holds. We joke around that in America if someone falls off a cliff they or their surviving kin sue for damages (“Why didn’t you warn me that standing near a cliff was dangerous?!”) In Israel they say, “Oh, you fell off a cliff? Stupid you.” As true as that may be, they sure have a lot more signs and rails and such around here. Of course, that is probably because it also has a denser population. These places probably get hundreds of visitors weekly, if not daily. Monetarily it just isn’t feasible to put these sort of safe guards all over Montana. At any rate, back to the point, Arbel was really beautiful. We even saw a bit of a rainbow, which pretty much made my day. We serve an amazing God!
Those were the beginning, ending, and somewhere in the middle of my day. The rest of the day wasn’t bad. We went to Qazrin, Kursi, and Capernaum. All of which I had been to before. In fact, the only new place for me today was the Jordan. I got to see a few different parts of the places I’d been (like the cistern at Kursi
and the “flying-saucer-church” at Capernaum) and I got to hear a different perspective on some things along with some new information, but a lot of it was review. Which isn’t bad. I admit, though, as much as I need review, I enjoy learning new things more.

Fortuantely, I did learn some new things. 
1. I learned that this northern area had 5 geo-political divisions (Philip’s territory, Galilee, Tyre/Syrio-phonecia, Decapolis, and Samaria. Of those, only Galilee was “Comfortably Jewish,” and it was in the middle of all the rest. By putting his home base here, Jesus was still focused on the Jews, but available to all sorts of people.
2. I learned that the job description of a disciple was someone that Jesus wanted so they could be with him. (Mark 3:13-14) We also talked a little about the 12 – their backgrounds and such.
3. When Jesus “crossed over” the sea He probably didn’t go straight across it in either direction. It probably was often as little as from Capernaum to Bethsaida: simply a crossing from one of the five ‘valleys’ around the sea to the next one, or similarly, from one geopolitical region to the next.
4. In Mark 5:1 Jesus arrives in one of these regions from somewhere “across” the sea. Some translations call it the “Land of the Gadarenes” or Gedera. Others call it Gerasa, and get others say it was Gergasa. The funny thing about Gerasa especially is that it is about 40 miles from the Sea of Galilee and 3000ft higher. That translation doesn’t seem so likely. Gedera is closer but still a ways from the sea. The only one really on the sea (which is pretty necessary for this story) is Gergasa (today known as Kursi). All three places have remains of Byzantine churches to commemorate this event. I think we’ll get to visit Gerasa on our Jordan trip.
This is at the church at Gergasa:

5. At Qazrin (or Qatzrin or to really Americanize it, Katsrine) we heard a story about wine-making at JUC. Sounded pretty nasty. We watched a video about the Talmud. I found it really terribly confusing. I couldn’t follow the logic of the presentation. We also looked there at a reconstructed house and the remains of a Synagog from near Jesus’ time. It gave a decent idea of what He would have been familiar with, and what he probably built as a carpenter in his own village.
6. Logically, if Joseph was going to Bethlehem for the census, that would mean he was from there and probably had family of some sort still there. Which means he probably would have stayed with family. In Middle Easter culture, generally there is a front “public” room where guests stay. A little further in is the room where the animals stay in inclement weather. Since the shepherds were out watching their flocks, we must assume that it was summer and the weather was fine and there were no animals in the “stable.” In a sense, then, it was an honor for Mary and Joseph to be taken out of that public room and brought further back into the house. Now that’s quite a different take on the story of the nativity.
7. At Capernaum it poured. For probably about 10 minutes.
We weren’t in it for most of the time, but we did manage to get fairly wet. We sat out most of it in the church built over the supposed sight of Peter’s house (or that of his in-laws) where Jesus is supposed to have stayed.

I’ll end with that. Time to go re-pack and make sure I’m all set to head “home” tomorrow. Strange how quickly Jerusalem has become home. I’ve enjoyed Galilee, but I’ll be glad to go back too.

