Day One - Israel Trip 2011

 

Day one of our Israel Log..


Karen and I arrived safely in Israel, a few days before the rest of the group to prepare and rest up and celebrate our 31st anniversary today, March 22nd!  I have the best wife in the world!!


Checked into the hotel and ran into one of our favorite Israeli tour guides who was of all things tending to a VIP.


And Karen and I met one of our favorite VIP’s, Sarah Palin, and her husband Todd in Israel for a meeting.  I can safely mention this now since she is gone, for I feel for such celebrities who are dogged by media every step and have to keep things on the hush hush. 


Then we went out and enjoyed the last day of Purim. celebrating the Sovereignty of God in delivering the Jewish population in Persia by Esther over the evil Haman who sought to annihilate them(watch the message from Sunday at CCOB)   Now it seems to absolutely be the Jewish Halloween, as the children (and adults) were all dressed in costumes and the streets were jammed packed with families and there was singing and clowns and fun, all around Jerusalem.  

purim
Now readying for the group arriving tomorrow morning and will take my sweet bride out for dinner tonight.

Another amazing day in Israel!

Megiddo -

Napoleon said it is the perfect battlefield.

A retired general from the US army called it the ideal place to fight a war.

After overlooking the Valley of Megiddo yesterday, it was a special time to have Pastor Chuck share today with the group the Valley’s future significance.

Just think - this is the site where that final battle will take place!

Part of today we spent at Caesarea by the Sea. Pastor Chuck Smith shared with the group on Acts 10 and 12, which was a huge blessing as this is Pastor Chuck’s last trip to Israel. Ronnie Cohen, one of our tour guides, shared with us some of the historical evidence that has been found here. For years historians claimed that Pontius Pilate never existed, until evidence was found here that he did indeed.

Pictures from around the Sea of Galilee

Jesus would have grown up seeing the views from Nazareth of Mt Tabor, perhaps out on the ridge meditating at times. Imagine all the stories in the Bible from Deborah & Barak in Judges 4 around Mount Tabor or Saul and Jonathan in 1 Sam 31 when they fell slain on Mt Gilboa. The Bible would have happened right in His backyard.

Overlooking Nazareth, Mount Gilboa, Mount Tabor, sights Jesus would have grown up with.

The wind was howling on the top of the cliff.  Jesus would have grown up seeing this view, perhaps out on the ridge meditating at times. Imagine all the stories in the Bible from Deborah & Barak in Judges 4 around Mount Tabor or Saul and Jonathan in 1 Sam 31 when they fell slain on Mt Gilboa. The Bible would have happened right in His backyard.

And here we are!  Though Nazareth would not be the sprawling city of 140 thousand as it is today but in reality a village of perhaps 20 families.

Imagine Jesus coming to Nazareth, as Luke 4 records, going into the synagogue and quoting Isaiah 61:1 “The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon Me, Because the LORD has anointed Me To preach good tidings to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, To proclaim liberty to the captives, And the opening of the prison to those who are bound;

2 To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD, ….

HE STOPS here mid sentence and says this is fulfilled.

They then realizing the implications of his claiming to be the Messiah, they are offended that this man, a son of Joseph, would claim such a thing and they try to throw him off the cliff that NAzareth is built upon but he escapes.

Here we are!

A few awesome photos from our first day in Israel.