Pastor Andrew in Israel

We were able to see the area where Jesus grew up and where he performed his first miracle. This is the view of modern Nazareth from a nearby hillside. Jesus would have been living in valley behind me for around thirty years. It seems very likely that he would have taken a day in his youth or as a young man to walk up this very hill. This is the first place I've gone where Jesus would have walked. The view is from the "mountain of precipice" This church marks the location of the wedding at Cana and the first miracle. It is still a fair way, especially walking, from Nazareth and Jesus would have very likely been coming back from the Jordan river to the wedding. Of course, the exact location is not known.

We stopped at Megiddo, an ancient city that had gone through many periods of settlement and destruction. Each new settlement would build on top of the ruins from before. This became a city on a man made hill. Two significant events from the Bible are located at this site. 2 Kings 23 tells how the good King Josiah went out to battle against the  Pharaoh Necho and was killed at Megiddo, a terrible battle against the good King of God's people. In Revelation 16, perhaps as a reflection on the defeat of Josiah, there is the gathering of nations for war at the place in Hebrew called Armageddon. Very likely this is Har Megiddo, mount Megiddo.  Here is the tunnel of the well at Megiddo. They have a deep pit that goes to this tunnel to bring water to the city. Part of the ruins.

Good morning, the United States of America! While you were sleeping I went to the town of Caesarea on the Mediterranean Sea. This is a Roman style city that was built by Herod the great and named after Caesar to win favor.  Here I am coming through the Roman theater. You can imagine Paul at a site like this, presenting the gospel to Roman crowds, or pleading his case in front of the local rulers This looks over the circus Maximus, where Roman games and entertainment would occur, in the background right, and the palace ruins are directly behind me. This is a view at the entrance to the park. Caesarea is the location of an important biblical story. In acts 10, a centurion in this town was told by an angel that his prayers were answered and to send me to Joppa to speak to Peter. Simon Peter, before he heard from these men, had his vision of the sheet from heaven with unclean animals, and heard God's declaration that the gospel was for the gentiles, as well as th...

We are staying at a hotel in Tiberius on the sea of Galilee. Since we got to the hotel late, they put some food out for us last night This morning there were a ton of options for breakfast, especially in the cheese and bread areas. I had some Bulgarian cheese 5% and tomatoes, blintzes, yogurt, etc. This post is really just for my wife and my mom, so they know that I am eating.

I have arrived in Israel, safe and sound, if a little tired. I didn't get any pictures from inside the airport and it was already dark outside. That's the first thing I've learned about Israel, time works differently here. A little after midnight I got to baggage claim and my daughter got home from school. I'll get up in the morning at midnight, have dinner in time for a late breakfast, and go to bed after lunch. When I was packing for the trip I took a change of clothes for Monday, not really realizing that I would be in airports and on planes from Sunday evening to Monday night. I guess that means I can do a costume change between scenes later. There are 32 people in our tour group, almost all from churches at Evangelical free churches in the Rocky mountain district of Colorado, Wyoming, and part of South Dakota. This includes the superintendent, some pastors and some laypeople. It wasn't quite Joshua crossing the Jordan, but it was similar in this, I d...

Heathrow airport is made for people who don't want to see much of London. Situated just far enough away that you can barely see some shadows through a little bit of fog. Is that the London skyline I see? No, really is it, I can't tell. What they do have is shopping. Angela said she wanted a souvenir, so I had a look around. Nope, nothing here.

I'm heading off towards Israel. Left Denver airport Sunday evening and left the United States for the first time.  The airplane food was actually pretty good.  A cup of tea  A traditional English breakfast? And then finally in London airport. A few more hours before the next flight to Tel Aviv.