Awesome Day Number One

So we left on our week-long Galilee trip today, it is going to be more or less super-cool.

Just a brief rundown of the general itinerary for you: The north-ish coast (Caesarea, Mt. Carmel), the Jezreel Valley, then into Galilee (lower and upper regions which means the Sea, the surrounding area, the Golan Heights, up north to the foothills of Mt. Hermon) the down to the lower Jordan River toward the Dead Sea. I'll be updating you when I have internet so the day to day events/itinerary will come then.

That said let us talk about today's adventure. We left home, headed west into the coastal plain and stopped at Aphek/Antipatris. In the OT it is where the Philistines hung out and then toasted the Israelites and took the Ark of the Covenant, which certainly did not go well for them (1 Samuel 4 and later). In the N.T. it was named Antipatris by Herod the Great for his dad, how sweet. Now there are Crusader remains... woohoo.
Aphek means spring, which is handy, because there is a spring there, the headwaters of the Yarkon river. Aphek and the rest of the Sharon plain supply Israel with pretty much all of their non-Galilean water. Like 3/4 or the national water supply or something, talk about an underground water table, this place has a table factory.

Then we went north some more to Caesarea. Built up by Herod, the man-made port took 12 years. Read about it on Google, or better yet, check out a copy of the old Jewish historian Josephus and read about it, it was rather amazing. And today was a beautiful day. Oh wow. 70-ish degrees and sunny with big puffy clouds = great day on the Mediterranean coast. We learned a lot, took tons of beautiful pictures, got wet from the ginormous waves that crash against the breakwater, and beheld the beauty of God that remains in contrast with the "impressive" feats of man that come and go with time... Herod, the Byzantines, the Crusaders, the Turks... they have nothing on the engineering work of God.

Then my favorite part of the day up to that point: Mt. Carmel. Taking the northernmost pass through the Carmel range toward the Jezreel Valley, we ascended the Jokneam pass and came to the traditional site of Elijah's showdown with the lame prophets of Baal. The site is called Muhraka, which I think is Arabic, meaning flame (very appropriate I think). There we (I) read 1 Kings 18 as we looked out over the coastal plain on one side and the Jezreel Valley on the other. What an amazingly beautiful setting for an awesomely powerful event. On that day thousands of years ago, God used my namesake to show the people that Baal was nothing but a made up god of nothing, proving Himself to be the only one worth serving. My words do not do the experience I had today any sort of justice, but you get the idea.

Then we headed back toward the coast, stopping to view Haifa and the Plains of Acco from the point of Mt. Carmel. While waiting for our rooms and dinner, we played around on the coast and saw a sunset that would make everything you learned today seem that much more awesome. It was most certainly a great day.

Trivia time: for those of you who went to Israel last year with Corban, does the name "Nasholim" ring any bells? Well it should, because that is where we stayed on the coast of Dor on our first night. And that is where I am right now. How cool is that? Thanks to God for that little blessing.

And I have one last thing. A request from deep inside: please. please. please pray that this stuff sticks in my heart and mind. There is so much that is so cool and so life-changing and I want to bring it home and use it. It's nearing the end and I have so much in my mind it's hard to keep it all in, help me out with this if you don't mind. Thank you friends...

Sorry for the delay

You ever get those moments where three or four days go by and you wonder where they went and what you did and how seemingly moments ago it was last Thursday and now it's Monday?

Well that's not the case, I was just curious.

But in all seriousness, it's been a rather full week/weekend/whatever since the last time I typed. The Junior High Boys Choir has gained members, I waver between baritone and bass these days and yesterday it felt like John Henry was using my face for his next phenomenal feat. But fortunately the pressure in my face has diminished to where it now only has the capacity to blow up a few dozen volleyballs. But I really can't complain. I've been blessed with pretty great health in the last few years, it makes sense that I get it eventually. God has been good to remind me that I am healthy every other day only because He takes care of me. When one is sick (and surrounded by sickness) one realizes the amazingness that takes place in a single day of not coughing. We have a pretty cool immune system folks.

I like typing because I can say as much as I want without increasing the number of coughing interruptions. But enough shooting the breeze. Let's get back to last week's southerly adventure.

If I recall we left our fearless hero perched on the precipice at the great Mactesh Ramon (Ramon means "exalted" by the way, so I stood on the edge of an exalted crater :) So... let's see. Day 2: Some crazies got up for the sunrise, I slept like a normal person and had no regrets. We drove south (through the floor of the crater) into the wilderness of Paran, where our friends the Israelites would have wandered for a real long time. We stopped right by the sign that says something like "danger, live firing area" or some such safety indicator. We wandered in the wilderness for a mere 40 minutes. Taking time to wander alone, Bill had us read Deuteronomy 8 and consider the words with the wilderness all around us. You read that chapter sometime, it means a lot in general, but so much more when you look at your clothes and shoes and see how worn they are after a month in the land and you look all around you and see rocks, a few bushes, no clouds, and a lot of brown nothing... God's protection and provision is much more than astounding.

