Eating Pizza or Why Travel To The Land of The Bible Should Be Seminary Core Learning

We traveled around the northern part of the country again today, visiting the Yardenit baptismal spot where the Jordan River leaves the Sea of Galilee, taking a boat ride across the Sea of Galilee, and exploring the wondrous archaeological site at Beit Shean.  We stopped for lunch at a Kibbutz where the brave among us ate St. Peter's fish (a tilapia looking very much like itself just staring at you from the plate) and where I had cheese pizza.  I am not brave.  Know your limits.
Towards the end of the day, our veteran guide, Jimmy, took us to a possible location for Jesus' feeding of the 4,000.  That is correct, 4,000 - not 5,000.  Two stories and two locations.  And the location may make all the difference in understanding the story - or more specifically the necessity of two stories.  This evening we had a speaker from Educational Opportunities talk about Jesus and the Galilee.  I was already and am now even more convinced of the invaluable nature of physically seeing, feeling, experiencing the land to more deeply appreciate the stories.  Becoming familiar with the geography; learning the history as it relates to the geography and scripture; discovering what it means that Jesus left Nazareth and came to Capernaum to begin his ministry.  Taking this stuff seriously is taking the incarnation seriously.  Ignoring or dismissing it is to risk ignoring or dismissing the humanity of Christ.  Jesus did not come at a random moment to a place we know nothing about.  Jesus came to a particular place and lived in this place and lived and worked and played and carried out his ministry here.
It is an amazing place.
I'm glad I got to eat pizza here.

Great Falafel

On the bus at 7:30 a.m. And off to visit a spot I've not been to before - the Valley of the Pigeons near the biblical village of Migdal on the Sea of Galilee.  Saw the pass between two mountains (Mittay and Ardel) through which the ancient road that would have gone to Cana runs.
Went to Kibbutz Nof Ginnosaur to see the "Jesus" boat, an archaeological find from the 1980's that dates to the time of Christ.  Visited some sites of great biblical stories including the multiplication of loaves and fishes and the synagogue at Capernaum.  Also visited the Mt. Of Beatitudes and saw a cave that could be the sort of place Jesus would go to when he went off by himself. 
We went to the Druze village of Magdal Shams along the Israel Syria border and saw the "Valley of Shouting".  This is a place where families with folks on the Israeli side and Syrian sides of the border would shout to each other to communicate as this has been and remains a closed border.  We had lunch at a small Druze restaurant there and two words: great falafel.  Wow.
Saw the headwaters of the Jordan at the foot of Mt. Hermon and was reminded once more with feeling of the importance of water in the biblical narrative from beginning to end and the ongoing vital role of water for us today, both in the spiritual and physical sense.
A good solid first day of sites!  Not sure if pictures are showing up - if so, here's one of Julie and I at the Sea of Galilee.  If not, I'll fix it later.

later.

Back At The Royal Plaza Tiberias

Every time it's been January.  2000.  2001.  2011.  And now 2013.
We left Louisville yesterday at 6:00 - three hours behind schedule on a replacement plane.  Arrived in Philadelphia a little after 7:00 and moved with purpose to the international gate where we went through the security drill and boarded a big old jet airliner.
Which carried us far, far away.  Ten hours away anyway.  To Tel Aviv, where we arrived at 2:20 p.m. local time.  Then on to our bus - the Blue Bus - how perfect is that, right?  Go Cats!  Our bus rolled out of Tel Aviv and brought us here, to the Royal Plaza Hotel in Tiberias on the shores of the Sea of Galilee.  To one of my most favorite spots.  The terrace outside, off the lobby of the Royal Plaza.  Off in the darkness lies the Sea of Galilee.  Tomorrow we begin the pilgrimage anew.  We will see some places we have seen before and yet I guarantee you that in those places we will see something new, something unexpected, somethingthat will make the trip worthwhile before it even has a chance to get its sea legs.
I am blessed to be traveling with Julie again this time as well as two members of Hebron and our student intern along with her husband.  It is exciting to encourage folks to come to the Holy Land and then to watch as the experience unfolds for them.  What will be meaningful for them?  What will make scripture spring to life in a new way?  What will I see anew because they are here?
It's nearly impossible to speak about this place without slipping into cliche.  It is renewing, healing, energizing and transforming.
And that's just after one night on the terrace looking into the darkness at a lake I can't see.  With great anticipation for what the morning will bring...