Treasuring These Things by Lori Morley

The whole time as we were seeing the sights of Israel, walking where Jesus walked, and learning about how the Biblical events apply to our lives today, one verse kept running through my head.

"But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart." Luke 2:19

Some things are just too large, too momentous to capture in a few photos. Our experiences in Israel certainly fell into that category. Sometimes, instead of trying to capture the moment, I just decided to live in it. When I knew that a picture wasn’t enough, I breathed in the air and treasured the experiences in my heart.

How can I sum up our 8 days in the Land of Israel? I really don't know but I felt that I had to try.

A Teacher at Heart
First, let me tell you about our pastor, Jim Samra. After sitting under his teachings each Sunday, I already knew that he had a well-developed gift of teaching. The thing that struck me during our trip is what a great privilege it is to have an Arab Christian as our pastor. Yes, our pastor is of Lebanese heritage on both sides of his family. He may have an American passport, but that doesn’t keep him from being pulled aside for questioning every time that he enters Israel. Praise God for the events that drew his Arab parents to faith in Jesus Christ and allowed Jim to grow up in a Christian home and later, become the pastor of our church.
Jim’s teaching is wonderful. Imagine not only hearing him teach, but hearing it in the very location where the Biblical event happened! However, although the Biblical events and facts are very important, Jim is very intentional about application. What does this event teach us about God? How is it an example to us in living our lives? How does it challenge us to greater obedience? These Biblical events are not just an interesting history lesson. Jim makes it clear in his teaching that they are a blueprint for our lives.

A Suitable Helpmeet
Jim’s wife, Lisa, doesn't accompany him on every Israel trip but we were privileged to have her on ours. Her role was to take us deeper in applying the lessons that Jim taught to our lives. Here are just a few of the reflection exercises that she led us in.

Galilee - On the Sea of Galilee, we reflected on the journey that God has called us to and the deep waters that we may be experiencing. We wrote down the ways that we are experiencing Jesus’ presence and how He is speaking, "do not fear" to us.

Elah Valley - We heard the story of David and his fight against Goliath while overlooking the Elah Valley where the battle took place. Goliath represents the forces of darkness. Our battle is not against flesh and blood but against demonic forces. The weapons of this world have no value. The strongest weapon that David had was his heart of trust. Lisa led us to reflect on the battles that we are currently facing. What weapons have we been using to fight the battle? How does God need to open our eyes to the spiritual aspects of our battle? Which of our weapons need to be replaced with God’s weapons?

The Wilderness – While sitting in the wilderness surrounded by rocks and barren mountains, Jim taught us about the wilderness and what it represents. Lisa then encouraged us to reflect on what wilderness God might have us experiencing right now. We spent time walking in the wilderness and listening for what God wants to teach us about our wildernesses.

Ein Karem – The place where Mary went to visit Elizabeth when she was pregnant. Mary was "blessed among women". Lisa led us in looking at why Mary was blessed and how we can follow her example. We follow her example by having the courage to accept our assignments from God and saying, "Be it unto me as You have said" and by recalling all of the things that God has done for us, like Mary did in her Magnificat (Luke 1:46-55). We took the time to write out our gratitude for the many great things that God has done for us.

Pool of Bethesda – Jesus, the Great Physician, came to rescue us and provides healing for all the ways that sin has caused destruction in our lives. Lisa led us in reflecting on how God has healed us spiritually, physically, emotionally, and relationally and we spent time giving testimony to those things.

It was beautiful to see Jim and Lisa working together as a couple, using the spiritual gifts that God has given each of them. On the final evening, during our debriefing session, several people thanked Lisa for her teaching role on the trip and I could see that, more than any thanks that he received for himself, it pleased Jim to hear his wife praised and to have her by his side on this trip.

