Israel #2

Today I was our first day of touring. Jane is our tour guide & she's great. Michael & Gina have worked with her for over 20 years. When they first met her she was a devote Jew, then over time with only Michael & Gina showing her love, she called & asked to come visit. Michael said he opened the door & could instantly see a difference in her. She told them that she had found Jesus. It makes me tear up every time, even typing it! She's great & so smart it's nauseating.

Today we went to Caesarea & Mt. Carmel. First up was Caesarea. This is the place that Herod the Great developed & it is absolutely amazing. So much of this place has been excavated and that is what makes it so great. You see the original work of this man and even though he was crazy evil, he was a genius. We saw a theater that he designed & had built, it's huge. You could flood the stage part to do naval plays & other weird things.

Our next stop was Mt. Carmel. I was SO excited about this. This is where Elijah called down the fire from Heaven when he challenged the worshippers of Baal (1 Kings 18:20-40). I stood on that very mountain and to be honest, I was speechless. I stood up there reading the chapter & thinking about how the words I was reading were played out on the ground I stood on. It wasn't just a story to me anymore.

Also, if you looked down the mountain, it was a long distance to the valley down below. That stretch to the valley is where Elijah ran down like it says in 1 Kings 18:41-46. I was standing in the midst of history. History that I have read a thousand times but it was alive all around me.

On top of Mt. Carmel you also saw the valley that the battle of Armageddon will take place. What is interesting is that on that valley is where the largest Israeli defense area is, and it’s underground. While we were up there we saw 2 planes fly out & go do training maneuvers. We heard them shooting & everything.

After we did that we picked up the rest of the group from the airport and went to a place called The Lebanese Restaurant. They’re real original with the title huh? Guess what, it's a Lebanese restaurant. Shocker.

I know you're thinking, ‘there's no way you liked anything’ and you would be WRONG! I ate everything they put in front of me & LOVED it. I'll now wait as you pick your chin up off the ground...ok, let’s continue. I ate something called a falafel, humus, pumpkin something or other that didn't taste like pumpkin at all, pita bread, some Turkish coffee, this crazy chicken & beef on a skewer, a cucumber-lettuce-tomato-spicy type thing, some desert (that was amazing) and so on.

I am now back at the apt full as a tick & simply elated about my day. I cannot wait for tomorrow and what will be another crazy amazing day!