Quick Recap From First Day

(I wrote this part early morning Israel time, but the internet connection acted the fool as I was trying to post it, so it didn't get posted.)

We left Charleston on a 6:30am flight, spent most of the day in the Newark Airport waiting for the rest of the group to arrive from Raleigh. We took off from Newark at around 4:30pm, and arrived in Tel-Aviv at around 9:45am local time (2:45am EDT). After going through customs and getting our luggage, we hopped on a bus and met our guide, Tony. (We have a pastor from Greensboro who is doing the Bible teaching, and Tony is point out the spots and history.)

From Tel-Aviv (which means "Spring Hill," we learned), we headed north to Caesarea, which is the town in Acts 10 and 11 where Peter shared Christ with the Gentiles. There in Caesarea, we stood on the site of palace on the Mediterranean where Paul was imprisoned. Caesarea was built by King Herod The Great, named for Caesar Augustus. Herod admired Roman culture and did not practice Judaism. He was appointed king by the Romans. At the time, Jerusalem was the political and economic center of Israel. Herod wanted a harbor to help the economy. Jews would not live in Caesarea. Parts of the original theater built by Herod are still there, and the Hippodrome, very much a Roman influence, is heavily in tact.

We sat in the outdoor theater (It has been restored), and John Willett taught to us from Acts 10 and 11, the main application being that the gospel is for everyone, including those who do not look, talk, act, or think like us. He also jumped to Acts 12, where Herod accepted worship and did not give glory to God. Do we deflect the praise??? Do we give glory to God for our achievements, or do we soak them in for ourselves??? Billy Graham once said about his 'achievements' that "I'm just a turtle on a fencepost." The meaning there being that a turtle on a fencepost was PLACED there by someone.

We did a bit of sightseeing in that area. It was easy walking distance to the palace once lived in by Pontius Pilate. There was an archeological excavation of a stone inscription bearing his name, making him the only Roman governor who has been uncovered as such. In the same walking distance area was the hippodrome. A couple of other notable facts about Caesarea are that Sunday worship started there, and that Paul's last missionary journey (to Rome) started there. Herod also held Olympics there once. Since it was so far from Greece, he had to figure out a way to get the best athletes to come to his games. Previously, only a gold medal had been given. Herod gave out gold, silver and bronze, thus starting that practice.

From there, we went a little farther north along the Mediterranean and saw the aqueduct that gave Caesarea its water, waded in the Mediterranean for a bit, then headed for Mount Carmel.

Lunch atop Mount Carmel, and John taught us regarding Elijah's encounter in I Kings 18 with the prophets of Baal.

Time to eat breakfast now. More later...

--Ben

(Further reflections, written after day 2...)

Well, it is clear as a bell already that there's simply no way to try to capture all of the spiritual thoughts running through my head on this trip. I'm going to try to do a quick recap of what we did, then just focus on one teaching that really stuck out to me. (We visited *SIX* different sites where some fairly intense encounters with Jesus took place today, for example...)

So from yesterday, I was really struck by the thought of being a turtle on a fencepost: of using any earthly achievement I may "earn," spiritual or not, to give glory to God. I was really struck by looking at everything in life as an opportunity to point people to Christ's love, rather than being like Herod and basking in the praise from others.

Here's a shot of John teaching us in the theater: