Tuesday, June 26, 2012

Israel Trip: Day 1

 Ken and I recently had the wonderful privilege and opportunity to take a group from our church on a 10 day tour of Israel.  We arrived safely in Israel on Wednesday evening.  The flight was delayed by an hour because President Obama was apparently in Philadelphia (the location of our connection).  We merged with the rest of our group in Tel Aviv, then we traveled by bus up the Via Maris, and stayed in Caesarea for the first night.   I was able to dip my feet in the beautiful Mediterranean Sea. 
 This picture above was taken from our hotel room in Caesarea.  Since Ken was one of the leaders, we got the nicest hotel accomodations with the best views.  Definitely different from our usual Days Inn experiences!  On Thursday, June 14 we had our first full day of touring.  We visited Caesarea, Mt Carmel, Megiddo, and Mount Precipice (Nazareth Ridge). We hada tasty lunch (falafel) at a Druze restaurant.  Below is a statue of Elijah slaying the prophets of Baal on Mt. Carmel. 
 This is the valley of Mt. Carmel and we spent some time looking at the story of Elijah.  I was especially excited to go to this site since this is Brad's favorite Bible story right now.  It was amazing to learn that there is still a lot of New Age/mysticism on this mountain.  It seems to still be a stronghold of Satan.

1 comment:

Cup of Joe with three sugars said...

I saw the video on facebook of your trip, and all I can say is... Incredible, Incredible, Incredible. I got teary-eyed with joy knowing what that trip must have meant for you all. I gotta start saving my pennies so we can come on your next visit to Isreal!!!