On the road to Jerusalem - Sunday, August 30th

Mark:

Our morning started out with sense of anticipation of being together with 268 people who shared a common purpose on Sunday. We were headed to the shores of the sea of Gallilee in an area called Tabgha which is believed to have been where Jesus took 2 fish and 5 loaves and fed thousands. The open shoreline was inviting and again easy to imagine the multitude of people hiking and coming together to hear the teaching of Jesus. As a group we enjoyed a time of song and teaching from the passage in Luke 8 led by Mark Driscoll. It was a beautiful start to our day and can only be described as knowing that a living God cared so much for me that he would send a rescuer into a broken human history to establish a purpose for my life and yours – it’s all about Jesus.

We left these shorelines after one last view and headed for the historic city of Beth Shan, south of Gallilee and enroute to Jerusalem. The city in ruins held a deep history going back to the time of Saul and his brutal defeat against the Philistines where they posted the carcasses of he and his sons on the city walls. The Greeks occupied the city for 1,000 years before the Romans rebuilt and occupied. The remains of the Roman theater and the high tell where a former temple existed convey an active lifestyle that was attractive for many to visit and call home. This area would later become a city that the followers of Jesus would go as part of the Decapolis to spread the news of his redemption. Evidence of gathering places tell many stories of the life of the people here.

We pushed off for the highway and drove through the West Bank, the Judean desert, past Jericho and watched as the landscape became barren. For much of the ride we could see across the border to Jordan and began to experience how short the distances between cities and nations in this region. As our guide explained the complicated conflict among the Arabs, Palestinian and Israeli’s, it became apparent that the rooted history will not lead to peace in this day and age.

As we approached Jerusalem and climbed up to an altitude above 3,000 feet, the Bedouin nomads caught our eye as they managed their sheep, goats and camels in the wilderness. Our first view of Jerusalem came as we came to an elevated point and entered into Hebrew University overlooking “the city of peace”. With first impressions capturing how small a geography area contained so much diversity, tension and beauty. Our guide pointed out how over centuries and millenniums that the city had been built upon previous buildings and structures….time and time again.Checking into our hotel, we wondered what the next day would bring as we visited the Mount of Olives and the city of Jerusalem…..

Hannah:
Sunday - Tabgha is the town where the miracle of the multiplication of the loaves and fish was performed. Here, we also listened to Mark Driscoll preach.

Later, we left for Jerusalem! It took us about two hours to get there, and on our way we past Jericho, and Samaria. To get there, we went through a lot of the dessert of Israel, which was an interesting side of the country to see. Along the way, we visited Beit She’an. Here Is where the ruins of an ancient city was found. It was wonderful to be able to see another ancient city found in the Bible.

Ben:
We woke up and got on the bus and put all of our stuff back inside the bus because we were going to Jerusalem. When we where looking for the bus it says what color bus. Someone put on top of that PARTY BUS because the tour guide calls the bus the party bus. While we where about to start driving a guy walked by the bus and read it and walked away. That is the new bus name. Then we drove about an hour and a half and went to a small town. It was really really hot even for us (since living in Florida). I started sweating. At one place (Beth Shan) in it was a bathroom for about 50 people and it was the same but bigger in Caesarea. Then we went to the place where they think that Jesus picked the disciples. There was a sunken ship over by there today. Mark Driscoll teached there about when Jesus was really tired and went to sleep on the boat while a storm was happening. (He said he was so tired the bottom of the boat looked like a good place to sleep). Then after he calmed the sea he probably went back to sleep. He taught it really well. Now we got to the hotel and are going to the pool and played volleyball again and did a relay race. My team won and daddy and Caleb’s team lost. Then we went upstairs and took a shower and went to dinner and now. That’s all I have because I don’t know the future.