Mt. of Olives and the Garden of Gethsemane

We started very early, 6:30 on the bus, to the Tear Drop Church location on the Mount of Olives. After departing from the bus, we walked down the Palm Sunday Road, which is a one lane, slick rock road. Annie, a friend on our bus from South Africa, wore the wrong shoes and slipped on the stones and twisted her knee. Cars still travel this road, and like all other places in Jerusalem, cars do not concern themselves with pedestrians. So if we see a car, we jump!

Half way down the road, we stopped in a garden area on the Mount of Olives for a teaching from Kay. The morning was cool and the light soft. We sat high on the hill looking over Jerusalem and the Old City. Like always, Kay oriented us in the location we were at. Over the Kidron Valley we could see the eastern gate. The gate has been bricked up by the Muslims because they know Messiah is coming back through that gate, so they are attempting to prevent His coming. In addition to that, they established a Muslim graveyard just outside the gate. Graveyards are unclean ground, so again this is a maneuver to stop Messiah from returning. We could also see the Dome on the Rock, which does not line up with the eastern gate as they think the Temple originally would have been built (so the Muslims built on the wrong spot?? Poor planning.).

Kay taught on Matthew 24 when Jesus told the disciples about the Temple that the “not one stone will be left here upon another which will not be torn down” (verse 2). He then warned them about false Christs. She also told about the signs of His coming.

After that we walked further down the Palm Sunday Road and entered into the Garden of Gethsemane which is cared for by Franciscan monks. The Garden is well manicured, which certainly isn’t the way it was when Jesus agonized there as He prepared to take our sins upon Himself. Gethsemane was an oil production area. The garden was filled with Olive trees whose stumps could have been there at the time of Christ. When an olive tree is cut when it is old, it has the durability to regenerate and sprouts anew at the base. Some huge stumps were gnarled and twisted, yet they still boasted abundant branches. Marilyn noted that there was the Garden also contained Rosemary and Lavender bushes. In contrast to the chaotic action of the city, we had a time of peacefulness and reflection in this serene shelter.

What the Heck is Going on in Israel?

Why, you might ask, did the band of eight flood the blog with postings this evening? Well, the answer is quite simple. Our beloved guide, Amos lent us his cellular internet connectivity device which provided us with unlimited access to the internet! On other nights (here in Jerusalem) we are charged a fairly high rate per hour to connect and have felt rushed to get on and off of the internet. Having this relaxing evening on-line has been WONDERFUL!! In fact, we've had quite the blogging party in my (and Renie's) room tonight. It's quite the happening place!

However, it's VERY late now (after midnight) and we (as always) will have an early wake up call in the morning.

We still have more posts to come, but this will be it for tonight. THANK YOU AMOS!!!

Random Thoughts from Renie

The first day we head out from the Gai Beach Hotel going to Chorazin and someone on the bus comments "We are driving with our brothers and sisters along the Sea of Galilee." Pinch me. Is this real???

Another day we are sitting on Mt. Carmel listening to David Lawson teach. I look around at the crowd and think "This is what it was like with the crowds following Jesus and sitting on the hillside listening to Him teach." What a thrill!

In the early evening You could walk out behind the hotel and watch the fish jump, the men fish, see the lights all around the sea and see The Golan Heights. One night I could feel the wind getting stronger. Jesus called fishermen to "follow Me" and He walked on this water and calmed the sea!

We stand on the top of Tel Megiddo, and I imagine the sea of soldiers in that valley where the nations will gather to march on Jerusalem.

From the Garden of Gethsemane you see the Eastern gate, and I visualize the new Temple with the Glory of the Lord above it! (You have to block out the Dome.) This is awesome!

Salt Anyone? - By John Scott

The Dead Sea – also known as the Sea of Arabah, Bahr Lut, the Salt Sea, or the Sea of Not-So-Many Living Things Besides Tourists (NSMLTBT). 1292 feet below sea level, this is the lowest point on the earth’s surface. One expects a dead sea to be somewhat, well, dead. You know, dead- bleak, desolate, ugly. The dead sea was anything but ugly – it was in fact bright and beautiful.

