Contrasts

In case you haven’t noticed, we are keeping really busy, and traveling to many different sites and time periods as we travel around The Land during this trip. One new thing that our rabbis are doing this trip is allowing times of reflection and processing. How do we take this life-changing experience of traveling through The Land, and apply it to our daily lives? These times of reflection have been HUGELY appreciated and needed as I process all that I have seen, heard, imagined, and experienced here in The Land. One of these times, we went up to the Jordan River near the ancient city of Dan, and went off on our own for about an hour to read God’s word. Here is a picture of the spot where God spoke to me this day.

At Dan, we learned about a people who allowed their leader to lead them away from God. This was not done by outright turning away from God, but little things here, and something else there that added up to a people who forgot who their Lord is. Our challenge here was to make sure and stand firm in our faith and standards, so that we don’t find ourselves on the slippery slope leading away from God. To guard our lives and decisions so that we don’t wake up one day and see an altar built to another god in our life, like the Israelites saw this altar to Ba’al in their city.

In Qazrin, we visited a restored, first century Talmudic village, and were able to walk through this home that is similar to one that Jesus would have lived in.

In Capernaum, we learned about those from this are who Jesus called to be his Talmidim (Those who we refer to as His disciples), and the practices of Rabbis and their disciples. We were also able to walk through this synagogue that was built in the 4th century exactly on top of the one here during Jesus time. This would have probably been similar to how it looked when Jesus taught here.

To end this day of reflection and contrast between those who turned away from God, and the Man who showed us how to live for him, we sat up on a mountainside overlooking the Sea of Galilee and listened as our Rabbis recited the Sermon on the Mount to us. This was an amazing end to a day of contrasts, especially, as one of the guys in our group made the statement that Jesus’ sermon on the mount was completely counter-cultural. Which Leader will you follow? The one who leads you down a slippery slope, so you look more and more like someone who does not follow God? Or the Leader who modeled for us the ultimate way to live our lives for the maker of the universe?

P.S. For those who have noticed that this post is a few days late, and that we haven't posted anything else, not to worry, we are just in a place that has limited wireless access, so we will try to post as soon as we can, but can't gaurantee that we will be able to post much until we are closer to home or at the airport on our way. Thank you all so much for all your prayers!! We can't wait to get home and share more with you about how God has spoken to us during these past two weeks!

We are now in Galilee!!

Yesterday, we had a much needed sort of down day from the 10-12 miles of mountain hiking we have been doing everyday (we only walked about 8 miles on 2 mountain trails!!) Beware, this will be a bit long, because I was feeling lazy yesterday, so this is a shortened version of the past 2 days.

Our day started off with a trip to the caves at Qumran, where the dead sea scrolls were found, and learned about the Essenes.

We then headed to the dead sea, and treated ourselves to what people pay a lot of money to experience at spas: a Dead Sea Clay Exfoliating Treatment. Our Cost: Totally Free!! (Well, included in the price we already paid for the trip, anyway.)

We then headed off to our next stop, Jericho: I'm sure most of us are all familiar with a story that happened here, which, true to the style of teaching our leaders have followed so far, we did not talk about at all. Rather, we read the story of the Good Samaritan from an Eastern perspective, which is a story that may have been a reference to the road from Jericho to Jerusalem. 

We finished the day at Mt Arbel, which could very well be the mountain that Jesus retreated to for prayer and quite, since, from the top, you can see almost all of Galilee. Because they didn't want us to have such an easy day, our leaders/rabbis took us down the mountain on this trail (yes, we had to climb down the cliff we are standing at the top of in this picture.) 

Side Note: Our hotel has beachfront property on the Sea of Galilee, so we got to go swimming in the Sea last night, too!! Probably not very often that someone can say they went swimming in the Dead Sea and the Sea of Galilee all in one day!!

This morning, a few of us got up early to watch the sun rise over the Sea of Galilee our first morning staying on the shores the Sea of Galilee. We even woke Bethany up before the sun and took her with us so she could watch the sun rise over the Sea of Galilee on her birthday!! It was amazing!! To think that this view is the same one that Jesus saw when He was living here in Galilee (minus the modern docks in the foreground, probably) was awesome to experience!!

After breakfast, we went back to the 12 miles of hiking up and down mountains schedule of the trip after our easy day on Monday. We started at Gamla, a Zealot stronghold that was conquered around 66 A.D. To tell the truth, with the humidity on this 100 degree day, I almost wished I was back in the desert hiking across the wadis there!

