March 11 - Sea of Galilee

The sun rose this morning at 5:53am and some of us were up to see it rise over the Sea of Galilee.  What a beautiful site!  The Sea of Galilee is the only fresh water lake in all of the middle east and it is 700 feet below sea level.

I want to interrupt this blog for a moment.  Two years ago when we were in Israel, my dear friends Jenny & Erle and Steve & I stood on the shore of the Galilee and sang Agnus Dei.  So, I would like to share that experience with you.  If you would like to hear Agnus Dei while reading the blog, click the video below (not sure if the link is working but if it isn't, here is the link - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KVFzxazTQNM).

Right after breakfast we went to see a boat that is 2,000 years old - which means it was around during the time of Jesus.

We then took a boat ride on a similar - but much newer - boat.  The boat ride was beautiful - we sang, we danced, and we worshipped! This is a shot of another boat on the water.  It was a bit hazy out this morning and that is why you can't see the land behind it.

Here is a picture of Arlene, Julie, me, and Nicole on the boat.

Jesus spent most of His ministry around the Sea of Galilee.  We spent some time in the beautiful gardens of the Mount of Beatitudes. There were lots of beautiful flowers and the grounds overlooked the sea.  Instead of taking a picture of the church (that was not there during the time of Jesus, I decided to show you a picture of what Jesus would have seen - overlooking the sea)

We then visited the house of Peter in Capernaum.  Most sites that we visited around the sea were not the exact sites - but the house of Peter is in situ (in its original place).  For those of you who have gone with John & Arlene to Israel before, you will know that in situ is one of Ari's favorite terms. Below is a good picture of what the houses looked like.  The building in the background is a Roman Catholic Church that was built on top of Peter's home.  Although I may wish the church was not there, I am glad that they have preserved the site.

Of course, a day of touring the Sea of Galilee isn't complete without eating fish.  So we stopped at a restaurant that served us St. Peter's fish (also known as Talapia).  It was delicious!

Our last stop around the sea was in Tabgha where there were two churches.  The first one was the Church of Multiplication - this church had tiled fish on the floor dating back to 427AD.

The second church was the Church of the Primacy where Jesus appeared to his disciples for the third time after his resurrection on the shores of the Sea of Galilee.

The very last stop for the day was at the Jordan River for baptisms.  Nicole, my daughter, has been a believer for less than a year.  She has grown so much in her faith and we are so proud of her.  She has a beautiful testimony as a Messianic Jew.  Here is a picture of her sharing her testimony.

And before I fall asleep writing this blog I will sign off for the night - but, quickly, we did have a guest speaker from the House of Light.  Great ministry outreach of Arab Christians - go to www.HouseOfLight.net to find out more about this ministry.