And When You're Dead...You're Dead ... 12/28-12/29

Now it has come time to blog about my most recent two days. Not that I really mind. I enjoy writing and I’m going to enjoy having all these later so it really is a good thing. On top of that, these posts keep all of you informed and, hopefully, at least mildly entertained.

My brain is kind of fried. For some reason I’m not sleeping nearly as well over here as I usually do. Even though I’m getting more sleep than normal, I’m feeling really tired. It’s probably jet lag still. Oh well… all of that to say I know my writing is getting disjointed but I’m just too tired to and distracted to deal with it.

Alright, here we go. Yesterday morning, Thursday morning, we got up early and drove down to the Dead Sea. We first tried to get into another National Park but I guess I drive too fast because we were there about forty-five minutes early. So, we drove on down the lake shore a little ways to a park area where we could actually get down to the shore. While Laura and Beth were talking about dipping their toes in, I had bigger plans. Paying a shekel to get into the bathroom, I changed into my shorts before heading down to the beach.

Yup, I went swimming in the Dead Sea. Well, I don’t know that you can really call it swimming. They say that you float and they aren’t wrong. It was even hard to stand back up after having been flat. It was hilarious, but it was fun. It was so much fun.

The problem is that the Dead Sea is also oily for some reason and for the rest of the day I felt it. That’s a weird feeling, and not exactly comfortable. Let’s just say that the shower felt really good last night.

After our adventure in the Dead Sea we went and looked at some wildlife at En Gedi and then continued on down to Masada. Now let me explain Masada. Masada is the ruins of a fortress at the top of a 1200 foot cliff. You can pay sixty shekels and take a cable car or you can go up for free via the snake path. It’s two kilometers worth of either very steep trail or steps. The sign said there were over seven hundred steps on the way up. Yes, that’s the route I took. It took me a lot longer than I planned, but I made it up. It was even a bit fun.

Once I caught my breath, we looked around up on top. That place is amazing. You could spend an entire day there and not see everything. We only spent right about an hour up there, but we still got to see quite a bit.

Tel Arad was the next stop. On the way we passed by where Sodom would have been. We spent just about ten minutes at Tel Arad because we wanted to hurry up and get to Tel Beer Sheva before it closed.

Beer Sheva was pretty cool. I really enjoy looking around the different Tels. All the layers of history really fascinate me.

And that brings us to today, Friday. We started off the day driving almost all the way up to Tel Aviv and trying to find Tel Aphek. Yes, emphasis on the word “trying.” In trying to find it we accidentally wound up at a Baptist Village, a National Park around some springs, several Tel Garbage locations, and two or three gas stations. It was quite the adventure. We did however eventually find it and it was indeed very, very worthwhile.

There was actually green grass. I’m not kidding! Some of the pictures I took of they Byzantine ruins look like they could actually be somewhere in Ireland. It was really funny.

From there we drove up to Jaffa. Well, not directly up. To get there we had to drive through Tel Aviv and that’s the one city in Israel that Dr. Fisher doesn’t really know that well. We spent about an hour trying to get to Jaffa before we actually got there.

We spent some time wandering Jaffa, ate lunch, looked through a museum, wandered around the artists district, and just enjoyed Jaffa at a leisurely pace. When we were finished, or as close as we were going to get, we spent about another hour navigating our way back out of Tel Aviv and onto the main highway back down to Jerusalem.

We arrived back in Jerusalem about two o’clock. Having time, we settled accounts and then went down to the old city and wandered there until about 6:30. That was pretty fun. With it being the eve of the Sabbath all of the Jewish shops were closed so we were in the Arab section for shopping and money changing. It was packed. The best way I can describe it is that it was like a thick trail of ants running around a labyrinth. Except the ants were people; lots and lots of people. Yeah, it was pretty hectic.

But it was fun, after a fashion. I bought a couple of gifts and only spent a couple bucks, so that was cool.

And…that’s it for this post. I’m posting this at an Internet Café here in the Old City so that’s why there are no pictures. I’ll try to add some later. They should be up either Sunday or Monday. So yeah, check back!

