Caesarea and The Jezreel Valley (Sunday, June 27th)

So you'll never guess where I am now. I am sitting outside of a little cabin that I'm sharing with two friends, right of the edge of Sea of Galilee, looking out at the city lights on the hill tops across the sea from me. And I'm thinking how on earth could God be this good to me!

This morning we left the school for another out of town trip, this time to the north. On the way we had a kind of a church service on the bus as it was Sunday. Dr. Lawson Stone led us in some worship songs and I got to be a part of a dramatic reading of scripture. The passage was 1 Kings 18 and I was Obadiah. It tells the story of Elijah and the 400 prophets of Baal and the showdown they had at the top of Mt. Carmel. It's a great story, you should read it for yourselves. Dr. Sandy Richter gave a devotional on it pointing how lost the people were and how desperately they needed a good strong leader to lead them in the worship of the True and Living God. Appropriate as she was talking to a bus full of practicing or aspiring pastors and Bible teachers for the most part.

Our first stop was at Caesarea by the sea. It's crazy how much it looks like Monterey!! There were even smoke stacks from some factory as we drove in! At Caesarea there is yet another pleasure palace built by Herod the Great. (This guy had more palaces than anyone should have!) The palace itself was built right out on a bit of rock that

protrudes out into the in waves. All that's left of it is a bit of the foundation and flat square area where there used to be a pool. Very close to the palace was large theater and coming almost up to the palace was a hippodrome, an arena where they would have chariot races. Around that were the remains of the city although most of it had been built over in the Byzantine and then in the Crusader days. The whole time we were there, there was a warm, pleasant breeze blowing and the Mediterranean was BEAUTIFUL!

From there we traveled up to a monastery on Mt. Carmel that was built to commemorate the

event we had read from 1 Kings this morning. From the top of the monastery we could see the whole Jezreel Valley laid out below us. Mt. Tabor (think of Deborah and Barak), Mt. Moreh (where Gideon fought the Midianies with only 300 men and God gave them victory), and Mt. Gilboa (where Saul and Johnathan died fighting the Philistines) were all visible on the eastern end of the valley as well as the hills of upper and lower Galilee to the north. This is also the valley where Megiddo is located and eschatologist (end times scholars) debate whether it will be where the actual battle of Armageddon will take place or if it will be a mustering point for the armies of the world as they gather to attack Jerusalem.

We moved on from there to the actual city of Megiddo. Where archeologist have uncovered a grain silo and a palace or governors house as well as a building that some think was a stable for horses (apparently chariots were kept at Megiddo as it was a key city militarily) and some think was store houses. There is also a water system somewhat like Hezekiah's Tunnel in that it was dug to make the city's spring accessible from inside the walls incase of a siege. Unlike Hezekiah's Tunnel however it is dug in a straight line which raises the question; why is Hezekiah's Tunnel (built sometime later) so crooked as they obviously knew how to dig in a straight line?

Our plan at the end of the day was to visit the cliffs of Arbel, but things had changed since last year (the last time our teacher had been here) and the park had closed. So we got to come to our little kibbutz/bungalows early and spend some time splashing in the sea of Galilee. The best part is that unlike our trip to the south we will be staying at this location all three nights! I plan to swim every night!!