I've realized that I'm not going to get everything posted nearly as quickly as I had originally intended. With trying to recover from jet lag, attempting to catch up on several things, and also seemingly fighting some cold/sinus thing, I'm finding that there isn't enough time and energy in a given day to devote an excessive quantity of time to posting the day-to-day adventures of our recent trip. So, my goal has now been modified. Instead of gearing toward posting everything by this past weekend (which is obviously impossible to do, unless I find some kind of time travel machine), I'm simply gearing toward getting everything posted by the end of the month. Crazy thing is that the end of this month is almost here already! Anyway...onto day 3 of our trip...
The morning started off with a boat ride on the Sea of Galilee. It still amazes me to think of how small that body of water actually is. It doesn't matter where you're at on shore, you can see the opposite side. It's really not that big at all. And it's also not really a sea. It's a lake. We were reminded while on the little boat trip just how much of the gospels take place in that area. Pastor James even asked some of us what some of the things were said in Scripture in that area...the book and chapter also had to be mentioned where the quote can be found. Nathan started rattling off a bunch, of course. This whole conversation led to another topic, which led to more quotes from Scripture. It was Pastor James' first encounter with a couple of Nathan's spiritual gifts...and at dinner (possibly even that night), Pastor James referred to Nathan as a "Bible scholar". It seems like the 2 of them have similar ways of approaching Scripture, and I can just imagine what kinds of conversations the 2 of them could have if they ever get a chance to sit down and just talk. And if that ever happens, I would love to be near enough to hear that conversation!
Anyway...there we all were...about 170 of us...on the Sea of Galilee that morning. The entire group was divided into 2 separate boats, but for a little while, the 2 boats were tied together out in the middle of the "sea". We spent some time in worship through music, and Pastor James taught a little bit. I'm very thankful that he was able to get through his teaching without any adventures of getting sick. He had informed us at the beginning of the boat trip that he gets motion sickness. And the Sea of Galilee gets enough movement in the waters that it could potentially cause some bad cases of motion sickness!
Pastor James - "I'm the king of the world!"
Although we don't know the exact location of where various events took place on (or near) the Sea of Galilee, it is impossible to be in that area and not think through and picture some of those things. Of course, this time, the pictures in my mind looked different than before since I had a much more accurate view of the area...mainly that it was MUCH smaller than I had imagined for most of my life.
The boat ride took us to the shore in another area around the "sea". We went to a museum just off the shore, where a very fascinating artifact was being kept. A fishing boat (made out of 12 different kinds of wood) had been found that had solid evidence that it was from around the time of Christ. It had been a very challenging job for those involved to uncover and move the boat without destroying it. They found that they even had to keep it moist throughout the entire process since if the wood dried out, it would turn to powder. No one knows whose boat it was, of course, but it's still amazing to see a large portion of a boat that is about 2000 years old!
We then went to Tabgha, which is the "traditional" site of the feeding of the 5000 and the location where John 21 took place. Throughout the entire trip, we would hear about and see "traditional" and "authentic" sites. A "traditional" site is one where there is not solid evidence that it is the exact location where a specific event took place. An "authentic" site, however, does have solid evidence that it is the exact location of a particular event. Even though Tabgha is a "traditional" site rather than an "authentic" site, it was still cool to be at least near where those events occurred. While there, Pastor James taught on John 21. It had never hit me until Nathan and I discussed that passage and Pastor James mentioned it in this week's sermon that it was just as much of a miracle that the disciples had NOT caught any fish before Jesus miraculously provided a ton of fish for them to catch. Our first night in Israel, we noticed that even right by the shore, there were a ton of fish (some were rather large, too) in the Sea of Galilee. For the disciples to be fishing all night and not catch a single fish in that place...yeah...that's definitely a miracle. And it paints the picture of what happens when we live life contrary to the calling that God places on our lives. He had called the disciples to be fishers of men. When they were fishing for fish that night, they were not living in obedience to the One who called them to fish for men. What they experienced as a result of that: fruitlessness. It wasn't until they came in contact with Jesus that they experienced "fruit" (actually, it was fish in this case), and it was Jesus who provided the fish. As a side note, Pastor James did preach on this during part of his sermon this weekend. If you're interested, you can hear the sermon online. It should be posted all week (I think through Sunday 11/23).
Pastor James and his wife
After spending some time on and near the Sea of Galilee, we went to another place near the "sea"...Capernaum. This was the town where Jesus spent some time, and also where Peter lived. We saw a house that was possibly Peter's house. As was the case with much of Israel, the town was much smaller than I had envisioned. It now makes more sense in my brain how someone could know most, if not all, people in their town.
Inside of what is said to possibly be Peter's house
A stone manger - not exactly what I've pictured when thinking of the manger Jesus was put in when he was born. However, this is probably much closer to what was actually used at that time than the little wooden thing that we tend to see drawn in pictures at Christmas time.
Overlooking a portion of the town of Capernaum
Unfortunately, my body and brain are beginning to crash for the evening. Gotta love the effects of Tylenol Cold nighttime capsules! I'm guessing this will be my best night of sleep since returning from Israel...and hopefully, I'll get the sleep I really need to kick this cold or sinus thing!
