Monday, June 20—Coming Home

Happy Birthday Dad!! It was fun spending the first few hours of your birthday with you!!

We had a short night; the alarm for the day went off at 11:30pm! They wanted us at the airport 3 hours early, which I thought was ridiculous. 2 hours is usually more than enough time. Well, not in this case. We went through so many security checks that I lost count. Then we were waiting for Joanna and Jennifer to get their bags searched by the security workers were dealing with some unknown crisis, so they just ignored us for nearly an hour. All that to say, it took 2 ½ hours to get through, so it was a good thing we were there as early as we were!

Istanbul had a similar security system that we had to go through. We counted 6 stops where we were asked questions about our luggage, searched, or scanned. When we entered Chicago we had another 3 security checks. We were checked out by the end of the day!

Our 11 hour flight from Istanbul to Chicago was actually the best flight because Jennifer, Joanna, and I had 4 seats to share, and we each had a TV screen with lots of movie options. We watched Chronicles of Narnia the Dawn Treader, A Cinderella Story, and Yogi Bear which was surprisingly hilarious!

Really, the day went smoothly with on time flights and all luggage arriving! After counting up our hours of travel we discovered that we had crammed 34 hours into a single day. Since we got up in Israel at 12:00am on the 20^th and landed in Boise at 11:45pm on the 20^th, I can say that this was a very busy and productive day!!

A few more days and I’m off to Nicaragua and Peru!!

Sunday, June 19—Free Day in Jerusalem



With Dad at the Dome of the Rock

Happy Father’s Day Dad!! I’m so privileged spending it with you in Jerusalem.



Today was our last day in Jerusalem, and in Israel. We had fit so much stuff in the two previous days that we didn’t have much extra ground to cover. It was a free day for everyone to do any last minute sightseeing to shopping before flying home tomorrow. Everyone started the morning at Temple Mount because it had been closed on Friday for the Muslim’s holy day and on Saturday for the Jewish Sabbath. What a controversial area! This is where Mt. Moriah stood when Abraham was told by God to kill his son Issac about 4000 years ago. 1000 years later Solomon built the most beautiful temple of God on this same mountain top. When the Israelites were exiled to Babylon several hundred years later, the Babylonians destroyed Solomon’s Temple. A group of Israelites rebuilt the temple on a much smaller scale after returning from Babylon around 400 BC. Then Herod the Great came along right before Jesus was born, and being the master builder that he was, wanted to gift the Jews with a larger temple than even Mt. Moriah could hold. Of course he didn’t care about God or the Jewish tradition, but he wanted to be liked and he wanted the huge structure to be a monument or memorial to himself. So he made a large platform even with the top of Mt. Moriah in height, and then filled in the all the extra space with sand. To stabilize all that sand he built a supporting wall around it. This is the temple that Jesus would have known when he made trips to Jerusalem. The Romans destroyed it in 70 AD when they took over the city, and ever since then it has been rebuilt and destroyed several times. The Muslims took over the spot they though Mt. Moriah peaked at in 800 AD, because they say that’s the place Abraham almost sacrificed Ishmael, and built what is now the Dome of the Rock. Apparently the scriptures say that the Holy of Holies from Solomon’s Temple was lined up with the Eastern, or Golden Gate. We can still see that in the wall today, so the Jews are excited to know that the Muslims did not build on their most sacred spot. Because no one really knows where the exact spot for the holy of holies was, and the Jews don’t have access to Temple Mount with it being Muslim, they pray as close as they can to it, which is the Western Wall.



The dome was closed to visitors, so we were only able to see the ornate tiling on the outside. As we wandered around the vast open space on Temple Mount, dad explained a significant spot. The highest point of the entire Temple Mount is the SW corner because the wall has to go down the furthest to compensate for the low valley by Mt. Moriah. It is here, the highest point of the temple, that tradition says Jesus was transported by Satan in Luke 4:9-12 when He was being tempted in the desert.

