Mt Carmel

We all wanted to see Mt Carmel, where Elijah challenged the prophets of Baal and the Lord sent fire to consume the sacrifice.  It's part of a mountain chain, and we never got to the point John remembered, with the ever-present church building to commemorate the spot.  It was a bit like driving along Dividing Ridge Road and wondering what place is the highest.   

We were able to see the Mediterranean Sea again - that's the city of Haifa.  We got lost there too.

I wanted you all to see this picture because we were astounded at the amount of empty housing we saw all throughout Israel.  I have no explanation for it.

This photo is from our Kursi adventure.  It's too small to get lost there, but we managed to arrive in the dark, so you are seeing as much of the cliff where the pigs went over as we saw.  This was the end of our last full day in the Galilee region.

Kayaking!

Shannon, Beth and I had our first kayaking of the season.  This was John's second.

Beth had a great time! So did we all.

Israel - Megiddo

We drove south after leaving Nazareth to the Jezreel Valley which you can see in the background, and to Megiddo (in Greek, Armageddon!)   The line of wood dividing the stone walls of this Tel shows what was found in place, and what was reconstructed on top of that.

This wide, flat Jezreel valley was full of farmland.  Megiddo is a hill on the western edge of the valley.  It was used by various civilizations that were in charge at different times - they have found 26 layers of ruins!  One reference says that there was no further inhabitation after 586 BC.  However, remains of a Christian church from the 3rd century have been found a couple hundred yards away that may be the oldest remains of a church in Israel.  It has a large mosaic with a Greek inscription containing the words "the God Jesus Christ".  We didn't know about this - I read it in Wikipedia- so we didn't see it. 

A plaque showing the layers you are about to see in the next photo

Every place we went featured a water system - so important for security.   Many had massive cisterns and underground passages to springs.

This was a grain reservoir

These are troughs for feeding horses possibly from the time of Solomon or maybe Ahab.  That's a metal horse outline to give the idea.

Israel - Nazareth

We didn't spend much time in Nazareth.  John drove our rented car through the narrow alleys and once again we were a bit lost.  He let us out when we came to the Church of the Annunciation and drove around til we came out, so we made it a quick stop.  This church, supposedly where the angel announced to Mary that she would be the mother of the Messiah, was filled with pictures of Mary from different countries. 

...God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee... Luke 1:26

Israel - more Capernaum

Helicopters flew by often

John looking toward Bethsaida.
   They got into a boat and set off across the lake for Capernaum. By now it was dark, and Jesus had not yet joined them.  John 6:17

We watched a fisherman casting his net in the Sea of Galilee.   He didn't seem to be having much luck when we were watching.

Visit from some Dales

Moshe and Elihu playing with our old Fisher Price farm

Beth putting granola into the jar - she loves to have a job to do.

Israel -Capernaum

After a day in the upper Dan area we returned to Lake Tiberias not far from where we were staying to check out the Mount of Beatitudes, where Jesus likely spoke the sermon on the mount. You may remember this is the church we mistakenly came to that first night in search of our guest house.  In the daylight it has a lovely view of the lake.                 

The white you see is cloth netting covering a banana patch,  I suppose to keep out bugs.

Looking to the northern end of the lake where Korazim and Bethsaida are located, and across the way is the scene of the pigs going over the cliff at Kursi.

In the ruins of Capernaum, where Jesus lived for a while, and where Peter and Andrew lived.

Ruins of an octagonal synagogue (later than Jesus' day) that  may have been built around Peter's house.

You can see the wall around the town, with a gate, and some of the excavated houses, numbered, showing that lots of people lived here by the lake.  The paralytic was lowered through the roof in this town, Matthew was collecting taxes here, etc.  

A few days later, when Jesus again entered Capernaum, the people heard that he had come home.  Mark 2:1

Cross walk

Connie Mego graciously provided these photos of the cross walk from JBC to Hewitt Presbyterian.  I hear they only had a few drops of rain.                    

90 years

Beth and I went to my home town of Bryn Athyn to celebrate my mom's 90th birthday with most of the family. We missed celebrating Easter with our Jefferson Baptist family, but had a wild time in BA!  This is the woman who gave us the conch shell we use here in Jefferson every Easter Sunrise Service as our shofar, played by Linda Wigington.   John said Linda did her best blast ever this year!  When I was a girl, that shell was used to call the eight of us to come home to dinner.                   

Beth with cousin Owen.  She was in heaven surrounded by loving uncles and cousins of the male variety.

My mom posing with a dessert plate worthy of a Posey.

Israel -Falls of Banias

Unending incredible whitewater

Gorgeous wildflowers everywhere up north!

Can you see the cows?  This was the second ubiquitous thing.  Were you looking for sheep?  We were too.  

Nimrod's Fortress on the hilltop- we didn't make it there.