The Guys in Galilee

Last weekend, four of us guys took a trip up to the Galilee. Ben, Benaiah, John, and myself realized sometime around wednesday night that we had a free weekend coming up, which doesn't happen often, and decided to head up to the Galilee. Rather than plan out the entire weekend, we opted to just head north and see what happened. So it was that Friday afternoon we hopped in a car the size of my bike, tried to work our way through the city to the highway, and worked our way North to the Sea of Galilee. By the time we got there the sun had set behind the mountains and we didn't have anywhere to sleep. Thankfully, we stumbled across a local camping site along the Sea that was free to stay at and we settled down for the night. The next day we woke up and wandered around the Galilee and Golan - you know, no big deal, just hanging out in Israel!! In a word, it was fantastical. Of course, being guys, we had a blast doing guy stuff the entire day. That night we slept on the cliffs of Arbel and woke up to the first sign of rain we had seen since we got here. On the drive home it rained profusely until we got back "home" to Jerusalem. I love being able to say that : )

Here are some pictures:

Beginning the trip. Most of ya'll know them by now but from left to right they are Ben, John, myself, and Benaiah

Cooking hotdogs over our pathetically miniscule fire. We tried... but it's hard when there's no firewood.

The Hexigonal Pools. These pools are awesome. The rocks behind us look like hexigons, but they weren't carved out; they naturally look that way. And the water's great... and no one else was there!

so we made ourselves manly.... or tried : )

The water looked great...

which naturally means we jumped.

Someone told us to hike half an hour in to see what was supposedly a neat waterfall. The waterfall ended up being uber tall with less water coming out than our faucets here at school. We set up a standing stone to commemorate the event of our trip.

We also stopped by the Jordan River. Not incredibly exciting. It's the end of the dry season.

Mount Hermon, the northern-most extreme of Israel. This is likely the mountain Jesus was transfigured on. It also happens to be the border between Israel and Syria, and perhaps Lebanon. Basically just a fun place to hang out.

Being so close, we figured we may as well invade Syria, which is immediately behind us on the horizon. Instead i bought some Golan honey for our bread the next morning. That's some good stuff.

We camped Saturday night on the cliffs of Arbel over looking the Sea of Galilee. Apparently there's a sign that says "no camping" but by the time we got there it was dark and we didn't see the sign until the morning. This is Galilee in the morning. We brought the tent in case it rained - we needed it for aobut half an hour - but mainly we slept outside on the ground.

Ben and I that morning. We're a bit groggy seeing as how we just woke up.

I have to say, reading through the gospels about the life of Jesus was sitting on a cliff edge overlooking the place where the stories happened is an experience i can't describe. There's nothing magic about Israel, but the stories become real in a different way when you can look at the place where they happened.

Finally, a quote from George MacDonald for your reading pleasure:

"However strange it may well seem, to do one's duty will make any one conceited who only does it sometimes. Those who do it always would as soon think of being conceited of eating their dinner as of doing their duty. What honest boy would pride himself on not picking pockets? A thief who was trying to reform would. To be conceited of doing one's duty is then a sign of how little one does it, and how little one sees what a contemptible thing it is not to do it. Could any but a low creature be conceited of not being contemptible? Until our duty becomes to us common as breathing, we are poor creatures."

- from "A Double Story" which i would recommend as a short story worth reading.

Domari Gypsy community center

Twice a week I go to the Domari school to teach english to a few kids. It's a community center run by a gyspy lady, Amoun, who is trying to help the gyspy people become better advanced in society. Pretty much anywhere they are the gyspies are considered outcasts; the jews consider them arab muslims, but the arab muslims consider them social untouchables. In schools they get a poorer education, even when they go to the same schools as everyone else. The reason is that the teachers rarely pay them any attention or say anything not negative to them. So we, meaning Kristen and myself, go Mondays and Wednesday to try to help them learn some english so they can keep up in school. They're bright kids and tons of fun, but they just cannot speak english beyond a kindergarten level - and they're in middle school. We have a blast, though, and hopefully they're learning a little english along the way.

