Holy Waters...

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This was the day we had been waiting for - our first day in Israel. We left the dock in Haifa and traveled about an hour east through the Carmel Mountains across the Jezreel Valeey into the Galilee area. Our wonderful tour guide, Tali, and her husband both grew up in the Galilee and they still own large groves of olive trees there. She was very knowledgeable and quite passionate when she described the land, the people, the history and the culture. We were both impressed with the beauty of the rolling hills and lush fields, orchards and groves nestled in the valleys. The invention of drip irrigation revolutionized agricultural opportunities and practices in Israel and land which was once dry and barren now produces fruits and vegetables exported around the world.

Our first stop was the northwestern shore of the Sea of Galilee (which really is a lake not a sea). We visited the beautiful Franciscan Church of the Beatitudes which is built on the same hill side where Jesus delivered that sermon. Our guide asked me to read the beatitudes passage from Matthew for our group. As we stood under a tree with a breeze blowing gently over the hillside, hearing those words of comfort and blessing was a very moving experience.

Next we stopped at Tagbha, right at the shore of the Sea of Galilee. Here Tali asked me to read the story for the group about Jesus walking on the water in the middle of a storm. The weather that day was perfect, but Tali explained that storms develop quickly over the lake. Hearing the story again looking out over the water reminded me that I, too, would have been afraid just as Peter was. However, it was Peter's step of faith out onto the water himself which helped him to understand that Jesus was indeed the Son of God who could still all storms.We also visited the Church of the Multiplication where Jesus performed the miracle of feeding the 5000 with two fish and five loaves of bread.

Next, we visited Capernaum, where there are ruins of a synagogue where Jesus preached near the home of Peter's mother-in-law. Capernaum is called "Jesus Town" by the Israelis because he spent so much time here during his short ministry on earth and walking through the ruins gave us a real sense of what life would have been for him and his disciples during that time. We were fortunate that there were very few others there that day, so we were able to close our eyes and use the silence to picture Jesus walking the streets and teaching any who would listen. Amazing!

Then onto Yardenit at the River Jordan. In spite of the fact that there's a large commercial gift shop there, the river itself is quite beautiful. There are several areas where you can walk right down into the water, and we witnessed some baptisms that day. This isn't the part of the river where John the Baptist baptized Jesus and the Spirit descended upon him, but this is a part of the Jordan which has traditionally been safer for access through times of great conflict. The River Jordan play such an important role throughout the Bible, that it was wonderful being able to visit it anywhere!

After a lovely lunch at a kibbutz, we drove to Nazareth. Unlike the other parts of our trip which were quite and mostly rural, Nazareth is a large city today. The Nazareth of Jesus' youth was a very small village, so it is a challenge to envision it in them midst of the urban sprawl. However, we did visit the Basilica of the Annunciation, which celebrates the site where Gabriel told a young virgin Mary that she would become mother to the Son of God. It's also the largest Christian church in the Middle East. Here Tali asked me to read the story of Mary's encounter with Gabriel and her faithful reply. It was an amazing experience!

There simply aren't words to describe how blessed we felt at the end of this day!

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