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.
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.
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!
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.
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