DAILY JOURNAL #1

Lets take a break from our A-Z travel log and go on to something new.

For the next few days I will post my journal from a trip that I took to Israel in 2005. As part of course work for my MRS (Masters in Religious Science) at the Harvest Institute for Biblical Studies in Knoxville TN, we had to not only go to Israel, but submit a journal of our day to day experiences during the trip.

(I have taken all photos.)

Most of my trips to Israel have been taken through TLC Holy Land Tours. Dr. Crisp has led numerous groups to the Holy Land. TLC Holy Land tours offers excellent pricing, experienced guides and scholarly teachings at each site. (www.tlcholylandtours.com)

Day 1-2
Left Knoxville at 2:10 p.m. This is my seventh (blessed) trip to the Holy Land. It is hard to imagine that I am going to Israel again! Some people only go once in a life time; some never get to go.

Sitting for several hours in the airport is good for me- I begin to think about the trip and what it means in my life. With each trip I spend much time reflecting on the past and the future. How blessed I am to be saved and to be walking the Lord. And He has blessed me with a deep love for the land and the people of Israel.

Because I “have to” write this journal for a class project, I have decided to have a focus, a ‘theme’, for me to see the sites from a different mindset. Each trip is different. I do see many of the same sites, but I also always do see a new site. Dr. Crisp and the tour guide are sensitive to the fact that several people have made this trip more than once, and always arrange for something new.

My term paper for my class will be “Jesus and the Women.” As I set out on this trip my focus will be on the women of Israel in Biblical times, in the Old Testament and New Testament.
At Newark NJ the four members of our group from California joined with us. That brings the total to 28. This is an ideal number to have in a group.

As I read Scripture in the airport, my readings took me to the books of Malachi and Zechariah. God brought these verses to my sight to prepare me for this trip:

Zechariah 2:8, 12, 13
…for he who touches you Israel)touches the apple of His (God’s) eye….and the LORD will take possession of Judah as His inheritance in the Holy Land and will again choose Jerusalem…..Be silent, all flesh, before the LORD, for He is aroused from His holy habitation.
And from Malachi 3:12:

…And all nation will call you blessed (Israel), for you will be a delightful land, says the LORD of hosts. Thank you LORD for these verses today as I begin our trip.
10:50 pm left Newark for Tel Aviv. Plane very crowded. Ninety eight young Jewish people from all over US and Mexico going over to Israel for a four month study trip. God bless these young people. May they meet Jesus in the Holy Land.

Arrived Tel Aviv 4:22 p.m. on Tuesday. No Biblical reference to Tel Aviv. The Biblical city of Joffa is south. (The photo above is of modern-day Tel Aviv.)

Drove 1 ½ hours to Tiberias/Sea of Galilee..
Thoughts on Tiberius. A Roman colony in the time of Jesus. We have no record of his visiting Tiberius. He must have. Perhaps his family traveled there from Nazareth in his early years for shopping or business. In the years of His adult ministry He probably did pass through this busy commercial/governmental city, but did not make His presence known.

All the cities that surrounded the Sea of Tiberius must have heard of Jesus and his ministry. Perhaps some of the women of Tiberius went out to see this man. Perhaps some of the women of Tiberius were among the crowds at the feeding of the 4,000 and 5,000, or there when Jesus spoke the “Sermon on the Mount.” It does not seem a stretch of the imagination to visualize women of Tiberius in the crowd of faces that so often encircled Jesus.

We saw too many things to write down. I hope I will remember them.