Reflections

http://youtu.be/HkxU_adad0o

Today we traveled North from Tel Aviv visiting Caesarea. This is an excavated site that sits on the shore line. A beautiful amphitheater with seating for up to 5000 and faces the Mediterranean Sea. The acoustics were incredible. David Moore and Carolyn Chapman sang "How great Thou art". It was a beautiful offering. Tour groups from different countries applauded their performance. Caesarea was where Herod Agrippa I was eaten by worms after allowing his subjects to praise him as a god. 'On the appointed day Herod, wearing his royal robes, sat on his throne and delivered a public address to the people. They shouted,"This is the voice of a god, not of a man." Immediately, because Herod did not give praise to God, an angel of the Lord struck him down, and he was eaten by worms and died.' (Acts 12:19-23) We saw the exact location this happened in the Theater. Caesarea is an important site in Christian history. It was the place where Pontius Pilate governed d...

It's early morning is Joffa. I've been up since 4. I have already Skyped Ashton(daughter), Lewis (son),mom, dad, Todd (brother), Lee and Melissa Rollins and Mackie McDaniel. This is what happens when your internal clock says good morning but the world you're in says good night. We had a great breakfast. We are leaving the Mediterian coastline and heading for Tiberias which is by the Sea of Galilee.

We arrived in Tel Aviv after an eventless flight. Thanks to Ambien, we both got ample rest. On the descent, we were able to see the boats in the Mediterranean Sea. In customs, we saw Orthodox Jews with their hair locks and black rimmed hats. The weather was 75 degrees. As we entered the tour bus, Gary Chapman prayed for our tour and also prayed for those back home that were probably entering worship at 930 - 1000 EST. Our tour began immediately with our guide Saliba, who speaks english, but whose native tongues is Aramaic, which is the language Jesus spoke. Our first stop was Joppa. The Architecture was what I expected. Beautiful stone buildings overlooking the the port. Joppa has some very significant biblical history. In the time of Joshua, it was known as Japho. It was part of the original inheritance of the tribe of Dan (Joshua 19:46). In Solomon's time, Joppa became a chief seaport (II Chronicles 2:16). More notably, Joffa is the town where Jonah, trying to escape God...

We have a five hour lay over in Philly. Elizabeth & I are finally feeling the excitement of visiting The "Holy Lands". Since I was a kid in vacation bible school, I was taught about Jesus Christ and his time on earth in this distant far away land. Now, in less than 12 hours we will be landing in Tel Aviv. Tel Aviv was begun by a small group of Jews who migrated from the long established area of Jaffa. The city dates back to 1470 BC. An Egyptian pharaoh mentioned it in letters he wrote. The area is also mentioned in the bible, the book of Jonah. According to some readings, the name of the city was given in 1910. In the book of Ezekiel it says, " Then I came to them of captivity at Tel-Abib, that dwelt by the river of Chebar". Abib or Aviv means "spring" in Hebrew. The city population is only 392,500, however the metropolitan population is 3.268 million people. It is only 33 miles northwest of the Biblically significant area of Jerusalem. It is the se...