Free Day

Tina Huber

Reflections~free day

January 21, 2012

My last exam was yesterday. I had a free morning yesterday but used it to study. If you are not aware this trip is more than a tour of the holy land. This is an in-term class worth 4 credit hours from JUC. I had romanticized this trip so much to be a spiritual tour of the holy land that when it first started I was disappointed with the amount of geology I had to learn! I now appreciate it because I really do feel that I have gotten a better look into how people where formed based on the environment and culture they group in. Middle eastern culture is very different from the west. One thing I appreciate about the eastern culture is their hospitality. They offer you tea and food all the time. This is something I have really appreciated. The men who serve us our food at JUC will give us double portions because we are their guest. (and they get offended if you stop them from doing it!) It brings them honor to be generous. I feel like this is a quality that us westerners need to embrace. It would bring God honor if we were more hospitable and generous. Not just in our time and money to our church but inviting others into our homes! I have enjoyed my time here in Israel but I have also been homesick. I miss the rest of my family. Mark and I have never been away from each other this long in our 21 years of marriage. I am used to talking with him everyday, even if he is out of town on business. I really missed sharing this experience with Mark and Otto too. I guess we’ll just have to come back! I had 3 goals when I came to Jerusalem. One, to learn about the holy land and have a deeper understanding that will strengthen my faith in God. I can say I accomplished this. This has been an amazing experience. I never feel like I am fully able to communicate with you all that I have seen or thought on a trip even tho I want to! Two, to get an A in the class. After my first week of class I thought I would be happy with a C! I got a B on my first exam and an A on my second so I am still hopeful I will be able to get an A. Three, to not fall and hurt myself. Two out of three ain’t bad! I have been so careful at these sites. Everything is rocky uneven ground and it has been a conscious effort placing each foot at some of these sites. The stairs are the worst. They are uneven. I had just said to one of the professors on the trip how I hated these stairs because they aren’t consistent in height or width. So coming off an archeological site in Galilee I miss judged a stair and went flying down. This was a very steep set of stairs that took you to a synagogue. I missed stepped on about step 8, was able to touch a foot on step 6 to push myself away from hitting the stairs head first and flew over steps 1-5 to land on the gravel below. I tried to roll but my back pack stopped me. It also is what propelled me forward. It weighs at least 10 lbs. most days. I have been sore for a few days now and have some lovely bruises on my right hip. I didn’t have to admit to this! I figure someone along the way will make a smart aleck comment about me not getting injured on my trip and I’ll have to confess anyway =) So, this has truely been a day off and was spent just relaxing, having some quiet time, and taking motrin.

Galilee day 4

Tina Huber

Reflection Day 13

Galilee 4

January 19, 2012

What a start to the day! We boarded a fishing boat and crossed the Sea of Galilee! It was the highlight of my day. The air was crisp and the clouds were a little low which added a little haze to the hills that surrounded us. It was an absolutely beautiful morning! The sea is actually a lake. It is a fresh water lake and has over 30 different types of fish in it. We learned today that almost half of the species would not have been kosher. So, the question was raised, would Peter and Andrew have thrown these fish back or sell them to the gentiles? Zebedee was thought to have a successful fishing business, so most believe that they had many dealings with gentile merchants. I’ve always just thought that Jesus picked the fishermen because they were faithful Jewish men who were just common folk. That by using men who weren’t highly educated God’s greatness would be magnified in their weakness. I still believe that is one element of why he chose them, but maybe he also chose them because God’s salvation needed to go to the other nations. He would need men who understand how to deal with gentiles. If Jesus had picked men who came from isolated, strict Jewish communities maybe it would have been more difficult for them to carry out the great commission. The Sea of Galilee has an international highway that runs right along it. This area would be a mixed culture for sure. I think it makes sense and gives a better understanding of who the apostles were. We leave the boat and head to the ‘cliffs of insanity’! The proper name is the Cliffs of Arbel but I couldn’t stop thinking of The Princess Bride when I would look at it! My first thought was that is insane. It is a straight down drop. I am not scared of heights but I have to say I was feeling a little uneasy trying to peak down the side. My husband would not have liked it! Since it had rained all day yesterday it would have been too dangerous to hike down. So we sat up top and read the great commission. Some believe that this is where Jesus gave the great commission. As I sat there watching the clouds engulf the hill next to us I started to imagine the ascension as well. It gave me chills to think about it. We had an amazing view over the city Magdala and the Sea of Galilee. I think I could have sat up there for hours. I have felt that about many of our sites and when I come back with my hubby we will make a point to do that. I really want to share these experiences with him! Can you tell I’m getting home sick? We had lunch and I ate my first pitaless falafel. Eating hasn’t been too bad but I hadn’t felt like I had yet had Israeli cuisine until today. I was told that this restaurant is the fast food version of it but I thought it was yummy. We stopped just long enough for the rain to come through and leave us with some sunshine as we drove to Caesarea. This is another place I could have spent some more time exploring. It is a city that Herod The Great made into a port city. He made a harbor. It is amazing to me that he was able to accomplish this 2,000 yrs ago! He made underwater cement out of volcanic dust to build a harbor and marina for the ships to come too. If that wasn’t extravagant enough he also built a temple to Caesar and of course a palace. Our last lesson was here. We sat next to the hearing room. This is where Paul would pleaded his case before Felix and Festus and appealed to Caesar. It was suggested that because Paul was a Roman citizen that he probably didn’t die in Rome when he was sent there. His citizenship would have protected him from the Jewish accusations and that he might have done a fourth and fifth missionary trip to Spain. I’ve never heard that before. I have really enjoyed taking this class. I had romanticized this trip into being a purely spiritual journey. It has been much more than that and I am thankful. I have learned a heck of a lot about a heck of a lot! Does that make any sense? I would like to thank Caesarea for a wonderful cup of coffee. I will cherish the memories of the sites that I have seen, the scriptures I have read, and the time I have spent with Olivia. Our Greenville group was paired with another college from the states as we toured Israel. I would like to leave you with a few things that I will not miss.

