March 15 closes

It was evening....

 And it was morning.

The second day.

I know. I expect to speed up any day now.

Blessed are those with weak bladders, for our coffers shall be filled.

Down the mountain, past the tanks, through Saint Peter's Fish and on to Capernaum: "The Town of Jesus, The Home of Saint Peter, The Synagogue," and, of course, the monastery built OVER the ruins of something important. So important, in fact, that I can't remember what it was. Peter's home? An early church? I don't honestly know. I think it was a church. It was built in a circle as was the chapel over it. Yes, I vote church of some sort.

Love Tzvi. Tradition......tradition!

 So, after apologizing about the fish situation, Tzvi gave us a lecture about the history of our location.

Greek letters. My kids dig this.

 He tells us what the Greek inscriptions say. Can you believe this stuff just sits out in the weather. I guess they figure if it lasted this long, it's probably OK.

I want to say wine press.

 He tells us about the different pressing processes.

Almost certain this is an olive press.

 And then he says, "So, what do you think? Ten minutes we meet on the bus?" To which Spence, bless his heart, who has HAD IT, says, "NO! We flew halfway across the world to see this! We need 20 minutes, AT LEAST!" We got them.

Brent with columns in the synagogue.

 So we took our 20 and visited the synagogue,

Town ruins. These were homes.

 the town,

The chapel build OVER the chapel.

 the chapel, and the sea (not here because it was already posted in the birthday post)

The synagogue built facing the wrong direction.

 Took a few photos

Moon rising over the palm tree with an orthodox church behind.

 Tried to get artistic and failed.

Pay to potty.

And skipped the potty break. At this point, Brent and I were looking at our schedule, doing a little math and figuring that we would make it back to the hotel with plenty of time to swim in the Sea of Galilee before the sun went down and it got cold.

You know what the word assume says, right?

Pit stop! We will visit a diamond museum. We will watch a short film about diamonds and THEN you can SHOP at our diamond STORE. Now doesn't that sound FUN?

One of our friends offered the guide $100 to just keep driving.

We stopped.

TWO hours later we were back at our hotel. And determined to swim even though it was freezing. I mean, how many chances would we get? Yes, it was "forbidden" to swim after sunset. Yes, the water was approximately 33 degrees. Yes, the air was a warm 50. Yes, we swam. Just long enough to take the photo. But, dang it, we swam in the Sea of Galilee.

Brent swimming.

Me swimming.

You know how you make 50 degree air feel warm? Dip your bod in 33 degree water.

We did not get sick.

St. Peter's Fish

So we came down the mountain and we were all starving. It was, after all, 2PM. This was a lunch time trend that we eventually got used to, but were completely unprepared here. And where did we get dumped off, but at an outdoor restaurant called St. Peter's Fish.

It was worth a laugh or two, but that's about all.

One thing I never quite got used to was the cook-the-whole-fish philosophy.

This fish was entirely unremarkable. The service was terrible. The cost was high. And lost in translation was the oft repeated statement of, "The salad bar, it is free. It is free salad. Salad is free."

They left out, "With the purchase of a fish."

The crappy salad was $11.

We saw many an amazing salad bar, this was not one of them.

The carp had teeth. And scales. And lots of bones. And zero flavor. Together with the salad, it was $22. We ate it. And paid $33. Because we got two "free" salads.

"Gratuity is not included."

If you find yourself at the Sea of Galilee, I recommend bringing a granola bar and skipping this joint.

Israel

My super smart spouse put this puppy together. I'll still blog about my days, but in case you want the quick and dirty version, here ya go.

*Brent said that one didn't work very well. We'll try this again.*

The Holy Land Slideshow: Brent’s trip from Kansas City, Missouri, United States to 12 cities Jerusalem, Eilat, Tel Aviv, Galilee, Dead Sea Region, Bethlehem, Mount Nebo (near Madaba, Jordan), Near Syria Border (near Yesod Hamaala, Israel), Caesarea, Mt. Hermon (near Kfar Blum), Capernaum and Megiddo (near Jenin, West Bank and Gaza) was created by TripAdvisor. See another Israel slideshow. Take your travel photos and make a slideshow for free.