Kitty, didn't you know that showing the soles of your feet or the bottoms of your shoes is the height of rudeness in the Arab culture?

If this truly is the place where Sodom and Gomorrah stood, God really cleaned up the place!

Israel apparently bottles 5 trillion dollars worth of products from this chemical wasteland…body creams, salt supplements, abrasive cleansers, even just plain mud. The spa industry is very much alive along the shores of this salty puddle, with these chemical waters being advertised as “healthy.” Healthy! Bah! These waters would just as soon melt your skin off of your bones as clean you!

(Kitty Scott, my dear mother, wants me to add that she felt very relaxed after her dip in this ecological train wreck, of course the scabs upon her legs speak oppositely)

Floating in the water can be very entertaining, granted. That is, until your legs decide that they want to float behind you and you end up face-planting in the water. Important note: DO NOT SHAVE BEFORE ENTERING THE DEAD SEA. REGRET WILL ENSUE!!!

Several of our crew deigned not to enter the water, including Scott and Debbie, Joy, and the Utterbacks. They are the wise among us. Thank God that He will make the Dead Sea will be made fresh again. (Ezekiel 47:8-9)

In all seriousness, the spas were really top notch. It was a great opportunity to visit the Dead Sea in such comfort. It truly was beautiful and refreshing, and I highly recommend a visit.

Masada - A Fortress in the Desert

Originally drafted by Dave Utterback

Color added by John Scott

On Friday, March 23 we took a road trip south of Jerusalem to the Dead Sea and made a stop at Masada. As you might recall, Masada is the mountain top fortress in the Judean desert built by King Herod the Great. It is approximately 1 ½ hours drive from Jerusalem. While Masada is not mentioned in the Bible, it is an important part of Jewish history and is discussed by Josephus in his Wars of the Jews Book 7 chapters 8-11. Masada is a fantastic feat in itself. Some statistics regarding the fortress is as follows: John says “ it was really old, really big, really tall, and really “perty”.” Dave says “ The fortress is constructed on a mountain top in the Judean desert,1,320 feet above the floor of the valley below, has a walled area about ½ mile long and 650 feet wide. Amour, our guide claims the walls were originally built to keep the men who guarded the city at night from falling off the mountain.” Herod the Great, being the paranoid delusional psychopath that he was, felt that an escape route from Jerusalem to Petra would be necessary considering his popularity (or lack there of]. He built Masada as the half way point between these two sites, a nearly impenetrable mountain hide away. And why not escape in the lap of luxury in your own four bedroom two and one half bath air, conditioned palace complete with swimming pool and enough water and food to last three years. Ah, it is the simple things in life. The fortress contained palaces, villas, offices, storage areas, and public baths in the Roman style of architecture. Painted in the baths were frescoes still in excellent condition. The view from the fortress was spectacular. We could easily see for miles in the Judean desert, and had a great view of the Dead Sea. Another feature at the site was Herod’s palace balcony, which overhung the mountain about 100 feet below the summit.

After Herod kicked the 1st-century ceramic bucket, Masada was subsequently abandoned, since Jerusalem leaders at the time were more concerned with murdering messiahs and other various and sundry apostles. After the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 A.D., a group of Jewish zealots fled to Masada, with Rome in hot pursuit. The Romans, who were well known for their uncanny ability to break things, besieged the Masada fortress for over three years. Sporting their very stylish horsehair helmets and 50 pounds of armor, the Roman legions found fighting very difficult scaling a 1300 foot cliff with no water. It took over eight camps worth (10-15 thousand troops) of the greatest fighting force of the greatest empire of the world at the time, but they finally succeeded in penetrating the fortress. They did so by means of a very large pile of dirt, which is still visible today.

