This morning, we loaded our luggage into our air-conditioned coach, departed Tiberias and Galilee and headed southeast toward Nazareth. The cloud cover made today far cooler than yesterday—still warm, but not hot.
On our way to Nazareth, we passed through Cana (now called Kfar Kana) where Jesus performed his first miracle—turning water into wine at a wedding in Cana.
Nazareth was the home of Joseph and Mary, as well as the town in which Jesus grew up. As we entered Nazareth, I could tell that the population—at least in this part of town—was predominantly muslim. The signage was mostly in Arabic and occasionally Hebrew. Upper Nazareth is where the Hebrew population lives. We got off the bus and took a walk through a small market where everything from meat to toys was being sold. And by meat, I mean a full side of butchered animal hanging up in the storefront.
We continued through the market and up a street to the Synagogue Church, built over the original synagogue where Jesus announced he was fulfilling Isaiah 61:1-2 that we read in Luke Chapter 4. Pastor Jim gave us a devotional talk describing that scene which was immediately followed by Jesus being rejected and tossed out of town. But the main message for us is that—as followers of Christ—we, too, are called to preach the good news to the poor, to proclaim freedom for the prisoners, and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, and to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor.
We took a short rest stop at a Kibbutz restaurant and grocery store after Nazareth that was notable because this Jewish community makes their own pork products. If you know anything about Jewish life, that's not Kosher. But this community is of Russian descent and don't abide by the same food laws. Susie and I ordered some pepperoni, cheddar cheese, and fresh bread to make a simple sandwich to tide us over until our late lunch near the Dead Sea.
Leaving Nazareth, we turned south and went to a garden-like setting known as Gideon's Spring. This was the site mentioned in 1 Kings 7 when Gideon amasses an armed force of 32,000 soldiers to defeat the Midianites. And then God reduces his army down to a paltry 300 soldiers. Pastor Betsey shared with us in the quiet setting that we, too, will often get all our resources ready and lined up and then God steps in, changes things up, and brings us to a place where we must rely on Him and not trust in our own strength and might. She mentioned, too, that He will use nobodies like Gideon—and us—yet steps beside us to show that we are no longer nobodies, but daughters and sons of the Almighty God who is standing beside us in battle bringing us to victory.
After Gideon's Spring, our route took us south along the Jordan River parallel to the Israel/Jordan border and crossing into the West Bank which is Palestinian controlled. The border into the West Bank was quick to cross, but I spotted several armed guards at the checkpoint.
We were now driving through completely different terrain—this was desert. The scene was sandy, dry, with the occasional date palms orchard or small village. We saw Bedouin nomads herding their goats, a couple of camels, and distant mountains and caves.
It was in one of those caves in 1947 in Qumran, our next destination, where a Bedouin shepherd boy discovered what we now call the Dead Sea Scrolls. Now Qumran is a national park with a restaurant (where we had lunch), extensive gift shop, and walkthrough tour of the ruins discovered here in the 1950s. We were grateful that the weather was cool. Pastor Jim said he's been here on days when he felt like he was in a blast furnace.
On Monday, we'll stop and sea the Dead Sea, but as we drove past it, we learned from Tony our tour guide that the Dead Sea's waterline has dropped about 100ft. over the past 40 years. The Dead Sea is the lowest point on Earth at 1,300 ft. below sea level.
Now we were leaving the lowest point on Earth and going up to one of the highest points on Earth—at least spiritually speaking. We were going up to Jerusalem!
The road to Jerusalem from the east rises from 1,300 ft. below sea level to 2,600 ft. above sea level. That's why people always use the expression, "Going up to Jerusalem." As we neared the city, we drove through a long tunnel and Tony said to keep our eyes focused out the left side of the bus. He turned on some music appropriate for the moment—a praise song about going to Jerusalem—and suddenly there was the Holy City right before our eyes.
We parked the bus atop a viewpoint on Mount Scopus where we could see the Temple Mount, the walled Old City, and several other points of interest we'll be visiting in the days ahead.
Now, we are in our hotel, a 21- story building at the highest point in western Jerusalem. Our room looks to the northeast, but I imagine there's a fantastic view of the Old City from the east side of the building. It's a Friday evening, so it's the beginning of Shabot (the Sabbath) and things are a little different here. Shabot services were taking place in the meeting rooms downstairs, families were dressed in their Sabbath-best, and the elevators have a special setting for Shabot. Two of the four elevators run automatically and stop on every floor. That way, you do not have to work on the Sabbath by pushing elevator buttons. We took the elevator where we could push the buttons. But, maybe I felt a little guilty about it.
Tomorrow, I plan to get up early and go for a short run in Jerusalem. I'll be staying close to the hotel, but I expect it still to be a pretty amazing way to start the day and one of my more memorable runs. Even more interesting is that I emailed my roommate from my six-day bike ride along the California coast in 2008. His name is Boaz and he lives in Israel. He emailed back and he lives only 30 miles from Jerusalem. We'll connect tomorrow and try to meet up while I'm here!
Thanks for your continued prayers! Photos are posted here.
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