1. The word ‘like’ being used in a way that does not describe something you are fond of
2. Cold showers
3. No toilet paper! I’m going to start a mission group to send TP to Israel
4. Having unidentifiable stuff on your hotel bedding
5. Nescafe instant coffee
6. Steps
7. people whining about being in Israel!
8. trips to the emergency room
9. Eggs
10. taking tests

Here are few things I will miss..

1. Sharing new insights of old bible verses
2. Exploring exciting ancient sites
3. Making memories with my daughter
4. JUC rice...mmmm good
5. Date honey
6. making fun of Nescafe coffee
7. Sitting on the beach
8. Sacred places
9. walking as means of transportation
10. lack of internet and television

I have a test tomorrow and then a few free days. I think I will continue my reflection papers till I get on the plane.

Galilee Day 3

Tina Huber

Refleciton day 12

Galilee 3

January 18, 2012

I really enjoyed today. We are focusing much more on the life of Jesus and the apostles. This is what I have been looking forward to the most. Deeper insights to my Saviour. We started our day with a trip to a hillside. It was a city called Gergesa. As we sat on the hill that looked out to the Sea of Galilee we discussed the scripture of Jesus calming the storm. I’ve always wondered what kind of storm would freak out a fisherman? Apparently this sea can whip up 8ft waves! Their tiny fishing boat would have been no match. Their boat ended up where we sat today. A man who was demon possessed came to Jesus for healing. I never have thought much about the man’s perspective in this story but at the end of the verse it says that he wanted to go with them but Jesus said he had to stay behind. Why would Jesus do that? A few thoughts were offered. One, Jesus told him to tell everyone the good things that God has done. From the text and this location we can assume that this man was a gentile. There is a group of pigs that end up in the sea. There are not many pig farms in a Jewish settlement. Jesus wanted this man be a witness to the gentiles. To stay behind and tell them of God’s faithfulness. He was laying the ground work for the apostles who later had great success in this area. Second, why would this man want to leave his hometown after being healed? Someone obviously has helped care for him since he was put into chains during his times of madness. I’m sure it wouldn’t be easy to try and fit back into that community. Maybe this man wanted to just start a new life and get away? Or maybe he wasn’t convinced that he was truley healed and wanted to stay with Jesus in case it came back? What a lesson here. I can see so many parrellels to our current journy of faith. How many of us want to just sit along side Jesus instead of getting out there and doing the hard work of mending relationships and living a life that will make us say to others, “look what good things God has done!” How many of us make Jesus heal us over and over for the same thing? I had two cups of coffee so my mind was racing with all kinds of thoughts. How many different applications one little lesson can have. Our next stop was at Qasrin. The purpose of stopping here was to see a reconstructed first century home. A home like what Jesus would have stayed at or lived in. We sat in the home and retold the story of the paralytic coming in through the roof. The house was full from all of us who are taking this class. I can just imagine sitting there listening to Jesus teaching and have roof debri start falling down! I would have been saying ‘what the heck!? Walking through Israel the past couple of weeks there has been one constant. Rocks. These homes would have all been made of stone. The tools are made of stone, the streets are made of stone, everything is stone. You get the picture. So I now picture Jesus as a stone mason instead of a carpenter. He most likely built homes which would require a great deal of strength and a mind for mathematics. I love this image. He was strong, smart, and wise. It was also suggested that He probably was the one who patched up the roof after the paralytic took up his mat and left. Our next stop was Chorazim. I had never heard of it but in Luke 10 Jesus ‘woes’ this city. Jesus had obviously did some signs and wonders and the people didn’t repent. We sat in the synagogue that was still largely intact. Jesus was faithful at going to the synagogue every Sabboth. Paul seemed to model this too. Take the word to God’s people first and then to the gentiles. God was being faithful to his word even when he knew his people wouldn’t respond. I love being reminded of this. We can trust God. He is truth! He is faithful.