In conclusion, Masada is an incredible feat of ancient architecture, and stands as a symbol of Jewish heroism and courage in the face of utter crushing and inevitable defeat.

The City of David

On Tuesday, May 20 each of the 6 groups on the tour went on a separate itinerary around and about the Old City. Because most of the sites could not effectively hold the 300 of us, 50 at a time was doable.

Our “orange bus” started our day on the Temple Mount. Before entering, we had to proceed through a very stringent check point. We were not permitted to take in our Bibles or to have any blatant Christian symbols visible. Once we all made it through, we gathered for a historical lecture from Amos (our favorite guide!) about the Temple structure which initially stood on Mount Moriah. Now, the site is occupied by the Dome of the Rock, which is a Muslim Holy Site. This building is visible from almost everywhere in Jerusalem because of its gold plated dome. This structure was built in AD 691. An interesting note is that when the crusaders first came to Jerusalem in 1099, they mistook the Dome of the Rock for Solomon’s Temple and used the pattern for other churches all over Europe.

The temple mount area was filled with vendors who strenuously attempted to sell their wares. At some points, our guide was interrupted by their sales pitches.

Some interesting points about the original temple was that there was a cistern which held water to wash the blood away from the sacrifice area and that would keep the flies away. Amos noted that the priests were actually trained butchers, and that is what they did all day.

Also in the temple area is an underground mosque which seats 5,000 people.

It was sort of peculiar being on the temple grounds with only Muslim structures present. It felt sad for me and probably for others to see the place that we have studied and that we know was the house of the living God in comparison to the area as it stands today.

When the afternoon got really hot, we enjoyed going inside the cooler Archaelogical Museum which is built over the remains of a wealthy Jewish household (such as a priest). The structure and design of the home(s) were very clear and many artifacts were also presented. There was original tile work still vibrant and beautiful. In the museum, was a wooden beam which was charred, and fell to the ground when Jerusalem was burned in AD 70.

On our way to our afternoon teaching, we viewed the Jewish faithful at the Western (or Wailing Wall) saying their prayers. There was one person who chose to chant and have their prayers over a loud speaker for everyone to hear. When I asked our guide why he was doing that, our guide said, “I want to know that too”. The Western Wall was not actually a part of the temple but it is the location remaining which was closest to the Holy of Holies.

In the afternoon the larger group of 300 gathered on the southern steps of the temple area. These southern steps were designed to be uneven so that people making their way to the temple would be forced to slow down and approach the temple with reverence. Here, Kay Arthur taught from Matthew 24:1-30, where Jesus wept because the Jewish people did not know the day of their visitation. From the place where we were sitting, we could clearly see the Palm Sunday road where Jesus rode into Jerusalem on the donkey according to prophecy.

This day included a “street lunch” where we enjoyed a “walking sandwich” of falafel along with a cold drink.

In general the streets of Jerusalem are very uneven and can make walking difficult especially when you’re trying to keep your head up and take in all the sites!

Driving into Jerusalem

[Monday Afternoon] Our bus rode up the hill leading to the Holy City and our bus host, Tommee, played a CD with a joyful and triumphant song about Jerusalem. The bus entered a tunnel as the music increased in enthusiasm and when we broke out of the tunnel, there on our left was the beautiful Jerusalem! We unloaded off the buses at Mount Scopus overlooking the city from the east. Kay did an overview of the city locations we would be visiting – the Temple Mount; the Eastern Gate; David’s Citadel; Caiphus’s house (where Jesus stood under accusations of the High Priest, Pharisees, and Sadducees); and a traditional location for the Garden Tomb. It was thrilling to look at and consider Jesus viewing it in all its glory 2000 years ago!

