Low ground leads to high elevation

A wonderful surprise, our hotel changed and now we are spending three nights along the Sea of Galilee. The dew filled morning air is crisp and sweet and I can see the water from my room.

To begin our day, we made a long winding trek to the Golan Heights, it was a bit rough on all our tummies. Our first destination was toTel Dan, a nature reserve. It boasts extensive excavations, for Tel Dan hosts both an ancient Canaanite civilization and the Israelite tribe of Dan. We walked in the beautiful sunshine, enjoying nature and some amazing historic artifacts along the way. Our morning prayer included a request to increase our sense of smell, as we continued to explore the holy lands. This hike offered the aroma of pistachio trees, bay leaves and euchalypses branches. Plus, oranges are in season everywhere and have such a rich fragrance when you can get close enough to them.

Touring this biblical site of Tel Dan was like a theatre, playing out the book of Kings right before our eyes. A few highlights were sitting at the Tel Dan city gates like the wise people would or perhaps even a king. The Sacred Precinct really made the story of Jeroboam’s idolatry found in First Kings come alive. Following the division of the kingdom of Solomon in 930 BCE Jeroboam established a cult at Dan, as an alternative to the one temple in Jerusalem. He placed 2 calves of gold in the city and built a house of high places. The archeological dig found everything, I could really picture the scene here. Abraham’s gate was truly breathtaking. It is the oldest known city gate in the world, from 3000 BCE. Abraham did not live in Dan but he went through it to pursue his nephew Lot. We walked in some of his faith filled footsteps today!

Next, we travelled to Caesarea Phillipi. Herod’s son Philip established the city in the year 2 BCE. At first he called it Caesarea Phillipi, later the Arabic mispronunciation of the name Banais caught on. Again we hiked, this time anticipating the Palace of Agrippa II, crossing a very cool Roman bridge along the way. The palace was massive and included a synagogue that faced toward Jerusalem, as all synagogues do of course.

Our last stop, was not a biblical site, but a place full of war history. MT Bental was once a Syrian bunker but now it is used and inhabited by the United Nations. Our guide told us an astonishing true story about Eli Cohen, an Israelite who spoke perfect Arabic and so was able to infiltrate the Syrian government in the 1960’s. It was a lot of information to absorb, but there is a good Netflix documentary on him that I plan to watch when I get home. Although not so important with today’s modern technology, MT Bental has a spot called the Eyes of Israel. From this point, you can see both the Syrian and Lebanon borders. It was terribly cold and windy, so we stopped at Coffee Annan to warm up and savour a ‘coffee in the clouds’, as per its clever name.

Tonight our group celebrated a Shabbat meal together, including breaking bread together first in the traditional way of a Jewish family. I am really enjoying tasting a variety of Israeli food.

As I now prepare to sleep I am like “Wow!” did we ever climb today. We began our trek 210 M below sea level and at our highest ,we adventured to 1165 M above the sea. As I reflect upon this fact, a consistent theme of elevation emerges in my soul. Elevate your outlook, elevate your mind and elevate your faith. This should be the daily walk of a follower of Jesus. To humble yourself, so that God may exhalt you; just as the low ground forms the foundation of a high elevation.

[Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time. Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you- 1 Peter 5:6-7]Читать далее