Haifa, Israel - Tuesday, April 15th

We're back in Israel for the next couple of days!!! Yay!!!! So thankful to have an opportunity to spend more time in this magnificent place.  Today we will visit the sites in the north, then tomorrow we will see Jerusalem and some areas in the middle of the country.  We will have to skip the southern sites such as the Dead Sea and Masada due to time constraints.  However, we have beautiful memories of these areas from our spectacular trip last summer.  The guide for our trip last summer, Tali, is a Messianic Jew and was a tremendously valuable resource for us.  In addition to Tali we were also privileged to have three of our pastors with us last summer who led Bible teaching throughout our trip.  It was a powerful life changing and life giving trip.  One of the important things Tali and our pastors taught us was the difference between "traditional" and "authentic" sites.  As we toured Israel the difference between these two terms became quite significant.  A traditional site is one that is not documented as the actual place an event occurred - people just traditionally believe a particular event happened there.  Most of the holy sites we visited are traditional sites.  Authentic sites are those we are absolutely sure are accurate.  For example, one authentic site in Jerusalem is one set of stairs used by Jesus when he entered the city.  We learned that there are very few authentic sites in Israel.  Most of them are traditional sites.  Nonetheless, even the traditional sites such as Mary's house near Ephesus or Joseph's carpentry workshop are still very interesting places to visit.

We got a very early start this morning and prepared for our 12 hour tour!!! Our first stop was on the top of Mount Carmel.  The Shrine of the Baha'i faith with its Golden Dome, overlooks the beautiful Haifa Bay.  The Baha'i Gardens includes 19 gracefully terraced gardens and took 10 years and 250 million dollars to complete. The peaceful gardens encourage mediation among the elaborate water fountains, sculptured ornaments, and a wide variety of colorful flowering plants.

Next, we hopped back on the bus and headed for the hills of Galilee.  We drove to the Basilica of the Annunciation where it is traditionally believed that this was the site where the angel Gabriel revealed to Mary that she would be the mother of the Messiah.  This Basilica is the largest church in the Middle East.  The inside of the church is lovely with a remarkable 170 foot high cupola that rises high above the upper church.  There were magnificent mosaics, ceramic reliefs, and other beautiful works of art from around the world.  Suddenly I remembered how much walking is involved in seeing the sites in Israel.  We were up and down hills and stairs, through the crowds who had descended on Israel for Holy Week, and over many many old and uneven cobblestone streets.  My body was beginning to ache but I was determined to keep going in this most spectacular collection of meaningful places.

Next, we walked to the Church of Joseph.  It is traditionally believed that this church is built over the chambers that once housed Joseph's carpentry.  Although there is no physical evidence remaining of the shop it is still quite meaningful to even consider that we could be standing in the area where the earthly father of Jesus once worked.

From the church we continued our stroll through the bazaar, past Mary's well, a white stone fountain that serves as a shrine commemorating the Virgin Mary.  The shrine is located at the site of an ancient underground spring where it is traditionally believed that Jesus and his mother came to draw water.

We drove through Cana, the place where Jesus performed his first miracle of turning water into wine.  We arrived in Tiberius and had a wonderful lunch served at a restaurant on the shore of the Sea of Galilee.  I was so thankful to be back in this area.  The Sea of Galilee is a very special and meaningful place.  Last summer when we were here I cried my eyes out most of the time because I was so affected by the events that occurred here.  This time I was able to keep my outer emotions in check, but inside I was still extremely touched by the privilege of returning to this area where Jesus  walked and taught.  We visited Tabgha, where Jesus multiplied the two fishes and loaves and fed 5000 of his followers and the Mount of the Beatitudes where Jesus preached. 

We drove along the shores of the Sea of Galilee to Capernaum which is considered to be an important location for the ministry of Jesus.  He gathered his disciples, walked on water, preached, and performed many miracles in this area.  We walked through the ruins, which included a synagogue from the 5th century and the house of Peter.

In the late afternoon we traveled up to the Golan Heights.  We enjoyed a breathtaking view of the entire Sea of Galilee and the Jordan Valley.  As we descended along the winding serpent road we were able to see the borders of Israel, Jordan and Syria.  Just incredible to know how much fighting and turmoil exists in these countries when it seems so peaceful in this beautiful and quiet area.

Our last stop of the day was at Yardenit, located on the Jordan River.  Many people believe this was the spot where John baptized Jesus, however I don't think anyone really knows exactly where the actual event took place.  MANY tourists flock to this site to be baptized.  There are a few small areas on the sides of the river that are surrounded by fences which are set apart for baptisms.  Those areas were absolutely filled to capacity with people wearing white gowns who waited patiently in a single file line to have their opportunity to be baptized in this place.   Bob came up to me and said "there's people speaking in tongues over there" so I went over to listen.  It was, however, a group of tourists from Egypt (Coptic Christians) being baptized and getting so excited afterwards that they made this sound like a very high pitched, quick "la-la-la-la-la".  Even if this place is a bit of a tourist trap it's encouraging to see so many people wanting to be baptized.  It's a lovely river setting (well, except for the chain link fences, and I was thrilled just to get away from the other tourists a bit and spend a few minutes in quiet prayer in this very special area.  Somewhere along this river our Lord and Savior was baptized and it was quite meaningful to have the privilege of being here.

It was now time to return to the ship after a marathon day.  Tomorrow we are up even earlier as we sail into Ashdod to visit the magnificent city of Jerusalem.  Soooo excited.