Kay then started a teaching on the significance of Jerusalem, starting with the division of the descendents of Abraham into the various nations in Genesis 10 and 11. The city was first settled by the Jebusites and earlier called Jebus (Joshua 15:63). When David becomes king, he conquers the city and the name changes to the City of David. He buys a location called a “threshing floor” for the purposes of building the temple of God there (2 Sam. 24:11-25). The significance of this location cannot be understated as it is Mount Moriah, the very spot where Abraham went to sacrifice his son Isaac, a picture of where God was going to sacrifice His only begotten Son for the forgiveness of sins for all who believe. Kay discussed the history of the temples built there and the Dome of the Rock – the Muslim mosque built here over 1300 years ago. (An interesting note in our guide book says that when the Crusaders conquered Jerusalem in 1099, they were unaware of the history – and apparently the Bible – as they thought this was the original Solomon’s temple and built many churches in Europe in its image! What a sad statement.)

Then Kay went into the prophecies of the city, how the temple was going to be rebuilt and how Christ was going to return and reign here. This is God’s holy and chosen city and all the eyes of the world will continue to be focused here as God unfolds His prophetic plan.

It's Not All Desert...

Israel has beautiful flowers all over!

We've seen them in the midst of lovely gardens, along side the

winding roads, and even at the

top of the barren Masada!

They are gorgeous, but we all remember what Jesus said.

"...Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they neither toil nor spin; and yet I say to you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these."

Matthew 6: 28-29

Monday - Genesis Land??

Posted by Scott Jarus

That’s what it said on our itinerary. It sounded like an amusement park to me, the Israel equivalent to Disneyland, or something like that. I suppose I expected to walk through the Garden of Eden – where the animals weren’t afraid of men yet and we could have walked right up and petted Tigers or fed elephants out of our hands. Or maybe we would ride on a Behemoth or Leviathan dinosaur, or get in a raft and ride through the deluge of Noah’s day. But this wasn’t the case at all.

After traveling through twists and turns on the edge of countless bleak, sand covered mountains for miles to see, our buses unloaded in the middle of the wilderness. A man in a tunic led us down a winding path down to a Bedouin tent that was filled with short tables and cushions to sit on. This was lunch! We all sat down and our host came out pretending to be Abraham, welcoming us to his humble abode. He thanked God for this opportunity to show us hospitality and to share what the Lord has blessed him with. He spoke of serving us like kings and queens and told us to eat as much as we could as he would hate to see anyone leave his home still hungry. He said he would know if we were filled, not by the size of our stomachs, but if our eyes had a certain shining gloss. Each of us would need to pass the “eye” test before he would let us leave. If a serving bowl was be emptied, more would be brought out. There was a delightful selection of dishes on the tables – humus, marinated vegetables, chopped cumber/tomato, a cabbage salad, thin tortilla-style wraps and sliced homemade loaves.

After we finished these, they brought out roasted meatballs set in a bowl of rice cooked with saffron – making it a beautiful yellow. Along with this was chicken basted in a delicious date honey. He said it was always proper for a host to offer kings and queens at least two choices and a variety of flavors to please their pallet. After lunch, he explained that it would be normal to serve kings and queens fresh fruits as a sweet finish to a meal, but that is difficult to come by in the wilderness. If he purchased fruit in the city it would most likely be bruised from traveling the bumpy road home – and he would never serve bruised fruit to such wonderful guests as us. So, instead he offered us dried apricots, prunes, and dates – along

with tea and coffee. Everything was tremendous! Then to top it all off, on our way back to the buses some of us enjoyed watching a new born donkey take his first breaths and steps in this world.

Monday's Journey Up to Jerusalem - Stop at Beth Shean

Posted by Kitty Scott

Beth Shean lies where the Valley of Jezreel and the Jordan River Valley meet. You may be saying “so what?” It was an important crossroad city for both commerce and military control. Saul and his sons Johathan, Abinadab, and Malchi-shua died on the nearby hill of Mt. Gilboa during a fight with the Philistines. The Philistines cut off Saul’s head and hung the bodies of Saul and his boys on the walls of Beth-Shean. Later, David removed their bodies for burial.