Alright, I’m lumping two days into one here. That’s because yesterday we really didn’t do much besides wander around Jerusalem because Beth was sick and today we just went to two museums. Not that it wasn’t fun; it’s been great. On top of that I’ve learned a ton. It’s just that we didn’t actually do a whole lot. Hence, no really great pictures or stories.

Although, we did get to go in, look around, and ascend to the roof of the building that the Institute has been looking at purchasing. That was fascinating. It would be a pain in the rear to try and “Institutionalize” it (red carpet, mirrors, wood paneling, etc…) and with it being solid stone construction any kind of remodel would be both costly and hard on the construction team.

But hey, it’s not my call and I really don’t want to get involved. So yeah, enough about that.

Then today we went to both the Israeli Museum and the Holocaust Museum. We spent a long time at the Holocaust Museum. It was…interesting. Uhh…yeah, I’ll go ahead and say this.

Don’t get me wrong, I think it should be remembered for the horror that it was. I don’t think we should try and deny it, I don’t think we should try and cover it up, or any of that. I don’t, however, think that the Holocaust Museum was very well handled. The idea is good, but the presentation is kind of rough.

The impression I got was one of wanting to keep a wound open and fresh. It was all I could do to suppress my anger as I wandered through the artifacts, listened to the testimonies, and read the descriptions; and I don’t see any way you can say that anger is a good thing. Especially anger of that nature.

Yes, what the Nazi party did was horrific. Yes, it was worse than most tragedies the world has seen. But that doesn’t give us a waiver on forgiveness. That’s especially true for us Christians. We can’t allow ourselves to take up that offense. That would be so wrong. Yet, forgiveness isn’t seen in that museum; only anger, bitterness, and hatred. I’m not going to hold it against the Jews that they’re holding onto it. What was done to them was terrible. I’m just saying that as a Christian I can not agree with the method used.

Alright…moving on…

While we were in the Holocaust Museum a very peculiar thing happened. It started snowing! Yes, that’s right. It started snowing in Jerusalem. It still is snowing for that matter. I’m really enjoying that. As much as it makes it very cold and wet, I love the snow and the city look wonderful in it.

Well, I guess we’re heading out to the Dead Sea tomorrow so that should be fun. But I’m tired. So, with all that said and that little bit that will probably get me in trouble, I will bid you all a good night.

God Bless!

What Will We Miss While We We Are Sleeping? ... 12/24-12/25

Well, today is Tuesday the 26th. Christmas came and Christmas went; with me in Bethlehem. It really was neat. We arrived in Bethlehem right around noon on Christmas Eve and went directly to Emile’s place. Well, maybe “directly” isn’t quite the word for it. I don’t think there’s a direct path anywhere in Bethlehem. It’s quite a unique driving experience.

To try and understand, think of a road about one and half lanes wide. Then picture enough cars to pack I-5 from Williams to Sacramento. Now make all the drivers of those cars Nascar wannabes. Yeah, that was pretty interesting.

We had lunch with Emile and his family and spent a very pleasant afternoon just fellowshipping, fixing computers, and just having a good time.

That evening everyone else went to stay with another Christian family and I went on something akin to visitation with Emile and Brother Michael. It was absolutely amazing. Everything was in Arabic. I was the only one in the room (of about 25 people) that wasn’t a Palestinian. Emile translated a little bit for me but mostly I just sat there, smiled, and said the one and only work I know in Arabic; “Thank You”. (Pronounced something like “Shookrun”) It was pretty cool.

After that Emile took his family (and me as a tag along) to Bethlehem Square to kind of “see the sights” so to speak. It was crowded and noisy, but worth saying I was there.

I spent the night at Emile’s place, got up the next morning, worked on his computer a little more, had a great chat with Aaron, and just relaxed.

At about 10:00 I got in a taxi and went out to where everyone else was staying. I spent Christmas morning walking around a Muslim village and having coffee with some Muslim people that our host, Basaan, knew. A very different Christmas morning indeed.

We had our “Christmas Dinner” Mediterranean style there and enjoyed yet more great fellowship with Basaan and his family. Late that afternoon we went to a Christmas party in the home of another missionary there in Bethlehem. Finally, it truly felt like Christmas. Pumpkin pie, cookies, and yes, more coffee. It was a lot of fun.

