All People & All Places

Tonight I sit along the shores of the Sea of Galilee. Wow - who says that?

We pulled into Tiberias at sunset, so tomorrow I will see much more. Tonight, I will try to take you through the sites of the last two days. So much information, so little time.

Yesterday afternoon we went to Jaffa (Joppa). It is an ancient port city - the place where people would come when they were going to Jerusalem from across the sea. Here we saw the traditional home of Simon the Tanner. Peter was staying with Simon when He had a vision and was sent to the home of Cornelius in Caesarea. (Acts 10:1-32) We stood in front of this home and walked along streets walked by Peter. We listened as the story unfolded to us and heard the words read that Peter heard from the voice in his vision: "What God has made clean, you must not call profane." Then Pastor Dale said these exact words: "God was doing a new thing. It took courage for Peter to accept that go to Caesarea. We must be open to God doing new things today." And I heard the echo. "God is doing something new"...these are the words of Pastor Alan. These are the words of Rob Bell. God doing a new thing. He made Gentiles clean. A new thing. Because ultimately its about humanity. God wants to extend grace and mercy to ALL people. That was my lesson in Jaffa. All people? Yes, even them.

Jaffa also brings the story of Jonah. Jaffa is where Jonah went to hide from God when He didn't want to go to Ninevah. Jonah didn't think God would find him there, but he learned quickly that you can't hide from God. Why did Jonah not want to go to Nineveah. Because he was scared? No. Because he hated the Asyrians who occupied the land and he did not want them to receive mercy. He would rather them be destroyed. If he went - they would be saved. But Jonah goes and he is successful. Ninevaeh repents and they are saved. Jonah ends abruptly, with Jonah resentful. The theme of the Prodigal Son is a lot the same. The father extends mercy and the oldest son is resentful. Here is where Pastor Mark says, "God desires to give grace and mercy to all people. When God shows us something new, don't resist - follow Him." Was that another echo? Got it.

Today, we traveled along the coastline to begin in Caesaria for part two of Peter's story (from Jaffa). Here is where Cornelius lived and Peter came and the first Gentiles were reached with the Good News. Paul was also held here and gave his defense to King Agrippa. In Caeserea are the remains of a Theater, an Ampitheater, and a Hipitheater - built by King Herod. Caeserea was known as "Little Rome."

From Caesaria we turned east along the same passage ancient people would turn to go to east. The land becomes very hilly and it is the only way with a passage easy enough to take by foot (or bus in our case). For miles there are hills and cliff edges on either side. Finally you come through the hills and get your first look at the Valley or Jezreel - the Valley of Armageddon. (Revelations 16:13-16) The last hill to the north is Tel Megiddo. Tel means "hill" in Hebrew. This hill has 20-23 layers of human civilization - 7000 years of history. I have a hard time even wrapping my mind around that. From Megiddo you can see Mount Carmel - where the Prophet Elijah went against the god of Baal - and his fire (and God) won. We saw steep stone steps that have been untouched that Elijah would have had to walk up to enter the city of Megiddo. We saw ruins of the city King Ahab build and ruins of the "high place" where they would have sacrificed animals and children to pagan Gods (5000 years ago). In the distance you could see Nazareth, Mount Tabor (Jesus' ascention) and Mount Gilboa. These are mountains Elijah saw. These are mountains Jesus saw. Do I get it yet? Still I can't comprehend.

We left Megiddo, taking the same path through the Jezreel Valley to Nazareth. We just stopped for an overlook view of Nazareth. Today Nazareth has spilled onto and over the hills that once kept in a bowl. Today it is inhabited by mostly Arabs. Today Nazareth looks nothing like it did when Jesus grew up there. But Jesus would have climbed the hills surrounding Nazareth. Jesus would have looked upon the hills of Samaria in the distance. The same sun that set over Nazareth tonight, set over Nazareth and maybe Jesus once watched it. We took the path that Jesus' mother would have taken to Cana. We didn't stop in Cana - but I'm sure it doesn't look the same either. We took the same path Jesus would have taken from Nazareth when He went to Capernaum. I don't thing he traveled along a 4-lane highway - but he would have come through the valley. We entered Tiberias as sundown. We saw the first view of the Sea of Galilee that Jesus would have seen.

So much has changed. The modern world has rushed in and left only remnants of the world where Jesus lived. Yet, the sun remains unchanged. The sky, the stars, the water and the hills remain. And our God remains.

He is here. I am beginning to feel it. Tomorrow will be a big day. I look forward to seeing where I find Him.

May you find Him ... because you don't have to come the Holy Land to do it.