Tagbha

13 Now when Jesus heard this, he withdrew from there in a boat to a lonely place apart. But when the crowds heard it, they followed him on foot from the towns. 14 As he went ashore he saw a great throng; and he had compassion on them, and healed their sick. 15 When it was evening, the disciples came to him and said, "This is a lonely place, and the day is now over; send the crowds away to go into the villages and buy food for themselves." 16 Jesus said, "They need not go away; you give them something to eat." 17 They said to him, "We have only five loaves here and two fish." 18 And he said, "Bring them here to me." 19 Then he ordered the crowds to sit down on the grass; and taking the five loaves and the two fish he looked up to heaven, and blessed, and broke and gave the loaves to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the crowds. 20 And they all ate and were satisfied. And they took up twelve baskets full of the broken pieces left over. 21 And those who ate were about five thousand men, besides women and children. Matthew 14:13-21

We interrupt this travelogue for a special message . .

In honor of the 490th anniversary of Martin Luther nailing his theses to the door in Wittenberg, I went to a website showing pictures of another trip Craig and I went on in 2000 to Wittenberg.

On a more fun note, in honor of the anniversary, I also want to share a wonderful website and publication with you called "The Wittenberg Door." Check out this site but keep your tongue firmly planted in your cheek!

Have a happy and blessed Reformation Day!!! (That is why we are handing out candy tonight, isn't it?)

Primacy of Peter

And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it. (Matthew 16:18 NRSV)

At Thy word, I will let down the net. Luke 5:5
The deeds and miracles of Jesus are not actions of the past. Jesus is waiting for those who are still prepared to take risks at His word because they trust His power utterly.

Mount of the Beatitudes

1 When Jesus saw the crowds, he went up the mountain; and after he sat down, his disciples came to him. 2 Then he began to speak, and taught them, saying:

3 "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 4 "Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted. 5 "Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth. 6 "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled. 7 "Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy. 8 "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God. 9 "Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God. 10 "Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 11 "Blessed are you when people revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. 12 Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you. Matthew 5:1-12 (NRSV)

If I could only go back for a few days, I would choose to go to Galilee. Not only is it lovely, but I felt closest to Jesus and his disciples there (not too surprising since this is where they hung out!). What is most surprising to me is that most of the places where Jesus taught and healed are very close to one another. In fact, you can see most of them from a boat on the sea! In this picture taken from the Mount of the Beatitudes, you can see several places. The brown church in the bottom right of the picture is the Church of the "Primacy of Peter"; to the left of that church is Tabgha (the Church of the Multiplication of the Fish and Loaves); and while you can't see it in the picture not too far to the left of Tabgha is Capernum.

Put your hand in the hand of the man from Galilee

Kibbutz Nof Ginnosart where we stayed for four nights.













This is the church of the Primacy of Peter as seen from the Sea of Galilee.







The Church of the Beatitudes as seen from the Sea. The church was built on the site where we believe Jesus gave his Sermon on the Mount.

Masada

Masada was the last hold out of the Jewish Zealots after the destruction of Jerusalem by Rome. The fortress was one of several palaces built by Herod the Great and it was a great beauty when built. But its greatest fame came when Jewish Zealots holed up within its walls and withheld a Roman seige for three months. The seige ended after the Romans built a ramp to the top of the fortress and the Zealots choose to kill themselves rather than surrender. They cast lots to determine which 10 men would kill everyone (suicide being strongly discouraged in Judiasm) and then one of the ten killed the others and finally killed himself. WHen the Romans arrived only two women survived.
This model shows how Masada would have looked during the time of Christ.






You can definitely see the ghost of its ancient glory even today











Here you see the zig zag trail to the top. Judy and Charles wanted to know if we walked up and I told them that we were all so sore after the climb up Sinai that there was no way we were walking when a cable car was available!

Kibbutz Ein Gedi and The Dead Sea

Our first night in Israel was spent at the Ein Gedi Kibbutz. The Spa is located at the lowest spot on earth, but the Kibbutz itself is located on a hill above the Dead Sea and has a beautiful view.

Kibbutz Ein Gedi




Here you can see the mineral content of the Dead Sea Water.

Here are the guys proving that they really did get in the water. If you look closely in the background I'm the women with a white hat on floating.
How could we leave without a Dead Sea Mud Treatment. This is a child's dream!!!

Entering Israel

We entered Israel at its sourthern most tip, Elat, across the gulf we could see Jordan.

Ascending (and descending) Mount Sinai

1 On the third new moon after the Israelites had gone out of the land of Egypt, on that very day, they came into the wilderness of Sinai. 2 They had journeyed from Rephidim, entered the wilderness of Sinai, and camped in the wilderness; Israel camped there in front of the mountain. 3 Then Moses went up to God; the Lord called to him from the mountain, saying, "Thus you shall say to the house of Jacob, and tell the Israelites: 4 You have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles' wings and brought you to myself. 5 Now therefore, if you obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my treasured possession out of all the peoples. Indeed, the whole earth is mine, 6 but you shall be for me a priestly kingdom and a holy nation. These are the words that you shall speak to the Israelites." Exodus 19:1-6