From there we drove directly to our hotel in Jerusalem which is where I am writing this from. We’ll be touring around here for the rest of our trip. It’s hard to believe that we’ve been here as long as we have. The time’s gone by so fast. Oh well, I better get this posted so we can get going. Everyone have a great day!

If I Had A Boat ... 12/23

With Saturday being the Sabbath, there wasn't a whole lot of activity around the Kibbutz or most of the Sea of Galilee for that matter. The roads were even pretty quiet which was a pleasant surprise.

With the spirit of the day, we decided to go ahead and take a bit slower of a trip. We drove out to Cesearea and spent almost the entire day just wandering around the ruins there. There were plenty to see.

Now, it was raining when we first showed up and we only had two umbrellas (guess who didn't get one...right...) so I got quite wet to start out. But then it cleared up and I dried out quite quickly. To tell you the truth, it was really neat to stand out on the rocks overlooking to the sea while it was raining. It was a wild, raging beauty, but it was beautiful.
I'm standing firm on higher ground.







"Rain on, I will not drown
I'm standing firm on Higher Ground."








Here's a small sampling of the pictures Beth was able to get. I'm not posting my pictures because most of them didn't turn well due to the rain.










































Alright, now this picture deserves a little bit of an explination. We at an early lunch at a small cafe along the coast and since we were the only customers, the owner hung around and chatted with us from the time we showed up until the time we left. He was absolutely hilarious! He's a European Jew who spent much of his life living in Reno, Nevada working for a software company. I think I laughed harder talking to him than I have laughed since arriving here.

The kicker came when right as we were about to leave. He asked me if I knew what a survivor was. Obviously, I know what the word means, but I wasn't entirely sure what he meant by that. That is, until he reached down and pulled up his sleeve. That's right, he had a number tattooed on his forearm. He had been in a Nazi Prison camp. He was a survivor of the Holocaust. He went on to explain that it was a Polish prison camp and that he had been rescued when he was twelve years old.

It was quite the story. After we left, Dr. Fisher commented on how amazing it was that he was so full of spunk. I guess most survivors are very bitter and closed to life in general. This guy sure wasn't though, he was a barrel of laughs. Talk about responding the right way to a tough situation...

After leaving Cesearea we headed out to a valley along the Jordanian border whose name I can't remember at the moment and that I don't have pictures of right now. I'll have to get them up later. Until then, Merry Christmas!

Rocks, Rocks, and More Rocks ... 12/22

Alright, I know these are getting shorter, but I’ll tell more stories when I get home and have more time to write. Right now I’m doing well to get anything written at all. I’m just having too much fun to stop and write down what’s happening. Most of you should be able to understand that.

Our first stop on Friday was Chorzin; the third of the cities that Jesus cursed. Yes, more piles of old rocks. However, I think I enjoyed these the best of all the biblical ruins so far. We were the only people at the site and as such were able to enjoy it to the fullest extent possible. I think I was on top of the walls more than I was on the ground. Yeah, lots of climbing fun. I really enjoyed that.

One of the coolest things there was they had rebuilt the interior supports on a couple of the houses there to give visitors an idea of how building was done back around the time of Christ. Seeing as how I work in construction to a certain extent, that was quite fascinating. BJ, you’re going to love some of those pictures I got. Especially the ones from the top down.

From there we headed out to the Meshushim Pool, a nature preserve with some fascinating rock formations and waterfalls. Yes, we’re seeing a lot of rocks over here. Not that I mind, I love rocks; particularly climbing on them. Beth’s getting tired of them, but you’ll have to ask her about that.


The funny (or not so funny) part was that to get down to the pool itself you had to walk a kilometer and a half down to it. Notice: I said “down” to it. That’s exactly what I meant. It was like the road up Mount Tabor, only thinner and for walking on. It was fun (except for the part where I slipped and twisted my knee) and the pool itself was amazing. Well worth the trek.

But then we had to walk back out. That’s right, we went way down and had to come back way up. It was quite the hike. I probably wouldn’t have felt it too much except for the fact that my knee was hurting. That slowed me down considerably. But it turned out well because by the time I got to the top I had walked off the pain and haven’t felt it since. So yeah, that was great.

