^{Friday February 8, 2013}

Travel and Tour Day

Today we packed up, loaded the vans and headed towards Tiberius and Migdal.

Our first stop is at a mall to get some air freshener for one of the vehicles.  After taking a tour of the mall in the freight elevator, we found what we were looking for, and headed to Caesarea.

At Caesarea, we saw a movie that showed the history of the port, from when King Herod had it built until the time of the Ottoman empire.  It is still an amazing archeological site.  The day was perfect with the sun shining bright. Jane explained to us the significance of a seaport with a good breakwater to allow ships to spend the winter.

After a devotional from Dan we continued on to Mount Carmel.  The view from atop the mountain was spectacular.  Dan again brought us a devotional as he talked about Elijah and his showdown with King Ahab, Jezebel, and the prophets of Baal.  Jane presented some historical details about the location and talked about how King Ahab was known for his great abilities as a Charioteer, yet Elijah raced down the mountain on foot, and arrived before the King.  Seeing the path and distance, it was amazing to see where the Hand of God worked.

Leaving Mount Carmel, we headed to Migdal to the Beit Bracha, a Christian Retreat Center, where we will spend the next 5 nights.  This will be the center of the rest of our touring, and work projects here in the Galilee. 

Shabbat began at sundown tonight, and we had a wonderful Shabbat Meal with Ted and Linda Walker, who run the retreat center.

After dinner, we continued with our study of James.  James is a ‘get in your face’ kind of guy, and he is certainly speaking to us as we study the Word.

Tomorrow we will tour around the upper Galilee Sea shore as it is still Shabbat until sundown.

We have not had the best luck in our transportation.  On our first day, the door fell off of one of the vans.  On day 2 we had to exchange a 7 passenger van for a 9 passenger van to hold our luggage.  On day 3, as we traveled from the Mediterranean Sea at Caesarea to Mount Carmel, and on up to Migdal, we discovered that the brakes were metal on metal. We are starting a pool to guess how many vehicles we go through during our trip! (not really).

Please pray for us as we tour tomorrow that we will see Jesus in the land.  Pray that everyone will remain healthy, and our aches and pains will go away.