Today was a great day for The Internationals in Israel. God gave us an overcast, cooler than usual day with a most amazing breeze the whole day. After breakfast we headed out of our hotel in Tiberias towards our first stop called St. Peter's Primacy. It is on the north side of the Sea of Galilee. It is the traditional site where, following Jesus resurrection, the disciples were fishing and not catching any fish when Jesus stood on the shore and told them to throw their net to the other side, catching a large amount of fish. The disciples then came to shore and had breakfast with Jesus. We had communion there and talked about the importance of Jesus preparing a breakfast for them as in the Middle East, eating together is a sign of reconciliation and Jesus was telling the disciples that they were forgiven for running, denying and abandoning Jesus during his trial and crucifixion. It is a beautiful picture to us today of the grace we have been shown and that we are reconciled to God through the blood of Jesus.
Our next stop was in the Hula Valley at Kibbutz Naot Mordechai to purchase shoes. So.....some of you may be getting something new for your feet when we get home. You will have to wait and see.
After spending a good amount of money at Naot, we headed up onto the Golan Heights to Tel Fachar, a Six Day War battle site where the Golani Brigade took the outpost back from the Syrians. Interestingly enough, the battle there took place on June 9, 1967, exactly 43 years ago today. We talked about some of the miraculous things that God did during the battles of the Six Day War and also talked about Eli Cohen, an Israeli spy in Syria back in the 60's. He was eventually caught and hanged in Damascus as a spy but, because of the intelligence he gathered, Israel was victorious in the Six Day War. There is a great book about him, "Our Man in Damascus," if you ever get a chance to read it. This is also the area where God gave Cindy Connor the song "I Will Bless" in 1973. Her daughter, Debi, is here with us in the group so we had her sing the song for us. It was a very moving moment.
Our next stop was Banias, referred to as Caesaria Philippi in the Bible. The significance of this stop is that it is the place where Jesus declared to Peter that upon this rock I will build my church and the gates of Hell will not prevail against it. Following a tour of the site, we hiked through the dense jungle/forest of northern Israel along the Hermon springs that flow out of the Banias area. It was not a difficult hike, just a good amount of walking. It was very lush with vines, and trees and lots of water as you will see in the pictures. Many people have a mental picture of Israel as being a desert filled with Bedouins and camels. As we saw today this is not the case in northern Israel! At the end was a very beautiful waterfall, we were all hoping to jump in and cool off but we didn't have time, the water is very chilly and there is no swimming allowed there.
We performed at a base in the very north of Israel right on the Israel/Lebanon border called Biranit. It is an intelligence base and the headquarters of the Northern command that guard the Israel/Lebanon border. They were most gracious to us and took us up to the overlook from their base to have a peek into Lebanon and explained the terrain of the whole area to us as well as the geo-political situation. The show was FANTASTIC and the soldiers were so responsive. They were dancing and singing with us and genuinely had a great time. We were able to have some great conversations with the soldiers afterwards and many of them were deeply moved by the whole experience. God truly blessed us this evening and for that we are grateful.
Right now we are on the bus heading towards Kiryat Shemona to get some pizza and then to our hotel for the night in Kfar Giladi. If you look for it on the map it is at the very north of Israel right on the border with Lebanon.
Thanks again for all of your prayers and support. Both Mike and Debi are feeling better. All is well and it is hard for us to believe that it will be a week ago tomorrow that we left. We will post some pictures of the day shortly. Good night!
