Dec 4th Ceasaria, Mt. Carmel and Megiddo

Dec 4, Wow What a Day -
We arrived at Tiberias today about 5:30 and finally got to our hotel. ate and now I am able to post onto this blog. I am sorry I have been unable to upgrade this until today. Anyway, praise the Lord we made it with no problems. Here is what happened today:

First of all breakfast was unlike anything I have ever had. beside the usual omelettes, there was fish, pizza, but not like Pizza Hut Pizza ; at least 10 different kinds of cheeses and huge blocks to cut off slices; there were balls of goat cheese about the size of golf balls, all kinds of yogurts and freshly squeezed juices; and salad! All around too much for anyone to eat even to sample.

Our first trip took us to Ceasarea Phillipi. This was a deep sea port constructed by Herod the Great- The Theatre has been revamped to be functionaly seat 4,000 all made out of marble, which is not a native stone to Palestine but was shipped in from other parts of the world. You can read more about Herod the Great in the DEC 2o08 National Geographic, thanks Maury Blish for lending it to me before I left. Also there was a palace there in Jesus time which was Ponus Pilate's residence, the ruins show a very opulent stucture with a swimming pool and lots of fountains and statues. Herod also constructed a Hippodrome which was a horse/chariot race track, - think Ben Hur. This Hippodrome sat 50,000. The stuctures were amazing to see. But what is even more amazing - the kingdom of Herod is now reduced to rubble. The Kingdom of the Lord, started small right in this spot. Acts 10 records the story of Cornelius - the first gentile convert to follow Jesus. Peter went from Joppa to Ceasara to meet him and that became the bridge between the Jew to Gentile movement. The Kingdom of our Lordis still growing and the gates of Hades cannot prevail against it. Prase God that he does not despise small things and turns them into great things. Also on this complex are the ruins of Crusaders fortresses who cam much later. They constructed a mote around the structure and turned it into a fortress. I will learn how to put picture up but I'm not there yet.

We then drove up to Mount Carmel, the site recorded in 1 Kings 18 where he confronted the prophets of Baal. He called the people to radical followership of Yahweh. And there God answered in fire. What a fascinating story. We all reflected on the spirit Elijah possessed. He called people to repentance and had a passed the Lord on to the next generation. What is fascinating is that Malachi prophecied that the Messiah would "one like the Elijah"

Mal 4:6 He will turn the hearts of the fathers to their children, and the hearts of the children to their fathers.

On top of Mt. Carmel now is a convent of nuns, they graciously allowed us onto thier compound and we enjoyed the view This mountain is right about the Jezreel valley Directly across is the town of Nazereth, the childhood home of Jesus. He would have seen this mountain every day!!



After a lunch at a Druse sect compound we drove to Megiddo. Meggido is a town that has been conquered and rebuilt 25 times. Its greatest era was during the time of Solomon, who made it one of his miliary outposts. The location of Megiddo is strategic because it is right on the main thoroughfare linking Egypt and Assyria. The road came right through a pass between 2 mountain ranges. many famous battles were fought in this valley. In fact Revelation, describes the battle of Armeggedan which is this location.

Our final leg took us to Tiberias, we had dinner, they took us shopping and finally to our hotel. Right now I'm in the lobby of the hotel, listening to bad Hebrew Karioke. Where is Kristen Coughln when you need her.

Praying for you thanks for praying for me.