During the Roman and Byszntine times, the city was known as Scythopolis. Again, you may say “so what?” Although Scythopolis was not mentioned by name in the New Testament, it was one of the cities of the Decapolis. Jesus visited the cities of the Decapolis, therefore visiting Scythopolis.

The ruins at Scythopolis were fabulous. John Scott said that it reminded him a lot of Pompeii. Pompeii was destroyed and covered with the ash from a volcanic eruption, similarly Scythopolis was destroyed after an earthquake that set off a mud slide that buried the city. The site was excavated during a downturn in the Israeli economy. They asked welfare recipients to volunteer to work on the excavation. The result was finding a beautiful Roman that the mud had preserved complete with mosaics on the floors. We walked the original streets and saw their ritual baths, markets, ampitheater and more.

Just above the Roman city on the hill was the Jewish city of Beth Shean. Beth Shean was a tel that rose above at least 20+ layers of ruins. Some of the interesting finds included an Egyptian Stella, some Egyptian made clay bricks in which you could still see the straw!

The people of the land of Israel from the beginning until the Greek period built their cities on hills for visibility, safety, and advantage in battle. Greeks and Romans built their temples on the hills and would establish cities at the base of the mount. Hence, this site had two separate and exciting ruins to explore.

To add to the excitement, we found pieces of Roman glass in the dirt which made us feel like “real archeologists.” One of the jewelers we visited in the Jewish quarter said “that only God could bring the Jews back to the land and have them make money by selling jewelry made out of Roman glass. [the Romans being the ones that ripped them from the land] In fact he said, he makes a very good living using the ancient glass.” [he makes necklaces, ear rings, and other artistic pieces with the glass that he finds ]

Capernaum, Mt. of Beatitudes and More!

Our hotel is in Tiberias, on the northwest shore of the Sea of Galilee. If you continue along the coastline to the northern-most point, you come upon the town of Capernaum. This was the town that Jesus “settled” in and one in which many of His miracles were performed. There were also at least two apostles which resided in Capernaum, most notably Peter and Andrew.

As we got to the site in the morning, we sat in the shade under a tree and enjoyed some teaching from Kay. Following the lesson, we were able to explore the site which included the ruins of the Capernaum synagogue. This synagogue has a peculiar feature as does the synagogue in Chorazin and that is that you must turn your back on Jerusalem in order to enter the synagogue. Typically, the synagogues were designed such that you entered the structure facing Jerusalem. Looking closely at the foundation of the synagogue, it was apparent that there were two different types of stone used in the construction. The bottom layer was black and came from lava rock. However, the most significant fact was that this layer was the layer that was actually in place as Jesus taught in this synagogue! (Mark 1:29). If you check this passage, you will note that as Jesus concluded his teaching in the synagogue, he immediately went to Peter’s house. Well, a few steps out of the synagogue is the remains of Peter’s house. It was a very small, circular structure.

Surrounding the walls of Peter’s house was another wall which at one time was a church. (See photo to the left).

After Capernaum, we continued our final day in Tiberias with a visit to the Mt. of Beatitudes. This is an amazing site on a hillside where we were taught by David Arthur. He delivered a powerful message from Matthew 4-6 which included discussions of radical blessings, radical righteousness, radical repentance and radical restraint. As we listened, we had a spectacular view of the Sea of Galilee.

The site also includes a church which is maintained by a group of “little” (they are small!) nuns who have been friends of Kay’s for years. The nuns are also constructing a hostel on the grounds to serve overnight guests. We were served lunch of spaghetti and potatoes by the nuns and then we were on our way.

Our next stop was an amazing place in Ginosar which houses a boat. This is not just any boat, but a boat from the time of Jesus! This vessel was discovered during a severe drought in the Sea of Galilee when the waters receded and revealed a portion of the structure. The boat was buried in and protected by the seabed’s sediments. We were able to view the actual boat after watching a short film about the excavation.
We boarded a boat and “sailed” back to our hotel from Ginosar. It was quite remarkable to be on the same lake that we know Jesus was on, with and without a boat!