Community
One of the best things about the trip was to see the Holy Spirit work in community. It's amazing how quickly you can get to know people when you are intentional about spending time together and willing to be vulnerable. The "Samra Rule" helped with that. The Samra Rule said that we were to sit with different people at each meal and on the bus. That meant that spouses and roommates didn't always sit together. This gave us opportunity to get to know everyone rather than just gravitating to the people that we initially felt drawn to or already knew. Each evening we had a time of debriefing. This was an opportunity for us to tell our own stories and the things that God was speaking to us about on this journey. During these times, we saw the Spirit at work in unique and powerful ways. Walls were torn down. Sins were confessed. Hearts were transformed.

My prayer is that as we return home, we would not doubt the work of the Spirit and the things that He was teaching us. I pray that the things we learned would be stepping stones for greater growth and obedience in each one of our lives. I know that my life has been changed and I will be treasuring these things in my heart for years to come.

Day 8

This post is a little late but we did a full day of touring on Tuesday and then went straight to the airport. I started this post in Newark yesterday but I just didn't have the mental capacity to finish it.

Our last day was another beautiful day in Jerusalem. Boaz said that it was the best weather he's ever had for a group. It shows how much the Lord shined down on us during our entire stay.

We started out by going to the City of David. On the way to the city ruins we were able to see some of David's fortress that they just discovered 10 days ago. Boaz said they are considered to be very important and we can say we were among the first to see them. Right near Hezekiah's Tunnel, Jim taught us about 1 Samuel 5:6-10 and how David's first act as king was to conquer the Jebusites. The lame and the blind are mentioned in the story and how they could not go near the offerings because they were not perfect. Then Jim linked it to the New Testament stories about the lame and the blind and how Jesus healed them. He taught on high priests, Melchizadek, Psalm 110 and obedience. He linked it together only as Jim can and we saw how God, once again, weaved the OT and the NT and us together. You just can't make this stuff up.

From there we walked down to the pool of Siloam. It was a long walk down a very steep road. The pool of Siloam is where Jesus told the blind man in John 9 to go wash himself after He put mud on his eyes. Jim taught about how the celebration of water and the celebration of light came during the Feast of Tabernacles and how that would have been happening during this story. The water from Siloam would have been used as the drink offering during the celebration and that is where Jesus sent him to see light. Jesus could have said a word and had him healed but he specifically put mud on his eyes so he would have to go wash in the water.

Just 2 chapters back, Jesus had declared:

On the last and greatest day of the festival,

Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, 

"Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink. 

Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, 

rivers of living water will flow from within them."

John 7:37-38

Pool of Siloam

The bus driver graciously came and got us at the bottom of the hill and drove up to the Temple steps. Boaz sang a Psalm of Ascent in Hebrew for us; it's what the families would have sang while they climbed the steps to the Temple Mount.

We walked through the upper room, a place near where they believe Jesus would have had the last supper with his disciples. It was crowded and noisy in there so Jim found a place in a courtyard nearby where we were able to sit down and listen to him read John 14 - 17. We all just closed our eyes and drank in the words of Jesus. The message is for us, too, according to John 17: 20-21.

When Jesus predicted that the temple would be destroyed and not one would be left on top of one another? They have proof that happened.

We walked to the house of the high priest Caiaphas where they schemed to arrest Jesus and plotted to kill Him. We stood in the cold, dark pit that they believe Jesus spent the night in and Lisa read Psalm 88. Martin, the student from Prague, joined us again and he read it in Czech. It was very moving.

We moved upstairs to the church and Jim read Matthew 26. If you read it carefully, Jesus gives the high priests the ammunition to go to trial when He quotes Psalm 110. The priests thought that Jesus would be cursed by God and then what He did on the cross would be null and void. Jim taught about how Jesus was guilty of blaspheming (He is fully human) and yet He was not guilty of it (He is fully God.) The law said He was guilty and had to be killed but He wasn't guilty because He was fully God. When Jesus became human, He became fully human forever. Think about that. For you and for me.

Jim gave a passionate sermon on the mass depth and length God went to save you and me and it's all because He loves us. I sobbed.

