Expressing My Gratitude

This is the day before Thanksgiving, and quite frankly my day is not going well. I have had many days like this, and I am sure that there will be many more to follow, but today I choose to remember that I have so much to be thankful for; a wonderful husband, a great family whom I adore, a job that is everything I could ever want, and a church family that is the best the world over! And, I am most thankful for the love of my Savior, Jesus. Jesus has been and always will be, a great Friend to me; He hears my spoken pleas for help, He listens to my heart's cry for mercy, He loves me with a perfect love, and He never, ever, ever gives up on me.

"The LORD is near to all who call upon Him, To all who call upon Him in truth. He will fulfill the desire of those who fear Him; He will also hear their cry and save them. The Lord preserves all who love Him, But all the wicked He will destroy. My mouth shall speak the praise of the LORD, And all flesh shall bless His holy name Forever and ever." Psalm 145:18-21

Masada

One of the many store rooms uncovered by Archaeologists, they found grain here, and actually got it to sprout and grow!
These are the original steps leading to the many buildings and rooms of the palace.
This is one of the many indoor pools of the palace.
One of the Roman encampments, as seen from the top of Masada


Our next stop was Masada........This is one of my favorite places to go in Israel. It is here that the Jewish people fled to escape King Herod, but what is interesting to note is that Masada was Herod's winter palace! The Romans came and encamped around Masada and laid siege to it. They began by making 4 camps around the base of the mountain, and then the soldiers began to build a ramp to the top. As the story goes, the Jewish people would throw huge stones down onto the heads of those building the ramp and so, the Romans began using Jewish slaves instead of soldiers. The Romans knew that the Jewish people would not harm their own. At the end of a few years, on the night before the Romans were going to march up the ramp and take Masada, the Jewish people at the top, committed suicide. Historians say that the Jewish people felt that death was far better than becoming Roman slaves.
This puts me in mind of myself.........would I rather choose to die to myself and to this world, or would I much rather become a slave of it? Sometimes the daily dying to self is the pits.......it would be so much easier to give in, and yet I know that when I choose to die, I will truly LIVE!

More of Israel

I am finally going to try and finish up sharing about our trip to Israel! I guess a few months late.......ok, well a half a year later, isn't too bad.....it could have been worse!
We were able to take a drive up to the Golan Heights and see an army outpost at the top. There are still bunkers there, and we were able to tour them. I would never have been able to live in one of those bunkers......can I just say how thankful I am that I have never had to live in one!
We visited Tel Dan too......all you Bible scholars will remember that this is the place that the children of Israel set up idol worship, instead of going to the temple in Jerusalem like the Lord told them to. Today, there is a replica of an alter there amidst the ruins, and I got talked into climbing up on it, you can see in the photo what ensued after I did!
We made it to the area of the springs where Gideon formed his army. This is the place where the Lord told him to cut back his army to 300 men! The way that the Lord did this is quite strange......and so as you can see from the photos, Mitch and I would have fit right in with the 300.

"Kibbutz-ing It"

The rest of our first day in Israel consisted of a drive by Cana and Nazareth; and then on to Tiberius where we began our three night stay at Kibbutz Kinar, on the shores of the Sea of Galilee. For those of you who do not know, a Kibbutz is a "communal settlement" (which by the way is the definition of the word Kibbutz), basically they are rural communities. They are societies dedicated to mutual aid, a social economic system where each person living there shares in the ownership of the property, shares in its maintenance, and its business, and the education of its children. It is the fulfillment of the idea, "from each according to his ability, to each according to his needs"; a home for those who have chosen it. The first one was started in 1909, and there are now some 270 Kibbutzim all over Israel.

Some Kibbutzim are dedicated to farming, others to dairies, others to tourism, like the one we stayed at.

On the site of Kibbutz Kinar (and our first stop the next morning) there is a museum that houses a boat that was found at the bottom of the Sea of Galilee! It is from the time of Jesus and the disciples.......it was an awesome sight to see! We listened to a documentary on how it was discovered, how it was "raised" and how it was moved to its present location and placed on display. And yes, it is a REAL one, not a model or replica. The archaeologists also found an oil lamp, some coins (minas), and other artifacts in and around the boat. The photograph that I have is not do it justice......we weren't allowed to use flash photography, and it was darkened in the room to protect the boat from the sunlight.

