Day 5
May 29, Wednesday
Today we are travelling around the Sea of Galilee, past banana fields
and Lebanon cedars. The rolling hills
are dotted with brush and yellow grasses waving in the wind. The winding roads are bordered with wild
flowers: magenta, yellow, orange, white, interspersed with red roses and large
purple thistles. And it seems that we can see the shadow of Jesus climbing the way of
the mountain that rolls down to the sea.
When we reach this place, we hear Jeff’s words and we sit in silence; we
hear the calls of the birds, the breeze in the trees, the grasses rustling and
our people breathing. We feel the hearts
of those sitting near us beating, beating…and we hear the echoes of Jesus
speaking…
Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven,
Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted,
Blessed are the meek; the merciful, the pure in heart and the peacemakers;
blessings…the echoes of His heart beating.
As we stand to leave, we see the imprints of His footfalls left in the
grass and hear his voice still in the air, here on the Sermon
Mount. Now we are leaving the imprints
of our own feet as we walk down the mountain side, walking where He walked;
looking out to the sea, like the people did in those days…looking out across
the Sea to the other side and to the shores close by that wrap around the sea
of Galilee; the shores of Capernaum and the fishing villages that used to be there, one next to the other including Migdal, the place where Mary
Magdalene lived, the place she ran from to join in with Jesus as He walked by. We walked through the place where Jesus and
the disciples fed the 5000 and we walk along the seaside where Jesus asks three
times “Peter, do you love me?”
We dip our feet into the sea and scoop up the small stones to save in
jars; small pieces of the sea, the sea where Jesus stepped into and called “throw
your nets on the other side” The sea that touched the town He called home; the
sea He sailed and lived and breathed, “come I will make you fishers of men.”
Not too far from here we enjoy a lunch of St. Peters fish before we go on to see one of the
greatest finds…the proof of a life style from the time of Jesus; the finding of
a 2000 year old fishing boat…to whom did this boat belong, to a fisherman of
the Sea of Galilee, perhaps to Jesus and His disciples; a beautiful mystery, an
amazing discovery and a moment that changed everything.
Amazingly enough there is yet more as we board our own sailing boat on
the Sea of Galilee and set sail for the ‘other side’ singing the anthems of
Canada, the US and of Israel along with songs of worship and praise…How Great
Thou Art, Amazing Grace, It is Well with my Soul and more…an amazingly
emotional, heartfelt voyage, overflowing with joy, music, singing, laughter and dancing…sailing
on the Sea of Galilee. Tears.
Arriving on the other side we head for home, Emilis, where we make a
quick change to come back for a swim in the sea, diving off rocks into the depths
of it, coming up for a breath and then swimming out, taking it in…swimming in
the Sea of Galilee.
I love that.
