^{Tuesday February 12, 2013}

Tour Day #4

Our day started out with a stop at the Ancient Boat.  This is a boat discovered when the water in the Sea of Galilee was low a few years ago.  It is dated as a boat that was used on the Sea during the time of Jesus.  There is also a great gift shop there.

Leaving the Ancient Boat, we drove up on the Golan to the site of a Jewish settlement from the time of the Roman Occupation of Israel, Gamla.  This site has a story similar to the story of Masada.  The village sets on the ridge of a mountain, and was very hard to access, and very easy to defend.  When the Romans first tried to take this city of Jewish Zealots, the Romans were defeated.  A few years later, Titus brought 4 legions and was successful at destroying the city.

This area is also the home of the Griffin Vulture.  This bird has a 10 ft wingspan, and rides the thermals and wind currents in this valley.  We saw a few, but not up close.

We next continued our trip up the Golan to Mt. Bental.  Mt. Bental overlooks the Syrian and Lebanon Borders.  As we are driving up, we see the IDF out on tank maneuvers in the fields right beside the road. The top of the mountain was in a cloud when we arrived.  We ate lunch at Coffee Anan.  During lunch the cloud lifted, so we were able to go out and tour the mountain site.  From the top, Damascus is just 40 miles away, and the outskirts are visible from here.  Jane talked about the importance of this strip of land, as a strategic base of operations to keep an eye in the Syrians and Hezbollah. 

Leaving there we were stopped on the road while a group of tanks crossed the road in front of us.  We then continued down the Golan to the east side of the Sea of Galilee to a riding facility that has a Horse Therapy Program for Handicapped Children.  The facility belongs to a Cousin of our Guide Jane. Jane’s mother, Pearl, also lives there.  Jane has a cousin who developed Brain Cancer about 15 years ago.  After Chemo, he was in Remission.  In October 2012, the cancer came back.  After 4 months of treatment the doctors said there was nothing they could do to help him.  He and his family wanted him to come home for his last days.  The house where he is living has no wheelchair access, so he could not leave to come outside, nor could Pearl come visit him.  So we built a wheel chair ramp for the house.  Pearl was the first one to use the ramp. She was not too sure about it, but her caregiver pushed her up the ramp and Trevor held her hand.  She was very excited.  Everyone had big smiles on their faces. Typical contractor I had estimated that it would take 1 hour to build the ramp, and it actually took 2 hours, so now we are 1 hour behind for our next reservation.

Our last stop of the day was to go out on the Sea of Galilee with Daniel Carmel, and his boat FAITH.  It is always a pleasure to be on Daniel’s boat.  Daniel is the only boat operator on the Galilee who is a believer, so we always use him.  On his boat, it is not just a tour, but a time of worship.

So I’m feeling really bad that we are running late, and will have to cut our boat ride short.  After we get loaded on the boat, I looked up, and here comes another group of people to join us on the boat.  We heard later that this group had wanted to be on Daniel’s boat really badly, but he was not available at the time that they needed, so they got on another boat and took their trip.  Just as that boat got back they saw FAITH sitting there, so the rushed over and said it was not the same without the chance to worship on the Galilee, and could they go out with us.  Daniel of coarse said yes, so they joined us.  Once again it is obvious that God is in control, and was able to use our delay to bless another group of people.

Tonight is our last night at Beit Bracha,  Tomorrow we will leave for Jerusalem.

Please pray that we have a safe trip tomorrow, and good Health.  Please pray for Terry who is feeling tired and Achy all over tonight.

/