Hinnom Flood

I interrupt the Galilee saga for a breaking news story. Tonight, in an unprecedented move, the clouds over the city of Jerusalem have proceeded to dump torrents of water upon the unsuspecting and unprepared populous. The result is water filling the streets and rushing down sidewalks. Cars plow through puddles a foot or more deep. The Hinnom Valley (aka "Hell") has a river running through it. I guess we can't say that hell froze over, but it sure flooded!

So yeah, all joking aside, it really poured tonight. I was in the library around 4 when someone told us to look out the window. We are on the edge of the Hinnom Valley, and as we looked out we could see a river running through it. Can you imagine the flash flooding taking place in the Judean wilderness?? I went down in the valley with a couple other people and took pictures in the rain of the torrents of water. It was getting dark so some of them aren't that great, but I'll try to post a couple to give you an idea. This sort of thing doesn't happen in Jerusalem all that often.

Galilee, Day 2

October 26, 2008
Looking back, it is amazing to me how much, and yet how little, we’ve done today. Perhaps it’s just that there is a completely different feel and completely different goals on this trip as compared to a short-term trip. I think we had 6 stops today and a little time to explore each of them. On the short term trip I know that we stopped a couple of the same places, but I remember being so much more rushed. I think on the same day was stopped at least as many places (though I think we were stressing places of New Testament significance more) and started later and got back earlier. All that to say that I’m enjoying visiting a few different sights, and having more time to explore a few of the same sites, and just over all getting a different feel for the land. I was so disoriented on that first trip most of the time.

At any rate, it was a good day. We started briefly at a sort of war memorial at Gadot? From there we could look over the Huleh basin, see the rise of the basaltic plug (Rosh Penah), and see the natural crossing point (the “bridge of Jacob’s daughters”). We could also see the fences with the signs, “Danger! Mine Field!” Which immediately brings to mind that song by Petra…but anyway. It’s kind of sad that so much good land can’t be put to use because of mine fields.


From there we crossed to the other side of the Huleh basin and stopped in Hazor. I was really excited to see Hazor. It has the third Solomonic Gate (so now I’ve seen all of them!)

and it has Middle Bronze remains (which we learned about in Archaeology). It’s a huge tel with upper and lower cities. In its heyday, it was around 200 acres in size, which, for a city of that time, was really huge. Especially for Palestine. They’ve found scattered cuniform tablets around the site (from Middle and Late Bronze Ages) and are currently still searching for an archive.

We spend some time, in what was probably a Bronze Age temple or palace, while the rain poured down, looking at the battle of Joshua against King Jabin of Hazor. (See Joshua 11.) It’s really an interesting story. Jabin did not do what I would have done, knowing the geography. (Which is not to say that he didn’t know the geography, just that he made an odd choice.) At any rate, Joshua defeated Jabin and his armies and took Hazor and burned it. It’s possibly that his destruction of Hazor is still in evidence today in the form of cracked basalt bricks (as sign it's been burned) from around that time.

Side note on the Huleh basin: it contains the combination of the best soils, in a warm area, with lots and lots of water. Continuous growing season. Apparently, if alfalfa were planted, you could get up to 18 cuttings a year? How amazing is that??

The next stop was Dan. I like Dan. Dr. Wright said that the water is as low as he’s seen it in years, but it still seemed like a lot of water to me, especially when compared to everything else I’ve seen in this land. It was amazingly lush and green. We got to see the Canaanite gate (an arch!), like the one in Ashkelon.

I’d seen it before, but I think I appreciate its significance a little more now. We saw what is generally thought to be the high place of Dan (though Dr. Barkai apparently thinks it’s more likely a palace of some sort because of its architecture). We also saw an Israeli bunker and looked into Lebanon.

My favorite parts of Dan were…(in no particular order)
1. The Winnie the Pooh tree. (Yes, that's me in the tree.)

