Just a note...

Again I have been away.  We did a presentation on Sunday regarding our trip.  If you couldn't make it, don't worry...we'll plan on doing another presentation in the near future.

Thanks to everyone who was able to be there.  We didn't want to bore people, but we had so much information to pass along.  I'll keep posting pictures of stuff, since there was a lot we did not cover.  It is a lot of fun to present the information though, we get to live it all over again.

By the by...we had two packages come from Bethlehem today.  WOOOHOO!  We purchased several Nativity sets hand carved out of Olive Wood.  We also purchased a gift for the congregation...we'll present that soon.

So, yes we are glad we got to go before all the rockets started flying...although it sounds like potentially they were flying while we were there.  Our visit was timed just right.  Sara saw on facebook a post from our tourguide.  He had videoed rockets being shot out of the air over his house.  Please pray for the people over there and that they would all come to know Jesus as Lord and Savior...then they will know true Peace!  Blessings.

A little out of order...

A view into Syria from the Golan Heights in Israel. 
According to our tour guide these buildings are all military installations. 



A view of the border wall between Israel and Syria.  This provides a divide between these two nations and was built by Israel.  Just over that fence massacre is going on even as I write this.



The white buildings are the UN delegation that sits as the international monitor between the Syrian and Israeli border.

I am doing things a little out of order as these are pictures from the end of our second day in Israel.  The reason for this is these pictures represent something that is a current event. 

If you had not heard Syria has had some "errant" mortar shells fall into Israeli territory.  Israel has in turn fired on them to let them know this is not acceptable.  These pictures represent the turmoil that Israel consistently lives in.  America does not and can not comprehend what it is to live in fear of other nations desiring your total and complete annihilation. 

We have had the Cold War, but we are so sheltered by our miles and miles of oceans between us and countries that hate us.  Israel does not have this luxury.  As you can see they are surrounded by a multitude of folks that wish them ill.  Theirs is a precarious position and that was very much sensed by me in a very physical way.  As our plane landed on the first day my whole body shuttered internally.  For we were now in a land that has been and is being pressed in on so many sides by hatred. 

Why no recent post???

Sorry for no recent posts from our trip...I'll get on that right after this brief message from one of the groups I don't mind sponsoring.

I was blessed enough to attend a conference on Islam this past weekend.  It was put on by RZIM.  What is RZIM the inquisitive person might ask?

Ravi Zacharias International Ministries.

Ravi Zacharias is an incredible man who has been gifted by God to provide not only a defense of the Christian faith, but also an advancement of Christianity into places where it may not exist or it may be waning.

If you have a chance to listen to him take the opportunity.  You can go to www.RZIM.org and check out a plethora of media.  He is not alone in his endeavor and though the organization does bear his name, I was blessed to get to listen to Stuart McCallister and a whole host of other impressive speakers at the conference I attended.

I can only encourage you to check this very worthwhile organization out in order that it may be a blessing to you.  Also do not hesitate to purchase materials from them or support them financially.  As an LCMS pastor I will not say that I agree entirely with the theology that RZIM is endowed with, but I'd say at least 95 percent of their material is spot on!

So elated...we felt like walking on water!

Our Sea of Galilee boat docked near Capernaum.





A thrilled tourist enjoying the ride.



Another thrilled tourist being photographed
by previously said thrilled tourist.



This is the "hill" Jesus talks about in Matthew 5:14.

 

The Sea of Galilee was a most impressive sight to behold.  It is not massive from the standpoint that apart from the haze you can see from one end to the other from most any point on the shore.  It is surrounded by hills or mountains on all sides.  It is the lifeblood of  Israel and Jordan as it provides them with most all of their drinkable water.  The Jordan River headwaters flow from the north and then the Jordan flows out of it in the south. 

 

Every which-way we turned, while on the boat, we knew that without a doubt Jesus had walked these shores, Peter and many of the disciples had fished here, and God had taken this backwater place and bestowed glory upon it! (Isaiah 9)

They have TV's???

A view of our first accommodation while on the Sea of Galilee.

I am fortunate to be able to help at an after school program in our community.  I get the joy of leading the kids in Bible corner.  Last Wednesday I had the chance to share a little bit about our trip to Israel.  One of the 2nd graders asked where we stayed.  I said our first few nights were spent in our own little cottage.  After trying to figure out what that was I said basically we had our own little house to live in while we were on the Sea of Galilee.  I remarked that it was very modern and even had a TV and refrigerator in it.  The same little boy raised his hand and proclaimed, "They had TV???"  The other teacher and I had to convince him that Sara and I did not hop on a time machine and go back to the days of Jesus. 

I love how children's minds work because mine is not far behind. :)

A pick me up....

I'm But a Stranger Here

I'm but a stranger here, Heav'n is my home;

Earth is a desert drear, Heav'n is my home.

Danger and sorrow stand Round me on ev'ry hand;

Heav'n is my fatherland, Heav'n is my home.

 

What though the tempest rage, Heav'n is my home;

Short is my pilgrimage, Heav'n is my home;

And time's wild wintry blast Soon shall be overpast;

I shall reach home at last, Heav'n is my home.

 

Therefore I murmur not, Heav'n is my home;

What e'er my earthly lot, Heav'n is my home;

And I shall surely stand There at my Lord's right hand;

Heav'n is my fatherland, Heav'n is my home.

 

 

This hymn was written by one Thomas Rawson Taylor in the early 1800's.  It recounts for the Christian who mourns and for the Christian who is tired that this earth is not all there is.  Be ever mindful that we dare not attempt or think that we might create heaven on earth.  Our final resting place, for those who believe in Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior, is not the grave or this earth.  We however are filled with the same hope of Paul as he writes at the end of Romans 8, "For I am sure that [nothing]...will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord."

By the way, Mr. Taylor had this figured out sometime before he turned 27.  You see he was born in 1807 and he died in 1835, the poem above was probably written in his mid-20's. 

 

Praise God from Whom all blessings flow!

 



Hi5

While they do not want you to turn right....they would like a high five!

Mt. Carmel....apple?....alas no.

Sunset from Mt. Carmel...ending our first day in Israel

A statue of Elijah on Mt. Carmel.  This is the approximate location where Elijah did battle with the prophets of Baal.

A couple of tourists....at sunset from Mt. Carmel

Wanna go to the theater?

I wonder if this sign was up when Paul was put on trial here?



This is a theater built by Herod the (not so) Great in Caesarea Maritima.  Paul was put on trial here, found to be guilty, and also did a little judicial jujitsu.  "Is it lawful for you to flog a man who is a Roman citizen...?"  Check out Acts 21-26.



When asked by our tourguide to sing something for our group in this theater, I could not turn down the challenge.  So, being joined by Dave (who can actually sing), we stood in the center of the theater and sang The Doxology.  I was never asked to sing again...HAHAHA! 





Truth unburied...

Pontius Pilate stone (reproduction) found at Caesarea

So some supposed scholars, in an attempt to debunk all of Scripture, regularly suggested that there was zero historical evidence for the existence of Pontius Pilate.  Welll...as archeologists (in the past few years) uncovered this palace of Herod the (not so) Great at Caesarea they discovered a stone which made reference to one Pontius Pilate. 

To understand how this could have been covered for so long you need to realize the massive amounts of sand and silt that the Nile River in Egypt once pushed out on a regular basis.  This portion of Israel (on the coast of the Mediterranean Sea) has massive sand dunes formed as a result of the Nile River.  This whole area was covered in sand until recently. 

So as I always say, "If you can't find something, start digging."