From there we went to the garden tomb. This is where most Christians believe Jesus was buried. We went in to the tomb where He was laid but - you know the rest of the story - He wasn't there! He's alive! I thought it would be more sobering to see where Jesus was laid in His death, but after all we've learned this week, it was joyous and overwhelming!

From there we went back to the hotel and were given a little time to pack up and prepare for the journey home. We had a great last meal together en route and we were able to say goodbye to Boaz, our Israeli guide. We breezed through customs and passport control and had an uneventful trip home. 

We all prayed that what we learned on this trip will stay with us and that we don't grow cold once we return home. We don't want this to be a "camp" experience: come home on a spiritual high and then grow cold over time. We will be praying that what we experienced will stay fresh on our minds and our hearts as we determine to live different lives back in Grand Rapids and Portland, Maine. This group was special and we bonded in a way that only the Lord can bond. We will be holding each other accountable. We resolve to live lives of obedience out of a great love for the Lord.

Thank you to Chad and his servant heart. He is the heartbeat of the trip and without him we would have been lost, running behind, looking for a bathroom and not knowing how to pay for our meal. We wouldn't know what time to get up, where to be, where to get a boarding pass and someone would have been left behind. He's so good at his job of logistics, you don't even know he's doing it because he always led with a calm and joyous heart.

Thank you to Lisa, whom we endearingly called our Spiritual Formation Director. :) After a deep and hard lesson from Jim, Lisa would come in and give us a chance to breathe. In her calming voice, she would guide us in how to meditate on what Jim taught and ask poignant questions on what our response needs to be or how we need to put it in to practice in our own life. Or how we need to change or to remind us that God loves us.

Thank you to Jim, who poured out his heart to us. He studied, he prepared, he prayed for each of us by name and he listened to God, Who knew what we needed to learn on this trip. Even after all of his teaching, Jim would sit on the bus and answer questions and explain passages or would stay after dinner to help sort out spiritual issues. He is truly a servant after God's own heart and Calvary Church is blessed to have him.

And last, thank you to each of you who prayed us through this trip. We arrived on time, all the luggage showed up, there was no illness, the weather was ideal and - most importantly - God did something amazing in each of our lives. We know that the Lord heard your prayers.

I know I will never be the same. 

Day 7

First of all, I would like to give a huge shout out to Chad Kerr. He has done such a great job and we don't even know everything he's doing. He gets us to where we need to be, takes care of the bills, makes sure we're all on the bus, kindly moves us along and always makes sure we have bathroom breaks. Thank you, Chad!

We started out this morning on the Mount of Olives to discuss the Temple Mount. We were not allowed to go in to the Temple Mount because it is occupied by the Muslims but were able to see it from a distance upon the mount. Jim did a teaching there about the Old and New Testament and how on the Mount of Olives, the Lord will be seen.

You can't come to Jerusalem and not ride a camel. I guess the Jim heard that, too.

We walked down from the Mount of Olives into the Garden of Gethsemane. It was quite a treacherous walk down the mountain. Before we went in, Jim told us to read Matthew 26:36-46.

32 Going a little farther, he fell with his face to the ground and prayed, 

“My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. 

Yet not as I will, but as you will."

Jim told us to think about a suffering that we would consider to be a cup and ask the Lord if he would remove the cup. We had about 20 minutes in the garden to talk to the Lord. During that time, tourists came through in a big group. "And on your left is where Jesus prayed before he died." And then they all snapped pictures and moved on. At that moment I had an overwhelming sense of gratitude to Jim and Lisa for the teachings we have received on this trip. We are experiencing Jesus.

Then we walked further down the mount and on to the road Jesus would have taken when he rode a donkey in through the east gate. Right inside the city wall is the pool of Bethesda. Lisa did a teaching on John 5 where the lame man was physically healed by Jesus and then just picked up his mat and left. Jesus later found him in the temple and told him that he also needed spiritual healing but he didn't listen. We then contrasted this to the blind man who was healed physically and spiritually in John 9. Lisa gave us time to consider how the Lord has healed us spiritually, physically, emotionally and relationally. We were asked to examine how we responded to our healing. Like the lame man or the blind man? We were able to shout out loud our praises and give testimony to how God has healed us. Satan clearly did not want those praises to be heard because that's exactly when the prayers of the Muslims started on the loudspeakers. We had trouble hearing each other so we just shouted louder. The church of St Anne is right there and we went inside this simple little church and were able to sing How Great Thou Art, The Doxology and O Come All Ye Faithful. It was beautiful and the acoustics made us sound like angels.