I got to hang out with my family the rest of the day. Taking our own pace, we wandered through the Jewish Quarter of the Old City. There’s also a Christian, Muslim, and Armenian Quarter though they are not very equally divided. The Jewish Quarter was bombed in 1948 and rebuilt in 1967. Because it’s the newest built area it’s also the cleanest and most spacious. The left areas of ancient rubble including the Broad Wall that was used during King Hezekiah’s reign, around 2500 years ago!



With Mom at the Holy Sepulcher



We went back to the Holy Sepulcher for a closer look. There were three stones in the building; one signifying Calvary, one for the place where they wrapped Jesus’ body in preparation for burial, and one from the tomb. People were kissing the rocks, crying by them, and waiting in long lines just to touch them. It almost makes me wonder if these stones are becoming like idols when people treat them like that. This is certainly not how my faith is demonstrated.

We finished our day at the Jaffa Gate on the west side of the city. There wasn’t much to do there except shop and eat, so we went back to the hotel early in the afternoon to rest and pack. Mom, Dad, Joanna, Jennifer, and I sat on the balcony of the room as we ate our lunch, played card games, and leisurely talked and enjoyed each other’s company. With Dad being the group leader we really didn’t get to spend a lot of time with him. Since today was a day off from scheduled touring he was able to relax and just hang out with us. We all laughed so hard our abs hurt! What an enormous blessing to spend time with family; to have traveled with the people I love the most to the places where my Jesus walked and lived. That had to have been the best part of the trip!



The Broad Wall from Hezekiah's reign

We were privileged to have the Nazarene Strategy Coordinators for the Mediterranean field join us for dinner and share what God is doing through our church in countries like Israel, Jordan, Egypt, and many others that cannot be named. Lyndell Browning and his wife Kay went to seminary with my parents in the 70’s and they haven’t seen each other since. It was a great time of reconnecting and catching up. The information they shared about the church was most significant to me though. They said there are 32 churches in the Middle East with many that are house churches. Egypt needs a lot of prayer that the new leaders they get in their government will allow Christians and churches to freely meet. Syria is struggling a lot, and in many ways that the Brownings don’t even know about. Communication from there is always muddled, but they recently found out that a pastor disappeared. There are many other countries with Christians, and specifically Nazarenes, who need our prayers to live out their faith among such opposition. Isn’t it a special gift we have to help these believers across the globe by lifting them up in prayer to a compassionate and loving God!



We had to cut our visiting short at 9pm to get rest before waking up at 11:30pm, eating ‘breakfast’ at 12:30am, leaving for the airport in Tel-Aviv at 1 and taking off for Istanbul at 5am. Yipee!



Saturday, June 18—Jerusalem

The Jerusalem Cross at the Mount of Olives

Summary of the Day:

The Mount of Olives and the Garden of Gethsemane

Walk the Palm Sunday route into the city

Pool of Bethesda

The Upper Room by the Gate of Zion

The Via Dolorosa and the Stations of the Cross

Church of the Holy Sepulcher where it is believed that Jesus died and was buried

Communion at the Garden Tomb

Who's that weird guy in the Upper Room?

The more "authentic" Garden Tomb

Friday, June 17—Jerusalem and Judean Hills

The Wailing Wall

We jumped right into Jerusalem early this morning. Marika took us to the Mount of Olives just to get an overall view of the Old City of Jerusalem. We then entered the city by the southwestern gate called the Dung Gate. We went on an underground tunnel tour of the Western Wall that has been built overtop of. There is only one small part still exposed which has become the Wailing Wall. The Wailing Wall, and everything we were walking on, is at least 15 feet above where Jesus would have walked 2000 years ago. So we were able to see some of those stones and paths from underground!

We visited parts of the City of David which used to be the all that was there in David’s time, the poor part of the city in Jesus’ time, and outside the city walls today. We saw steps to the temple that Jesus would have walked on, and remnants of the broken archway leading to the temple from the SW corner.