Here we learned about the Synagogue, and heard a story told in a Rabbinic way that completely changed my outlook on that story, and brought tears to my eyes (I'm going to leave it at that, you can ask Bethany or I about the Synagogue @ Gamla when we get back, and we can tell you about it, or share the story when we give our presentation of the trip after we arrive home.)

After Gamla, we went to the ancient city of Susita and heard another story within the context of the biblical story, culture, and geography that, once again, completely changed my view of that story (We can tell you about that one as well when we get home.)

Our last stop on the teaching part of the day was Beth She'am. This is an archealogical find of an amazing, elaborate, beautiful city that was there during the time of Jesus, and reflects the worldview of that time: That man is the center of everything; this was expressed through arts, entertainment, sports, media, etc.

One thing that struck me about this site as I was walking around and through it, and what we talked about here was that this city was huge and beautiful, and fully dedicated to glorifying man and human skill and talent. After all of the work that was put into building this city and using it as a place to showcase mankind, it was destroyed by an earthquake around 400 A.D. All that we try to accomplish on our own power, without God is like this city, it may be pretty or cool, or uplifting for a time, but in the end, will be not much more than rubble in a pile, under some dirt.

Who would you rather have build your kingdom? Those who built this city? Or The One who knit you together in your mother's womb, and knew you in the secret place, who knew all the days ordained for you before one of them came to be?

To cap off the day, we got a chance to go out on the Sea of Galilee in a replica of a boat that was used for fishing in the first century. It was really fun! 

En-Gedi

Today, our Rabbis (Jeff & Bart) had a surprise for us. 

Yesterday, we spent the day hiking through the desert, learning about the desert experience. Our closing scripture of the day was Psalm 81:16 - "With honey from the rock, I will satisfy you." 

In all of our lives, we encounter rocks, some as small as pebbles, some as big as mountains. Our promise from God is that He will satisfy us with honey from the rock. In the midst of our desert experience, He will bring us honey, a sweet moment in that hard place.

We expanded on this thought today, when we visited En-Gedi. Jeff taught us about David's experience in En-Gedi, when he was fleeing from Saul, who was trying to kill him. When he retreated to the wilderness, this was most likely the place he went to. It is a place in the desert, by the dead sea, that is a refuge, a place of refreshment and rest.

Our surprise was, after he taught us about En-Gedi, our Rabbi Bart jumped in the natural pool we had been sitting around, and encouraged us to join him in experiencing the joy of En-Gedi. Below is a picture of Dianne, one of the women on the trip who happened to capture the essence of what En-Gedi is. The joy and happiness that is unexpected in the middle of the wilderness of the desert, but essential. We all need a place, activity, person, something that is our En-Gedi, our place where we can go to refresh, rejuvenate, and renew.

Where is your En-Gedi?

Today for Us

Today, we thought that you might be interested in hearing more from the perspective of more of us. Below is a breakdown with reflections from some of the members of our Community here in Israel.

 

We walked in the Negev Desert all day today, over 10 miles by the end. These reflections follow a day of talking about Jesus paying the covenant price for our sins and breaking of our covenant with Him. This was followed by a journey down a Wadi, and finding quiet waters, as described in Psalm 23. We ended with a time of reflection and sharing about what it means to be in the Desert, and how God has brought us through those times in our lives.

Mike: Why does God bring us to the desert?

Karen: When all else is stripped away, God is in the emptiness and says: "I am here, trust me to be all you need."

Jeff: You can take me out of the desert, but never take the desert out of me.

Bethany: I'm incredibly glad that God kept my feet from stumbling as we climbed up the side of a cliff.

Ellen: I will satisfy you with Honey from the rock. 

Katy: As we stood in front of the Judges seat where Jesus stood during His trial, I heard the words from group members standing outside the Praetorian yelling, "Crucify Him, Crucify Him!" and couldn't stop the tears. 

Grace-Emma: I've been reminded again of the unbelievable covenant that God cut with us through His Son. When He cried "It Is Finished!!" the burden of the covenant was fulfilled.

Ron: Inexplicably Captivating

John: Arid Arad is way more humbling than ARod

Ann-Elise: He leads me beside still waters, He restores my soul.

Ryan: My heavenly father showed me something today. But I just about missed it because I was looking the other way. Keep an eye out for what you might not see because the Lord likes to work unexpectedly. Thank God for the wilderness.

