It’s like the Queen of Sheba said, “the half has not been told.” We watched the sun come up this morning over the Dead Sea and watched it set over Jerusalem. Between those two awesome events, we journeyed from our hotel on the Dead Sea to Masada. This mountaintop fortress built by Herod the Great towers 1300 feet above the Dead Sea. Over 1000 Zealots were killed here by the Romans after the fall of Jerusalem in 70 A.D.. The cable car ride to the top of the mountain was certainly an experience for those of us with problems with heights and ledges. But let it be known that I did it, and so did Kenneth. Since we are limited on internet access time, the whole story of Masada will have to wait till a later date. After the cable car ride down we left Masada and headed north toward Ein Gedi. This is a region where many biblical events took place. Some of the more notable events were David cutting off a part of Saul’s garment. Also from the point where Yoni was teaching us about the corners and wings of the Israeli garments, you could see across the Dead Sea to the place where John the Baptist was beheaded. We left Ein Gedi and continued north where we stopped for lunch. It was a good lunch, just a little pricey. We got some ice cream and were on the road again.
As we turned toward Jerusalem we could see in the distance the plateau were Abraham and Lot chose the portion of the land they would possess. We passed the Mountain where it is possible that Jesus was tempted in the wilderness. Then we stopped and climbed a hill where we were overlooking the Valley of Achor from the story of Achan at Jericho. From this point we could see Jericho to the east and Jerusalem to the west. Also in the distance was the mountain top where Abraham and Lot’s servants struggled over their sheep. It was in this valley that many other stories, some from the life of Elijah. This valley is also called by many “the valley of the shadow of death.” Here is where we were confronted by a band of Bedouin men and boys trying to sell us stuff and give us a camel or donkey ride down the hill. After leaving this most meaningful sight we continued into the city of Jerusalem. After passing thru the checkpoint we went down into a tunnel and when we came out on the other side there it was, the city of Jerusalem. We went straight to the top of The Mount of Olives for the overwhelming first view of the city. After letting it all sink in for a moment we took a group picture, bought some stuff from the venders and headed to our hotel. The hotel is very nice.
We had dinner in the dining room and then some of us went out for a walk and walked all the way to the old city. We looked in some shops and took a taxi back to the hotel. Bro. Jerry & Cody are getting ready to accompany Sis. Doris to the airport in Tel Aviv which is only about 20 minutes by taxi. She will fly out at 5:30 a.m. Israel time. Please be praying for her and her family. Everyone else is well and doing great. We are having the time of our life. Wish you all were here. Tomorrow will be another busy day here in the city and other points around as we consider the many approaches to the city. Are we safe? I have never felt more safe in all my life. This is a land like no other. “It is not so far away”. I will explain that statement later.
Please comment if you read this so we can share it with the group. God Bless for now.
Love you much family.
Pastor Tom & Rese with the Holy Land 25
Shalom
Saturday, February 7, 2009
Just a Quick Note
It is Saturday morning here. We are about to leave for an exciting day in Masada and ending up in Jerusalem. Everyone is doing good. The sunrise over the Dead Sea was beyond description. Please be in prayer for Sis. Doris Locke and her family. Her Mother passed away yesterday and we are working on getting her back to Mississippi. I will post again tonight as far as I know now. If our children read this we love you and please post a comment or two we want to hear from you.
Love Ya
Pastor Tom
Love Ya
Pastor Tom
Friday, February 6, 2009
From The South To The Dead Sea
Just when you think it can’t get any better…IT DOES! This has been another wonderful day of learning and experiencing. This morning we left Eilat and headed north on highway 90 (not the same one that goes thru the panhandle of Florida :) ) thru the wilderness on our way to the Dead Sea. Our morning began with prayer and singing all the good old song about heading to Canaan. We made our first stop at Timna. This is the place where the Egyptians mined for copper.
