Sian's 12 Days in Israel

Day 2 – Dan & Caesarea Philipi

Incredible Day! Woke up at 5:30 and went for a run along the Sea of Galilee. So much history today. We are so blessed to have our tour guide David. Bob has been to Israel 10 times and each time he comes back he requests to have David as the guide…now I know why. He is a fountain of knowledge, Bob says he doesn’t know anybody that would know more about Israel than he.

Well the main question that God was asking and wants us to answer today is, “What is the priority in my heart, and what am I living for?” As we toured the sites today history shows us what can happen when we (individuals, Kings, principalities, government) do “it” our own way.

We learned a lot about Israel’s history and it was so cool because the findings and history revealed is exactly what we read in the Bible.

Our scheduled was changed because of the weather; instead of going to Capernaum and the Beatitudes we visited the territory allotted to the Tribe of Dan of the Old Testament (josh 19:40-47) and Caesarea Philipi where the scene of a battle in 198 BC that determined the history of the Jews in Palestine for the next three centuries. The sites we toured today are located on the most Northern part of the country. As we were driving to the sites we could look to the right and see Lebanon and to the left was Syria, Israel’s greatest enemy.

David uses the bus trips to educate us on everything that we are seeing along the way and see at the next destination. After the Reign of King David (approx 1,000 BC) and the reign of his son Solomon, Jeraboan, Solomon’s son, inherited the kingdom. Solomon was a King of peace, never being at war. Solomon dedicated his life to development of building big cities, erecting the Temple in Jerusalem and developing Israel’s trade & commerce with the world around them. Solomon accomplished all he set out to do by imposing oppressive taxation on the people of Israel so when Solomon died his son Jeraboan inherited the kingdom he decided not listen to the people of Israel who were crying out for relief from the burden of King Solomon’s taxation, Jeraboan decided, however, to listen to his royal friends (our equivalent to our bureaucrats & lobby groups) and instead of lifting the taxation burden and ruling under God’s authority, he decides to triple the taxation and divide the land which was given to the tribes throughout Israel by Moses. This was the turning point of the Jewish Kingdom, Israel became 2 independent kingdoms, the North and the South. Territories. This action directly gave rise to Idolatry and Paganism, which were the dominant religious practices in the North. Today we saw the aftermaths and what remain of those “High Places” and “Altars” of sacrifice and worship. The only unity that Israel had at that time was that they believed that there was “a” God. When we visited Caesarea Philipi Mike Williams, our Club 56 pastor gave a short but pinpointed message with such questions as, “who is our God?” Who is Jesus?” Is Jesus just a prophet that lived a perfect life or is He the Son of God?” “How are we living? What are we living for?”

Last thing I want to journal that really spoke to me during Pastor Steve’s Bible study at Dan was that if we leave it to ourselves to decide what God wants from us and how He wants us to live our lives it leads to destruction and brokenness. Do we listen to what cultures think is right, do we take the easiest road and live by convenience? Coming to Israel and seeing the scriptures come alive proves God’s truth in His Word. Many people told me this would be a life changing experience, it is and it’s only the 2^nd day of following Jesus’ footsteps and seeing God’s truth and glory.

Annie and Emma, I love you and I hope that you can read my journal and know that what you read and learn about Jesus and, our one and only, true God. He is real and living. His truth is not all revealed before our eyes yet; but, He promises we will know everything one day. Until then…have faith my beautiful girls. I love you Greggy, you are the man of my dreams and I am forever grateful to God for giving you to me.

I miss you

Love,

Mommy

Mat 11:19 Your children justify wisdom, wisdom proves itself to truly be wisdom with time. What is the fruit? Is it abundant.? Does it yield a harvest