2. The sign near the tree that said, “Invertebrates Research Area. Do Not Enter the Water!” I’m not sure what kind of invertebrates were being researched (though I saw a lot of snails around), but apparently, most humans are not spineless enough to be on their list.
3. Wading in the pool (where it was allowed). The water is the coldest natural water I’ve felt here yet. Not quite Boulder-River-painful-numbing-cold, but close. (wading pool below)

4. Acorn Ian.
5. Wandering with water and greenery.


After Dan we went to Baniass or Banyas or Panias or Caesarea Philippi. Really, who knew one place could have so many different names with so many different spellings?! It was interesting to talk about reasons why it was likely that this was the region of the transfiguration (Mt. Hermon). It was interesting to note that after the transfiguration, Jesus is about as far away from Jerusalem as He ever gets. And he immediately “sets his face” towards Jerusalem and makes his way there. A nine month “triumphal march” through all the territories he had visited before, ending in the “triumphal entry.”


We stopped momentarily just outside a Druze city to buy apples and look at a crater lake. It’s a volcanic area. Perhaps I’m displaying my ignorance, but would that be a caldera? I ate one of my apples tonight – yummy! I really liked that area. It was fun to see the reflectors along the road for the snow plows. It was fun to be in a mountainous area, to be in the wind, and to feel like it’s fall.

The last stop of the day, just in time for sunset, was the top of Bental, a basaltic cone with a decommissioned military base on top.
(Here we are exploring some of the tunnels)

The cone has eroded into more of a horseshoe shape, but hey. There are not a whole lot of Biblical stories of this area – it’s really a land between. One notable exception is the story of Og, the King of Bashan. The other exception, which oddly I had never thought about, is the story of Saul’s conversion. The road to Damascus travels right by these basaltic cones, so it’s likely he was in that area when God caught him. We couldn’t quite see Damascus from where we were, but we could see the border between Syria and Israel.

The nations have been warring for thousands of years over this land. Lord, come soon and bring peace!

Galilee, Day 1

I have just reterned from a 4 day trip to Galilee and you know what that means! Lots of new blogs posts. So here I'll attempt to post the impression report from my first day. Maybe I'll even be able to add pictures. :) It's a bit long, so feel free to skim.


October 25, 2008
As I sit myself down with a nice cup of tea at the end of a long day in the field, I find myself rejoicing, still, for this amazing opportunity. Every now and then it hits me again, how amazing this all is. (Side note: here at the Sea of Galilee we are below sea level, which means water boils at a slightly higher temperature. I’ve always wanted to make tea below sea level!)

Today I was thinking about Montana, as I often find myself doing. I’m sometimes afraid that I talk (and think) about Montana too much; I really hope I don’t annoy people with my Montana references. At any rate, that got me to thinking about the longest period of time I’ve actually been out of Montana. Pervious to this trip the longest I’d been out of the USA was 3 weeks. I’ve surpassed that! I think the longest that I’ve been outside my home state is two months, when I worked at a camp in Alaska. So, by the end of this semester, I’ll have been away from Montana for a record amount of time. It kind of made me feel like a hick. Most people go away to college or get married and move across the country, or move from state to state with their parents. I don’t really think of myself as a “home-body,” but the fact is, I’ve spent most of my life in a 200 mile radius. Of course, it’s been my dream for years to live and minister overseas (long-term). Perhaps this is a good start.

Today we started our field study at Caesarea. It was a beautiful day. A bit hazy, but not too hot and not too cold. It is a very different feeling place from Jerusalem, with good reason. The geography is totally different and they were built and inhabited for totally different reasons. Jerusalem looked to God (ideally); Caesarea looked to Rome. For the Jews, the “Uttermost parts of the earth” (mentioned in Acts 1:8) started at Caesarea. It was a different world. Today, as secular Jews played on the beaches there, while orthodox Jews remained in their synagogues in Jerusalem, it’s still a different world.

We were able to spend a little time looking over Caesarea. Never enough, but it was a start. We got to see the remains of Herod’s palace and watch little fish swim in what used to be a fresh water pool, right on the edge of the ocean. We sat and talked for a while in what is likely the remains (or on top of the remains) of the Praetorium where Paul was imprisoned. We got to see the theatre and the aqueducts (both evidence of Roman domination). How fun would it be to perform a play on that stage? Someday, when I’m rich and famous, I’m going to bring my drama students over here and we’ll perform in Caesarea’s theatre.
(Here's part of the Aqueduct and a view of the remains of Herod's Palace.)