Galilee Day 2

Tina Huber

Reflection Day 11

Galilee day 2

January 17, 2012

I almost stayed in bed today. I have had a stomach ache and was a little worried about traveling on a bus all day. It didn’t help that it was cold and rainy. I could have stayed snuggled up in my bed and drank tea all day. But, I didn’t. I hate to miss anything. I’m glad I went, not only for the lessons and the insights, but as a nurse too. I ususally write my reflections the same day. This day ended on a scary note that left me too exhausted to do my homework. Stay tuned. I think our first stop was Hazor. This is a city that was important because it sits along an international trade route. This cities main income was from trading tin. It was a huge city. Over 200 acres. It is mentioned in Joshua as a city that they burned. This site did have a burn layer, but the biblical timeline and the archeology timeline are off by a couple of centuries. This one of those, we don’t know what to do with that, sites. I am no expert in either. So, who knows? It was cool to see but I wasn’t going to lose sleep over it. We left and went to Dan. This was an awesome stop. It was a nature reserve park and had the coolest hiking trails. A spring feeds this area and I have several cool pictures of it gushing along the trail. There was a ton of greenery and even flowers blooming. Which is a weird site for January. It really made me forget about feeling kind of icky and focus on God’s beautiful creation. Sometimes I will drop back from the group just to have some quiet time. This was one of those times. We hiked several trails that would lead us to different archeological sites. I saw the oldest arch gate in the world that Abraham himself likely walked through! Another trail took us to a city gate that had benches along the walls and a throne seat. This is where legal matters would take place. An example of Boaz redeeming Ruth was discussed. Tours were passing through during our lesson and I could see why people would choose this area to do their legal business. There are many witnesses and it settles the ‘drama’ before you enter the city. Our last trail took us to the ruins of a sacred precinct in the time of Jeroboam. I just need to give a shout out here for my church. I have on many occassions studied a lot of the stories that we have discussed on this trip. We are a small church and we believe in studying the actual word of God and not just topics. I have appreciated this from the first time I visited Chatham Christian Church nearly 20 years ago. My trip to Israel has made me proud to be apart of a church family that cherishes God’s Word! So, back to Jeroboam. Jeroboam comes into power as Israel becomes a divided kingdom. Rehoboam is the idiot son of Solomon in the south and Jeroboam, not of any worthy bloodline, becomes the King in the north. This scacred precinct ruins is referenced in 1 Kings. Jeroboam is worried that everyone will travel to the south to worship in Jerusalem and revert their loyalty to King Rehoboam. To solve the dilema he decides to build a temple here in Dan. How cool to see something from so long ago. I always think of my son, Otto, when we reference kings in the old testament. He has always been fascinated with those stories. Just a homesick thought. The rain continued throughout the day that led to some cancellations, which is the downside, but also seemed to give us more time at each site, which is the bright side. Caesarea Philippi was our next stop. The side of the hill is remarkable. It has brown and black striped rocked all along it and at the base is a cave that (before a disasterous earthquake) had a huge spring coming out of its entrance. This was such a pagan place. It had temples set up for every false god imaginable. Dancing goats, Nemesis- the goddess of revenge, Nymph -no explanation needed here, and Zeus to name a few. It was common practice to take your sacrifice and throw it into the cave waters that swirled around. If it was taken into what they called the ‘chaos‘ (the water in the cave) then if your prayer was answered it would suck it into the abyss, but if it was spit it back out then your prayer was rejected. This was often viewed as the gate of hades among the worshippers. Walking along looking at all the places for these false idols was eerie. I didn’t like it. I volunteered and read Matthew 16 aloud to the group. This bedrock along the side of the hill was a land marker. When Caesarea Philipi is mentioned here by Jesus this hill would come to mind. The author makes a point of pointing out the geographical location in these verses, so maybe Jesus is referencing this place when he says the gates of hades will not overcome it. The gates of hades was thought you can get in but can’t get out. I wonder if seeing this hill and the deceived worshipping in vain led to this discussion with his disciples? Jesus is constantly using his surroundings to give illustrations. I will always have that in my mind now when I read those verses! We did a small hike that led us to King Aggrippa’s place. The same king that Paul preached to! Just a little side trip. I found a sketchy bone that looked human. I kept going. We also took a fun trip to see a water fall. It was lovely! Because of the rain it was pouring over the side of the hill with a ton of force. I love waterfalls! It was just another fun side trip. We left and went to see the peak of Mt Hermon. The professor who has been to this place 4 times has never seen the top because clouds are always in the way. We were expecting the same. It had been raining all day. We got to a look out point and the clouds cleared long enough for us to “ooo” and “ahh” and take pictures. Keeping busy helped take my mind of my nausea. I wasn’t the only one with stomach issues today. Several of us had been feeling pretty icky. When we got back on the bus, one of the sick had such bad stomach pains that he was moaning and flenching. I did a quick exam and thought it was best to head to the hospital. The closest hospital was about an hour away. This was the longest trip. His pain kept getting worse and worse. He was in such severe pain that he passed out a couple of times. I was getting very concerned for him. I thought he had appendicitis and that it might burst. It was quite an experience getting him to the emergency room. Once there they too were suspecting appendicitis and had him scheduled for some tests. There was some differences in patient care but overall the hospital staff was good, the hospital was clean, had the latest technology, and they spoke English well enough that I felt comfortable leaving. Ross spent the night at the hospital and it was determined that he had a bad viral infection in his intestines that was causing severe spasms. We all thought he would need to have surgery. I am very thankful that he is feeling better and out of the hospital. I have so far been to prompt care with a girl who fell down the stairs, help clean and bandage those injured by the Dead Sea, and spent the evening in the ER. Maybe having a nurse on the trip is bad luck?