From there we continued south, pausing momentarily at an overlook. It's rather weird to see Egypt, Israel, and Jordan all withing a few miles of each other. But it was a great view, I am excited to go to Egypt next month! Plus the view of the gulf of Aqaba was amazing (the gulf is part of the Red Sea, though pretty much definitely Not where Moses parted it, wrong side of the Sinai peninsula). Then we drove down to Elat (the coastal tourist trap of Israel) and snorkeled for the afternoon. One thing about IBEX is that we see where our money goes - and it usually goes right to us. We get to travel like nobody's business, eat, snorkel, get a daily stipend on trips to cover meals, and all sorts of other joys that I have yet to discover. Hooray for good stewardship over here.

I have never snorkeled before, I liked it, there are some amazing fish over here, my salt intake was raised to the 20th power that day and it was overall just super.

Then we slept.

Then we woke up. Some crazies got up for sunrise again, I slept like a smart person.

This time we headed the other direction, away from oceans and beaches and 1 inch of rainfall per year. We drove up the Rift Valley (aka Aravah aka the border regions between Israel and Jordan) and stopped in the area of Mt. Timnah. Back in the day (and even some still) it was a big copper mining area. The Egyptians left behind some scratches in a rock wall, a little temple, and the big rocks deemed "Solomon's Pillars" are there. It is funny to me that anything big and impressive and old gets to be Solomon's, weird names around here...

The coolest thing there was the replica of the Tabernacle. Built in 1999 by some college in Germany, this model is pretty cool. Unfortunately the recent storms came upon the Tabernacle in great winds and blew off the main cover and ruined some "fence" cloths. But it was cool to see the layout and how cool our God is for dwelling among His people. He did not have a big room, let me tell you, that Holy of Holies is like a Davidson dorm room. That is one huge God saying something pretty big to us little specks.

From there we got to hike around in the sandstone, see a mushroom rock, and leave one of our own to die in the wilderness. Just kidding. But back in the day it might have been that way, who knows? She sprained her ankle on one of the bazillions of rocks that make walking not so easy. So if you are worried when you look at the pictures and see the author of this blog carrying someone do not be dismayed, I was merely recruited as - and I quote - "another pack horse" by Bill. Then we went to a zoo of desert predators, which would have been much cooler had I not been part of aforementioned injured woman's chariot squad. But nonetheless it was sweet. You know how we have coyotes back home and we shoot them? Well over here we put them in behind safe fences under witness protection programs and call them jackals. We also saw some vultures like the ones from The Jungle Book (Disney version), but still playing the role of one of the noble steeds I didn't get to see as much of the rare and terrifying animals as I would have liked. But it was cool.

Then we went to the Masada guest house, played some intense ultimate frisbee on a little basketball court and hiked through the Marl Canyons at night. It's like walking on the moon. The chalky dirt in moonlight really does make it look like the moon, it was amazing.

After not too many hours of sleep we got up to hike Masada. I'm glad we did it in half-light because it is a killer hike, particularly at 5:30 in the morning. I don't love getting up early, but when it involves climbing a mountain I tend to get out of bed with a lot better attitude. And it was so worth it. The sunrise was wonderful times ten. A great way to start a day, the Word, sunrise, Israel, huge rock fortresses... so great.

I played tour guide for about 5 of the guys in the group, it's amazing how much I can remember from last time and the reading we've done, it was a ton of fun. Fast-forward: we hiked down, left, went to Qumran, hiked around the ruins of the Essenes settlement, and drove a little way and hiked up to cave number one. This is the cave where the first Dead Sea Scrolls were found, but NOT by a shepherd throwing stones. Contrary to that little myth, it was archaeologist-type people who were looking for something beside lost sheep. Just call Bill the newest host of Myth-Busters, he and Abner continually shatter our false presuppositions.

Then we went home. And it was great. It was so cool to see all of the southern parts of Israel, such desolate country demands an outside source of survival. Good thing God was there for the Israelites huh?

That concludes this broadcast hour, sorry that it was so long, but I wanted to get the whole trip in there. Hope you didn't fall asleep.

PS- a Hebrew Breakthrough!

Quick note:
I'm working on Hebrew homework right now. Part of it is to change from the block print to cursive. So Bill gave us the first chapter of John in the block print and we have to "translate" (convert) the block print to the cursive.

Friends, tears were in my eyes (oh wait, here they come again). You wonder why? I'll tell You. I can translate! I noticed some of the same words, though not knowing what they mean, so I whipped out my new New Testament (Thanks Mom :) and read it in English, then I looked at the Hebrew words and figured out what they meant. Directly translated I read this: In beginning was the Word. And the Word was with God (Elohim) and Elohim was the Word. (John 1:1)... I read more, but it takes too long to type it out like that and its confusing. But boy am I encouraged right now.

For some reason it is much more powerful when you have to fight through it and figure it out. I like this. I like this a lot.

Israeli Iced Coffee to go...

So today I spent 4 bucks(ish) on coffee in Israel. Who knew? Eli the not as much of a coffee drinker as his Girlfriend spent 17 shekels on a delicious iced coffee. I won't be doing that every other leap-year, but it was worth it for the experience.