Here they are:

These are pictures from last wednesday. They love to build streamer rings and anything else that requires cutting paper and gluing things to other things - we decorated the school : )

These are some of the "regulars," minus the guy second from the left. It's an after school deal, so the kids who come fluxuates a little. Plus, the number of boys tends to be on an increase. The first day i went there was one boy, then a few more came, and they brought another guy and another guy, etc. The small courtyard gets a wee bit roudy when full eight middle school boys with yours truly as the only mature one around - Kristen stays inside with the little ones and does a much more effective job of teaching english.

They're rascals. I'm the innocent one... I promise.

Jonathan Edwards Religious Affections: a thought to chew on

he is talking about what are signs of true believers - gracious affections being those affections which exist only in believers and only by God's grace

"Another great and very distinguishing difference between gracious affections and others is, that gracious affections, the higher they are raised, the more is a spiritual appetite and longing of soul after spiritual attainments increased. On the contrary, false affections rest satisfied in themselves."

- if you're like me you'll have to read that half a dozen times before it sinks in, but it is a challenging idea to ponder. Am i content being where i am or do i have an increasing desire to be more godly and full of love for my God?

Lessons from Israel

Here are a few things i've learned over here in Israel:

~ "coffee" apparently doesn't mean coffee, it means cappicino and you'll pay about five dollars for a small cup

~ eveyone here speaks more languages than you do, just get used to the fact that you're an arogant american who thinks he's educated but can still barely even speak english

~ any price a shopkeeper gives you is just a little more than half of what you should actually pay him

~ yelling "hey dude" in a middle eastern accent is the teenagers attempt to get you to stop so they can practice their english on you

~ "football" is the international sport - we've even played in the valley of hell with a bunch of palestinian kids - one of whom was named ochmed

~ if you stand on the side of the street waiting for traffic to let up so you can cross the street safely, grab a seat, you'll be there a while

~ the way to cross the street is to step out into the middle of it with complete confidence, they'll stop... if you have enough confidence, otherwise you'll end up jumping back to the curb - as a note: this process is entirely safe, it's how they do things here and i've never even heard of an accident from those types of actions

~ a nice burger can be purchased for 30 NIS, New Isreali Shekels, about 7 dollars; filafels cost 6 NIS and are more filling

~ drivers in Israel have one hand on the wheel and the other on the horn - producing madness to the nearly constant beating of car horns

~ the good, yet cheap, food is found in the muslim quarter of the old city

~ the school roof is perfect for being alone with God and doing some peacefull cloud watching

~ Israeli girls are not to be dated. They're all in the military, which means they carries M-16s and could kill you faster than you could blink

~ people here look mean, but are super nice instead - southern hospitality is alive and well in the middle east!

~ the "zit" store isn't a cosmetics place. no, it's the grocery story.

~ Christmas happened late summer and baby Jesus was probably born in the stable part of a small house with Joseph's whole family gathered around to help - oh well, we're still going to sit around a Christmas tree December 25o

~ most importantly, there are two kinds of milk here: the kind that has been uber-chemicalized and can be left out for days and not go bad or 3% milk that tastes delicious and does wonders for your dietary system. Basically, good milk or something that tastes like chemical warfare

Chocolate!!

In the small German colony there lies a small cafe on the side of the road. Its gate is covered with vines, so the unnattentive viewer will pass by without a second glance, but inside is the Italian Chocolata = delight in a cup. It is a cup of pure, hot, rich dark chocolate that must be eaten with a spoon.

Here's a close up...

Life is good in Israel.

I feel so postmodern keeping up a blog site...

