Touring Galilee

Simply WOW!  Spectacular.  Awesomely beautiful.  If you can you think of other superlatives for the natural beauty of God’s creation, then please add them to this list. 

            I started today at 5:30 AM to witness the sunrise over the Sea of Galilee.  Like most things I get myself into, it didn’t start out perfectly.  I got up on time (which is what I failed to do when our family wanted to see the sunrise at the Grand Canyon) and was down at the Tiberias wharf watching as the sky slowly grew in redness.  After a couple of pictures, though, the camera’s batteries went dead.  I rushed back to the room, stumbled in the darkness, waking my roommate, Jimbo, up and finally made it back to the shore just as the sky was about to explore in color.  Simply – beautiful.  Here’s a sample for you to see. 

            After an incredible Middle Eastern buffet breakfast (let’s just say, there was no self serve waffle maker), we headed due north from the lake to Caesarea Phillipi which is on the border with Lebanon at the base of Mt. Hermon – the site of Israel’s only ski resort (and yes there was snow).  This was a beautiful Greek/Roman city of ruins.  The key feature to the town was a temple to the god Pan which protruded from the cave where the springs of water emerged.  All of the temple is gone, but the springs and the river was gorgerous.  The water we saw will flow in the Sea of Galilee then emerge as the Jordan River to the South. 

            After about an hour drive back, we spent the rest of the day around the Lake – especially the Northern part of the lake where Jesus based his Galilean ministry.  Our stops included a museum with a recently discovered 1^st century Jewish boat from the Sea of Galilee – this could have been the boat Jesus used to preach or to sail on the river; the Church of the Beatitudes where Jesus gave his Sermon on the Mount, the Church of the Multiplication, where Jesus fed the 5000, Capernaum, the Town of Jesus, a kibbutz for a fish supper, a boat ride on the lake, and finally a stop at a baptism site at the southern end of the Lake. 

             A couple of my impressions:

·       This is one of the most beautiful places on earth.  Besides all of the holy sites where Jesus walked, the place simply feels peaceful and pastoral.  It’s worth seeing this place – just for God’s creation.

·       This area is smaller than I expected.  When I read of the various places of Jesus’ ministry -  Capernaum, the decropolis, the other side of the lake, Tiberias – I always thought how far they must be from each other.  Instead, you can see all of these places as you stand on the shore.  The Northern part of the lake during Jesus’ time was considered pure for Jews – the rest was filled with gentiles and unpure.  Every time Jesus walks to one of these unpure sites – he is demonstrating with his life that his message is for everyone – he crosses culture and ethic and religious boundaries by just going to the next town down the lake. I understood this about the Samaritan woman, but I just didn’t get it until I saw the lake for myself.

·       This place is full of history – From a gate that Abraham walked through from Haran to the present conflict in Syria – with everything in between – Egyptians, Persians, Babylonian Greeks, Romans, Byzantines, Muslims, Turks, Crusaders, and the British – have all played a part in our learning today.    

The wifi at our hotel in Tiberius was down – so I’m posting these as soon as I have broadband to up load them.