Desert Refelctions

We left the desert today and traveled into Galilee.  

Before leaving the desert, we went to the same place we had devotions yesterday to share our reflections about the desert.  We spent a lot of time talking about the imagery in Psalm 23.  

The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not be in want.

He makes me lie down in green pastures.

He leads me beside quiet waters, he restores my soul.

He guides me in paths of righteousness for his name's sake.

David here isn't painting the picture of a lush green field with every one of his needs met like I had always pictured.  He's saying that God gives use just enough to do what he needs us to do.  Just enough to get us to the place where we can take one more step.

We have all experienced deserts in our lives.  My biggest two were loosing my job at the elementary school and last year's car accident.  God doesn't promise us that there won't be deserts, but he does promise us that he'll lead us through those.  I can attest to that.

On the way back to the van, there were camels blocking our path.  It was amazing that they let us get as close as we didn't.  Jeff didn't use a zoom lens for these pictures!

From there, we went to Qumran where the Dead Sea scrolls were found.

Here's the cave where the original one was found.

The cave is located be an Essen settlement.  The Essenes were a group of religious Jewish males that dedicated themselves to preparing for the Messiah.  John the Baptist may have studied with them.  They were intensely committed to the copying and studying of scripture.  One person would read the text, with another looking over his shoulder making sure he read it correctly.  Another would write what was read, with an additional person looking over his shoulder.  They believed every period, the, and and was the word of God and they copied accurately. 

This is the room they used to copy scripture based on evidence found at the site.  

Take away from Qumran: I need to take more time to study scripture.  If this book is what I'm basing my beliefs, actions, and decisions on, why don't I spend more time reading it?

We passed Masada again.  Here's a pretty good picture of the snake path we climbed down.

On our way up to Galilee, we briefly stopped in Jericho for lunch.  Jericho is the oldest city in the world, although it has been rebuilt multiple times.

This is a sycamore tree.  It looks pretty good for climbing!

This is the Israeli check point that you're really not supposed to take pictures of.

When we arrived in Galilee, we drove up to Mt. Arbel where we got a gorgeous overview of the Sea of Galilee.

We were going to hike back down, but it was too late in the day and the park wouldn't let us.  I was totally OK with that because it was REALLY windy.  I had a difficult time just standing still.

Nof Ginosar Kibbutz Hotel is our home for the next few night.  The cabins are cute and the food is REALLY good!  It's right on the Sea of Galilee and we got some time to go swimming.  I'll also be doing laundry in the sink here since it actually has a drain plug and I can put stuff outside to dry.

 Our next few days will be spent living in Jesus' footsteps as he worked his earthly ministry.