Walking Where Jesus Walked

I'm currently sitting in my hotel room in the dark.  I just learned that this hotel has a strange and annoying energy saving technique where after approximately 2 minutes of inactivity, all the lights turn off by themselves.  I cannot figure out how to disable this function and so here I sit, with only my computer screen for a light. 

Yesterday began like every other day.  Wake up call at 6 AM (this may be vacation but there's no sleeping in haha), breakfast at 7, on the bus and moving by 8.  We arrived early for our appointment at the Sea of Galilee and so we had a few minutes to watch a film in the museum and see the exhibit about the ancient fishing boat that archaeologists dug up out of the Sea! The boat is a real boat from the time when Jesus lived.  Did he set foot in that very boat with his disciples?  Nobody knows but its fun to imagine.

With that in mind we walked out to the docks where we met Captain Dan and boarded his vessel for a time of worship.  He took us out into the middle of the Sea of Galilee and led our group in a wonderful time of worship and prayer.  Honestly, that's a place I wish we could have stayed at all day.  To sing praises to my God who can calm the wind and waves, in the exact place where he literally did that, gave me goosebumps!

Our next stop was the Mount of Beatitudes (reference Matthew 5).  This was where Jesus preached his famous Sermon on the Mount! There was a beautiful church on the grounds with mosaic tiled floors and a domed roof (pictured left and below).  The mountain area was very well gardened and the place smelled like honeysuckle.




After a short time there we moved on to our next stop, Tabgha.  This is the site where Jesus multiplied the loaves and the fish so that the entire crowd he had been preaching to would not go hungry.  There was a short path which led down to a small beach at the edge of the Sea of Galilee.  We had a short devotional and time for contemplation and then again headed back to the bus.  This is the pattern we have been following throughout the trip so far.  I am being stuffed with knowledge and information and each place has so much to offer that I admit I am finding myself to be a bit frustrated by the extremely small amounts of time we have to fully appreciate each place.  I feel these things should not be rushed through and I just wish we had some more time to let the feelings and the knowledge absorb.







With that being said, we again hopped back on the bus and headed out to Capernaum.  This is a place known as the Jesus city.  They call it that because Jesus spent so much of his time here in ministry.  I forget the exact statistics but if I remember correctly, He actually performed 23 out of 37 miracles in this one town alone!

 For lunch we stopped at a small cafe and out of three choices, I chose to be adventurous and try the fish.  Well, they warned us that it would have a head on it still but they did not mention that the whole entire fish would show up on the plate, bones and all!  I took this picture for proof... I ate the entire thing.  I would say this takes fish and chips to an entirely new level!

After lunch we headed out to go kayaking. When we got there, however, it turned out we were actually paddling canoes.  I am learning that the description of the activities in the itinerary should not be taken literally.  Jeep = ATV and kayak = canoe in Israel apparently.  I wonder if I will actually end up on the back of a camel during camel riding, or if it will be a horse instead. Most of us stayed dry during the "kayak" trip.  Only one boat got flipped and I must say it was entirely deserved... well done Nagahashi's!

The view to the right is from the window of my hotel room at sunset last night.  The hotels we are staying at are absolutely beautiful!  Each night keeps getting better and better.  We ended the evening with a baptism.  About 8 people in our group wanted to get baptized in the Sea of Galilee.  It was a wonderful, meaningful time of hearing how God has impacted the lives of others and watching them re-dedicate their lives to following Him.

As I write this, I am sitting in my hotel room looking out over the Dead Sea.  I have watched about 5 fighter jets fly past over the Sea heading south.  I can only imagine they are Israeli fighter jets conducting some training exercises but it is really exciting to watch!  If my dad was here he would be practically jumping up and down with excitement and he would be able to tell me exactly what type of plane they are flying just by the green light that flashes as it flies by in the dark.

Get excited because tomorrow I'll tell all about my swim in the Dead Sea!!