About half way through the City of David we came to the mouth of a spring called Hezekiah’s Tunnel. This was the reason Jerusalem was settled here in the first place. Because it used to be outside the city walls, King Hezekiah (2 Chronicles 32:30) built an underground channel to lead the water from the spring down to the edge of the city. In this way, they would always have a supply of water, even if an enemy army captured the main well and didn’t let the Israelites get water from its source. We got to crawl down into the tunnel and wade through the spring water for about 1000 ft. The water was below my knees most of the time, the walls were about a foot and a half wide, and the ceiling varied from 4 ½ feet to 12 feet! It was definitely a highlight from our whole trip! When we came out of the tunnel we found ourselves at what is believed to be the Pool of Siloam from John 5.

We stopped at Jerusalem’s Archeological Museum where we got to see some of the real Dead Scrolls, and a giant model of what Jerusalem looked like during the time of King Herod, just before Jesus grew up. We saw everything there that we had looked at all morning, and were now able to see it from a perspective of 2000 years ago!

We had to drop off our guide in Jerusalem and then pick up another one once we crossed into Bethlehem because it is a Palestinian city and Jews are not allowed to go there. Bethlehem has been under Palestinian control since 1995, and Jericho since 1993. There was definitely a different feel there; a little dirtier and poorer. From what I understand, there were several Palestinian terrorist groups that kept bothering the Israelis. To make Israel a safer place, they built a wall around Bethlehem. This has decreased terrorism but has understandably bothered the Palestinians.  45,000 people live here and 30% of them are Christians, 70% Muslim.

Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem

We went to the Church of the Nativity and Manger Square where many claim Jesus was born. The church has 3 churches within it: Roman Catholic, Greek Orthodox, and Armenian. The symbol they use to represent the cross, or the Jerusalem Cross, looks like a big plus sign with four small ones in each corner. This represents the 5 places that Jesus bled: His body, both hands, and both feet. All other churches in the area were destroyed in the 6^th Century by the Persians, but they didn’t destroy this one because they saw a mosaic of the three wise men and one was wearing Persian clothing. They assumed this was some kind of Persians church so they didn’t destroy it. We saw where Jesus was born and where the manger stood.

Palestine's version of Starbucks!

We got to see the Judean Hills where the shepherds heard the announcement of Jesus’ birth. We went into a wide mouthed cave where the shepherds would have stayed. The same field, possibly, is where Ruth came to work for Boaz, where their son Obed raised his son Jesse, and where Samuel came looking for David to anoint as Israel’s second king. This area has thousands of years of important history!

On our way out of Bethlehem we visited an olive wood shop where they sold hand carved nativity sets. They were lovely, but a little too spendy for my style. We were stuck at the ‘border’ back into Israel for about a ½ hour, but it gave me time to think about the political situation here. It reminds me of the Berlin Wall. It seems unbelievable that people today can’t compromise enough to live respectfully among each other. How can this still be going on today, in our civilized world? Religion is so prevalent here, but there is a definite need for God’s love!

Thursday, June 16—Nazareth and the Mediterranean Sea

Our last view of the Sea of Galilee

Before leaving the Sea of Galilee we had a final aerial view from the top of Mt. Arbel. Nothing is recorded in the Bible to have happened here, but we could speculate that Jesus came up here for a solitary place to pray, or possibly for a stop on His way from Nazareth. While we were looking down at the sea we read about the feeding of the 5,000 from Mark 6:30-44. We could look down to the western shores and see Tabgah which is the traditional location where this scripture took place. But as we read we found that it occurred in a desolate area, which would have been the eastern shores. The western coast of the Sea of Galilee, where Tabgah stands, is very populated just as it would have been in Bible times. So why is that the traditional site? In about the 4^th century the more mountainous east coast of the lake was dangerous from an infestation of thieves, so they moved their memorial church to the safer shore. This reminds us that tradition is not infallible.

