Invitation to partcipate in the goodness

What a glorious start to the day, a prayer walk along the sea. The descent to the water was a lot easier than the hundreds of steps required to get back up to the hotel. My mom, Laurelyn and I could have easily stayed another hour collecting shells and rocks. I promised treasures to my 3-5 year old Sunday school class and we found many including ice glass.

Unbeknownst ,the walk was a good warmup for our next stop, a hike on Mt Carmel ( Jeff said it sounds delicious and to take ice cream lol). When you read the bible you think it is just one mountain but it is actually a ridge of mountains. A symbol of fertility throughout the Old Testament, Mt Carmel means God’s garden. And it is.

The hike to the highest point of Mt Carmel was spectacular. It offered great views of the Jezreel Valley and the hills of Galilee. Our priority was to visit a site known as Muhraqa ( which means the Scorching). It is marked by a dramatic stone statue of Elijah, sword raised to heaven as he slaughters a Baal priest. Elijah is an important figure to all the main religions( Jews, Christians, Muslims and Druze) as a brave prophet that stood against the might of kings and false prophets. ( 1 Kings 18). Unfortunately, there are no archeological ruins yet to match Elijah’s story but it remains one of the most spectacular in the bible and happened right here. I will pause now a moment to share a new learning. I had never heard of the Druze people before traveling to Israel. They are a nomadic tribe from Eygpt who often bake and sell pita bread to tourists. One of the pillars of their faith is that the Messiah will be born from a man, and it will happen suddenly. For this reason and to help give you a relevant visual, they dress in MC Hammer style pants. There are approximately 120,000 of them in this region.

Our next stop was to visit the ancient city of Meggido, the site where the final battle of Armageddon will take place. This city was destroyed 25 times in its history, the cruel wars that took place there resulted because of its strategic location. Whoever controlled this city, controlled an important trade corridor. Walking through the ancient city gates quickened my imagination. The stone road we walked pre-dates Solomon’s time. King Solomon got this city as a present from a Pharroh, it was one of his 3 great city’s. Megg means best of the best, and seems fitting even in its ruins. I ran my hands along the original stone walls, envisioning King Solomon riding his horse past me up to his palace on the hill. One of my favorite new visuals was an altar from approximately 3000 B.C.. Now I can more clearly understand the passages that talk of destroying altars on high places. Another cool thing was the ancient grain bin which went down. Whereas we naturally think of going up to store our grain. On our way out, we ordered homemade falafels, scooped our own toppings on top and ate them on the run. Who knew fried chickpeas would taste so divine, maybe it was simply the atmosphere.

Next, we stopped in Nazarene and toured a first century Nazareth village, recreated to be exactly as it would have been 2000 years ago. They estimate about 50 families lived in Nazareth in Jesus’s time, so this is the scale of our Galilean village. However, 80,000 people actually live in the modern city of Nazarene today. As we walked around this little museum like village and its rural surroundings, the bible truly came to life! We enjoyed the interactive experiences of the village residents, the working olive press, Joseph’s carpentry shop, weaving and spinning yarn in Hannah’s home and sitting in a synagogue, hearing a reenactment of when Jesus first read from the scroll and launched his ministry.

How fitting that we went next to Precipice ( which means a sharp cliff). Besides giving us panoramic views of the modern city of Nazarene and the green lush Israel valley below, it offered us a shared moment with Jesus’s eyes. It was surreal, as we fully absorbed that this is one of the few bible spots that has not changed in 2000 years- more or less it is the same view Jesus would have had, when he stood exactly where we were standing. We read scripture together, to help us further visualize the scene that once threatened to push Jesus off this very cliff because His own congregation believed he was a false prophet.

Our last stop of the day offered up tastes of Israel for us. A quaint waterfront kibbutz (shop) is a great addition to our already heightened sensory experience. A variety of spices, nuts and treats were tasted and bought but the Meddjoul dates were definitely the fan favourites. I am looking forward to sharing my big box, the texture and taste so closely resembles toffee.

Truly, it is hard to pick a highlight. The action packed day is best summarized as an invitation to become experimental, to taste and see that the Lord is good.

[Taste and see that the Lord is good; blessed is the one who takes refuge in him-Psalm 34:8]Читать далее