Our next stop was for lunch at a little restaurant in/by a Druze village on Mt. Carmel. It was lovely. We had the choice of falafel or chicken (don’t remember the name…). I had the falafel. Then we got to put all sorts of yummy veggies and such on it. It was amazing.

Next stop was near the monastery on Mt. Carmel (the monastery itself was closed until 2:30). Because of that we didn’t have quite as wide of a view, but, on the other hand, it was so hazy we wouldn’t have been able to see anything anyway. Dr. Wright pointed out a few things from where we were and then we discussed the importance of Mt. Carmel.

Along with the Sharon plain, Lebanon, and Bashan, Mt. Carmel is listed in the Bible as a place of blessing and richness – always green, even in drought. Of course, it is most famous for the story of Elijah and the prophets of Baal.

Baal, as I understand him, was the Canaanite god of fertility. He is pictured in a couple ways: riding on clouds with lightning (a god of storms and rain) and riding (or being) a bull (again emphasizing fertility). If Baal were to send fire from heaven, one would expect it to be in the form of a lightning bolt. One would expect him, having accepted that offering, to also end the drought and send rain. Strangely enough, this is approximately what happened (as far as we can tell). The only differing being that it happened when Elijah prayed to the God of Israel rather when the prophets prayed to Baal. Thus, we see here the LORD performing the actions that would be expected of Baal. According to Dr. Wright, at this point it seems likely that Elijah felt a “moment of ontological uncertainty.” Exactly who is this God he is serving? Is it another god like Baal but with a different name? Perhaps this is why, after such a huge success, he flees from the threats of a woman. And where does he flee to? Horeb. The mountain where God firsts declared Himself to the people of Israel. There, God doesn’t speak to him with the wind or earthquake or fire. God speaks to him in the “sound of thinnest silence.” In that time, God demonstrates to Elijah that He is totally and completely different from any other god. He can appear in different ways. He has power over everything other gods claim to control (like rain and lightening). But we must not limit Him to that. Perhaps that is what was going on.

On a somewhat ironic note, it rained on us on top of Mount Carmel.

The next stop was Megiddo. It’s always so exciting to go to places that we’ve discussed in Archaeology or other classes. We got to see the gates and the round altar and the water system. I think I’d seen all of those things before, for that matter, but it adds so much meaning to seeing them if you know something about them.
(This is the temple area at Megiddo. You can kind of see the round altar from, I think, the Early Bronze Age.)


We didn’t have a lot of time at Megiddo (another reason to go back!), so on the bus we discussed a bit the “Armageddon” mentioned in Revelation 16:16. Traditionally, it has been translated at “Har Megiddo” or “Mountain of Megiddo.” This is possible, but it should be noted that if that is correct, in all likelihood John was not referring to Tel Megiddo. A tel and a har are very different things and John would have known the difference. It could, though, be referring to the mountains around that area. Another possibility is that it actually meant “Har Mo’ed” which means “Mountain of Assembly.” Is it possible that John was alluding to Isaiah 14:13 and by “Armageddon” he really means Jerusalem? Today, Megiddo isn’t really worth fighting over any more. Jerusalem is.

Our final stop was on the Nazareth Ridge, the place called the “Jumping Mountain.” Possibly the place where they tried to stone Jesus? From there you can see the location of so many different Bible stories – Deborah and Barak, Saul and Jonathan, Elijah, Elisha, etc. We can be fairly certain that Jesus visited this hill as a child and that he knew these stories. What did he think about when he looked over the Jezreel valley? What did he ponder when he considered the site of so many Israelite victories and defeats? How did this affect his life? Interesting points to ponder.
(Here's Jesse, reading from Luke 4:16ff on the Nazareth Ridge.)


Now, having arrived at En Gev, with a good meal in my belly, I think I could just about sleep through the thunderstorm described in Psalm 29.

(And just for fun, here's a cool flower from the Sharon Plain. Could this be the rose of Sharon or the Lily of the valley?)