I appreciated this aerial view because it shows how easily the people could follow Jesus when He got in His boat to have time to Himself. You can see across the entire valley. How exhausting these people would have been to Jesus, and yet He always had compassion for them. It seems as though He was an extrovert to love being with so many people, and yet He was an introvert because He was always looking for time alone. It seems to me He’d probably have all personality types to really be able to relate with all people today.

As we drove through Cana we read in John 2 about Jesus’ first miracle of turning water into wine at the wedding. The Bible records it to have happened on the 3^rd day of the week which would be a Tuesday. When we looked at the creation story we found that God said “it was good” twice on the 3^rd day and it was the most colorful and fertile day of creation with all the plants that were made. So the Jews like to get married on Tuesdays because they say it’s a double blessed day.

"Gabriel's Spring" in Nazareth

We drove on to Nazareth where we learned that Jesus probably wasn’t a carpenter because of the lack of trees in the area. Translators said He was a carpenter, but it is more likely that He was a builder or stone mason because that is what’s prevalent in the area.

When discussing where Gabriel told Mary about having Baby Jesus, people often fall into one of two camps. Either he appeared in her home or by the city well? The name Gabriel means ‘man of God’, so perhaps he came as a man to share the news. If that’s the case, it would have been inappropriate for him to go alone into a virgin’s home. But it would have been normal for a stranger to stop at the well and speak to a woman there. Both locations have a memorial church, but really there is no way of knowing which is true. The most significant part of the city spring is that Jesus came here regularly as He was growing up. This was where He walked, where He hung out with His friends, where His mother would take Him and talk to Him about God and the scriptures. This place can help us relate with the humanity of Jesus during His childhood.

We looked at the city from a precipice on the outskirts of town. Luke 4:14-30 could have happened here when the Nazarenes tried to throw Jesus off a cliff and he just walked away from them. Although, I can understand their disbelief when He was performing miracles for people in Galilee, but not for the people that He had known since childhood and grown up with. Only 70 caves, most likely the homes used in Bible times, were found in Nazareth which puts the population of Nazareth at about 350. Maybe this is why the Nazarenes didn’t accept Jesus as the Messiah; they knew Him too well and were too closed-minded. I’m glad today’s Nazarenes believe He is who He says He is!!

We visited Tel Megiddo which is a plateau with 25 civilizations beneath it. We saw ruins from several of these and got to walk through the water tunnel leading to the nearest spring. We could see that this would be the best location for the final battle, or Armageddon (Rev. 16:16), because it is high, centrally located, and right by the most convenient route between the Mediterranean and the East.

The theater by the Mediterranean in Caesarea.

After driving over Mt. Carmel, 1 Kings 18, we stopped by the Mediterranean Sea in Caesarea by the sea. This is where Peter came in Acts 10 to speak to Cornelius, an Italian soldier, and his friends and family. This was the first time Peter understood that Jesus had come to save both Jews and Gentiles. This expanded the ministry of the disciples and even of us today. We know that God desires that everyone be saved and that we participate in spreading the word about His salvation.

I was privileged to lead the devotional at this site today. We had a perfect setting: an ancient Roman theater with a view of the Mediterranean behind it. Involving everyone from our group, we acted out the story of Cornelius. Afterwards, Marika added to it saying that the significance of this happening here in Caesarea was that it was the doorway to the rest of the world. Being a port city it represented easy access for missionaries to go to Rome, to Greece, to Africa, and beyond. 

We swam in the Mediterranean for a little while before making the drive to Jerusalem. The coast was beautiful before heading back into the desert area. We weren’t able to see anything in Jerusalem today, but we’ll be spending the last 3 days of our trip there!

