Shalom Chaverim!
(Hello friends!)
I have been terrible at updating this. So we are going to do a fast track of what I have been up to in the past couple weeks. This post is going to cover my 3-day hike to the Sea of Galilee. I have officially been in Israel for almost a month (man, time flies!) and other then all the people I love in artzot habrit (The U.S.) I really don't miss the states that much. If you have ever been to Israel, you know what I mean. There is like a natural pull of the soul to be here. Luckily for my soul, I'm not going anywhere just yet. Not a moment goes by that I don't see God's hand print on this nation.
Israel eretz yefa.
(The country Israel is beautiful).
Unfortunately, the 11-day Sukkot holiday break is over and now I have to return to the real world of getting a college education. But in honor of my lack of productivity in anything school - related let's go back in time to my YAM el YAM hike (Literally, Sea to Sea).It all started on a hiking trail about an hour-ish North of Haifa. Here, 35 students joined me on what would turn out to be a very rewarding yet exhausting trip. If I could sum it up in two words : organized chaos. We marched through the mountains (they might be hills, I'm not sure. I'm a Florida girl. If it's above sea level, it's a mountain) and saw a part of Israel that can only be seen by being completely immersed in it. We camped underneath the stars bare-bag-on-dirt and lived off of dried fruit, nuts, and peanut butter. We hiked through creeks, springs, forests, and even climbed a few cliffs. The scenery was like an oasis in a desert. There was a point on the trip where we could see the border of Lebanon. It's hard to miss the bare sand of Lebanon when it's against the lush green vegetation of Israel. The guide (oddly enough named Israel) told us that it's because Lebanon doesn't have laws regulating overgrazing. However, my reasoning is because Israel is the chosen land of God's people. He could make it however he wanted and it's no surprise to me that the fertility and beauty of Israel beats any of it's neighbors by a ten-fold.
Can you tell I'm in love?
Anyway, we hiked up the largest peak West of the Jordan River and the views were phenomenal. We also visited a Druse Prophet (a small religion prominent in the Northern Galil) grave site and the ruins of a Crusader castle. The Northern Galilee was probably everything I could have wanted it to be. I'm jealous Jesus got to spend so much time there.
Then there was the Sea of Galilee.
It was an amazing feeling to finally get to our destination after 3 long days of hiking. The sea is relatively large and surrounded by mountains. Tiberius (the newer version, not the one from the bible) is located on the water and it was hard to believe a multitude of miracles happened there. The water was cold and murky and the geographic location was perfect for a storm. Based on the boats they were using I'd be scared to get out and walk on water too. Speaking of walking on water,
I tried. I failed.
(I wasn't on my A game.)
I'm glad I got to experience Israel on that level. It felt real and as tacky as it sounds I felt as though Jesus was walking beside me. Showing me the land as He knew it. The land He grew up on. Jesus spent three years in Tiberius and part of His ministry was done in the Galilee. I'm still getting used to being where He grew up.
The rest of my trip took place in the country of Jordan.
Stay tuned.
In the words of my Turkish neighbor, "Why would you go live outside for three days? Don't you know we worked for 2000 years to get hot water and electricity?"
At about the 2nd day, I couldn't have agreed more.
But after I am risen again, I will go before you into Galilee.
Matthew 26:32
Stefani
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