Wednesday

Wednesday:
We started with a boat ride across the Sea of Galilee. This is not our boat. It also isn’t the 1st century boat they found in the 1980’s which some have speculated would be just like the boat Jesus and his disciples used, but it does look kind of like it.

Next stop was Mount Aribel, where Kenn blew his newly purchased Shofar. Quickly off to Bethsaida and some archaeological ruins. We went to the church at Tabgha, the site of Jesus’ miracle of feeding five thousand with five loaves and two fish (Matthew 5:13-21).

After that we headed off to the church at the Mount of the Beattitudes, which not surprisingly is the location associated with the Sermon on the Mount and Jesus proclaiming the Beattitudes.

Our last stop of the day was Capernaum on the Sea of Galilee. It was the base of Jesus’ early ministry. Within the ruins of the 4th century synagogue located there was an archaeological dig showing early foundations which might just be the synagogue referenced in Luke 7:5.

Capernaum is also the location where Jesus healed the paralytic who was lowered down through the roof. They think it happened at Peter’s mother-in-laws house (Mark 2:1-17).

Tuesday

Ok, getting on the internet here is not as easy as at home. I’ve become used being able to get on the internet anywhere and anytime. Access at the hotel costs 37 cents per minute and is slow. Yesterday I found a store front that offers internet access at a rate of $3 for 30 minutes, but you can’t use your own computer. So, I’m doing a pre-written/designed upload with quick overviews of Tuesday and Wednesday.

Tuesday:
The plane landed an hour late setting everything behind schedule for the tour, but we were so tired it didn’t really matter.
Joppa: Jonah ran here instead of going to Ninevah. They have a statue of the “big fish” that swallowed him (popularly called the whale). Also it’s the location of Simon the Tanner’s house where Peter had the vision in which the Lord told him “What god has made clean, you must not call profane.” (Acts 10:5-16).
We tried to get to Caesarea Maritima, but got caught in a traffic jam for about an hour and didn’t make it before it closed, so we went too…
Mount Carmel where Elijah and the prophets of Baal had their showdown (1 Kings 18).
Made it to the hotel at Tiberius on the shore of the Sea of Galilee for the night and the rest of the week.

On the way...

We're currently on layover in Newark, NJ. Our connecting plane is delayed by about 1 1/2 hours. Hopefully that will equate to a shorter flight to Tel Aviv tonight. We arrive Tuesday morning in Tel-Aviv and go straight into a full day of sight-seeing. I expect I'll be tired by the time we get to the hotel. With a little bit of luck I'll be able to post updates here throughout the trip.

1st Day Report

Westin came home and had had a wonderful day. He reported that he even made two friends - didn't know their names yet, but made two friends. Went off to school easily and happily today. Thank you Lord for taking care of him (and me).

The Next Hard Part of Our Move

He's eight now. Today is the first day of thrid grade for him. He's scared. He started crying quitely when I said it was time for me to go. He kept up a strong front as long as I stood there beside him. He's old enough to be self-conscious about crying. But it's tough being eight, moving to a new town because of Dad's job, starting a new school where you don't know anyone. I know he'll be fine, but I want it to be easy for him. I want him to have a great year and make great friends. I asked the boy sitting next to him if he liked video games. "I like football video games." Westin's eyes lit up. "I have a football video game." (But we hardly ever play it - was my silent thought.) Westin tried, "Do you like Sonic?" (His current favorite). The other little boy shook his head no. The conversation died. My heart broke. Dear Lord, let this year go well. Please take care of my boy.

Vacation - all I never wanted

I'm trying not to get labeled for our family vacations, and yet I'm not sure that we aren't already well past that point with those who keep up with ours. You know how you have "accident prone" friends or acquaintances? We're becoming one of those in the vacation category.

A brief history...

About five years ago, Westin ran into a pointing out corner, split his head open, and had to get five stitches in the middle of his forehead on the first night we were at my sister's house in Alabama.

Last summer we had a great time at Guadalupe River State Park until we noticed Daniel, our youngest, not feeling so well. When we got home the doctor said he had pneumonia.

This spring break we took the pop-up to Rusk State Park to ride on the Texas State Railroad and spend the week. At the end of the first full 24 hours I had the flu and ran a high fever for the next five days.

This summer, we made plans to go to Port Aransas with one of my wife's college roommates and her family. But then we moved that week, so we decided to do something low impact. We went to her parents' cabin arriving late Monday night. Before noon on Tuesday, our dog, Argon had gotten bitten by a copperhead, and we were racing to the vet. He's fine, but later that afternoon when we saw a snake swimming in the pond while we were swimming, we sure didn't feel safe going back in there for the lazy days of floating and relaxing we had planned.

This list is depressing. For sometime I've been planning a newsletter article about how vacation helps me be better at my first ministry to my family and helps me keep in perspective that God is God and I'm just the pastor of the church. I don't know that that will get written.

Maybe it can be traced to getting the dog. I think the first vacation with significant problems was the one where he ran under the mobile home that was being loaned to us and pulling the phone wires out from it. Was it that same trip when the steering cables broke on the boat being loaned to us by the same person?

Vacation - all I never wanted. And yet, I keep looking forward to them.

Oh, all of this summer's vacation wasn't a complete bust. Fortunately we found Lake Tejas (http://www.esc5.net/laketejas/), and it was great, but we finally just decided just to come on home, do some unpacking, maybe squeeze in some dissertation work, read Harry Potter, catch a movie. We're also planning some day trips - Moody Gardens, Houston Museum of Natural Science, etc. to finish out the time. Pray for us.

The Deceptiveness of Cabinetry

We’re moving. The truck shows up in 4 days. So, more technically, we’re packing. My wife has been working diligently on the kitchen this evening. After she quit and was getting ready for bed, I went walking toward the kitchen via the dining room aka the box staging area. There were several new kitchen related boxes that I nearly stumbled over. Rather than being frustrated that something was in the walkway, it was exciting because we were closer to being ready than the last time I walked through.

In the next step I was in the kitchen which looked exactly as it had hours before – clean and tidy, but not empty. Talk about deflation. That’s when I realized that cabinetry is deceptive. At least the doors are. Whether it is hiding your disorganized pots and pans, or it is failing to show the lack of the same, the doors on the cabinetry keep you from seeing what’s really going on.

I thought about the shells that we run around with in our lives and especially the ones we wear to church. Shells specially designed by years of trial and error to keep the world seeing the neat and tidy us and not showing the real state of our hearts at all. I thought of Jesus condemning the Pharisees for being like “whitewashed tombs” – pretty on the outside, but nasty on the inside (Matthew 23:27). Deceptive.

Our shells and cabinetry doors (during periods of moving) need to go.

NLT Matthew 23:27 "How terrible it will be for you teachers of religious law and you Pharisees. Hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs-- beautiful on the outside but filled on the inside with dead people's bones and all sorts of impurity.