We started up the Via Dolorosa. It was not like I imagined; parts of it were street-like but in some places it was a narrow path between the marketplace merchants.

It was hard and grueling and my back hurt just carrying my backpack up. I cannot imagine having to carry a cross, nails in my hands, being mocked by the merchant sellers. It was sobering.

We got to the top and went to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. This is where they believe the cross was placed and where the tomb was. Did you read my post yesterday about the Church of the Nativity? This was no different. You can't come all the way to Jerusalem and not see these things, but we all agreed that seeing the commercialized alters was not as meaningful to us as the places where we were studying and learning about Jesus through Scripture.

After lunch we were given time to do some shopping in the market place. We looked long and hard for a Guns N Moses shirt but we didn't find one...

We went back up to the Mount of Olives where we started our day and watched the sun set over the city of Jerusalem. Jim read the Olivet Discourse from Matthew 24 and 25. He talked about end times and where we are in the process. Phase one and two have have already come to pass, so we know that the prophecy has started and we know that it will be finished. It was very cool that two students from Prague, a married couple named Martin and Dana, were sitting on the steps near us watching the sunset. They heard Jim's entire teaching and came up afterwards to thank him. They are believers from the Czech Republic and are in Jerusalem for 3 weeks to study. A group member invited them to come back to the hotel and have dinner with us and I know they appreciated the fellowship with fellow believers. Only God could create a kinship between people from Grand Rapids and the Czech Republic, meeting seemingly randomly in Jerusalem. I love God. He's awesome.

We had another amazing debrief. God has done amazing things this week. A-mazing. During that time we prayed for Jim and Lisa and asked the Lord to bless them in a mighty way for how they have poured their lives into ours this week. For Chad, that the Lord would bless him for his humble servitude. And for Josh Phillips, that the Lord will strengthen him as he goes back to his calling as a pastor to a church in Maine.

It's hard to believe that tomorrow is our last day. We will be visiting the Western Wall, City of David, Pool of Siloam, the Upper Room, the House of Caiaphas and the garden tomb. We will get back to the hotel sometime late afternoon and pack up and get on the bus to head to the airport. We have appreciated your prayers while we are gone and would love prayers for traveling mercies on the way home.

Day 6

I would like to thank Lori who wrote yesterday's blog post. The Lord worked it out that when I was very tired, she had things on her heart she wanted to share with you.

This morning we started out by going to Bethlehem. We had no trouble getting into Palestine and we had a Christian tour guide meet up with us to share about the city. This is the security wall that separates the West Bank.

We were able to go to a cave in a shepherd's field, which would have been a lot like the stable that Jesus was born in. Around that cave, in the glorious sunshine, we had Calvary Church. After a week of learning and studying, it was refreshing to have time to worship and praise God for who He is. We were able to take communion again, sing praise and worship songs and shout out praises to God in the city where He was born. We were all feeling pretty blessed.

Our guide - whom I'm going to call Joy because that's what her name means in English and I have no idea how to spell it in Arabic - taught us about shepherds and sheep. She went through Psalm 23 and gave us context about shepherds and it brings the Psalm to life.

We got back on the bus and headed to the Church of the Nativity. It's too bad we didn't have time to stop for coffee on the way.

It was cool to see where they think Jesus was born and laid in a manger, but the surroundings of the nativity distracted from Who was really born there. It's almost as if they've turned it into an altar or good luck charm... Of course, we just finished studying 1 Samuel 4 this week where the Philistines used the Ark of the Covenant like a genie. That's still fresh on my mind.

