Holy Land – February 11, 2009

  

Wednesday, February 11, 2009
After breakfast we drove to Joppa, the ancient port city to view the home of Simon the Tanner. We read from Acts 9:32-43 and then Acts 10:24-ff. It talks about Peter going to Caesarea and Joppa. This is where I walked today. It was amazing to step into history.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Now we will begin our journey north along the coastal road to to Caesarea, built by Herod the Great. It was here that Peter was imprisoned for two years. Herod was a builder. We sat in a 5,000 person amphitheater and then saw pieces of his palaces by the sea. It actually had a fresh water pool right on the salt water beach. We also saw a piece of stone etched with Pontius Pilate’s name. We saw an aquaduct that ran fresh water 15 miles from the spring.

 

 Visit the Crusader’s fortress and Roman ruins.

 

Proceed to Beit Shearim, ancient seat of the Sanhedrin, to visit the Catacombs and the ruins of what was once the most important synagogue in Israel.

 

We ate lunch at Megiddo or Armageddon. See Revelation 16:16.

 

We continue to Megiddo ancient chariot city of King Solomon and Ahab. They had a stable with 700 horses.

Mt. Tabor, the traditional site of the Transfiguration. This will be the gospel text when I return on Feb. 22. It is a mountain with height. Jesus and the disciples would have been in good shape to hike to the top.

On top of Mt. Tabor we visit the Church of the Transfiguration, a Roman Catholic church that marks the traditional place of Jesus’ transfiguration.

We end the day by coming to our hotel (Nof Ginosar Hotel) right on the Sea of Galilee. We will stay here for two nights. Dinner was an amazing buffet of salads, main dishes and desserts. The black olives are great, but the desserts are even better. It’s all kosher-so no dairy in anything, but I can’t tell.

Tomorrow we will go around the Sea of Galilee, including a boat ride and going into the water for a remembrance of baptism. So far it’s all been so amazing. I can’t take enough pictures or movies to do it all justice. I’m recording the lectures our tour guide gives. I think we could do an adult education class, just on the pics and tour guide insights.

 

 

Tuesday, February 10, 2009

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Arrive Ben Gurion Airport.

Meeting and assistance through customs to your waiting guide and motor coach.

There were no issues at the airport or going through customs. It was good to see my checked luggage arrive. Means everything got here.

I did have a multi-plug short cuircut, but nothing got fried but that, thankfully. I had a back-up so all is well.

We met our guide Ezra who will lead us each day of our tour. We are on a coach bus, so it will be nice moving from site to site. Very different from the Africa tour.

Transfer to Tel Aviv. Check into your hotel for dinner, group meeting, and overnight

Our first meal was a buffet at the hotel and there was a great variety of food. I sampled different foods and enjoyed the meal. It was good not to be on the plane.

We are staying at the Tal Hotel in down town Tel Aviv. We are only a block from the Mediterranean Sea. There is a thunder storm right now that blew in from the sea. There is lightening and thunder and the wind is blowing hard. We walked down to the sea, after dinner, but the storm was coming so I came back and worked on updating the blog and getting my luggage packed for tomorrow.

We have a 6:30 wake up, breakfast is at 7 and the bus leaves at 7:45. Tomorrow will be a good day as we head North to the region of Galilee.

Overnight: Tel Aviv, Israel

February 9, 2009

There are 36 pastors from all over the USA, from all different faith denominations. Our flight left just a little late, the 747 was full, with no empty seats. We will arrive in 10.5 hours. We had a meal of spaghetti, salad and a brownie.

We slept some, but after a few hours the Orthodox Jews got up and got dressed to say prayers. It woke up most of the plane. I slept a few more hours and then awoke for breakfast (omelet and bagels, with fruit.