The grand finale was a very special dinner at a Tiberias restaurant called Decks. Again, we boarded a boat for the short journey to the restaurant. The owner, it turns out, is a long time Jewish friend of Kay’s who loves the Lord! She had prepared a great feast for our “small group of 300”. We enjoyed a wide selection of local specialties, music, dancing and a number of tributes including fireworks from the boats alongside the outside deck of the restaurant. After the dinner, everyone was exhausted and we all seemed to crawl back to our rooms for some much needed rest.

No blogs today??

Well, accept for this one. We are all beat from a busy day and long dinner. And we pack up tonight and travel tomorrow to Jerusalem!! So, blogging in the morning may be difficult as well as posting tomorrow night -- but we will see. We did post some pictures from yesterday on the earlier two posts. Hope you enjoy them!

From Scott & Debbie -- Scott & Betty, Once again, thanks for taking our kids and giving us this opportunity. It has been such a joy and a great relief ot have them in your hands. We were praying for you guys at 10:00 am CST, asking God to make things go smooth for you handling four children and getting them to church.

And thanks to all for your comments back. We love you guys. God bless you all!

Nazareth & the Jordan River

Our next stop was lunch in Nazareth. Driving to the city, we traveled past a rock quarry. Our guide pointed it out and drew our attention to a "diving board" at the top. Now this stone mountain must have been as tall if not taller than the Arch. Remember when Jesus read the Scripture in His home town, then rebuked them for unbelief, unlike the widow and Naaman? "And they got up and drove Him out of the city, and led Him to the brow of the hill on which the city had been built, in order to throw Him down the cliff. But passing through their midst, He went His way" (Luke 4:29-30). We do not know if this is the sight, but it's a rememberance anyway. Nazareth is fully Muslim. It is high on a mountain. It's homes are built on terraced layers in the mountain with one right next to another. Massive amounts of homes are built on the edges of these terraces. It is a virtual sea of stone and plaster covered cinder blocks. The streets are very narrow and packed with cars. Imagine this, six huge tour buses zig-zagging the streets of San Francisco and you have one of our adventures of today. Part of our entertainment at lunch was watching the buses turn around and park after driving in on a one lane road into a small cul-de-sac. Lunch was delicious - as usual - then off we were again down the streets of Nazareth barely passing cars and buildings - Dave said there was about two inches between our bus and a car. The drivers are fantastic and there are no scrape marks on any of the buses. Incredible.

Off we went to the Jordan for baptisms. Many people were baptized. The Jordan is a packed jungle on both banks with a tall fence on either side protecing intruders from entering. The site is a commerical baptism sight that is concrete and has a hole for stepping down into the water. None of us stayed to watch the baptisms because of the crowds and the time involved. We did get to see the river through the fence.

That is all for today. By the way, we found out why there are buildings here with windows and no glass. Muslims live in houses that are for their entire family to occupy. The first generation gets the bottom floor, the oldest child the next, etc. It is more cost effective for them to build the entire house of floors at once instead of adding on. So these top floors are unfinished and empty. Makes for a lovely home!?!

Thank you again for all your prayers. We love you all!
Hello Nathan, Amanda, Abigael, and Anastasia! We send you our love and hugs! God bless you, - don't forget to handstack! xo's
Love, Scott and Debbie

Meggido & the Battle of Armageddon

We rode through the valley of Meggido past the fields of wheat (which is small because of little rain this spring. Actually, Israel only gets rain from September to April. It won't rain again until September!), rows and rows of sunflowers, and olive trees, to the oldest and most significant archeological site in Israel and the Near East. It is the site of many significant battles in history because whoever held this city controlled the flow of traffic, both economic and military. And it is the location of the final battle between God and man, when Christ conquers the gathering of the armies from all nations and begins His reign.