Galilee Day 1

Tina Huber

Reflection Day 10

Galilee 1

January 16, 2012

We are off for a four day stay in Galilee. I am so excited for a couple reasons. One, our resort is THE best place I have slept at in over 2 weeks! The En Giev Resort is on the Sea of Galilee. Our room has heat, two bedrooms, a shower with a door on it, no nari crust on my bed linen, and EXTRA toilet paper in the bathroom! This is luxury! I have had to deal with some germ-a-phobic issues on this trip. My worst germodramitic moment was the first youth hostel we stayed in. When I opened the door of the room I actually thought... this is kind of cute. It had two low lying single beds in the room. I opened the bathroom and it was the weirdest thing I’ve ever seen. There was a drain in the middle of the bathroom and no shower curtain for the shower. In the middle of the shower lay a giant squeagy. The bathroom was just big enough for a sink and toilet and showerhead. When you shower water just sprays everywhere. Everything got drenched the toilet, the sink, and the whole floor. It was crazy in my mind but tolerable. I walked over to my bed to put my bag down and there was this large yellow, nasty, crust on the top of my blanket. At first, I just took it off and layed it on the floor but after inspecting Olivia’s linens too I ended up going to the front desk for fresh linens. I knew I wouldn’t be able to sleep if we kept those blankets. So, that is why I LOVE the luxury of this resort. Second, I am ready to start moving from Old Testament to New Testament. I have really enjoyed digging deeper into the Old Testament. That is the foundation of our faith and I do think it is overlooked and under taught in the Christian churches. However, I am super excited to take a deeper look into the land that Jesus grew up in and ministered in. Our first stop was Beth-shean. If you are like me, you might be thinking, never heard of it. I thought that when we walked up to the site but after reading the accounts in 1 Samuel I remembered the story linked to this city. This is where Saul, after being wounded in battle and falling on his own sword, had his body tied to the wall of this city. The Philistines were showing off their victory. The city below it was a little more fascinating to me. It was called Scythopolis and was built by the Romans. It apparently was destroyed in a huge earthquake in 747 AD. As I looked down the first thing I noticed was the huge theater seating. The Romans were trying to entice the people of this area. They wanted them to believe having Rome on your side is a good thing. All the luxuries were here. A temple, a bath house, and the theater. The Romans would slowing integrate into a culture or I should say the people of the area they occupied would integrate into a Roman lifestyle. When our instructor pointed out the theater area she said, “media has always been a mean of indocurination.” Nothing new under the sun! It is still true today! So, our first stop was a two in one. Our second stop was Meggido. We drove by the place that Jezebel got thrown off of on our way to Meggido. It was a drive by but I was glad to see it. I thought Meggido had an amazing view over the valley below. There is a ton of history in these valleys. We talked about several stories that took place within our view. Debra and Barak, King Josiah recieving his fatal wound, and Gibeon’s battle to name a few. Meggido was an important city because of its location along an international route that connected the Mediterranean coast to Damascus. The archeological site had 20 layers to it and 10 destruction layers were from the Iron Age alone. So this was a popular site to capture. A pretty cool site overall. We hop on our bus and toodle on over to Mt Carmel. Here we hiked to an area that overlooks the site where Elijah challenged Baal’s prophets. It was so cool. Just sit there and imagine witnessing God proving that He alone is God and no other god exists. That is what I pictured this trip being about. Reading scripture in places where they occured. I have not been disappointed! I love it. We read to the point that Elijah flees in fear of Jezebel and hikes to Mt Sanai. It was suggested that Elijah after this huge display of boldness, has a struggle of faith here. At Mt Sanai God reveals himself as “the sound of thinnest silence” or whisper in the wind to Elijah. I love that verse. God is not in the big and flashy moments. He is more often in the quiet, reflective moments. How can we hear our shepherd if we aren’t listening. Our last stop was on Nazareth. Finally! Jesus territory! This small village sat up in a secluded hillside. Below them the international road ran through the valley. This area was a conservative people who believed in the one true God and were looking for their messiah. Jesus would have grown up in this village with it huge cliffs overlooking the valley below. The history of his people would be present in his daily life because so many stories happened within his view. We read Luke 4. Jesus reads the passage of Isaiah in the synagogue. We discussed how the crowd went from being in awe to wanting to throw him over a cliff with in a few short sentences. Jesus was telling this heavily taxed and Roman controlled people that they were not the oppressed. The Romans were the ones oppressed and suffering because they didn’t know God. Basically that God loves the Romans too. They were ready to stone Jesus for saying this! We sat along the edge that they would have brought him to throw him over. This cliff is named the flying cliff because some say he flew over the people and escaped. I’ve never heard that part before. I enjoyed imagining Jesus just being a boy and playing on these hills.

Masada/En Gedi/ Dead Sea

Tina Huber

Reflection Day 9

January 13, 2012

Masada/Dead Sea

The day started off lovely. An overcast day but no rain for our hike up Masada. Masada is best known for its last stand against the Roman army. A commune was formed out at this fortress that used to belong to Herod the Great. Oh, Herod and his many homes! This one over looks the Dead Sea. It had a swimming pool on top of it and a georgous view. Herod loved extravagance and linked it to how he wanted to be viewed by the world. Wether you are approaching Masada, or standing on top of it overlooking the valley, you can tell Herod was making a statement. This group that took its last stand here benefited from Herod excessiveness. The palace had store rooms full of food and plenty of water sources too. This community could live years in comfort and had even started to cultivate some land on top of this huge rock. The Romans, however, were masters at buildning seige ramps. We hiked up this siege ramp to get to the top. I can barely carry the extra weight of my back pack! I can’t imagine trying to roll anything up this ramp with enough force to break down the wall. The walls were built with wood reinforcements so everytime they would hit the wall with their ramming cart it just made it stronger. It didn’t take the Romans long to think they would just burn it down. Josephus was cited a few times as a historical reference. It was offered that Josephus was an exagerator in his writing. He did this to give a positive view of Jewish people, that they were a worthy adversary, to his Roman audiance. I know nothing of Josephus except that he was a historian and is sited a lot, even in this class, so he has to have some credibility in his recall of events. Archeology findings and some of his writings didn’t add up at this site. There is always two sides of a story and two perspectives. I don’t think we can claim to know exactly what happened here. Only that it was tragic. This group chose to commit mass murder and then suicide over letting the Romans take them captive. Over 900 were killed and only 2 women and 5 children survived. They survived by hiding in a cistern from the men who decided they should all die. It is a very sad event in the history of this country. I was so looking forward to En Gedi when we left Masada. I often associate En Gedi as a time of rest. We were going to hike there but the canyon was closed due to flash flooding. I would go to a desert on the one day there is flash flooding! We kept hearing "it nevers rain at the dead sea." We had to skip this site and went to the Dead Sea just across the road. Let me set the scene. It is cold and rainy outside. Maybe a high of 50 degrees and super windy. We decide this is our one chance to get in the Dead Sea and put on our swimsuits. I kept thinking, “what in the heck am I doing?” I was SO cold and the sea didn’t look pleasant! We hurried down to the “beach”... I put that in quotations because it consisted of hard large rocks and jagged mineral stone. This wall of mineral stone wasn’t exposed last year. The Dead Sea is literally dying. The country needs every bit of water that drains into this sea, so it is evaporating approximately 1 meter every year. It was very difficult to get over the mineral wall and into the water because the waves were crashing in. I tried to time it just right so the wave would carry me away from the wall. My timing worked but a wave smacked me in the face and I was blinded. The ocean is three percent salt and the Dead Sea is something like thirty percent. The sea also makes you boyant which is a very weird feeling. This feeling, along with the waves and being blinded, left me feeling very scared and vulnerable. I then did a very stupid thing and tried to wipe the salt from my eyes with my hand. That just left me with more salt. I was in some severe pain. I clenched my eyes shut as hard as I could over and over to try to get some vision. I could feel the waves carrying me towards the hard mineral wall. I was about 10 feet from the wall when I was able to open my eyes long enough to orient myself. One of the guys from our group was getting out onto shore so I yelled for him to help me out of the water. It wasn’t until the wounded started showing up in the changing room, that I realized he had saved me from some serious injuries. At least half of our group got smacked into the salt wall as they tried to get out of the Dead Sea. Our changing room was like a Red Cross station after a disaster. Thankfully, most were minor abrasions, but there was about 5 or 6 that had pretty significant cuts to bandage. That I continue to monitor We were all a little shaken. Remember, I started this story with the thoughts, “what the heck am I doing?” Sometimes it is smart to listen to that cautious voice. Yesterday the voice was telling me I COULDN’T do something, today the voice was saying I SHOULDN’T do something. There is a big difference! I will be more in tune the rest of this trip with the latter of the two! Our last stop was in Qumran. This is where the famous Dead Sea Scrolls were discovered. We were able to view the “Library” cave from the landing. This is where most of the maunscripts were found. What’s the big deal about finding all these scrolls? They prove that the preservation techinique for our Bible is accurate. We have the same Old Testament that Jesus would quote. Mark and I were just teaching our Sunday School class about this. This very question came up. How can we trust that the bible has remained accurate all this time? We mentioned the Dead Sea Scrolls to them and now I have some more insights to share. God is so good!

