Day six Sea of Galilee and Baptism in the Jordan

Today was a day of both disappointments and blessed revelation. Today we went to the area between us and the Sea of Galilee and to the Sea of Galilee, which is now called Lake Kenneret.
The first place we went was to Megiddo or actually Tel Megiddo. This is also known as the battlefield of Armageddon. It is a beautiful valley full of bountiful crops of citrus fruits, pomegranates, melons, cotton, olive trees and others. We went up the hill (Tel means hill) to the ruins of Megiddo. From on top of the hill you can easily see the whole Jezreel valley which is Armageddon. You could see how the armies from Russia and China will come in from the North East and move down the valley on their way to Jerusalem. I really don’t know how to describe how I felt up there looking out over the valley. I could imagine, though I know my imagination is not vivid enough to even begin to explain what it will be like when the ‘blood runs as deep as the bridle of a horse’. On top of that hill, I prayed again for the salvation of the Jews, specifically the ones that we have come to know and love and the ones in strategic places of influence to other Jews, I prayed for those I love, my family and my friends and their families that no one in their realm of influence would be in that valley or on this earth for that matter during that time. I prayed that we and they would take and hold the high places (like Megiddo) both physically and spiritually. Then I looked over and I saw a single palm tree sitting there in the baking hot sun being an oasis of shade in this dry hot place and I saw Darrel and I there being that oasis. Over 10 years ago the Lord gave Darrel a very clear vision of his/our future and it involved an oasis. I think that is why He chose to show me how we are to be and we are an oasis. I cried like I have not cried in a long long time. I can’t go into it in depth here, it is too deep, but I can tell you God was on that hill in the high places and He reigns supreme over Israel and the world.
They were doing a lot of excavations on Tel Megiddo and we stopped and talked to a couple of kids that were working. One from Connecticut and one from Louisiana. They were college students and they came there for seven weeks to work in the excavations. What an opportunity, I would have loved to have been allowed to get in there and get my hands into the dirt looking for buried treasures that tell the story of the history or that place. The bible was the inspiration for excavators to turn over the first spade of earth at Megiddo in 1322. Megiddo is mentioned eleven times in the Bible including its conquest by Joshua (Joshua 12:21), its reconstruction by Solomon (I Kings 9:15), and as the location of the death of the two kings of Judah: Ahazia at the hands of Jehu’s soldiers (2 Kings 9:27), and Josiah after his confrontation with Pharaoh Necho II (2 Chron. 35:22). (This of course was a heart tug for us as we named our seventh child Josiah, after the Child King who sought the ways of the Lord.)
We enjoyed going to the granary at Megiddo which was a 7-8+ deep granary that was built during a rebuilding of the city around 721-705 BC. It was fun to imagine the Red Hen Sisters going there to get their grain to make their bread. (hee hee ☺) the granary could hold approximately 12,800 bushels. We also saw Solomon’s stables and thought of how Danene could bring her horses here and stable them so we could all go riding around the area. We went into one of their water systems that they dug out and filled with water (rain) and used to provide water to their city on the hill.
We had considered getting a tour guide to drive and take us on this day, but were very glad that we did not. At Megiddo we were passing a group and stopped to listen to the guide for a few minutes and it made us very angry. He was saying how many people including himself believed that Josiah had not really found the scrolls of the torah, but he had instead written them himself to serve his purpose and the same was true for others in the Bible.

We went through Nazareth; it is a far cry form the Christmas card pictures of a land with grazing sheep. Though it is the setting of Jesus’s younger years and the home of Mary and Joseph, it is now a gritty town. It is 1/3 Christian 2/3 Muslim and only a handful of Jews. We passed by Mount Tabor the site of Christ’s Transfiguration. (Luke 9:28-36) We went through Tiberius.
We then went to Tabghe. This is in the area where Jesus multiplied the loaves and fishes on the hillside to feed the 5,000. (Matthew 14:13-21) We went to the Mount of Beatitudes, but they were closed for the afternoon hours and we had a full schedule and could not wait. (Matthew 5) I did get out and get a few pictures including some looking down the mountain to the Sea of Galilee.
We went to the Church of the Primacy of St. Peter which commemorates the of the catching of fish on the other side of the boat, (John) but the other guys had on shorts that showed their knees so they were not allowed to go in, so I went in looked around and saw the rock that was supposedly where they had the meal after this big catch, went to the beach and put my feet into the sea and went back up where they were waiting.