Kay taught us through the entire book of Revelation under the shade of trees. She used people who had completed the Revelation Precept Upon Precept to help her illustrate the seal, trumpet, and bowl judgments. People were also the two witnesses, the beast, the false prophet, and the dragon (the devil). She gave us quite a visual of the flow of events in Revelation and that are sure to come to be! Then, as the pinnacle of all visual aids, she had a man as Jesus gallop in on the field in front of us on a white horse!! It was beautiful! "And I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse, and He who sat on it is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He judges and wages war. And on His robe and on His thigh He has a name written, "KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS"" (Revelation 19:11,16).

After the teaching and photo shoot of Kay on the horse, we walked the tel of Meggido. This tel dates before the time of Solomon as a Cannanite city location (it is very high, by the way). The top excavation dates 300 B.C. Then from the 10th century B.C., we saw the ruins of Ahab and Solomon's day. Solomon's gate and stables for 300 horses are still visible. Solomon's gate is stone and has four niches on each side for guards to stand. The stables were just stone floors and stone troughs. We could still see stones laid out in room configuations on the top of the tel.

Less than 100 years ago, an archeologist dug straight down into the east side of the tel supposing to find the sites of pagan worship there. Today they do not dig straight down, because the layers mix, so they excavate layer by layer. Nevertheless, making a huge cavern into the tel, this man did find many places of Canannite worship. A particular one of interest is a large circular platform where an altar would have been. It is about twenty feet in diameter with several stairs leading up to it on both sides. It is significant because this dated before the time of the twelve tribes and the establishment of God's worship in Israel.

Lastly, we had the option of walking through an ancient cistern probably dug by either Ahab or Solomon. (There is no way to tell.) They dug the cistern from a spring outside the city, camouflaged the spring on the outside and tunneled the water into the city gates. They would then make a large room to house the water, like a mega well for people to drop their buckets into. This was critical for the survival of a city especially under attach or seige from an enemy. So, down we went 63 steps through the tunnel which ended in a small pond inside the "cavern". (It smelled like a cave.) Then up we went again 70 steps to the outside of the tel. I have no idea how they carved so much rock - but they probably needed it to build all those rooms in the tel.

-- posted by Debbie.

Caesarea by the Sea

This posting is by Dave Utterback as dictated to Joy Strathman.

On Friday, May 16 we visited Caesarea by the Sea. This is not the same as Caesarea Phillipi which is in the Galilee region. This is a beautiful site, situated on the Mediterreanean Sea. We first arrived at the seashore next to the remains of a Roman aquaduct. This was a marvel of engineering in its day. Carrying water from a spring at Mt. Carmel over 40 miles away, totally by gravity flow. The aquaduct maintains a drop of about 1 inch per 100 feet and was actually a twin duct. We took a lot of pictures and marveled at the beauty of God's creation here before taking a box lunch to eat at another location closer to where Paul was imprisoned for 2 years. We ate our lunch near the ruins of one of the ports which were used to trade goods from ships in Biblical times. Then we walked to the arena where it is thought that Paul stood before Felix when Paul was on trial in Caesarea. On the way, we passed by a hippodrome which was excavated 15 years ago (see photo above). This was a site where Roman-style chariot races were held for the amusement of the residents of Caesarea. We were told the most expensive seats were at the turn where the bloodiest action occurred. Then it was on to the auditorium which had the style of a small colliseum and we heard a teaching on Paul's imprisonment and the fact that God is not yet finished with Israel. (Jeremiah 31: 31-33).

Caesarea is also the hometown of Cornelius, which was the first Gentile believer. While still sitting on the steps of the auditorium, we praised the Lord for bringing the Gospel to the Gentiles. Kay then taught us on the mystery of Jew and Gentile in one body, and the rich root of the olive tree (Israel) supporting the branches (Gentile believers).

