Capernaum & Swimming in the Sea of Galilee

Day 1 & 2 - First off, I just have to clarify one thing. Travelling, and especially travelling internationally is not glamorous or fun. I mean the actual plane and airport, and bus, and taxi, and security, and body cavity searches. The getting here and being with amazing people part is awesome. I say that because what started as a great day turned nasty when, because of some unknown delay, I missed my connection to Newark, and thus missed my connection to Tel Aviv. They re-directed my flight through London and I got put on a EL AL flight (that is the Israeli national airline) down to Tel Aviv, getting me in at mid-night and to our hotel at 2am. Round trip = 36hrs from door to door. Not fun.

I did get to experience El Al air however, which was an adventure in itself. I now understand why El Al is considered the safest airline in the world. I went to check in and they told me to go through security, I responded, I don’t’ have a boarding pass, they said..before you get a boarding pass you go through ‘our’ security. Thus my introduction to ‘the safest airline in the world’. 2hrs later with, 1 full bag emptying, 2 quarantines, my passport being shuffled between multiple security people, every piece of electronic questioned, tested, and swabbed, I made it into the boarding area, plus I am pretty sure I sat next to an air marshal on the way there.

Anyway, on to my first day in Israel. Today was one of those days that I will never forget in my life. We took today to travel around the Galilean area visiting many places where Jesus walked, talked, and healed. Tomorrow we will meet some of our potential staff and volunteer leaders in Nazareth. But today was a day to experience Jesus’ footsteps.

We started our day in Capernaum. I am not sure what I thought Capernaum would look like, but it is not much. Very small little town on the edge of the lake. After years of reading Mark 2 where the 4 friends carry their paralyzed friend to Jesus, lowering him through the roof to get him to Jesus’ feet, seeing the actual houses that this took place was surreal. Just a few yards away was Peter’s house and then just a sand wedge from there the water’s edge where Jesus called Peter, James, and John, taught from a boat pushed out from shore, asked Peter to let his nets down for a catch on the other side, and launched out only to calm a raging storm half way across the lake. Amazing to say the least. Here is a short video I took standing on shore and of the foundations of the houses in the town.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XsKRZWvZ4DE

At the end of this trip I will try and go back and summarize the rest of these days, there is just so much packed into a day it would take a long while to write it all down and I need some sleep! Just to summarize, we also saw:

- Historical site of Sermon on the Mount

- Dipped my hands on the Jordon River

- Took a boat ride out into the middle of the Sea of Galilee (Clif Davidson did a wonderful job of bringing the scripture of Jesus calming the storm to life, well I guess he had it easy given the setting!)

- Ate a lunch of what the locals call “Peter’s Fish”. See picture…yum!

- Ended the day with meetings and finally a swim in the Sea of Galilee!

Tomorrow we travel to Nazareth for meetings with prospective Young Life staff and current volunteer leaders, then we go to the West Bank and Bethlehem tomorrow night. More tomorrow, need sleep

Blessings,

Jamie