We had a lovely lunch at a Palestinian restaurant. We had lamb and hummus and salads and pita bread. We finished off with baklava and the brave ones had Turkish coffee. Jason says, "That baklava was gooooood." It's different from Greek baklava because they don't use honey, they use orange blossom water.

We were able to go to a store that is run by Christians and purchase olive wood souvenirs. The Christians in Bethlehem carve them and that is their main supply of income. We had to be generous with them, right? The women shopped while the men warded off the street vendors waiting outside to attack us. It was pretty humorous watching all of the men being pressured into buying necklaces and women's scarves.

After a short wait at the border, we were able to re-enter Jerusalem. Two young soldiers with machine guns did a quick scan through our bus and then let us go. We are thankful for no issues there.

We headed out to Ein Karem, which means "Spring of the vineyard." This would have been the area that Mary came to visit Elizabeth. There's a church at the top of the hill that has Mary's Magnificat carved in stone in 65+ different languages. While we were there, Lisa helped us see why Mary is blessed among women. We went through everything that she had to endure, yet was humble and obedient to what the Lord asked her to do. We were encouraged to follow her example by 1) having the courage to obey, even when it's hard. And 2) recall all the things God has done for us. We had time by ourselves to write down all of our gratitude to the Lord because the Mighty One has done great things for us. I filled my page and ran out of time. What a good and gracious God we serve.

We walked to a local restaurant that fed us more abundantly then we could have imagined. A lot of people were excited to see a hamburger on the menu!

Again, for the third night in a row, our debrief time was powerful and meaningful. The Holy Spirit has been present in a very unique way this week and the Lord has done mighty things. I'm extremely grateful for this community of believers! Through Jim and Lisa's teachings, we learned how God has woven everything in the Bible together, from Genesis to Revelation. This week, we have seen how He has done the same thing in our lives. We are finding out how He has intricately weaved all of our stories together and we have to say, "You just can't make this stuff up!"

Tomorrow we are headed to the Temple Mount, Garden of Gethsemane, Church of St. Anne, Bethesda, Stations of the Cross, Holy Sepulchre, the Western Wall, and the Mount of Olives. Whew. That sounds like a lot, so I think I'll sign off and get some sleep! Thank you for your prayer.

Day 5 - You can't make this stuff up by Lori Morley

I’ll just be honest. My mind is blown. It’s blown that I’m here. It’s blown by the sights I’ve seen. It’s blown by the community that I have experienced with my fellow travelers. It’s blown about the things that I am learning. I can hardly absorb it all. As we’ve heard Jim say multiple times on this trip, “You can’t make this stuff up.” In other words, it’s so good that it seems unbelievable, but it’s true.

 It was another amazing day in the land of Israel. We started our morning by taking a walk into the wilderness. Seeing the rocky and desolate land reminds me of how remarkable it is that, although the Israelites walked this place for 40 years, God did not allow their clothes or shoes to wear out. The wilderness in Scripture represents a number of things in our lives; danger and death, rebellion and discipline, sin and temptation, testing and humbling, quiet and refuge, a place to encounter God and experience His provision. Above all, the wilderness is associated with PRIDE. Whether we think of ourselves too high or too low, the problem is that we too often take our focus off of God and put it on ourselves. God often leads us into the wilderness so that we will come face to face with our own insufficiency. There’s no place to run. No one to rescue. Everything is stripped away and God reminds us where our focus and our dependence must be. What is your wilderness and how would God like to meet you there?

 Other sites that we visited today are the Jordan River, Jericho, and the Jerusalem-Jericho Road. I’d love to give the details for each place but I am just going to focus on our visit to Jericho. Our guide through Jericho was a Christian archaeologist named Joel Kramer. Joel has a pretty interesting story. He spent his childhood in the Middle East as the son of a man who worked in the oil business. He went to boarding school in Arizona, went to college somewhere in the US, and was a pastor in Utah before he decided to pursue Biblical archaeology at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. Joel’s Biblical explanation of the Jericho ruins was a powerful testimony to the inerrancy of God’s Word. There’s no way that I can restate his detailed explanation so I’ll just list a few of the facts.