Matthew

This semester I've been taking a class on the book of Matthew, specifically stressing its Jewish setting. After all, it was written by a Jew to other Jew, whereas we (the church) are mostly a bunch of gentiles 2000 years removed from the story. We have much to learn. I will admit, though, that there have been times when I've been rather disappointed with the class. While the professor (a Messianic Jew) does have a fairly high view of scripture, but I still find myself differing with him (and the articles we read), mostly in that area. For example, I really don't like the idea that Matthew basically copied Mark and manipulated the stories and words of Jesus to counteract rabbinical Judaism. I would much rather think that Matthew actually remembered the stories and words of Jesus himself, and, with the help of the Holy Spirit, composed a book that would demonstrate Jesus is the Jewish Messiah. Perhaps the two aren't mutually exclusive. I am trying to keep an open mind to some extent. I certainly don't know everything.

At any rate, though I have been frustrated at times, there have also been times when I have greatly enjoyed the class and/or its given me much to think about.

Monday was one of those days. For starters, I got to give about a five minute presentation on Matthew 18. I admit it. I miss teaching. So that was fun. Also, since the rest of the class was on chapters 17-19, it helped that I had already spent some extra time in them already, preparing for my presentation. What made it really enjoyable, though, was the time after class I spent talking to the teacher and a few other students.

On of the major questions of the class has been, "Did Jesus abrogate the law?" The contention of my professor and of most of the articles we've read is that He did not. He came "not to destroy the law but to fulfill it." This would mean that Jews, even Jewish believers, are still under the law. The interesting thing is that they do not expand this to Gentile believers. Most of the messianic believers I've known in the States tend to say that EVERYONE should be following the law. To the contrary, my teacher here thinks that gentiles should NOT follow the law, referencing 1 Corinthians 7:17ff. To him and his fellow messianic believers, though, the thought that the Jewish messiah would abolish the law of God is shocking. One place we considered in class was Matthew 15:1-20. In the first part Jesus condemns the Pharisees for making the law of no account by their tradition. If He then continues on and discounts the food laws (verse 17 and Mark 7:18-19), then that seems a bit hypocritical.

I have a number of thoughts and questions about pretty much everything I'm learning here, including this, but as of yet most of them are too incoherent to try to enumerate in any kind of logical fashion. Plus, right now, I'm to tired -- it's nearly bed time. So I'll close off this section with one thought. If the prophecies in the last few chapters Ezekiel refer to the "end times" (second coming of the Messiah) and not just to the return from captivity, then it seems that in the "millennial kingdom" the sacrificial system will be reinstated. Of course, this brings up a whole other bucket of worms (eschatology, replacement theology, etc...strange how related everything is!). At any rate, IF my teacher is correct and IF Ezekiel is referring to the millennial kingdom, well, that seems to fit together a little better in my mind. I've been taught that sacrifices are no longer needed because Christ was the perfect sacrifice (and therefore Jews shouldn't still be sacrificing). I've also been taught that Ezekiel is talking about a time when Christ will be reigning on earth. Those two things seem contradictory. Of course, this is all an over-simplification, and at this point I don't claim to know enough about any view to be able to argue convincingly for it. Perhaps someday I'll have time to do enough research to decide, but for now, I just think it's interesting to think about. :)

...and now for my post blog news...
We had vespers tonight. It was a Jewish man and an Arab man, both of whom have lost a family member in this conflict, who are part of an organization trying to reconcile Jews and Palestinians. Check out http://www.theparentscircle.org/ for more information.

I'm headed off to Galilee this weekend for a 4-day trip. I'm pretty excited. Galilee is an amazing place. So, expect to see reports and pictures at some point when I get back.

And now I should head to bed -- I have a 8am, 3-hour-long-no-break archaeology class tomorrow, so I should get some sleep. :)

Picking Olives

Today I had the opportunity to participate in a unique cultural experience (or something like that.) I got to help in an olive harvest! The Wright's church has a number of olive trees around their building, and this is the time of year they are harvested. So today a bunch of us met Diane at the gate to go pick olives. We only worked for about an hour and a half, so it was really only a taste of what people who grow olives for a living would experience during an olive harvest. Nonetheless, we had a lot of fun.