We visited a site known as Solomon’s Mines. The rock formations were filled with copper ore. We also saw several ancient drawing that depicted wild game hunts that had taken place there thousands of years ago. We visited the Mushroom Furnace, one of many that have been found in the area, where the ore was heated to temperatures in excess of 1000 degrees for a period of over 10 hours. The area around the furnace was covered with the black ceramic like substance that was left after the copper was extracted at the furnace. Traveling a little further we came to an actual, to-scale, model of The Tabernacle. This was so exciting to me. Although it was just a replica, you could since the presence of the Lord so real there. Just to think that we were in the very area that Moses and the Children of Israel wandered for 40 years and to see this “meeting place with God” setting there in the middle of the wilderness was just more than words and pictures can describe. After the tabernacle we visited another excavation. This one was an Egyptian Temple. When it was excavated archeologist found thousands of little “Brass Serpents” around this temple area. If you want to hear more about that, come to church at Carmel Sunday, February 15.
We then continued to travel north on highway 90 toward the Dead Sea. We listened to our guide share many insightful truths as we traveled. We stopped for lunch at a roadside store that was located at a large dairy farm. They had some good ice cream and since the box lunches the hotel had prepared for us left a lot to be desired, we were pleased to find out that they had a lunch deli there as well.
After we got back on the bus we song some more and then took some time to rest (something we have not done much of). Bro. Larry, Yawny, and I looked at several passages of scripture. Yawny is a very well versed in Hebrew & Greek. It was very informative. As me got closer to the Dead Sea there was a drastic change in the land around us. It very much resembled the Badlands in America. Then we reached our destination, The Dead Sea. The salt and minerals that are present in the water makes it impossible for any living thing to survive in the water. The oily-feeling water is so dense you cannot sink. All you can do is float. It is just like setting in a chair. You can not get it in your eyes and you can not drink it. It has many healing properties. After checking into the hotel, a nice one I might add, many of us went to experience the water for ourselves. It was great. We had so much fun. We will have to tell it all later.
We returned and got ready for dinner. It was a wonderful meal. Since it is Shabbat, the Jewish Sabbath from sundown Friday to sundown Saturday, the hotel is really crowded. Many Jewish people check into a hotel to spend their Sabbath.
We are back in our room and Rese is already asleep. This means I do not have a proofreader tonight. So overlook the typo. Hope all is well with you all back home. We love you and will be in touch tomorrow after we visit Masada and head to Jerusalem before night. Everyone is well and things are going great. Please comment if you read this. I read the comments to the group every morning as we are getting on the bus.
Special Hellos to all of our family!!!!
Pastor Tom and The Salty 25
I will leave you with a few more pics!
We visited a site known as Solomon’s Mines. The rock formations were filled with copper ore. We also saw several ancient drawing that depicted wild game hunts that had taken place there thousands of years ago. We visited the Mushroom Furnace, one of many that have been found in the area, where the ore was heated to temperatures in excess of 1000 degrees for a period of over 10 hours. The area around the furnace was covered with the black ceramic like substance that was left after the copper was extracted at the furnace. Traveling a little further we came to an actual, to-scale, model of The Tabernacle. This was so exciting to me. Although it was just a replica, you could since the presence of the Lord so real there. Just to think that we were in the very area that Moses and the Children of Israel wandered for 40 years and to see this “meeting place with God” setting there in the middle of the wilderness was just more than words and pictures can describe. After the tabernacle we visited another excavation. This one was an Egyptian Temple. When it was excavated archeologist found thousands of little “Brass Serpents” around this temple area. If you want to hear more about that, come to church at Carmel Sunday, February 15.
We then continued to travel north on highway 90 toward the Dead Sea. We listened to our guide share many insightful truths as we traveled. We stopped for lunch at a roadside store that was located at a large dairy farm. They had some good ice cream and since the box lunches the hotel had prepared for us left a lot to be desired, we were pleased to find out that they had a lunch deli there as well.
After we got back on the bus we song some more and then took some time to rest (something we have not done much of). Bro. Larry, Yawny, and I looked at several passages of scripture. Yawny is a very well versed in Hebrew & Greek. It was very informative. As me got closer to the Dead Sea there was a drastic change in the land around us. It very much resembled the Badlands in America. Then we reached our destination, The Dead Sea. The salt and minerals that are present in the water makes it impossible for any living thing to survive in the water. The oily-feeling water is so dense you cannot sink. All you can do is float. It is just like setting in a chair. You can not get it in your eyes and you can not drink it. It has many healing properties. After checking into the hotel, a nice one I might add, many of us went to experience the water for ourselves. It was great. We had so much fun. We will have to tell it all later.
We returned and got ready for dinner. It was a wonderful meal. Since it is Shabbat, the Jewish Sabbath from sundown Friday to sundown Saturday, the hotel is really crowded. Many Jewish people check into a hotel to spend their Sabbath.
We are back in our room and Rese is already asleep. This means I do not have a proofreader tonight. So overlook the typo. Hope all is well with you all back home. We love you and will be in touch tomorrow after we visit Masada and head to Jerusalem before night. Everyone is well and things are going great. Please comment if you read this. I read the comments to the group every morning as we are getting on the bus.
Special Hellos to all of our family!!!!
Pastor Tom and The Salty 25
I will leave you with a few more pics!
Thursday, February 5, 2009
The Moadites Are Back In Israel
Once again we have had an amazing day. We left our hotel in Eilat Israel this morning and crossed into the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan. After an almost non-eventful border crossing (of course Bro. Jerry was detained for a short time as usual) we met our Jordanian guide Ramsies and then traveled by bus for over 100 miles along the “Kings Highway”.
This is the route Abraham, Moses, & David would have traveled in their time here. The multi-colored rock formations in the mountains were beautiful. The view from some of the high points was breathtaking. Toward the end of our journey our guide pointed out a small white dot on the top of a distant mountain. It was the burial place of Aaron where the Muslims go to worship twice a year. Aaron is mentioned in the Koran as a prophet. We soon arrived at Petra the ancient Nabatean capital and one of the SEVEN WONDERS OF THE WORLD!
After a brief restroom stop we were on our way into the most awesome canyon. The pictures will tell the rest of the story.
The Bedouin people occupied these caves dwellings until 1984. Not enough time to tell it all. We had a glorious time on a “bumpy camel ride”.
During the long bus ride home we stopped and bought some authentic Jordanian / Bedouin souvenirs. We watched the sun set behind the mountains as we made our approach back to the Jordan/Israel Border. We felt a lot like Ruth and Naomi as we left the land of the Moabites (Jordan) and returned to Israel.
After passing back through the border check point we rejoined our Israel guide Yoni and our bus driver Anis we had an “interesting” dinner and are now at the mall posting this blog. We are tired but hoping to get a good night’s rest as we anticipate a great day tomorrow traveling to the Dead Sea.
Pastor Tom and the Israeli 25
This is the route Abraham, Moses, & David would have traveled in their time here. The multi-colored rock formations in the mountains were beautiful. The view from some of the high points was breathtaking. Toward the end of our journey our guide pointed out a small white dot on the top of a distant mountain. It was the burial place of Aaron where the Muslims go to worship twice a year. Aaron is mentioned in the Koran as a prophet. We soon arrived at Petra the ancient Nabatean capital and one of the SEVEN WONDERS OF THE WORLD!
After a brief restroom stop we were on our way into the most awesome canyon. The pictures will tell the rest of the story.
The Bedouin people occupied these caves dwellings until 1984. Not enough time to tell it all. We had a glorious time on a “bumpy camel ride”.
During the long bus ride home we stopped and bought some authentic Jordanian / Bedouin souvenirs. We watched the sun set behind the mountains as we made our approach back to the Jordan/Israel Border. We felt a lot like Ruth and Naomi as we left the land of the Moabites (Jordan) and returned to Israel.
After passing back through the border check point we rejoined our Israel guide Yoni and our bus driver Anis we had an “interesting” dinner and are now at the mall posting this blog. We are tired but hoping to get a good night’s rest as we anticipate a great day tomorrow traveling to the Dead Sea.
Pastor Tom and the Israeli 25
Wednesday, February 4, 2009
Israel Day 3
It has been a great day. We started out in Mitpe Ramon. We went into the Ramon Crater, one of seven in the world. After driving through the crater we went on a 3 mile hike along the ancient spice routes used by the Nabateans. After hiking we had lunch and then continued southward to Eilat where some snorkled in the Red Sea. From where we are tonight you can see the countries of Jordan, Saudia Arabia and Egypt. What an awesome sight!