In the past, when I have read the account of the storm that caused the disciples to be afraid for their lives, I didn't understand their fear. Now I know that the boats were not large vessels and were made of wood.....I guess that I would be afraid too! Next time that I read about the disciples fishing and traveling with Jesus, by boat across the Sea of Galilee, and of a storm that occurred one late night...... I will remember that I was blessed to see one.

Mt. Carmel......Not Caramel

The next stop in Israel was to the top of Mt. Carmel (not caramel).......this is where the prophet Elijah "fought" the prophets of Baal......and of course.....won! As an aside, may I say that I get a bit bent out of shape when people say carmel and not caramel when referring to that yummy gooey brown goodness.......I'm not bitter about it, but really.......Mitch gave us a Bible study as we looked out over the Meggido Valley. This valley is going to be the site of a huge future battle between humans and Jesus........ I wonder Who will win?
PS In case you were wondering, I am NOT pregnant! The wind kept blowing up my shirt :)

By The Sea

No, I didn't fall off the face of the world.....just busy. I know I promised pictures of our trip to Israel........so here are a few of our first day.

Our first stop was......Caesarea by the Sea, where one of the King Herods (yes, there were a few!) had his summer palace. Mitch and I had visited here in 1985, but at that time, we didn't see much of what is there today. The archaeologists have been working hard over the last 20 years, and have uncovered a bit more of the area. The top photos shows the hippodrome (where horse races were held) and the photo of the rectangular shaped stones is none other than the public toilets!! A person would sit with each cheek on a stone, and go.........It was fun to see that the stones were not all the same distance apart, because after all, not every ones' bottom is the same size!! The photo of the square ruins by the water is the palaces swimming pool! We could still see some the mosaics on what used to be the bottom of the pool!!

Our tour guide, Avi, gave us an interesting piece of information......When the Romans were conquering the world, they would build all of their cities the same.....In each city, the layout for all of the public buildings was the same and facing the same compass directions. This way when a Roman citizen traveled they would always feel at home.

Shalom

Mitch and I are off on another adventure........We are heading to Israel for a few weeks!!

Mitch has been planning to go for a year now, our pastor wanted him to help lead the tour, but I had planned to stay home. One of the ladies that had paid had to cancel on Sunday......please pray for her and her family. Denise's niece is very ill and most likely will not be alive for much longer. Her niece and her family don't know the Lord and so she felt that she needed to go and be with them.

When we found all of this out on Sunday, we began to pray if I should go....we would have to pay some money to get the airline tickets transferred, but all in all it was already paid for and Denise didn't want us to worry about the money. Well we weren't going for that and so we prayed about what to offer to her, and the Lord gave Mitch and I the same dollar amount.......here is the cool part.......A lady from church called on Sunday night and offered to give us the exact amount!....and we hadn't said a word about it!! She and her husband had both felt God leading them to do this. All I can say is my God is AWESOME! I am so thankful for how it all worked out for both Mitch and I, and for Denise too.

Mitch headed out this morning for a part of the tour that Denise wasn't signed up for, so I won't see him until Saturday......in Jerusalem. There are 20 people from church that will be flying with me so I won't be all alone.

Mitch and I had the opportunity to see Israel in 1985, just a year after we gave our hearts to Jesus. I have never forgotten that trip, and I certainly never thought that I would be going back. I still can see in my mind the places that we visited, places that I read about in my Bible. My favorite place was the Sea of Galilee and the shepherd's field outside of Bethlehem......I could almost hear the angels announcing the birth of Jesus. There are a few places that we will tour this time that we didn't get to see in 1985. The two hills and valley where David and the army of Israel defeated Goliath and the Philistines, The City of Petra, and the resort of Eliat.

So I will say Shalom for now.......Check back here at the end of the month and view my photos.

And don't forget to........Pray for the peace of Jerusalem.......if you do God says that you will be blessed!