Negev

Tina Huber

Refleciton Day 8

Negev

January 12, 2012

I have a couple of regrets for my trip so far. First, I didn’t bring MY bible. I brought A bible. I downloaded a NIV version for my iPhone so I wouldn’t have as much to pack around during our hikes. I got lazy, and to be honest scared that I wouldn’t be able to handle the extra weight. I’m not sure that I would have used it for hiking, but I definetly would be using it during this reflection time. I miss my margin notes from my 20 years of bible study. Second, I wish I had completed my high school english requirements! For those of you who don’t know, I quit high school my senior year. I could list many reasons, english being one of them, but I justified a bunch of stuff in my head, blamed others for my failures, and just gave up. This is a regret I’ve had for the past 25 years. I have chose to learn from my mistakes instead of dwell on them. However, I do wish I had a larger vocabulary so I could more adequately explain the sites I see! I wish this more for your sake than for mine at this point. I feel like I just keep saying, “wow, that is breath taking!” (I feel like the author of the Twighlight Series. She seriously needed a thesaurus and so do I). So with that disclaimer lets go to our first stop of the day! We drove to the Tel Beer Sheba. I think I am starting to get a feel for how some of these cities might have looked. This tel was helpful in that it had a reconstruction line. You could see where the remains ended and where the excuvators building started. I was having a hard time at first picturing the homes and streets, but I am starting to get an eye for it. It’s a little like when you look at sonograms and have to find a baby in it. It sometimes takes a lot of imagination! I would summerize today as viewing some of the biblical characters in a different light. I say that because this first sight we discussed how Abram settled in this area with his caravan. He would have been the “Godfather” of this area along the spice trade route. A hospitable Godfather, but a man who would have had to approve all the comings and goings along this route. I never pictured him in this light before. My perspectives are being challenged a bit. I viewed Samson as this super strong hero, yet he was weak in so many areas. I viewed Abraham as a gentle father of faith character who obviously had many strengths to settle in a foriegn land.

When we got to our next stop I felt like I was one of the ancient towns people as we walked along the path that led us to the oldest cannanite city. The fortress stood on the hill to protect them. I could imagine the security that must have brought them. A false security. When we entered the fortress there was a temple in it and you could see the Holy of Holies area. I was excited to see that at first, but then you could see that this temple made God share his altar with another god. It was suggested that the people here believed that Yahwey was the God of gods. Their theology was one that God was awesome and better than the other gods, but they didn’t want to quite give up worshipping the other ones just in case. The people are making a move to monotheism from henotheism. They just can't let go of some old ways. It made me think how our society today promotes us as Christians to make God share His throne in our hearts. What do we try to cram in there and make God take a back seat? We kind of view that there is room for it all. I have my God section here, my worldly section here and there is room for both. I couldn’t help but think when I saw this double Holy of Holies that God wasn’t there at all. God doesn’t share His throne! He didn’t then and He doesn’t now! He gives us free will and if we choose to replace His throne with other fake gods or idols then He will leave. What a scary life application this was for me! This perspective needs to be in my mind daily. So my theme in this reflection is regret and perspective. I believe our perspective on situations can make our regrets a negative or positive experience in the long run. I started with the thoughts of regret today because I almost let my fear of failure cause another regret. We hiked the Nahal Zin to picture what the wilderness for forty years might have been like. I was super excited to go into this deep canyon and was warned that it is difficult at the end. I thought no problem! About half way through the hike I could see what looked like a ladder going straight up the wall of the canyon. I turned to someone and said, “do we have to go up THAT?!” I heard the reply, “yep, yep, yep.” echoing in the canyon in front of me. Here were my thoughts. Oh crud! I can’t do that. What if I start and can’t finish. I’ll get stuck and they’ll have to call in a chopper or something to come get me! That would be too embarrassing! I should turn back now. Olivia could tell I was nervous. And I think I voiced my lack of confidence. She turned to me and said, “You can do it mommy, come on!” She led the way and didn’t look back. I would regret this if I didn’t try. It was a steep climb up the side of this canyon wall. I took many breaks along the way but eventually I made it. I had tears in my eyes as I looked over the canyon below. I thanked God for the strength to get up and the safety of us all. The view was a great reward! No regrets today! We loaded the bus and it took us to the top of a mountain with the largest crater in the world. It is called Makhtesh Ramon or the Super Bowl! Yep, Olivia and I went to the super bowl and watched the sunset drape the hills below. We sat up there and had meditation time as we watched the sun set over the landscape. It was breath taking! I read Psalm 19 and pondered how Majestic God is to create such an amazing view!

