Thursday - October 30, 2008

Awesome Day! We flew into Tel Aviv at 3:30am. When we hit the coast the Israelies clapped. It reminded me we were entering “The Beautiful Land”. We could have joined in also. Our waiting is finally over and we are here. Israel is also called “The Holy Land”. Our leader reminded us that anything God calls Holy is “set apart for his Work”. Israel is different from any other nation. This is the nation God set apart to reveal Himself to the world. Our first stop was Joppa which is now called Jaffa. It was the main seaport into Israel until World War I. Tel Aviv was built on the outskirts of Jaffa and now encircles it. Joppa is the city that Jonah ran away from God. He did not want to go to Ninevah and tell the gentiles about God. Joppa is also the city where Peter had his vision on the roof of Simon the Tanner. God showed him that salvation was also available to the gentiles. (Act 10) We are those among those gentiles that God wanted to save.:) This vision enabled Peter to answer God’s call to go to Caesarea to preach to Cornelius. Caesarea was next on our journey. This was a city built by Herod the Great on the West Coast of Israel. It was the place where Peter witnessed to Cornelius, where Paul was imprisoned for two years. The Theatre is thought to be where Paul made his defense to Felix & Agrippa, who said, “Almost thou persuadest me to be a Christian”. Acts 26 Next, on our way to Mt Carmel, we stopped for a quick shot of the Roman Aqueducts which brought water from Mt. Carmel to the city of Caesarea. We then went to Mt Carmel. This is where Elijah confronted 850 prophets of Baal and Asherah in I Kings 18. After his victory King Ahab runs through the valley of Jezreel to the city of Jezreel. The city no longer exist but the valley is huge. It is probably more familiar to you as Armagedden. I kept thinking as I saw this valley of Revelations 19:11-16. Of Jesus, Faithful and True, on his white stallion leading the armies of heaven. Well, I am finally going to try to connect and upload the pictures with the last few days. It’s the first time I could get a signal so hopefully I can update everyday now. This is the most amazing trip. I am so humble and grateful to be here.