 1. When the Jericho walls were built, there was a foundation wall of stone upon which was built a mud brick wall. The foundation wall would have been 20-25 ft. high and the mud brick wall would be an additional 20 ft. high. The part of the wall that needed to be knocked down for the enemy to enter was the upper part of mud bricks. People’s misunderstanding of the structure of the walls leads them to say that the Biblical account must be wrong because the Jericho walls are still standing. The lower part is still there but the upper part has obviously collapsed outward.
 2. The Jericho ruins do indeed have piles of mud bricks which run along the outside of the foundation walls indicating that the walls fell outward and could not have been the result of an earthquake. Official archaeology reports indicate that they “came tumbling down”. Sound familiar?
 3. When the mud brick walls fell outward, they formed a ramp by which the Israelites could walk up and into the city to conquer it.
 4. There is a burn line in the ruins indicating that the city was burned during a time of history that aligns with Joshua and the battle of Jericho.
 5. All archaeologists, believers and non-believers alike, agree that all of the above facts are true and yet the connection between the archaeological findings and the Bible is being suppressed, mostly for political reasons.

Joel was very passionate when he spoke and at one point, he threw his hands up to show his incredulity that a person, when presented with the Biblical evidence, would choose not to believe it. That’s when he uttered the phrase that we’d been hearing from Jim all week, “You can’t make this stuff up!” If you would like more information, you can read articles that Joel has written for Associates for Biblical Research or order Joel’s DVD, Jericho Unearthed. If you google his name, I believe he also has some video clips on you tube.

After touring the Jericho ruins, we moved into a nearby restaurant and I got to chat with Joel personally. When I told him that I had been a missionary in Papua New Guinea, he said, “You’ve got to be kidding!” He said that he had traveled there in the early nineties and wrote about it in a book called Beyond Fear. He asked, “Were you with New Tribes Mission?” I said yes and he named off several of his friends that I also am acquainted with. A God ordained meeting, do you think? One thing I do know is that God’s fingerprints are all over this trip and some things are just too good to make up.

 At the end of the day, we made our way to Jerusalem where we will stay for the last three days of our tour. Next up: Church of the Nativity, Shepherd’s Field, Ein Karem – Church of the Visitation, all of which are in Bethlehem.

Day 4

Today was another beautiful day in Israel. The weather has been absolutely fantastic; we couldn't ask for anything better.

We started out this morning on a trip to Masada. Not a biblical location, more historical. The ruins were very neat to see and our guide, Boaz, gave us a history lesson on the fortress there. On a personal note, I made it to the top and I shed a tear in gratitude to the Lord for that.

After taking the cable car down, we drove to En Gedi. After taking a trail back to a freshwater waterfall, we all sat down in the rocks and Jim asked us to read 1 Samuel 23. It's the story of when David was hiding from Saul. Saul went into a cave and it happened to be the one that David was hiding in. We talked about how many times the word "hands" appears in that passage. When David cut off a corner of Saul's robe instead of killing him, it was a kind reminder that Saul was not obeying the Lord. (The corner of Saul's robe would have had a blue tassel on it, which represented obedience. Numbers 15:37-40.) Jim reminded us that this teaching shows us that we should not take matters into our own hands, but rather trust God in all things.

Lisa asked us to read Psalm 57 and asked us to insert our own name in the Psalm. It was very powerful to talk about taking refuge and praising God while enemies are pressing down on us, while sitting and looking up at the caves that David could have very well hidden in.

We had a nice lunch overlooking the Dead Sea and were able to celebrate Lisa's birthday with ice cream and a song.

Next, Jim talked about how Eden is a mountain and the water flowed east off the mountain to water the garden. We went to passages in Genesis, Ezekiel, Deuteronomy, John and Revelation. I wish I could wrap it all up into a nice, neat box and present it to you like Jim can, but I can't. He shared a ton of history, information, cross reference and pulling things together... but I can summarize: Jesus wins and the Dead Sea will be fresh water. Even though this area is the lowest place on earth, his love reaches even there.

