Fellowship United Methodist Church

Today started off a bit slow, but ended unbelievably. This morning we left Tiberius and Galilee headed toward Jerusalem. It was amazing how much the countryside changed as we traveled south along the Jordan River. The lush green mountains of the Golan Heights quickly gave way to parched desert giving me a fuller understanding of what it must have been like to travel this country 2000 years ago without the comfort of an air-conditioned bus.

Our first stop was the city of Ben-Sheaten (City of Comfort) to visit the ruins of a Roman- Bezinten city dated to before the time of Christ.  I walked along stone paved streets that are 10 time older than America. The technology of sewer systems and sauna/steam rooms and bathrooms is absolutely amazing considering the time.

Next we traveled to the city of Jericho and saw Bedouin tribes tending their herds. In Jericho we saw the remains of the actual city wall that stood when Jesus traveled here and was baptized by John in the Jordan River. As an extra treat there was lots of security with automatic weapons to watch over the Italian Minister of Tourism.

From Jericho we traveled to Bethlehem. Bethlehem is on the West Bank and prohibited for Israelis to visit. Most of the population is Arab with a small percentage of Christians. We got to visit an olive wood factory where craftsmen hand-carve Nativity scenes, crosses, crucifixes and most everything else imaginable. After lunch we visited the Church of the Nativity and I stood in the actual spot where Jesus was born and saw the manger where he laid. Let me say that again, I was in the actual spot where Jesus was born in Bethlehem!

For those that do not know, the stable was not a barn like structure that we imagine and is depicted in our Nativity scenes in America. Jesus was born in a cave where sheep and cattle lived and were tended to. In this same cave, St Jerome spent 40 years translating the holy scriptures into Latin (the language of academia) to be used around the world. Can you imagine what it would have been like to live and work in the actual spot where our Savior was born in the flesh?

I have a whole new perspective of time and age and history and the words I reach in the scriptures is coming more alive for me than ever before. Thank you Lord for all these things and preserving them so that 2000 years later I can stand in the same spot where Jesus stood.

Tomorrow we tour the Dead Sea. May be a perfect time for a swim!