Let my words be powerful

Well, This is Disconcerting.

The most interesting thing about driving up to the high point near Mount Hermon, besides being able to see into Syria and Lebanon, was driving down on better roads through tank maneuvers.

Syria

What is THAT?

Not to worry, they're just practicing.

Letting Syria know we're still here.

Are you sure this is safe?

Perfectly safe.

Not to worry.

Egad.

Caesarea Philippi

You know, there just isn't really much to say about this place aside from what is in my captions and what is in the Bible. We drove a gazillion hours (maybe 2?) on teeny mountainous roads though what used to be Syrian territory. Most of us were sick to our stomachs and still jet lagged and potentially wondering what we'd gotten ourselves into. So I'll give you a bit of scripture to go with your viewing pleasure.

The Temple of Pan...Yippee

 "When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, 'Who do men say that I am?'

It's got nothin' on Petra, just FYI.

 "They replied, 'Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets.'

 "'But what about you?' he asked. 'Who do you say I am?'

The beginning of the Jordan River

 "Simon Peter answered, 'You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.'" (Matthew16:13-16)

And a few ruins, for good measure.

The Mount of Beatitudes

"Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will ear or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes?

"Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them.

 Are you not much more valuable than they? Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?

 And why do you worry about clothes?

"See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you, not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these.

"If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?

"So do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' For the pagans run after these things, and your Heavenly Father knows that you need them.

"But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.

Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

Adoption Rocks

I have to pause here for a second and switch gears because my friend Meg posted today about a family who is trying to adopt a little boy with Down Syndrome from Eastern Europe, which isn't cheap. There are few things that I am as passionate about as adoption, especially those children who don't have people lining up to take them.  And since I can't say anything nearly as eloquently as Danielle's mother's heart (because SHE is who is most passionate about it), I'm just going to send you over there. Please go and donate, at least a smidge. And if you don't link through here, go link through the sidebar button. Hey, and for those of us in the throes of tax season, this is exciting: donations are tax deductible.

"The Jesus Boat"

"I own no wealth, I have no property, my greatest asset is my friends." And clearly, the quote(ED) is cut off in the photo. I believe it was the selfsame person the building was named for. Not that I can remember what that is either. But I thought the quote and the mosaics lovely.

 In a place filled with people who swear by the fact that Jesus prayed his last prayer on This Rock and was beaten on That Rock and was born in This Cave and placed in This Manger, it was refreshing to go to a museum with a 2000 year old boat that, while called the Jesus Boat, didn't claim to actually hold the Savior (though it that could have was emphasized).

 It was interesting to help understand the size and construction of a typical fishing boat from the times. A) Pretty small. B) pretty rickety.

 Can you imagine falling asleep on those ribs while a storm was squalling around you? This is no yacht. Jesus must have been so exhausted as to have been dead on his feet.

 And their model of what it might have looked like before 2000 years of rot set in. So maybe it was more comfortable than that shell would indicate.

 And the second most impressive thing here (behind the honesty that this probably was NOT Jesus' boat) was the gift shop. My only regret is that I didn't shop more. We bought these.

Our awesome guide Tzvi. I miss his humor. In fact I plain miss Israel, danger be darned.

We Interrupt Our Regularly Scheduled Programming to Bring You This Very Important Message

This guy, the one who took me to the Sea of Galilee...

And made me swim in it, even though it was freezing, because you just should...

who gets up with me to see sunrises because they are important to me

who participated in baptizing me in the Jordan River

and got baptized there himself

who loves Jerusalem with a passion,

and can make friends with a doorpost (not that ANYONE in this photo could be described as a doorpost)

who is looks very young in relation to this 800 year old olive tree

This one, who has recently been outed as "Brent"

who sneaks off from the tour group with me so that we can see things that the tour won't see

and carries the bags when I tire of doing so

and slathers himself in Dead Sea mud because he's a good sport

who walks on walls and rests in recesses

and finds a way to see things that are hard to see (AKA takes me out of my comfort zone)

who doesn't take himself too seriously

like I said....

HE is my very best friend.

AND he is 35 today.

Thanks be to God for this indescribable gift.