We came back to the hotel and all went for a swim in the Dead Sea. The water felt really nice. It's not something you can really explain; you have to do it yourself.

After supper, we had a beautiful debrief session. We heard powerful testimonies and several people made confessions and needed extra prayer. We had a sweet time of weeping and mourning through prayer with those and it was a very powerful time of feeling the Holy Spirit's presence.

Our trip is only half done and it feels like our brains and hearts are already filled to the brim. After eavesdropping on other tour guides, it made me realize what a gift we have to come here and get such deep biblical teaching, not just a history lesson.

Thank you for your prayers. Today we will visit the wilderness, Jericho and then land in Jerusalem.

Day 3

Shalom! We had another great day with more beautiful weather. God graciously allowed it to rain all night and have it stop just about the time we had to load up the luggage onto the bus.

We had a very full day today with a lot of hiking and a lot of teaching. We started our trip this morning on Mt Carmel. Jim did the teaching while we overlooked the Valley of Megiddo. It's breathtaking. He talked about some of the battles that took place there and how God used water and fire to win battles and sometimes He didn't help because of disobedience. It was a fascinating lesson through 1 Kings, Judges, 2 Chronicles, John and into Revelation. Armageddon means Mount of Megiddo so we talked about Armageddon. About that same time, fighter jets started circling around the area so we all had a chuckle about that. (It appeared they were just doing a training mission.)

Then we headed to Caesarea by the Sea. The "sea" is the Mediterranean Sea. It was absolutely beautiful. Herod knew what he was doing when he put his palace on this piece of prime real estate.

We talked about Acts 1-9. Caesarea played a very important role in how the gospel was proclaimed throughout the ends of the earth. Philip traveled about, preaching the gospel in all the towns until he reached Caesarea. Since it was a port town, the gospel went out in many directions and all the way to Grand Rapids, Michigan.

Next was Beth Shemesh. Jim talked about the different attitudes that the Philistines and the Israelites (David in particular) had about the Ark of the Covenant. The Philistines treated it like a genie or a good luck charm. David didn't take the time to look up how it should be respected. We need to remember that He is holy. We cannot send him away; when we do, so does the blessing that comes with it. We were encouraged to examine what's going on in our own hearts.


We went up to Azeka, overlooking the Elah Valley. This is where David and Goliath met on the battlefield. Jim taught us how Goliath was a demonic being and  that's why people were so afraid of him. It's why no one wanted to fight him. Jim reminded us that David, a man after God's own heart, knew he needed to use the strongest weapon in the battle and that's a heart of faith. The weapons of demonic forces cannot be fought with weapons of the world; they must be fought with the Lords of strength.

Lisa then helped us with personal application. We had time to consider battles that were currently facing, what we've attributed our battle to and what weapons we've been using to fight the battle. We asked God to open our eyes to the spiritual aspects of our battle and what weapons God has provided to help us fight. It was a great time of reflection and application.

We headed down in to Elah Valley and each picked up 5 smooth stones. We will write on them as a remembrance of this truth: The battle is the Lord's.

We then descended 1,300 ft below sea level to our hotel on the Dead Sea. It was a long and windy road, connected to a long and windy road. It was dark when we arrived so we have not seen the sea yet, but dinner was lovely and we had a great debrief. At debrief, we had the opportunity to ask Jim anything we had questions about or to share what we've learned.

Jim and Lisa are such a wealth of knowledge and information. They have both been a blessing to the group and have poured themselves out all week. We've come to respect Chad Kerr, too. It's obvious how much time he puts ino the planning because every detail is handled. Someone said people don't appreciate him until day 5 so we're ahead of the curve.

Tomorrow is Masada, En Gedi, Qumran and swimming (aka floating) in the dead sea.

As always, thank you for your prayers.