Shephelah

Tina Huber

Reflection day 7

Shephelah

January 11, 2012

Todays adventure started in the Judean Hill country at a place called Sattaf. This isn’t a biblical site but the lessons we learned certainly were. The drives that we take to our field studies are just breathtaking! I have learned so much in this first week on the lay of the land. Both from my classroom time and from hiking through it! We have studied the type of rock and soil in this historical land. Like today, the reason for this trip was to view the terraces on the side of the hill country. Terraces are small, walled off sides of the hill that are used for farming purposes. I love looking at them. They bring color to the hillsides. The farmers would accumulate only a quarter of an acre per year. It is precious vital land that was necessary for those who settled in these hills. So what is the lesson I learned from this? Hard to see a spiritual, life application till you know a little more. The rock that makes up these hill is called cenomanian. This bedrock provides everything for the people who settle here. This type of rock forms natural caves, which would be used for housing, springs get trapped in its stratified layers, we all now how vital water is, and the fertile soil that erodes off the hillside. When the psalmist calls God our rock, the word here stands for this bedrock stone. This stone that provides all of lifes necessities! God isn’t some little stone or boulder. He is the bedrock! How cool is that image?!!

It has been a cold and rainy day. By God’s grace we seemed to just miss the downpours today. So thankful! The weather didn’t bother me much. The sites and the stories are way to interesting to let a little rain get me down. I’m in Israel! Who cares! Beth Shemesh was our next stop. This town in located in the Shephelah (shfay-lah). I was pronouncing it (sheph-a-lah) because my brain only works phonetically. The Shephelah is a bunch of low rolling hills. Beautiful! Beth Shemesh is a town in this region. It is mentioned in the bible as the town that the Ark of the Covenant was sent through when the Philistines ‘sent it back.’ From our view we could see the hill where Samson lived and the valley that led to his first wife, Tinmah. We talked about his life for a bit and when you reflect on him he doesn’t seem like quite the hero I have made him in my mind. Although he may have been physically strong, he seemed to be very weak at leading his people. I’m thankful God uses imperfect people. Let’s go from one imperfect servant to the next as we travel to Azekah to overlook the Sorek Valley. This is where David and Goliath battle it out! We read the story and I love the smack talk that happens between these too. It was suggested that David in picking up his five stones was insinuating “after I kill you I’m going to kill your four brothers too.” Blood revenge was huge in this time and David was so sure he was going to kill Goliath that he picked up the extra stones to get his brothers if they attacked him. I thought that was very interesting. The story doesn’t mention anything about the brothers so I’m thinking they chose to run over retaliate. We took off running too. Trying to stay ahead of the rain we enter into the Tel of Lachish. Lachish was a vital city to Judah. Artifacts at this site have been dated to Hezekiah’s reign. Assyria is the enemy of Hezekiah’s kingship and this city was one of early warnings of invasion. I heard stories of Lachish that gave me nightmares. The Assyrians would make an example out of any town that resisted them and Lachish resisted. They were known for skinning people alive. The horrible things we do to each other for power and money. The site filled me with sadness as I walked around and imagined their final days. I couldn’t help but think to God why do you love us? I look out over the remains of this city and up in the sky is a beautiful rainbow peeking through our overcast day! Just what I needed at this moment to remember not just the promise that the rainbow represents but His promise of our redemption through Jesus Christ! God is our constant when we are surrounded by choas. We left and headed to Ashekelon. This is a port city on the sea. I walked to the beach and dipped my feet in the Mediterranean as waves came crashing in. Choas and serenity in the same moment. It is all in the perspective.

Samaria

Tina Huber

Reflections Day 6

Samaria

January 9, 2012

Today is our last field trip before our exam tomorrow. I think part of the overwhelmed feeling I get when I think about taking this exam is not only wanting to pass the test itself, but to retain this information. I’ve been fairly good in the past at cramming for tests, learning what I need to for short term memory retention, then forgeting 80% within a week to make room for the next exam information. I do not want that to happen! I want to remember all that I’ve learned. That is why I love this time of reflection on my day. I’ve heard some grumbling over this requirement but I am convinced when they return home and want to share this experience with family and friends they will be grateful, as will I. So, onward! We went back into the West Bank into Samaria. We began by going into Nebolis, which is Schechem, the first capital of the northern kingdom, at an archeological site. This was a fortress or temple area. Many times the temple would be the last stand for a city. The walls for this city were extrememly thick. Extra reinforcements for it because it was an exposed city. This accessibility made it likely that this was a refuge city too. A place that someone could escape to if they had committed manslaughter. This city would protect the person till an investigation, so to speak, could be performed. I saw a huge stone standing at the edge. It was obviously a standing stone. This was placed marked to remember something. It is believed that this is the place that Joshua renewed the covenant with the people. If you read Joshua 24 it says it is in Shechem! This chapter is detailed of how Joshua informs the people what God wants and expects from them. The new generation coming out of the wilderness to the promise land. I couldn’t help but think of an informed consent that we use in the medical field. Here is everything that will happen and could happen, do you still want to do it? The people replied, “Yes, we will serve the LORD our God and obey him!” This is what this giant stone was a reminder of. They renewed their service to the LORD. It was to let all that passed through this easily accessible city, the city of refuge to be reminded of who God was and that his people will serve him. I don’t know about you but I can see from this, that we are called to be this standing stone in our faith. People should look at us and know that we serve our God, our refuge. I love the history and the sites themselves, but my main goal is to have spiritual growth on this adventure. I remember reading a quote not too long ago, “a generation who forgets history has no past and no future.” How true!

