You Can Know God

Walk the Holy Land

From December 4-11, I'm going to take some people from our church on a tour of Israel. This trip is open to anyone who would like to go. I had the opportunity to go to Israel last year with a group from Westridge, and it was amazing. I would highly recommend going if you can.

This particular trip will take us to Jerusalem, the Mount of Olives, Jericho, and the Dead Sea. We'll see Caeserea, the aquaducts that Herod build, the fields where David fought Goliath and so much more. It's $2100, which includes nice hotels, airfare, meals, and transportation on the ground. Tips and taxes are included too, so this is pretty much all inclusive. If you are interested in going, shoot me an e-mail and I'll send you more info. I promise you, it will be worth it.

Israel Pictures

Here are thirty of my favorite pictures from my trip to Israel.  I took about 800 pictures, and still have a few more to process.  I wrote a short description of each photo so you can get a tiny bit of the story.

Israel: Day 7

Yesterday, we spent the day in Jerusalem following some of the steps of Jesus.  Most of the holy sites in Israel aren't really the guaranteed spots, and most have elaborate churches built over them.  But we visited a few sites today that are pretty authentic.

First we visited the Mount of Olives, which overlooks the eastern gate and the temple mount.  Jesus ascended from here and will return here.  There are thousands of Jewish graves on the side of the mountain.  There is a church built at a possible location of the garden of gethsemene.  Then we entered the old city.

We went to a church built over the probably locaton of Ciaphas's home.  This was where Jesus was brought after his arrest.  There is an ancient, original road...Jesus actually walked on this rode.  The home has a dungeon, and it's possible that Jesus spent the night there.  We crawled down the steps and read some passages there.

We saw the pools of Bethesda, which led to a roman fortress built right next to the temple mount.  One striking thiing here was seeing some carvings on the stone floor (open air courtyard in the time of Christ) where Roman guards would play games.  Remember when soldiers cast lots for Jesus's clothes?

We walked down the Via Dolorosa, built over the original street, about 10 feet higher or so.  We visited a very ornate church where some people assume Golgotha to be.  It was amazingly gaudy and tacky in my opinion. 

We also visited the garden tomb, where they discovered a huge cistern feeding a large ancient garden.  There is a tomb carven into the mountain that fits the Biblical record.  Again, no one can say for certain, but it was a pretty amazing place.  It was a great end to a whirlwind tour of Israel.

Now, I'm sitting in the airport in Tel Aviv waiting for my all-night flight home to Atlanta.  I've eaten about 28 peices of pita bread, and I'd really like some Chick-Fil-A sweet tea and I'd like to see my girls and then my wife a big kiss.

Israel: Day 6

Yesterday began with a visit to probably the 2nd most holy site for Jews here...Masada.  It was here where the Jews made their last stand against the Romans in 73 AD.  After Jerusalem and the 2nd temple was destroyed, they held out on this mountain plateau of a fortress.   It's in the cliffs and mountains beside the Dead Sea.  As defeat was near, tradition says that all the Jews committed mass suicide rather than be captured by the Romans.  The story goes that they would rather die than become slaves and prostitutes for the Romans.  But as the Bible forbade slavery, each man had to kill his own family, and then they would draw straws and get down to the last person.  The romans built garrisons all around the city and actually built a huge ramp up to the mountain.  It stands as a symbol of the Jewish spirit and was quite impressive.  Instead of riding the cable car up to the top, four of us decided to climb using the "snake trail."  Yea, I need to exercise more.  That about killed me.

From there, we went to the Dead Sea, the lowest place on the planet at 1400 feet below sea level.  We did the whole mud bath and sulfer shower before going swimming in the sea.  It's 6 times saltier than the ocean - nothing lives there.  Not one organism.  The floor is literally salt.  The water feels like Baby oil.