We went to Capernaum but again their knees were showing and so they would not let us in. I did not leave them and go myself; it would have taken too long for them to be waiting in the heat. And Darrel had been here on a previous trip so I knew I cold look through his pictures.
We ate lunch right on the beach at the Fish Restaurant Kfar Nahum. Darrel and Jerry had Saint Peter’s fish. They simply gut the fish and cook them whole. Though not my favorite, I did look the little fellow in the eye and taste of him. He was not bad, though I looked in his mouth and found no coins to pay the bill. Debbie and I had chicken k-bobs. We went down and put our feet into the sea.
We went to Yardenit. The gospels say that John baptized Jesus in the Jordan River. So I took my own John (Darrel John) and he baptized me in the Jordan and I did the same for him. We both had to make ourselves go ahead and do it. It was hot and getting dressed for the baptism and then redressed and messing with all of it made us hesitate. We went and looked in the river and the catfish were huge, some were easily 18 – 24 inches….. But I knew I wanted to do it, so we forged ahead. When we got into the water, the mood changed, it was all about what was happening. I loved that there was no one else around except the people who were with us (Jerry and Debbie). Darrel talked to me about what we were doing and then prayed over me and then dunked me under. When I came out from under the water, I felt so refreshed and clean and renewed. The sun seemed to shine brighter and yet it was much cooler. Like the breeze of the Holy Spirit rushed through there and descended upon us. Although we had both been baptized before we talked about how it was an outward expression of an inward decision and being obedient and doing it in front of those who are not Christians could be a witness to them. But honestly, when I came up from the water, I knew it was for me and my relationship with Christ and truly a part of that is me being a witness to others of the greatness of my savoir. I felt cool and refreshed all the way home. And it was a long drive home. A funny thing that happened was when we were in the river there were lots of little bitty minnows. When I went into the place to change I felt something tickling me in my shirt, when I took it off a little fishy fell into my shoe. I named her Jordan and let her go free. Also on our way to Yardenit we were the closest we would probably ever be to Jordan the country. It was just maybe two miles away. We could see it through the windows of the car.
Today I read Deut 8:1-20. I was actually going there to read verse 8 where it talks about the different fruits and foods of the area, but ended up wanting to read the chapter. Just the first verse alone is beautiful… “All the commandments that I am commanding you today you shall be careful to do, that you may live and multiply, and go in and possess the land which the Lord swore to give to your forefathers.” Do you see the promise in there? If we do what He commands, we will live and multiply and possess the land! Do you just want to yell “How Great Is Our God?” I do! Then the second verse comes and it is equally as deep. “An you shall remember all the way which the Lord your God has led you in the wilderness these forty years, that He might humble you testing you, to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep His commandments or not.” Ouch, am I ready to be humbled, to be tested? Do I want God to know what is in my heart? That is where I want to be, but am I there. Verse 3 and 4 go on in that same manner tell us to remember the time of testing and to know that man lives by everything that proceeds out of the mouth of the Lord, not just bread alone. Then verse five tells us “ thus you are to know in your heart that the Lord your God was disciplining you just as a man disciplines his son.” Then again a reminder to keep his commands in verse six. Verse 7 “For the Lord your God is brining you into a good land, a land of brroks of water, of fountains and springs, flowing forth in valleys and hills a land of wheat and barleyu, of vines and fig trees and pomegranates, a land of olive oil and honey; a land where you shall eat food without scarcity, in which you shall not lack anything; a land whose stones are iron, and out of whose hills you can dig copper. Oh it just keeps getting better and better it goes on to give a warning for me to beware that after I eat good and multiply and am satisfied that I don’t become proud and forget the Lord my God who brought me out from my land of Egypt where I was a slave. He brought me out of that and kept me in the wilderness and brought me into the land of milk of honey. I love this verse 16:”In the wilderness He fed you manna which your fathers did not know that he might humble you and that He might test you, to do good for you in the end. (Things don’t always look good or feel good when we are in a wilderness but that doesn’t mean they are not good for us!) Otherwise, you may say in your heart, My power and the strength of my hand made me this wealth.” Then there is a reminder to keep his command and not to go after or worship or serve any other gods because if we do we will surely perish. We need to never forget that it does not have to be a guy with a fat belly to be another god, TV can be a god, stuff can be a god, money can be, anything that we put before God can be a god. Makes me meditate on my priorities and where I spend my time and my energy. Sometimes you can get so busy doing for god that you are not doing for God. Anyway, I loved that passage today, I am going to go and read it again and maybe have some figs or pomegranates or honey and wheat….. Deuteronomy 8 1-20.