Israel: Day Two

Greetings all from bright sunny and warm Israel,

This morning started with scrambled eggs and grapefruit, but I must confess they were incomplete without bacon. Bill reminded me im not supposed to eat grapefruit with my cholesterol meds but I've decided that since we are in the holy land it is holy grapefruit and thus not an issue for cholesterol ;) I've decided that waking up on the shores of Lake Tiberias every morning isn't all bad.

Our touring started at Beit She'an. This is an Israeli National Park that is a preserved archeological site. It is located at the Tel where King Saul and his sons bodies were brought by the Phillistines after their death. In the 1930's archaeologists determined that this Tel had 18 layers from different civilizations. They uncovered ruins from.the crusades and Turkish periods but twenty years ago they decided to bull doze those and excavate down to the Byzantine period. They have unearthed a bath house complex, complete with toilets, a shopping promenade and an ampitheater. As you walk through the ruins you can't help but experience the ancient. It is funny how in America we think of old in terms of centuries, but here old is determined by millennia.

Stop number two, the Valley of Arbel and the old Roman Road. This is the route Jesus would travel to Cana and Nazareth and is believed to.be the spot where Jesus encountered the centurion who said, "simply give the word and my servant will be healed." It is called the Valley of the Pigeons because it is where they would raise the pigeons and doves for sacrifice at the temple. The valley is by Migdal which is the town Mary Magdalene is from.

Next stop, the Benedictine monastery of Tabgha. This has the chapel commermorating the site where Jesus fed the five thousand. This is one of those places I become acutely aware of the balance struggle between being a tourist and experiencing a Holy Place. I write this as a person on my second trip, spending very little time with a camera in my hand. There is so much to see, but then making sure to take the time to experience the.holy I snuck off into the chapel, a place of silence and prayer where I was able to experience the solitude of the sacred, but then here comes three different tour groups jockeying for photo taking position. I don't write in judgment as four years ago.that was me, I simply write.in realization that we.must always be aware of the need in our lives to balance the secular and the sacred. It is a perpetual challenge in the Holy Land.
From Tabgha to my second favorite place in Galilee, the Chapel of the Primacy of Peter. This is the site where my favorite piece of scripture occurred, John chapter 21. This is where Peter has gone back to his old life of fishing after the resurrection and Jesus comes and calls.him again to a life of ministry. It is one of those places where i am reminded that no matter how far i may wander from Jesus and the call, He will always come looking for me to remind of his call on my life. im not sure there can be a greater purpose for visiting Israel than that; each of us being reminded of God's call on our lives. Time for lunch, i hope you like fish, guts, tail, eyes and all; St Peter's fish and a Coke.

Okay, done with lunch and a trip.through an olive oil store and now off to the ruins of Capernaum. This is the city of Jesus, where he and conceivably seven of his disciples were from. We got to see the ruins of Peter's house where Jesus healed his mother in law so she could serve them. There is a church built on top and an ancient monastery. The ruins are an extensive excavation of the bulk of the city and a synagogue that was built upon the synagogue from Jesus' time.

Sunset today begins the Sabbath, so our day has drawn to a close but it has been another incredible day and we have been truly blessed.

Your brother in Christ,
Faron