All in all, this trip is exceeding expectations and is very much a blessing to all of us. We hope these brief reports will also be a blessing to all of our church family and friends.

Bits and Pieces - This and That

Well yes, this REALLY IS Joy posting now. I know that some other posts say that they are from Joy but don't believe everything you read. (I did write the post on Mt. Carmel though.)

And no, the picture at the right is NOT me. It's Renie, my roommate, and I just happen to like the photo! I took it at the ruins of the synagogue at Chorazin.

The purpose of this post is to fill in the blanks. We've been trying so hard to convey all the spectacular sites, that we haven't given you all the other "stuff". So here it goes:

The buses are top o' the line Mercedes Benz buses. They are amazingly comfortable and they seem to be able to navigate even the tightest of curves on some of these old roads. Or, perhaps it is the skill of our wonderful Israeli drivers. For example, we drove through at least one minefield without incident. There are 6 buses with about 50 people per bus on the tour. Dave, Marilyn, Scott, Debbie, Renie and I are on one bus and Kitty and John are on another. We didn't want to share our bus with them or Precepts decided to put the potential trouble makers on a separate bus. You decide.

We are enjoing immensely our Israeli tour guides. They are extraordinarily knowledgable and have excellent communication skills. There is one guide per bus. Our guide is Amos (Ah-mus) and Kitty's is Etin.

Each bus has hosts from Precepts who are responsible for keeping us all in line and making sure everyone is out of the bathroom before the bus leaves a given stop.

Oh and about the bathrooms: just don't go there. One of big challenges is that we're not supposed to put the used toilet paper into the toilet, because it clogs up the plumbing. Kitty knows of at least two Holy sites that now have minor plumbing problems. It is a supreme tragedy when one waits and FINALLY gets to the front of the line and one learns that a few ladies ahead of you where forgetful about "the rules".

The food has been very, very good. We eat breakfast (6:30 am) at the hotel before we leave and then dinner back at the hotel at 7 pm. Kitty still looks suspiciously at the fish selections in the early morning. And they look back at her. Many of the selections are traditional Israeli fare and Kitty says we are yearning for a taco.

The coffee is excellent. Even Dave Utterback agrees.

The currency is shekels. Until a few moments ago, I had many. Now I have none. I decided to splurge and spring out the shekels for a REAL Coke for me and Scott and that was that. Two Cokes cost 24 shekels or $8. That will be my last Coke until we touch down in the USA.

We tried to have our first devotions together this morning before breakfast at 6:30 out by the water. However, one of us didn't make it at all (zzzzzzz), two forgot their Bibles, one was in Joshua when she was supposed to be in Judges (figuring any "J" book would suffice), and one person was discovered to have brought her John MacArthur study Bible (gasp!) on the Precepts Study Tour. Only one person, the leader and his lovely wife of 25 years, was awake.

We are staying at the Gai Beach Hotel which is on the northwestern shore of Sea of Tiberias (aka Galiliee). http://www.gaibeachhotel.com/ As you will see from the photos, this hotel is lovely and has a large water park complex. However, Renie has tried twice to use the outdoor pool and learned that we don't swim past 5pm at the Gai Beach. Today, Scott and John got all decked out in their kowabunga duds and decided to try the water slide. Again, they were disappointed. So they are now down in the spa soaking in the hot tub with the walking wounded.

The rooms are adequate, each with a patio overlooking the pool area adjacent to the shore. Kitty wants everyone to know that the towels are thin. But Kitty dutifully reminds herself, "no gongusmos" which loosely translated means "no murmuring or complaining".

I'm sure that you can tell from all the postings here that we're really enjoying this trip. It is amazing to see the Bible really come alive as we are taught in various locations. Now to close...because the rule of this blog is that there is Scripture in every post, I will say, "Today is the the day that the Lord has made. Let us rejoice and be glad it in!"