This weekend, meaning last weekend because i haven't gotten a chance to spend any extensive time online in the past week, was incredible. For my physical settings of the Bible class we spent three day wandering around the southern half of Israel. Some highlights: we visited the sorek valley, which is where Samson grew up and defended Israel for 20 years; we also went into the Elah valley, where David defended Israel in Saul's stead and killed Goliath;  we also hung out at Azekah, which is where Joshua chased the Amorites down to when they joined forces against him - read joshua 10, it's awesome! The kings are terrified of Joshua, so they come up to wage war against Gibeon which has become his ally, and the Israelites chase them way down south as God has the sun stand still - this is insane, i have to quote verse 11 for you: "And as they fled before Isarael, while they were going down the ascent of Beth-horon, the Lord threw down large stones from heaven on them as far as Azekah, and they died. There were more who died because of the hailstones than the sons of Israel killed with the sword." Is that not the coolest thing in the world? ; then we went on to Lachish, which was Israel's strongest southerneastern city during the reign of the kings - Sennacherib, when he came through and devestated Israel until crushed by the angel of the Lord in Jerusalem, boasted most of conquering the fortress of Lachish out of all his conquest in Judah because Lachish was such a power house; we ended the day swimming in the Mediteranean Sea. The next day we hung out in the "vast and terrible desert" way down south. And Saturday we went up the coast of the Dead Sea: We spent a good deal of time exploring Masada, after which we swam in the Dead Sea and headed over the spring of En Gedi where David often went in hiding from Saul. We ended the day at Qumran where they found the Dead Sea scrolls. The trip was intense to say the least.

Where do i start in telling stories? If i have time, i'll try to write something about Samson that might give a different perspective than we're used to or at least than i'm used to. I think for now i'll just put up some pictures and hopefully i'll have more time later to write more - ha! that's wistful thinking!

Pictures

Here is the Elah Valley. I am standing on top of the hill were the Philistine armies were encamped against Israel in the story of David and Goliath.

This, my friends, is the very stream David went to get his five stones. You too can go to this stream, which is now covered by those nice buildings for your convenience, and get a stone from the stream. Who knows, it could be a stone that was there when David picked out his stones. Of course, it's highly unlikely since they ship in the rocks by the truckload from other parts of Israel so that tourists can pick themselves a stone, but you know, the thought is what truly counts.

Welcome to the canyons of the "vast and terrible wilderness." The only life here is a few small bushes in the creek at the bottom, the rest is dry and dusty.

Ok, try to picture this: i am taking this picture looking down from the top of a cliff we just hiked up. The windy thing is our trail. How in the world did we survive?!

Now that you have an idea how steep the canyon is, picture this guy casually walking along it as though it were a flat surface. I can't remember their names, but these are the animals the book "Hinds feet in High Places" was written about. THe book is about the verse that says God will make our steps sure on the rocks - or something like that, don't quote me on that one, i'm not positive. Anyways, the idea is that God will make our walk like their walk, not that life will be smooth, but that he will make our step sure. These animals could have jogged along the side of the cliff if they wanted, which they did once or twice. Not along the top edge or bottom edge, but right in the middle of the cliff, halfway up where you would think it is impossible to go without climbing gear. It's a neat picture of God's guidance.

Here's a closer look thanks to the zoom on Ben's camera. They are fun guys to pet.... just kidding. i know, no petting animals in Israel, they might have rabies. I'm behaving, I promise : )

Ben, my roomate, victorious after conquering the mountain.

I was victorious too.

Down south in the Negev, aka. "vast and terrible wilderness," we saw this temple likely built by Solomon. What you are looking at is the Holy of Holies area. The little stands in the front are the incense alters that went up as an aroma to God. The Temple in Jerusalem would have been a similar set-up, though there would only have been one. Here there are two. Odd... so one to God Almighty and one to some other god? Not cool. Perhaps this is the similar to the reference of "Yahweh and His Asherah"? Asherah was the wife goddess of Ba'al, so perhaps here they just put her in with God Almighty to keep Him company.

"When Solomon was old his wives turned away his heart after other gods, and his heart was not wholly true to the Lord his God, as was the heart of David his father." - 1 Kings 11:4

An attempt at a visual of what the creators of this abomination might have been thinking...

What should have been done to the temple the moment it was built! That was for Dr. Beyer, our amazingly godly professor at CIU.

This is a four horned alter like the one that would have been in the Temple of Jerusalem. Benito is being sacrificed by Benaiah.

Our last stop Friday was Maktesh Ramon.