Here, I'll tell You about it, put it in some context if you will: Today we went to the model of the New Testament at the Israel Museum in the newer part of Jerusalem. It's a model of what Jerusalem would have looked like in Jesus' day, pretty cool to say the least. Also at the museum area is the Dead Sea Scrolls display. In all honesty, it is not the most intriguing thing we have done. But I don't mean to downplay it, it was really cool. I love that it is such a powerful reminder of the way God has preserved His Word for us. That part is much more than intriguing. God is awesome.

From there we walked through the newer areas of Jerusalem to downtown. To keep it short, we ate non-kosher pizza (hooray for pepperoni! It was nice to eat something not so restricted) and then walked around the downtown area (Ben-Yehudah street, to be more specific). We went through the open market (gotta love fresh strawberries and honeyed cinnamon rolls :).

Here comes the coffee connection: We split into smaller groups and walked around on a pseudo-photo-scavenger hunt. One of the places we had to go was Aroma Espresso (Israel's Starbucks). So after whole lot of walking we stopped there and took a break. In honor of Jordi I bought a coffee. The "Iced Aroma" is now highly recommended by yours truly. So there's my coffee story.

I liked today, but now my brain hurts from learning Hebrew, speaking some Hebrew, reading a lot of the Bible and cramming more facts in through my tired ears. But I love it. Oh yeah, another cool thing we get to do here: memorize Scripture together. So now I have memorized Psalm 48. Read it, it's a good one, especially when one has the opportunity to see what it talks about and know that the great God of then is the great God of now.

Before I fall into old habits I will stop typing. Later...

A Speedy Shabbat

Here's the quicker version of today, since I talk too much anyway and I have to go in a little bit - there is fun to be had in the bomb shelter.

Today is the Sabbath (Shabbat), well, actually, it's over now since it's dark outside, but you get the idea. (The typical Shabbat will go something like I will describe in the next few paragraphs, exceptions will be noted.)

First things first: I got to sleep in, which is my idea of a day of rest! "Church," here referred to as Assembly or something similar, is at 11 so I got a semi-leisurely morning, not like I accomplished much, but I think that's the point. Right before the service we had to vote on our "wing leaders." This I have not mentioned before, so I will briefly explain. A wing leader is basically an RA, they get to make sure people sign up to clean the bathroom and then actually do it, they take care of other such things, they get to be keeper of the wing's cell phone :) and maybe the best part: they get to meet once a week with Abner Chou. The smartest 26-year-old teacher I have heard of and a super cool, super nice guy. Most of the wings here have about 10 people in them. Our wing has 4. And we are probably some of the most similar and most laid back guys here. I like it. So we talked about our "vote" before we actually went in, majority suggestion was that I get it. Mom, I have a confession, I'm committing to something extra-curricular, please don't worry that I am doing too much. This means that I get to be an RA again, who would have thought? Eli, the ex-RA has now been promoted to being an RA in a foreign country! It should be cool, especially the part where I don't have to ask someone else to use the phone and the part where I get to meet with Abner every week. I look forward to it.

That being explained, let's move on. Assembly: pretty much the majority of the people here at the Moshav go to church here. We get to sing in Hebrew, fortunately, the English version is on the powerpoint too. Now when I say English version I mean the Hebrew words are written in English letters, so we stumble through them and hope for the best. It was so cool though, we sang a couple Hebrew songs, but then we sang a couple of English songs. Come Thou Fount in Hebrew sounds pretty much amazing. It was a good day.

After Assembly we ate lunch (better food than normal since a group was here for the weekend. It's sort of like when the Board comes to Corban, or like Corban Experience :). Then we killed time until the bus came to take us to the Old City. We were there for a little over three hours, cruising the streets, perusing the wares, having a good Saturday afternoon, etc.

We stopped at our friend Shabaan's and in typical Arab fashion he gave us some mint tea. I was more along for the ride than anything. I had nothing I wanted to buy just yet and it was nice to get out and burn off some of that pita bread. Then we headed for home, going straight into dinner.

Dinner tonight was amazing! But not because of the food.

Tonight the food was pretty much normal. But the conversation was incredible. Four of us, my roommate Daniel, a guy named Tyler, and a gal named Jessi, had a really good conversation. I will briefly share it with you because it was so good. It started by talking about The Office (tv show) and Jessi was sharing how she didn't think Believers should really watch it because it contains so much crude and vulgar stuff (we like her line of thinking). From there the conversation exploded into the best conversation I have had here to date. We talked about all sort of things that pertain to true Christian living. Particularly how so often we will have a conversation like this and then go and do nothing with it. The question of the hour was this, "so now what are we going to do with this conversation?" -- So often we talk about great and challenging and convicting things and then do nothing about it. Our goal is to do something with it, to take it to the Lord and let those things that were discussed and those things which are on our heart sink in. It was just great.

I need to run now, time for our Saturday night shindig in the miklat.
Enjoy the weekend, may our great God bring Himself into your attention and may you buck the system of society and live unabashedly for Him.