Tomorrow we will be in Petra where we will ride camels and see one of the seven wonders of the world. Due to the internet problems we are cutting the post short tonight, hopefully there will be more tomorrow.
Everyone is doing fine, no one is sick.
Pastor Tom And the Desert 25
Tomorrow we will be in Petra where we will ride camels and see one of the seven wonders of the world. Due to the internet problems we are cutting the post short tonight, hopefully there will be more tomorrow.
Everyone is doing fine, no one is sick.
Pastor Tom And the Desert 25
Tuesday, February 3, 2009
Israel Day 2
What an amazing day! After a somewhat restful night, we started our day with a good Israeli breakfast. Then we were on the bus and departing by 8:30 a.m. from Ber Sheva. Ber Sheva is referred to in the King James Bible as Beer Sheba. Our first stop of the day was an archeological excavation of an ancient city with its well and underwater cisterns. The well we saw was most likely one of the wells mentioned in Genesis 21 where Abraham and Abimelech had the conflict over the wells. “ Thus they made a covenant at Beer Sheba…”. We were able to see the well itself in its original state as well as the plaster work in the underground cistern that was over 3000 years old. We do not have enough time to share all the biblical
insight that was revealed at this site, but it was a wealth of information. From there we traveled further south through the Sinai peninsula and into the dessert of Paran today known as the Negev. This is where the children of Israel wandered for 40 years. Along the way was saw many Bedouin villages. The Bedouin people are nomadic people who live in tents today in a similar way that Abraham lived. We were able to learn some Israeli history visiting the home of David Ben-Gurion, a former prime minister’s dessert home and then his tomb.
We heard here our first lecture on Tzin before having an interesting boxed lunch. After lunch we set out on a two part hike to the place where Moses supposedly struck the rock instead of speaking to it. One group continued on the second portion of the hike while another group returned to the bus. The group that made the second part of the hike climbed over 500 steps to reach the top of the canyon where we met the rest of the group. I did not go with the first group, because I did not want to leave the rest of the group alone. I was a dedicated shepherd. Ha! Ha! Sis. Rese went all the way! After this experience the Exodus takes on a whole new meaning. There is no way to tell it all here. From this site we traveled further south to the Avdat National Park, an archeological excavation of the city of Avdat. Here we found pottery pieces dating back to 1500 b.c.. Then we were treated to an unexpected event as we were guests at a Bedouin family home. We were served hot sweet tea, flour tortillas, and coffee by the mother and one of her 10 children.
We are now at our final destination of the day a hotel in Mitpe Ramon. Sis. Rese must be living right because she has the opportunity to snorkel in the Red Sea tomorrow (an unexpected addition to the itinerary). There is no way to describe the insight we have gained into God’s word today. Our guide is wonderful and the weather could not be better (65 degrees). Tomorrow promises to be another wonderful day around the Red Sea area and then moving back to the north and east.
Everyone is doing just fine. No one is sick, just tired. Check out the pics. I know there is a lot but it is too hard to sort them out. We love you all and will check in again tomorrow night. As You know it is 8 hours ahead here so we are all getting a little nutty!
Thanks for the comments. I am sharing them with the group. Keep them coming.
Special greetings to our two little babies, Aaron & Claresa. We love you much.
Also Mother would like it here. They have the air-conditioning turned off for the winter in our hotels. Love you too Granny.
Shalom, Pastor Tom & Sis. Rese
Monday, February 2, 2009
Safe & Sound in Israel
It was a LONG but good trip here. Everyone is fine and we are all very tired. Here are a few pics from our trip from Tel Aviv to Ber Sheva. We are about to go to supper and we will be able to get in bed for some much needed rest. Tommorow is going to be a great day of learning. It is an awsome feeling and a life-long dream to walk were our Jesus walked. Keep us in your prayers. We Love you all and will keep you posted as often as possible. Please comment so we will know you are getting it!
Love Ya'll Much
Pastor Tom & Rese (and the other 23)
Love Ya'll Much
Pastor Tom & Rese (and the other 23)
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