When we got there we were assigned two trees (there were probably about 10 of us). They found us a couple blankets to put under the trees to catch the olives. My first order of business was to climb one of the trees, because (you know me) I like to climb things. :) The rest of my time there could be pretty much summed up in my continuing effort to get higher up and further out in order to reach more olives. It was really entertaining. Olive trees are fairly strong, and fairly supple, and there are a lot of branches to hang on to and to prevent you from falling. Therefore, I was enabled to reach most of the upper branches on our tree. When I got down from the tree I whipped my streaming brow on my shirt...which then turned a nice color of brown. I looked down and my arms and hands and noticed that I was several shades darker than when I began. Here's a picture of our hands when we were finished:


All-in-all, it was a good time. Don't think I'd like doing that all day, everyday, though. I think Diane might try to pickle some of the olives we got, so maybe I'll get to be a part of that experience too.

The Dead Sea (Day 3)

To start this blog off, here's a picture of the room we stayed in. Everything was orange and it was amazing. :)


October 13, 2008
After breakfast, but before heading to Masada, we paused to look at a model of Israel at the Hostel. While not completely accurate, it was fun to see and to be able to recognize places we’ve seen in 3D.

From there it was off to the back of Masada where we hiked up the siege ramp (or beside it). In retrospect, I’m really glad that we hiked up that side rather than the other side.

Once on top we admired some more of Herod’s architecture. We visited the North Palace and the Bath house (both with some remaining plaster and painted walls, I believe).

Quite impressive. I poked around in a few other places before finally heading to the cistern. The million gallon cistern. Wow. That was huge. And to think of the work it would take to fill it in the middle of a desert with around 1 inch of rain annually. Trey had poured out his nalgene down there, just to demonstrate. It barely made a damp spot in the dust. Now there’s an image of futility.

We also discussed the likelihood of Josephus’ story having actually happened. Probably not too likely. Still, it’s a good (though tragic) story. At least in part because of that story, it’s become a huge symbol to the State of Israel. (Side note here: after we had this discussion on top of Masada, someone asked my archaeology professor, who, it must be noted, is Jewish, what he thought of Josephus' story. He seemed to think that it was fairly reasonable and probably, in its basic form, a good representation of what actually happened. So there are differing opinions.) Masada is also important in the archaeological world as the originator of three things: it was the first time volunteers paid for the opportunity to dig, it made the first use of the re-construction line, and (almost) all the remains on it are from one time period, making it a “type site” for first century pottery.

We got to hike down the snake path which was very exciting. The last time I was at Masada it was a bit more rushed and I had to take the tram both up and down. The snake path really wasn’t bad to go down, but it was really, really hot. Plus, I was really hungry by this point. So at the bottom I was really tired. And hungry. And rather warm. But it was fun.

The next stop was the Dead Sea where we floated for a while and then had an amazing lunch of hotdogs and non-pita bread! It was wonderful.

After lunch we stopped at En Gedi and hiked around and swam a bit. The group I was with on the way down really enjoyed seeing the Ibex and Conies and took lots of pictures of them. It was a beautiful area. Since I’ve been in Israel I’ve come to appreciate water and greenery more and more. The desert is beautiful, but I’m always glad to see trees and flowers. The fresh water was especially refreshing after the 38% salt content in the Dead Sea.

The last stop of the day was Qumran. I must admit that by this time I was feeling pretty worn out. We’d been three days on the road, and that day especially I was worn out by heat, hiking, and playing in water. So, I tried to summon up enough energy for this last stop. There were approximately three billion people there, but I think we managed to avoid most of them. We watched a video, sort of about Qumran. It had cool flying pictures. I like those.  It also suggested that John the Baptist may have been part of that group for a time. Interesting thought. Some think that Jesus may have spent some time here too. They had interesting ideas about the Messiah. I wonder… We walked around the site which was interesting, but there wasn’t a whole lot to see. Then we climbed up to a cave. Lovely view. Up there we talked about Ezekiel’s visions and the water of life flowing out of Jerusalem, healing the waters of the Dead Sea, and spreading to the Nations. Someday…Lord, help us spread that water now, as much as we can.


And now we’re home. Over all, it was an amazing trip. I’ll need some time to process it all, but I really enjoyed it. Now for some sleep…!