Then we visited En Gedi, an oasis in the desert.  It was here where David fled from Saul (I Samuel 23:29).  We hiked up to the waterfall known as David's Waterfall.  King David himself probably got water from the springs here.  On the way back, we stopped at Wadi Qelt in the Judean wilderness.  It's truly wilderness.  Rocks and mountains.  Jesus was tempted in this wilderness.  In the side of the mountain was St. George's monestary.  The road to Jerusalem from Jerico would begin in just a short distance.  The hills are dotted with caves, and the Bedouins still live all around.

Tomorrow, we spend the final day in Jerusalem, tracing the steps of Jesus' final week. 

Israel: Day 5

It's tough to see everything that there is to see.  We head out each morning in a different direction.  2 days ago, we spent the day in Bethlehem, which is Palestinian.  Israel has walled the city in to separate it for security purposes, and there is a lot of animosity among the Palestinian people about this.  Many see it as a Berlin wall.  And it's not being built on the UN recognized borders.  There's a lot of bitterness at the US and the world for taking Isreal's side in the dispute, and I have to say, that I see both sides of the issue.  The situation has not been good for the economy of Bethlehem, with employment rising from 20% to 60% in the last few years.  And after Hamas gained power, no foreign aid comes to Bethlehem anymore.

I was reminded that there was not peace in Israel when the Messiah was here - why would there be peace now.  100 trips to this country would only give you a tiny taste of the struggle and conflict that has gone on between Israel and Palestine.  It's a constant war-neighbor mentality.

We went to Bethlehem Bible College.  I encourage you to check out and supprt this school.  They are doing a great work.  The president of the school is a sharp guy.   After this, we went to the Church of the Nativity, built over the space where Jesus was supposedly born.  This is highly unlikely, but it might be close.  Who knows?  This church is the curch you see on TV at Christmas, it's the oldest standing church in the world.  Very ornate and religious.

From there, we visited Shepherd's Field.  It's a field outside the city, where the angels visited the shepherds and told them about the birth of the Messiah.  Again, it's not like it was the actual field, but you could actually imagine shepherd and sheep.  The terrain was amazing.  Tons of rocks.  Just enough green stuff for sheep.

After that, we went to a palace built by King Herod.  The ancient cities are quite a sight.

Day Three in Israel

We spent the day on foot in Jerusalem today.  This morning, we went to Jerusalem Baptist Church, and I'm happy to report that half-way across the world, there are people doing baptist church as we know it.  Hymnals and all.  There was another foreign group there from England, and I dig those accents.

Then we walked around the Old City of Jerusalem, enclosed by walls built and rebuilt at various times.  The city is hundreds of feet higher than it was at the time of Christ, because it kept getting destroyed and rebuilt.  There are excavated parts where you can look down and see part of the walls from the time of Solomon. 

We saw the western wall, the only exposed wall from the time of Jesus.  This is a most holy place for Jews.  It was the place Jews would come to pray when they were exiled from the temple mount, and became known as the wailing wall.  We saw this on the Sabbath the other night, but today we took pictures.

We walked down the side of the city and saw Absaloms tomb.  We saw the graveyard where Oskar Schindler is burried.  We saw the ruins of the city of David - which goes all the way back to 1000 BC when David took the city for the first time.  His son Solomon would build the first temple. 

I saw the steps where Peter preached @ Pentecost and 3,000 people were saved.  The city is rich with history on so many layers. Literally. Tomorrow, we're going to Bethlehem.  It's under Palestinian control, but our driver lives there so he is getting us in.

Made it to Israel

After an 11 hour flight through the night, and losing about 6 hours or so, we arrived in Israel at 5 PM local time on Thursday.  We met our driver and drove from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.  Our hotel is in Zion Square in the new city section.  Very cool. 

On the way to Jerusalem, we stopped at the valley where David fought Goliath.  There were two hills on either side where the armies camped.  David and Goliath is one of my favorite Old Testament stories.  We walked to the river bed and I picked up five smooth stones and put them in my bag.  Very cool.

There are a lot of rocks here.  I saw a shepherd leading some sheep.  And I can't read any of the signs.  I have no idea how much a sheckel is worth.  We head out tomorrow morning at 6:30 to see more stuff.  Very cool.