Wednesday, June 15—Upper Jordan



We started the day by driving to Tel Dan in Upper Galilee to see where the Israelite tribe of Dan settled. Their allotted land was down by the Mediterranean Sea, but because the Philistines were there and the Danites were afraid to fight them they moved north instead. They named the spring they found up there Dan. When it merges with two other streams it forms the Jor-Dan River. We went for a lovely walk by the stream until we came to the High Place of Jeroboam. After King Solomon died his son Rehoboam took poor advice to treat the people badly. 10 ½ of the 12 tribes rebelled and made Jeroboam their king. To keep the people from going down south to Jerusalem to worship God at the temple, as they were supposed to do, Jeroboam built an identical temple in Dan and put a false idol in it for the people to worship. The excavation we saw is one of the only intact temples found in Israel and it is just as it was described in the Old Testament. We saw the city walls where people could sit outside and see everyone who entered and exited the city. Such places are referred to throughout the entire Bible. A little further down the trail we found the only Canaanite ruins from 4000 years ago!



What's left at Caesarea Philippi



Our next stop was Caesarea Philippi. This was the home of the Greek god Pan (who looked like Mr. Tumnus from The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe) and so the city was called Panias. The Romans later took over the area and named it Ceasarea Philippi. Today it is called Banias because Hebrew speakers’ p’s sound like b’s. This is the place where Jesus asked Peter in Matt. 16 who people said He was. Peter responded with several names, but when asked who he thought Jesus was he responded saying, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” Jesus said, “…you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church…” The significance of this statement is that we must confess that Jesus is Lord. Not only that He is real, but that He is our personal Lord and Savior. Through such a confession, and as baptism represents, Christ can then build His church through us and upon us as a foundation. Our guide had a different understanding of this passage. She said that Jesus was saying He would build His church in spite of, or on top of, these pagan gods carved into the rocks. Interesting perspective.

We drove to the top of Mt. Hermon where we could see Syria in the distance and we could have driven into Lebanon if we’d continued another few miles. We ate falafels for lunch at the top of the mountain, and then took the rest of the day off. We’ve been busy every day, so it was nice to have a break and relax by the Sea of Galilee for awhile.

Tuesday, June 14—Sea of Galilee

What a holy and precious morning. We started the day by going to the mouth of the Jordan River where people had the option of being baptized. We believe that one baptism is sufficient for our faith, but it is a sacrament celebrating God’s grace. Just as we take communion on a regular basis to remember Christ’s resurrection and continually commit our lives to Him, we can likewise be baptized more than once to express our faith and God’s unending grace extended to us. I felt that being baptized in the same place Jesus was, and by my dad, were unique and special reasons to do it a second time. My dad said that as you are dipped in the water you have to release all control to him so you’re not fighting him to get down or fighting him to get up, but just trusting your “life” in his hands. In the same way, baptism was a reminder to me that I am not in control of my own life but completely dependent upon Him. I won’t allow my plans to interfere with His plans for me. I think this came at a good point in my life as I’m beginning to understand God leading my life toward a form of ministry!  

We drove up to the top of a nearby mountain to the east, The Golan Heights, to get a view of all Lower Galilee, which includes the entire Sea of Galilee. We found that most of Jesus’ ministry was done on the northwest shores of the water, in Capernaum. We could see Mount Tabor where Deborah and Barak fought the Canaanites from Judges 4. We saw where the evil spirits were cast out of the man and into the herd of pigs just before they ran off the cliff in Mark 5, the feeding of the 5,000, and the calming of the storm, just to name a few. We could even see where the Babylonian army must have marched through to Jerusalem just before the exile. Seeing the whole panoramic view from above helps me understand how all these stories are connected and helps me imagine better what life was like back then.

We went a little further around the lake to Bethsaida, the home of disciples Peter, Andrew, and Philip. It is so far away from the head of the river today that they didn’t know where to look for it. They just opened it to visitors in the past 2 or 3 years. There wasn’t much to see because it’s such a new site, but we got to see some archaeologists digging, and we have a better idea of where these Bible heroes grew up.

This is the only way to eat a fish!!



As a treat for lunch we ate St. Peter’s fish right by the Sea of Galilee, which is really just a whole freshwater fish from the Sea of Galilee. It tasted like any other fish, but was still fun to imagine that this was like the meal Jesus prepared for the disciples after His resurrection in John 21.