This is a much more accurate picture of the Maktesh - which means crator/canyon. I have never seen such an awestriking vastness in any my imaginations. You feel tiny when you look at something in God's creation like this canyon.

That's all I have time for now, I'll try to get more pictures up later from Saturday. But wow, what a weekend.

Back to last monday - the search for Keriath-yearim

In the past six days i have seen and done far more than i could hope to record in any size less than a small book, so i'll keep the stories abbreviated and selective. The next three or four days i'll likely post every day about the three day long field study we just got back from last night, so i'll tell the stories day by day.

Jumping back to sunday, the school was quiet and the two of us, Ben and I, were itching to get away from this wonderful school and beautiful city of Jerusalem because we had been ingulfed here for the entire week with nothing else to occupy our time. There are a small number of people here, mainly grad. girls, who have been in Israel for longer than these few months, so we went to ask them where we should go to hike around. They debated among themselves as to where we should go until all four of them agreed upon Abu Ghosh. They told us to get ready because they were driving us there in five minutes and we had to be ready to go. Having no idea where we were going - honestly, what is Abu Ghosh? - or what we were doing, we packed water and some sloppily made penut butter and jelly sandwiches, grabbed a few maps from our physical settings class, which later proved to be utterly useless, and ran to the gate.

After a fifteen minute car ride they dropped us off at a gas station in the middle of nowhere telling us only that if we went left there were good hiking trails and if we went right we could have some of the best hummus in the country. We went right. The first store we went into had nothing we were looking for, but a nice lady told us where we could find this amazing hummus and some falafel balls for our pita. We then headed back up the road toward the hiking trails.

The hiking trails proved to be more ellusive than expected, so we made our own trails for a while. Eventually we ended up on something that looked like a trail that took us around the mountain ridge to the other side of the valley. Over there we met a grad student from a local school who told us that Keriath-ye'arim was nearby. Keirath-ye'arim was a place where the ark of the covenant spent 20 years after being caprtured by the philistines and returned. David honored and highly esteemed the men of Keriath-ye'arim because of their treatment of the ark. The grad guy pointed to a ridge a few mountains away and told us that he was pretty sure Keriath-ye'arim was somewhere near there...

Of course, there couldn't be an easily accessable trail anywhere in sight, that would made sense, and, i suppose, that's what the map is supposed to be used to accomplish. Rather than searching around for hours around the mountain-side for a trail we weren't sure existed, we decided to go straight down. The thing about mountains here, is they go straight down. They're not mountains side per-say, but more like cliffs. And there are massive quantities of thorn bushes everywhere. 

So we scaled the side of the cliff through the thorn bushes into the valley below before heading up a path on the other side. A few minutes later an suv started up the trail, which was relatively wide. We weren't sure who it was since we weren't entire sure where we were or if we perhaps shouldn't have been there. They turned out to be a family who offered us a ride around the side. By this time we were ready to pass out so we gladly consented. Not until we got into the car did we realize that the little girl, maybe 10 years old, was sitting on here dad's lap driving the car along the continuing cliff edge. That was a little freaky, but hey, we're alive : )

They dropped us off at the top and the short of the story is that we still had no idea where we were, it was getting dark, and no one we called could tell us how to find this Keriath-ye'arim place. It turned out that we had hiked in a huge circle and ended up back in Abu Ghosh near the amazing cafe where we bought the hummus and falafel balls. Logically, we bought more food, lots more food. Dr. Wright was able to tell us where the church was that honored the ruins of Keriath-ye'arim, which we was closed but some nice old ladies let us into anyways. Then we caught a ride with an arab "bus" who was actually a taxi driver in one of the ten person taxies on his way home but gave us a great rate anyways.

All in all we spent somwhere around nine hours wandering around who-knows-where and came out of it without too many scratches.

Some Pictures:

ben and i at the top of the "hiking trails" we never found

ben in a "lookout tower"

The view of where we hiked to from the top of the hill.

Ben and i exceedingly glad that we're in the valley

we saw goats. i think this one looks jewish.

see what i mean?

An incredible sunset over the city of Abu Ghosh.  What a day.