Jake: Pray for peace for the path God has given you. We usually pray for an easy path.

Side Note: Evidently, this is the closest we will ever be to a wild camel on our travels here in Israel. Both of our leaders were surprised to see this herd so close to the wadi we were walking down today.

Today we traveled to the Desert

Currently, I am sitting in the lobby of our first Hotel in Arad, a city in the Negev desert. We left this morning at 8 AM from Bethlehem Bible College and began our trek with a stop at Bet Shemesh and learned about Samson's Story, as this was the valley that he was born in, and we talked about living as people in the Shaphela, which, during our trip, is symbolic of people living close to the world, but influencing the world, rather than trying to stop the world from influencing us.

We also spoke about listening to our shepherd, and were blessed to see a shepherd in the field below where we had our teaching.

Next, we stopped at Tel Azeka, and climbed up the side of the mountain to look out on the valley where the conflict between David and Goliath took place. The white X is a possible location for where the Israelites were encamped during this battle, and the yellow X is the possible location for where the philistines were camped.

Our next location was Tel Lachish. We read about the way that Sennacharib, the Assyrian King laid siege to the city and overtook it, then challenged King Hezekiah in Jerusalem. King Hezekiah gave the challenge to God, and God answered his prayer by delivering Jerusalem from the Assyrians. We ended the day at this site by reading Psalm 121, and singing "Our God Reigns". A life changing moment when sung from on top of the ruins of a great city that had turned away from God, and was given over to the Assyrians because of it.

Does God reign in your life? Are you living life with the faith of Hezekiah, and trusting, that, no matter what you hear, that God will take care of you? Like David, trusting that 5 little stones will take down a giant? These are the questions we pondered today, and the lessons we will be taking with us from these sites.

Merry Christmas!!

What else would we learn about in Bethlehem but the ancient world during the time of Jesus' Birth!!
Side Note: Jesus' birth most likely took place during the month of July, possibly August (There is a pretty long explanation of why this is that I won't go into right here, you can ask Bethany and I about it when we get back, and we will share with you our new knowledge and experience. Below, is a picture of a town that is similar in size to what Bethlehem would have been at the time of Jesus' Birth.

We went up onto a Mountain (The Herodian) that King Herod had made for one of his 7 mansions, and were able to see all the way to the Dead Sea, and look down on Bethlehem and Jerusalem from the top. He placed his Palace on top, and the entire complex included a huge pool, along with a theatre built into the side of the mountain. All of these were extravagant, grand, bigger and better than what anyone else had built, because that was who Herod was. (See pics below for Pool, Theatre, and Palace area in order. Imagine them whole, with frescoed walls, gold inlaid and beautiful paintings all over them.)

After climbing up the one, small path that leads up to Herod's palace, we took a trip into the town of Bethlehem and visited a small cave that was likely very similar to the stable where Mary gave birth to Jesus. (see pic below)

Notice the contrast between these two locations, and between these two kings. One, was paranoid that people were out to get him, and built these extravagant palaces and complexes to show everyone how great he was, and how he overcame anything in his way. The other, was humble, loving, born in a cave that probably smelled like a combination of old campfires and manure, then placed in a manger that was used to hold water to feed sheep. 

Who are we serving? Who is our King? These are the questions we were challenged with today as we explored these places that represent these two Kings. 

our time in palestine

the last few days have been spent in palestine doing service work and orientation. we have been staying with host families. our home consists of three floors (which are like 3 apartments- which is very typical in this culture). we are staying on the main floor with a widowed woman. I am rooming with katy, ellen, and dianne. on the second floor is this womans son, his wife, and their kids. the third floor is her other son, his wife, and their kids. our host went to visit her daughter in another city for the second and third nights in palestine, so her daughters-in-law prepared the meals for us. we have gotten aquatinted to the culture through the food... some very good, others were well... not our taste :) every morning (mon-thurs) we were dropped off at bethlehem bible college at 7:45am for orientation. this consisted of 2 hours of class time. then we were sent off into the community. groups went to Al Bosma, the Tent of Nations, and Aida refugee camp, as well as staying at BBC for some work there.  on thrusday, we met for our orientation then we began our touring/ study part of the trip. we began with the herodian, then to the shepherds cave, and ended at the church of the nativity. tonight is our last night with our host families. i think we are all really excited for the remainder of our travels.
God bless, Bethany