First day of February!

Today was a busy, long, and very rainy day. Our first stop was the Mount of Beatitudes, where Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount was given. We went to the church on the top of the mountain that serves as an observation point of the mountain and it’s surroundings. I learned that the observation point on top is exactly at sea level, unlike the Sea of Galilee that we could see from the mountain, which is 650 feet below sea level. Also that there has been a lot of controversy on whether Jesus gave his sermon at the top of the mountain or the bottom. Two reasons why most think He gave it standing at the top of the mountain is because when looking down from the top, it resembles that of a theatre and since the winds blow north to south, the sound of His voice would carry to all of the people. Even though no one knows the exact spot of where Jesus gave his sermon, my professor said something that I absolutely agree with. He said, “it’s not the exact place that matters, it’s the events that happened there.” This is so true for me because even though we might not find exact spots, the fact that I’m in the land where Jesus walked and lived is amazing in itself. Anyway, just some interesting facts about that… Our next stop was the Valley of Tabgha, where the Church of Peter’s Primacy is located. This church commemorates when the disciples saw Jesus for the 3^rd time after He rose from the dead and when Jesus forgave Peter and restored him and his calling, asking him “Peter, do you love me more than these?” in John 21. Right next to the church we were at was the Church of Multiplication, where Jesus fed the 5000 Jews. Other than being near to that sight, a cool fact about that miracle is it’s the only miracle that is mentioned in all 4 of the gospels. Across the lake was the Decapolis, where Jeasus fed the 4000 Gentiles. Being close to where both of those miracles took place was an amazing feeling. Something that really touched me about the sight of The Church of Peter’s Primacy is when my professor talked to us about the conversation between Jesus and Peter. These are a few things I got from it: no matter who we are dealing with, we will always be dealing with imperfections. If and when we blow it, it doesn’t mean it’s over; we need to get beyond it. This really spoke to me because as some people know, I have a tendency to hold onto situations and let my emotions control the rest of my day, maybe even longer. Needless to say, God really spoke to me about that. Right in the backyard of the church was the Sea of Galilee, so that was our next stop for the remainder of our time there. I learned a bunch of information about the Sea, but I won’t bore you with a list of random facts. =]  We didn’t get to spend much time there, but we got to walk right up to it and take in it’s beauty. Once we left there, we headed to the Galilee boat ride. Unfortunately since it was a rainy day, the boat ride wasn’t as good as when I went on it the first time I came to Israel. There were tarps on the sides of the boat to cover the riders from the rain and they didn’t have a demonstration of how the fisherman during the time of Jesus used to throw out their nets and catch fish. It’s alright though… A cool thing I saw from the boat was a story coming straight from the Bible that involves the “evangelistic triangle”: Capernaum, Bethsaida, and Chorazim. In Matthew 11 it talks about how God put “woes” on the cities because they took the miraculous, God’s miracles, for granted and didn’t repent. They took the power and presence of God for granted. I saw the physical affect of God’s woe. From the boat, we could see all the cities and each one of them was a pile of rocks. Even though Capernaum is a city that you can still go to and visit, it’s still basically a pile of rocks. Pretty awesome to see with your own eyes! After the boat ride and lunch we went to the museum where the ancient boat is held that archeologists believe is from the time of Jesus. This was cool to see again and relearn the process of how it was excavated. Our next stop was Capernaum, where we saw the remains of Peter’s house and of a synagogue. They were awesome remains to see, but we couldn’t stay for very long because we had an appointment… Baptisms in the Jordan River! Even though I was a little disappointed in the shortened visit to Capernaum, I was SO excited for my baptism. I have been baptized two other times in my life, but this one was different for me. It was a symbol of the rededication of my life to God and His will for me. It was one of the most meaningful things I’ve ever done in my life and was a monumental point for me. A real example of God’s compassion was shown during this time because it had been raining literally the whole day and right before we were going to have our baptisms, it was pouring. WELL, right before we started the baptisms, it stopped raining and was sunny! And to make it even better, the rain didn’t start up again until we finished with the last baptism. How great is that?! God really is good!