We then went to a greek orthodox church that was built over a well. This is in a rather aggressive area against the church. We could see Hamas flags flying proudly. The church itself displays tapestry of martyrs from this area and how they met their death. This is remembered as Jacob’s well and is likely to be this very well. This land in Samaria is rich with springs so there isn’t a need for wells. The church was beautiful. I really like the reverence that is in these churches. They haven’t become so casual that there is a disrespect of who God is. There is an honor of Him that I like. We walked down the into the well, which is under the alter, and was able to pull up a bucket of water from the well and drink from it! Olivia read John 4 outloud to our group to remind us of the woman at the well. How humbling. I don’t know about you but I can certainly identify with the woman at the well. Jesus points out to her that her beliefs are misguided and he is the answer. Here, Jesus makes it know that salvation will be for all. He is the living water for all. As Christians this living water runs through us by His Holy Spirit. We don’t have to come to the well over and over again to get filled up. It is constantly running through us, washing us clean and satisfying our thirst. Good stuff!

Hey, guess what? Herod built another place! Shocking, right? This guy was unbelievable! This temple we visited was built to Cesaer. It had a huge ampitheater and really was an outlet to get into the diverse international culture that passed through here. Herod would have never tried to build something like this in a conservative city like Jerusalem. The people wouldn’t stand for foreign gods there. I reflected on this a bit. A conservative city wouldn’t allow foreign gods in. There is a lesson here in our faith. We need to be careful when we are trying to be in the world and not of the world. It is a slow fade when we allow outside influences to change our perspective on our faith. It affects the generations to come and starts a slippery slope that ends in disaster. This area that we were in was just recently let open to the public. We are still in the West Bank area. A shop owner was very grateful to have tours back in his town and opened up his dining hall for us too eat lunch. Very hospitable culture. After lunch we headed to Mt Gerzim and Mt Ebal and read of the cursings and blessings that occurred there. We had almost got through the discussion when 4 soldiers came and kicked us off this military area. Oops! We went into Samaria and listened to a Samaritan High Priest who claims to be from a Levitical tribe. He says that his people were part of the remnant that was left behind when Assyria came through and carried away the Iraelites to captivity. There are only 700 of these Samaritans alive today and half of them reiside in this area. It was interesting to see their synagague and listen to his story. We left here and went to Shiloh. Horrible things happened in Shiloh. I won't go into a lot of detail because it is rather gross. There is a lot of sexual immorality in the region. A concubine is raped and killed and revenge is sought. This is were the Benjamin tribe came and took the women of Shiloh to replace their women who were killed in retaliation. It is a tragic and confusing story that ends with "people did what they thought was right in their own eyes." Lord I pray that we you will give me the abilitiy to see evil through Your eyes and that I will see people through Your eyes. This world is not what you had planned when we see things through our eyes! Amen.

Day 5

Tina Huber

Reflections Day 5

January, 7 2012

On the road again...I just can’t wait to get on the road again. We headed to the east to get an upclose and personal view of the wilderness. From afar the wilderness area looks a lot like soft sand dunes. In reality they are nothing but rock. Hard, chalky overlay of senonian crust. They looked beautiful to me, but I think us city folk tend to romanticize going to the wilderness. Sometimes it’s just fun to say, “ya, I roughed this weekend and slept in my hard shell camper, on my queen sized bed.” I know I like to camp and explore nature, but living there is a totally different story! It is hard work to live off of the land, especially one as this. There are very few patches of green and the canyons are deep. A very hard way to survive. We sat on the side of one of these wilderness hills and started our day with a devotional reading of Psalm 139. Our devotion led into our discussion of how the only thing seperating Jersualem and the wilderness was the Mount of Olives. Being in the dessert and seeing the wilderness to the east, surely made Israelites appreciate their promise land. We too can experience wilderness in a way that makes us appreciative of what God has given us. I have experienced this in my own life and have witnessed it in the lives of others. I am an oncology nurse and take care of people who are, in this moment of their life, “in the wilderness.” It saddens me to think of any of my patients going through such a thing without drawing near to God. I also have witnessed, especially on this trip of young adults, people trying to make it sound like they’ve experience more wilderness than they actually have (the hard shell camper). I’m not sure why it is so hard to be aware of the blessings you have been given and that you have chosen to use them to glorify God. Not everyone has to have a hardship testimony! Ok, stepping down from my soapbox and climbing on a camel. Yep, I got on one on the top of the hill and road it for 10 shekels or in US $2.66. It was totally worth it. We headed from the hillside to go hiking. We started at an area called the Ascend of Adummin and hiked all the way to Jericho! Here I go again with my exclamation marks. I hope it truely captures my enthusiasm!!! I loved the trail. It took us into the Wadi Qelt. We hiked past St. Geoge Monastary. This monestary exist in a rememberance of Jesus’ temptation in the wilderness. Unbelievable how they built this into the side of the hill. I seriously have a new appreciation for those who lived in the wilderness, like John the Baptist or Elijah when he fled from Ahab. The views where breath taking and the hike was along a very narrow path with no siderails. You could see caves above you and canyon below you. It was marvelous. As we came out of the wilderness, Jericho sat at the foot of the hills as an oasis. I was so excited when we could see the city from the hills and imagined how those who had spent refuge in this area must have felt when they too could see it in the distance. We saw another one of Herod’s palaces. This guy had a serious ego. This one I believe was his winter home. It was at a hill called Cypros. His presence would have been know in Jericho. On our walk from the wilderness to these ruins some Palestine boys on the hill were throwing rocks at us. One came kind of close to hitting me. At first this freaked me out a little. You know we are in Palenstine and Americans get a little nervous when rocks start being thrown. =) However, this was just boys being boys. Nothing political just onriness. They came and gathered around the wall of the area we were teaching and I prayed from them and their nation. Jericho was a good time. The city, from what I saw was nice and the people were very friendly. As we would pass them in our bus, people on the street would wave. I felt very welcomed. They are smart. Hospitality is good for tourism. Jericho is an intresting archeological site to visit. There is a lot of conflicting data on dating this site, but that didn’t really bother me. There are always new discoveries but the bible remains the same. My faith isn’t dependant on any evidence found in these sites. The city has a tropical feel. As we sat at the site it struck me as a little bizarre to see the extreme contrast. The wilderness, dry, desolate, and dusty. Jericho with fertile farm land, a spring to give them water, and color. We ate lunch here. Jericho was truley our oasis today. After our time of refreshment and getting a great deal on a scarf, we went to an area called Nebi Samwill. Here we looked at Gibeon. Gibeon was a strategic area for Jerusalem to have to protect them from Egypt and Phillistines. From here we quickly headed to Gezer. Gezer is located near Alijalon Valley in the Shephelah or lowlands. It was an important city for Jerusalem to control because if someone started to invade from the coast they would know. This city was given as a dowery to King Solomon from an Egyptian king. Who gives their daughter a city? I wondered if that pressured other kings in the area. Maybe their daughters were jealous of this extravagant gift. I had noticed over the past couple days that you could see the moon in the sky during daytime. Its reflection was bright and seemed to follow us. As we ended our day we closed with a reading from Joshua 10:12. “Joshua said to the Lord in the presence of Israel: Sun stand still over Gibeon and you moon over the valley of Aijalon.” It gave me chills to see this full moon in front of me in the day sky and the sun behind me getting ready to set. I have so much to ponder and store in my heart on my day off tomorrow. I look forward to attending worship services in Jerusalem at Christ Church off of Jaffa Gate.

