Day Two in Galilee

January 12 (Monday)
This morning we started out by revisiting Tabgha so that we could see the Church of the Multiplication where Jesus fed the 5,000. Dr. Tuttle actually lived at this monastery for two months with four monks while writing one of his books.

The altar is built over a stone said to have been where Jesus laid the loaves and fish to bless them.

This mosaic is famous and captured on everything from postcards to refrigerator magnets.

The next stop on our tour was Caesarea Philippi. This town is located in the Golan Heights area on Mt. Hermon. The Hermon Springs here is one of the feeders for the Jordan River and the water was ice cold! Our devotional was on-site today as well here.

This area was known for its idol worship. This grotto was at the back of a temple to the god Pan. This is the site where Jesus chose to ask his disciples, "Who do people say that I am?" There were also a lot of other little temples to gods here that are now in ruins, including the temple of the dancing goats.

These little guys hanging out just off the path weren't afraid of us at all.

We continued our journey in the Golan Heights by visiting Tel Dan. This town lies on the northern border of Israel, next to Syria. It is a huge archaeological site which covers the spectrum of Israelite history. To get there we did a one hour nature hike.

One city gate found here dates back to the time of Abraham and would have been used/seen by him as he pursued those who had taken his nephew Lot.

The other gate dates to the time of Joshua. The city used to be known as Laish, until the tribe of Dan conquered it as the Israelites divided up the Promised Land.

Dan was also the site of a huge sacrifice altar built by the northern kingdom of Israel to keep folks from going all the back to Jersualem.

We were so close to Syria it was on the otherside of the fence. Here part of our group is standing on top of an old bunker used by Israel during their last war with Syria.

We came down for lunch in Magdala before heading northwest to Nazareth. There we visited the Church of the Anunciation, where the angel is said to have visited Mary at the well and told her she would give birth to the Messiah.

Through this window is supposedly the steps where the angel sat. Many people put in slips of paper with prayer requests.

And here is supposedly the well where Mary was sitting when she received the news.

After visiting the church, we drove around Nazareth and made our way to Mount Precipice. This is the place where people tried to throw Jesus off the cliff because of his preaching when he visited his hometown.

Another great day! We got back to the hotel for dinner and had our meeting. Then it was time to pack up because in the morning we were heading out early for the last stage of our journey.

Day One in Galilee

January 11 (Sunday)
All of the prayers for Daryl the night before were answered. He slept for 12 hours straight and woke up in the morning feeling a little weak, but much better!

After a light breakfast, we headed out for a boat ride and worship service on the Sea of Galilee.

It was very overcast and we got a steady drizzle of rain, for which our guide was celebrating. Israel is experiencing a huge drought and this picture gives you an idea of just how low the water level is on the Sea of Galilee.

Our guide Avi using a map showing the miracles of Jesus around the Sea of Galilee. About 70% of Jesus' miracles were performed within the 20 miles around the Sea.

Us with Patti A - she's a seminary student and works at the church where Daryl's candidacy mentor Vic is the pastor. Patti gave the devotional that morning on the Sea of Galilee.

Our boat docked at the museum for the "Jesus Boat." This ancient fishing boat was discovered in 1986 on the shoreline of the Sea of Galilee during a major drought and is thought to date back to the time of Jesus, 1st century AD.

In order to pull the boat out of the mud, they had to fill it with foam and float it. Later it spent several years being treated in a vat of chemicals so that exposure to the air wouldn't cause the wood to disintegrate.

A diagram showing the 12 different kinds of wood found in the boat.

After our tour of the museum, the bus picked us up and took us over to the Mount of Beattitudes, where Jesus is said to have delivered his Sermon on the Mount. There's a beautiful church up at the top and most of the slope of the hill is taken up with fields full of crops.

Next we headed off to Tabgha. Situated on the shoreline of the Sea of Galilee, there are two churches here: The Church of the Multiplication (where Jesus fed the 5,000) and the Church of the Primacy of St. Peter (where Jesus appeared to Peter after the resurrection). Because it was Sunday and there were services, we were only able to get into the Church of the Primacy of St. Peter.

Daryl and I both picked up rocks from the shoreline here to keep as souvenirs.

Next we drove past Chorazin, one of the cities Jesus cursed for their unbelief. The place was later destroyed by an earthquake and still lies in ruins.

Then we stopped at Capernaum, which means place of comfort. This is the town on the Sea of Galilee that Jesus moved to after leaving Nazareth and made his base of operations for his years of ministry. All evidence shows that it was a poor town - homes are built out of black basalt volcanic rock which would have been very hot in summer and no one's first choice of building material. It seems that Capernaum served as a sort of "truck stop" on the Sea of Galilee where people who were traveling back and forth could stop and rest for a day or two. What a great place to minister to a lot of people who would then travel and spread the news!

Peter's mother-in-law lived here and they built a church over the site of her home. Nearby is the remains of a synagogue.

Our next stop was Kurzi where Jesus cast out a legion of spirits into the pigs, who then went off the cliff into the water. You could see the cave where the demon-possessed man had lived.

We closed out our day by stopped at Yardenit, a spot for baptisms along the Jordan River. Dr. Tuttle performed a baptism and several affirmations of baptism by immersing people in the water. Since Daryl had been sick and it was still very cold, we opted not to get in the water (Dr. Tuttle had to wear a wetsuit underneath his baptismal robe). But after the immersions, Dr. Tuttle did some more baptism affirmations onshore with Jordan River water. And then Dr. Tuttle asked me to reaffirm his baptism as well.

Here we are clutching our two bottles of Jordan River water to bring home!

Afterwards, we headed back to the hotel for a rest, then dinner and a teaching on baptism by Dr. Tuttle.