Our next stop was Tel Hazor. At Tel Megiddo we had missed being able to see the water system because it was closed. Tel Hazor has an almost identical system and that was open so we were able to see that. Let me explain this system real quick.

The basic idea is that you dig a big hole with paths around the edge to climb down. Then at the bottom of this hole you dig a tunnel straight out under the city walls to where a water spring is. At that point you close off the tunnel from the outside and you’re done. A lot more work than it sounds, I’m sure, but that’s the idea.


There at Tel Hazor they have put in stairs down to the tunnel so you can go look at it. Basically you had to walk down four steps of stairs to get to the spiral stairs. Then you walk down three flights worth of spiral stairs. Then you walk down another two or three flights of stairs and THEN you get to look at the tunnel. It was pretty cool, actually. I really got a kick out of it.


After our time at Hazor we once again drove west to the Mediterranean. This time we went to the town of Akko, had a late lunch, and walked around some of the Crusader ruins and just enjoyed wandering the busy streets. It made a very nice ending to a great day. On top of that it was the best Falafel I’ve had yet. Very, very good…

Winding Roads and Steep Cliffs ... 12/21

The great and mighty Thursday and third day (hmm, coincidence?) of my traveling in Israel. We started the day off by traveling a short distance around the edge of the Sea of Galilee to Ginnosar, another Kibbutz about fifteen kilometers from the one we’re staying in. There we enjoyed a small museum including the remains of a small freighter from around the time of Christ and got to walk around a small but quite interesting book shop.

Then came the part that “done beat all” as they say there in Arkansas. We boarded a boat and set out actually ON the Sea of Galilee. That’s right, a boat ride on the Sea of Galilee. It was stunning; absolutely stunning. I can see why men would spend their entire lives sailing on it; fishing, shipping, and the like. I just wish we could have actually been in a sail boat. Oh well, now I’m just being nit-picky

From there we continued on around the Sea to the ruins of Capernaum. Even though the site is run by the Catholic Church and thus has some interesting and not quite true pieces to it, this proved quite fascinating. One thing that was both there and true was the remains of a synagogue from the late fourth century. Dr. Fisher was able to really explain how it was that the synagogue worked and we were able to see it quite well. A lot of pieces clicked for me because of that, so that was cool.

The next portion of our travels proved to be some of the most entertaining. It was next that we visited the illustrious Mount Tabor. While its history is quite unique, I would have to say that it was completely overshadowed by the distinct road leading to the top. I never really knew what a hairpin turn was before that. Oh, I thought I did, but I had no idea. For about four or five kilometers the road wound around until I thought that it would surely tie itself in a knot. It was fun though and I must say one of the most interesting driving experiences of my life.

To finish out our day we went to what has to be the most stunning sight I have ever seen. In trying to get to the top of the Horns of Hattan we wound up atop the Arbel Cliffs. I don’t think we could have made a better mistake. What’s more, we were there for sunset. Yes, Beth got pictures from the Arbel Cliffs of the sun setting over the Horns of Hattan.

Besides the sunset, I was in rock climber’s heaven. Seriously, I would have given just about anything for a hundred meter rope and my gear. Man…those were some awesome arête routes.

However, without either the rope or my gear, I had to satisfy myself with simply clambering across the top of the cliffs. It was so much fun. Standing atop the rocks looking out over Sea of Galilee with shadows from the sunset stretching into the valley below…it’s simply indescribable.

With that being sunset, we were done for the day and headed back to the Kibbutz. Yes, I was tired. Yes, I crashed.

How to Read This Blog

I feel an apology is due. Although I am indeed doing a post for each day, that does not mean I am posting each day. It doesn't even mean I'm writing each day. Being the driver for the trip, I'm not getting a lot of time on the laptop during our travels and my evenings are mostly spent trying to catch up from a bad case of jet lag. On top of that, our internet situation has been nothing but trouble since day one.

As such, my posts are coming and will continue to come in spurts. I might not post for several days and then post three times in one evening.

So yeah, all of that to say, check back here often. You never know what you're going to find. (No Brendan, don't even go there...)

Edit: Dr. Fisher just informed me that after Christmas our Internet connection will be much more stable. That should be nice.