Tina Huber

Day 4 reflections

January 6, 2012

Today was an early start at 7 a.m. and the first day we are on a bus for our travels to get a glimpse of the northern view of Jerusalem. Yeah bus! It was cold and rainy as we started the day. As we pulled up to our first stop the drizzle started to fade and we were sparred the rain fall as we stood upon Mt .Scopus at a look out point. Again beautiful scenery! I am averaging about 120 photos per day, so that will come out to over 2,500 pictures for my time in Israel! I will have to make a condensed folder if I expect anyone to come over and view a slideshow of my trip.

I had said earlier that I feel like God has been preparing my heart for this experience and today I had another very cool private moment with God. I had read a book series called “Mark of the Lion” by Francine Rivers. A great fictional book with some historical facts weaved into it. The lookout point we went to today was where Titus from the Roman army had camped before the destruction of Jerusalem. I love little moments like that. We made a little jog acoss the way and took a look at the wilderness. We talked how all the little villages outside of Jerusalem were the first to be conquered and taken away to the east in exile. I so appreciate reading scripture at these sites and see how the prophets used geography in their prophecies. We could see Anatoph which was Jeremiah’s home town. He often reflected on the time of the Israelites wandering in the wilderness as a positive and intimate time with God. He was able to see this perspective because of the land he grew up in, the wilderness.

We headed to Mount of Olives for an eastern view of Jerusalem. We were told that east is the path of exile whether it was to seek refuge or by force. David headed east to seek refuge from his son, Absolom. Interesting that he also returned to from east which showed his authority. ( I can think of another triumphal entry from the east!) Mount of Olives should be renamed to Mount of Tombs. It is covered in tomb markers today and always has been the place where the dead were laid to rest. Interesting to me that this is where Jesus came to the Garden of Gethsemane to pray. It contains death and at the foot hills the escape route to the east. A choice was made. Death had had it’s sting long enough. Jesus could have taken off and fled to the east. The escape route layed right in front of Him. Maybe thoughts of Jerusalem being exiled to the east came to mind. He wept for Jerusalem and now he submitted his will to die for them and for all. We went into a church on the ground of Gethsemane. It had purple alabaster stained glass windows in it. Just georgous! The church tries to capture Jesus praying at night. There is a piece of bedrock in the middle of the church that you can touch and pray near. The pilgrimage here means so much to me. This is where God decided to complete His faithfulness to His creation. He is described throughout the bible as a God that seeks or pursues His people and this place symbolized that for me.

I enjoyed time on the bus to think about these things. We viewed the city from every angle. Seeing sites along the way. Interesting fact, The United Nations built on The Hill of Evil Counsel. This hill got its evil name because it apparently housed the wives of Solomon. We saw a site named after Rachel. A near by archeological find housed a royal summer home that was discovered recently. Their is a lot of disputes over the dating of this Royal home so I left there rather confused. The highlight of todays trip was going to the West Bank. We saw Herodium. This is a spectacular archeological site where they found the tomb of Herod the Great. The site is massive and words really can’t describe it. We used the top of this site to talk about King David as a shepherd. It gives you a great view of what a shepherd would have to entail. I really feel I have a greater understanding of the kind of man David was because of the environment he grew up in. We left there and headed to Bethlehem! Today is Christmas in Bethlehem. We went to the church that was built on the ground that Jesus was born! I absolutley loved learning about middle east hospitality tradition. This gave me a better visualization of the Christmas story. Joseph would have had family in this area. Homes in this area were usually built on caves because there are so many caves in the area and it provided an extra room. The rules of hospitality for family is that you can’t turn family away if they come to visit. They have to take you in. Likely, because of the census, other family from afar was staying also, which left room. Tradition has them staying in a work or storage room of their family host home, probably the cave. I got to touch the outer wall of the cave today at the church of the Nativity on their Christmas Day. We left there on an emotional high which was celebrated with a cup of coffee from Stars and Bucks. I might of showed on the outside more excitement for the coffee but I promise you that my heart can barely contain all the joy in it right now.