From Israel #2

Hey Anyone Reading This Blog,

Comin’ at ya from Israel. We’ve been here for four days, I think. And it’s been very cool. We have been to: the Mount of Beatitudes (where Jesus gave the sermon on the mount), the place where Jesus miraculously fed the 5,000, Caesarea Philippi (which is where Jesus asked Peter, “Who do people say I am” and then “Who do you say I am?”), Capernaum (which is where Peter lived, and where Jesus spent a lot of His time and did a lot of His miracles – including the one where the paralytic is lowered down from the roof), and we’ve taken a boat ride on the Sea of Galilee, stopping at (approximately) the place where Peter was out fishing when Jesus called out (post-resurrection), “Dude, cast your net on the other side” and they caught lots of fish (153, but whose counting?) and naked Peter put clothes on to jump in the water (weird!) and swam into Jesus, who then did the whole “Do you love me?” – “No, do you REALLY love me?” thing.

In the next few days we’re going to Nazareth and I don’t even remember where, and then on to Jerusalem and Bethlehem. It’s all been very good. The coolest thing (maybe) is getting a real feel for the area, what it’s like, how far things are from each other, and that sort of thing. A couple quick impressions: (1) This is the most rocky area I’ve ever seen. There are rocks everywhere! (2) What the Bible calls “mountains” are more like hills. But I guess the “Sermon on the Hill” doesn’t sound quite as cool maybe. (3) Things are way closer than I’d imagine. Like to go from the place where the Sermon on the Mount was, or the feeding of the 5,000, or to Capernaum is all very close. (4) It’s colder here than I ever would have guessed. I have never pictured Jesus being cold, but I am stinking freezing most of the time! So much for global warming! (5) I came here kinda thinking that it’d be cool to have Jesus be my tour guide and have Him show me around His old stomping grounds. But I quickly realized that I would probably feel more at home here than Jesus would. Because of “progress” this area (in many ways) is probably more like America today than it is like Galilee 2,000 years ago. (6) All the religious and political tension here really bites.

Well, those are some quick impressions. I don’t know if I’ll get to an internet cafe again or not, but I’ll try to post more. Until then, stay away from the falafel!

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