Last night I wandered along the Sea of Galilee, trying to process all that occured yesterday. While the sea was tranquil, there was a lot of activity on the pier. It reminded me of Hollywood Beach’s broadwalk. (Nope, not a typo, it’s not a boardwalk but a broadwalk.)
If you, you will know that we spent Monday night in a private home. Neither of us slept well. It was not due to heat (the room was air conditioned), nor due to noise (it was peacefully quiet), but there was a spiritual battle going on, that we didn’t realize after we pulled away from the house.
You see, the house is located near Caesarea. The history of this area is one of great wealth and succumbing to the Hellenistic influences. The focus is not definitely not God.
When Maria and I left, we started talking. I shared with her my dreams and she was given the interpretation. We prayed for the residents of the home, starting with the man of the house. The dreams indicated he was letting the garbage in. But God.
Our first order of business for the day was to locate a charger for my phone. It was very early, so we stopped at a local coffee shop for something to eat. It didn’t open until 8, but we found a grocery store, bought some bread and this great spread that seemed to be cheese, but was very creamy. It was delicious. The coffee shop finally opened and we sat with our coffee. I searched for an electronics shop, and would you believe there is an Office Depot in Haifa?
However, we found something closer and I was a happy camper. Not only did I get a wall charger, but a car charger as well. (I didn’t bring mine because I didn’t know if it was compatible and had no time to research it.)
With the much needed phone/gps charging, we headed to Elijah’s cave. I’m writing on a finicky tablet, so having a challenge posting links. Check out the post from last night on my experience at the cave. I didn’t mention that once we got back to the car, and arrived at the monastery, we discovered two things:
1- I had actually made it to the top, another 3 minute walk and I would have been there.
2- it wasn’t the monastery that had the view of the Jezreel Valley and all points Israel.
It was now past lunch time, so we started the drive to Megiddo, stopping along the way for lunch. We found this wonderful little place attached to a gas station. It had tablecloths and a great selection of food – right there in the middle of nowhere. Maria enjoyed a variety of salads, and I was hankering for nothing but hummus and pita bread. It was awesome.
We reached Megiddo about two, and they close at five, but we were able to see the whole thing, including walking the water tunnel. Megiddo has changed hands 25 times. There are 25 levels of civilization in this tel. By the time of David, there were already 18 or 19. And for the last 2 or 3 thousands years, no one has bothered with it. One thing that struck me was that the horse stables stood the test of time better than the two palaces from the same periord (Israel kings).
The water tunnel is similar to Hezekiah’s tunnel in the City of David, in that they moved the water source inside the city gates and started at two different ends. The difference is there is a very long shaft going down, no water to wade through, and it was well lit. There were nearly 300 stairs going down and 80 coming back up. Add this all the stairs we climbed up and down at Elijah’s cave, and neither of us were in any condition to climb the 4300 steps at Mount Tabor. But we did stop to admire it’s beauty and power.
Mount Tabor is the Mount of Transfiguration and the mount where Deborah was in judges. It is mentioned several times in the bible, and it is an impressive site. We had to drive past it on the way, so we took pictures of it and Nazareth as we neared the base of the mount.
It’s funny, I just had a thought that keeps recurring. We didn’t stop at Nazareth, and weren’t able to go to the monastery with the view of the valley, nor climb Mt Tabor. So, I thought, “Next time.” It’s really strange that I keep talking about next time, as though it is a given. There is a surety that I will be back. And that I will be bringing others with me. This can only be from God.
After Megiddo, we headed to Tiberius. The hostel is only a five minute walk to the Kinneret (Sea of Galilee). The biggest challenge for us was the two sets of stairs (yes, more stairs). We were able to navigate them without issue to check in. It was dragging the luggage up (that has grown exponentially) that was challenging.
But we made it, settled in, and had a peaceful night’s sleep. For the next two days we will be exploring the area, with a boat ride on the sea scheduled for Thursday morning. So once more, Maria and I will be stepping through time as we continue on this journey to the land of Messiah. (And I am pretty sure there will be more climbing involved.)
No comments yet.