Capernaum was the home of Peter’s mother in law. Jesus probably stayed there with Peter several times. We were able to see the house and the ruins of a synagogue similar to the one used in Jesus’ day. We read from Mark 1 while we were there to hear about some of the many times that Jesus went to Capernaum. But Jesus cursed it because of the people’s unbelief, so it has been a deserted pile of rubble for 1500 years.



And on to the Mount of Beatitudes! We first visited the beautiful church at the top of the hill. Interesting fact, Mussolini had the church built in order to get in good with the Catholics. Though it was beautiful, it was hard to imagine what it was really like. To give us a more realistic perception we took a walk down a nearby hill. It was dry and dusty, but a few shady spots and a magnificent view of the lake. Our guide found a shady spot to stop and read Matthew 5 to us just like the people heard it 2000 years ago. How incredible it would have been to have Jesus there preaching in those days!

To complete our trip around the Sea of Galilee we got to sail the sea on a fishing boat replicating those of Jesus’ time. As we floated we read the scriptures with Jesus on a boat in the Sea of Galilee. We were able to point out all the areas around the lake, and get a feel for what it must have been like for Jesus and the disciples to be out in the middle of the water as they crossed it.

It’s hard to believe that we only have 5 days left to tour the Holy Land.

Monday, June 13—Dead Sea and Masada

A shout out to the sophomore girls from NFC. I really wish I could be at camp with you this week, but know that I've been thinking and praying for you this whole time! I know God will reveal Himself to you and work in each of your lives! I love each of you and want to hear about the whole week.

Swimming in the Dead Sea should be a necessity for everyone at some point in life. We got in too late last night so we made it a 5am swim instead! Because there is no outlet to this body of water the salt just collects here. The high salt concentration increases your buoyancy making floating effortless. If you lean back a little bit it “pops” you the rest of the way back. We just laid around on the water, enjoying the feeling of weightlessness.

Masada is Dad's favorite place! I loved being there with him!

After breakfast we started our drive north along the Dead Sea. First we rode a cable car to the top of Masada. Herod the Great had this fortress built in the event of an emergency but he never needed to use it. So when the Romans were taking over Israel in 70 AD a group of Jews fled here to the middle of the desert. Herod had it set up as such a strong fortress that the Romans could not conquer it for 2 years. Finally the Jews realized there was no way they could fight against 5-10,000 Roman soldiers so they committed suicide rather than be taken as prisoners. This is a reminder of how so many people have been persecuted for their faith over the millenniums. While walking around Masada I thought about how most of the disciples had already been martyred by that time in history. I need to remember to be thankful for the freedoms I have to worship God, and also remember to pray for all the persecution that is still going on today.  

Our next stop was En Gedi which is where King Saul was chasing David in 1 Samuel 24. We took a hike to look at some of the caves that David could have been hiding in and saw some beautiful waterfalls.  It’s amazing that the area is so beautiful and yet it’s directly in the middle of a horribly dry desert. No wonder David was hanging out there.

I would have hidden in this oasis if I were David too!

The last stop on our Dead Sea tour was Qumran. This is where the Dead Sea scrolls were found in 1947. We saw the caves they were found in and the ruins of the people who wrote them. Very cool!

We proceeded on to Jericho, where the Israelites first came to the Promised Land and Jesus traveled many times. I was hoping to see ruins from the walls of Jericho but our guide told us that they have not found any artifacts from the time of Joshua. That was disappointing.

Another hour north and we came to the ruins of Tel Bet She’an. Only 2 decades ago did they find a complete Roman city there called Scythopolis.  Apparently there was an earthquake that covered the city 1300 years ago and it wasn’t found until recently. This enabled us to see the complete city whereas other ruins were taken and used for other building projects around the country. This is the biggest excavation site in Israel.

For the next few nights we will be enjoying a hotel right beside the Sea of Galilee in Tiberias. It used to be a very sinful and pagan city. But strangely, there is no record of Jesus doing anything significant here. That seems out of His character, so maybe it just wasn’t recorded.