The Offer of Salvation

I taught theology courses at Arrendale state prison, a women's prison in North Georgia. One of the classes I taught was the Book of Revelation. The interest in the class was so great we had to turn away students because we couldn't fit more people in the room. Revelation has fascinated Christian believers for 2000 years, and this group of women was no different.

Revelation is a book written in the first century by a man named John. It's an apocalyptic text, which was a popular form of Jewish writing at the time. The book is written to a group of Christians who are suffering at the hands of the state, a superpower named Rome. Rome wasn't just the state, or a superpower, it was THE state and THE superpower. Rome controlled everything: taxes, currency, trade, religion, land, sea, military--the entire system. Revelation is about a group of people who call out to God for help and rescue from the system. Their only possible solution was for a divine intervention.

John himself had suffered at the hands of the state, having been exiled to an island called Patmos for believing in Christ. One of the local Christians, Antipas, had been martyred for his faith. These particular Christians were suffering at every turn because of state power. They believed in Jesus, who they claimed was the son of God, but the back of their coins claimed Ceasar's son the son of god. They wished to worship in their synagogue, but Rome wanted everyone to worship the emperor, who claimed such titles as "savior," "God," "the gospel," "redeemer," and "bringer of salvation."

Now imagine how the Book of Revelation sounded to my students in prison. Some of them had committed horrible crimes. Some of them confessed to these crimes. And some of them didn't belong in prison altogether because they got really bad legal advice, or were convicted simply because they were riding with someone who committed a horrible crime they had nothing to do with. But all of them had one thing in common: they were all suffering under the hands of the state. Most of them had sentences that far outweighed their crime. Most of them, had they been given better legal advice, would have gotten a much better plea deal or avoided prison altogether. Yes, most of them committed crimes, but had they been wealthy enough to retain a good attorney they could have avoided such harsh penalties.

One of them, Kelly Gissendaner, committed a horrible crime: she arranged for her husband to be murdered. She was found guilty of the murder and sentenced to death, a sentence that will be carried out on Monday. The person who actually murdered her husband, Gregory Owen, confessed and struck a plea deal with the state. Gregory is not on death row, but is actually eligible for parole in eight years. Kelly, because of really poor legal advice, received no plea deal.

When I signed up to teach Revelation at the prison, the woman in charge of the program came to me quietly and asked me if I would be interested in teaching Kelly one on one. I didn't hesitate at the question and immediately said yes. I had expected to teach Kelly the book of Revelation; instead, Kelly taught me more than I could have ever imagined. She was brilliant, she laughed, she longed to see her children, she cried, and she learned. She isn't a monster, or a hateful being; but she is loving, and caring, and compassionate. She's one of the most beautiful people I've ever met.

Each week for thirteen weeks I entered the prison every Friday to teach my class. I taught my full class of thirty students, and then they would take me to another part of the prison to teach Kelly. We would wind our way through the prison behind eight secure doors where there was a maximum security room. Each week her personal guard would open the door for me and Kelly would greet me with a hug and a smile. I couldn't initiate any contact with any of the inmates, but I could accept it if they reached out to me. I gladly accepted it from Kelly each week!

My students had already graduated from the theology program at the prison, but wanted to keep learning. The classes I taught were the equivalent of Master's level classes. And as their professors, we expected Master's level work. The program was rigorous and required a great deal of studying. Each week when I entered into that maximum security room, where cameras and microphones monitored our every move, I found Kelly more prepared than any of my students. She was ready with questions, curiosities, excitement, and hope. I taught Kelly as if I was teaching an entire class of students. And I knew one thing, I'd better be prepared 100% each week, because I knew she would be.

Kelly is a deeply devout Christian believer. She has experienced the same love, grace, and mercy of God that all Christians feel. Yes, she committed an unthinkable crime. And she feels deep remorse for her actions. But she also feels forgiveness, grace, and the compassion that only God can provide.

Each week we would talk about Rome, and oppression, and suffering at the hands of the state. Revelation spells out how God will not only rescue the faithful, but bring salvation to anyone who confesses Christ. At every turn in the book, God offers salvation. Even as the God's wrath and judgment increases throughout the book, God's offer of salvation remains. For those who side with evil and commit horrible crimes, God still offers salvation.

Kelly is one of those people who took God's offer. And now, like those Christians in the first century, is suffering at the hands of an unforgiving and unmerciful state. The entire system is stacked against Kelly now, and her only alternative is to pray for a divine intervention. Please pray with me that somehow God will intervene on Kelly's behalf. But if not, we know just like the Christians in the first century that she will see God. She will be dressed in clean white linen, white as snow because her sins have been covered by the Lamb.

Ravensbruck Prayer

The following prayer was found at the Ravensbruck death camp where 92000 women and children died. It was scrawled on a piece of paper near a dead child.

                Lord, remember not only the men and women of good will but also those of ill will. But do not only remember the suffering they have inflicted upon us; remember the fruits we have brought, thanks to this suffering—our comradeship, our loyalty, our humility, the courage, the generosity, the greatness of heart which has grown out of all this, and when they come to judgment, let all the fruit we have borne be their forgiveness. 

On Being Christian

Alright, yes, everyone and their grandmother has a blog about Chick-fil-A out in the past couple weeks, especially in light of yesterday's fireworks over eating more chicken. I sincerely believe that most people that went to Chick-fil-A yesterday did it because they thought they were supporting a business that needed their support. "Ain't nothing wrong with that is there?" is what I heard from several of my friends and family. Is there anything wrong with that?

Well, YES there is something wrong with that! Here's several reasons why Christians failed yesterday:

1 - Christians proved that they are a bunch of followers. And not of Christ either. People just lined up all day long outside CFAs across America because some dude whose name sounds like something from a Mark Twain novel said that we needed to support CFA and free speech. People just lined up outside CFA like a bunch of sheep without a shepherd, having no real clue why they were there, with the exception that they saw something about it on facebook. In essence, what Christians did was follow a multi-millionaire's instructions to give a multi-billion dollar company more money.

2 - Christians, by going to CFA yesterday, gave no thought as to the repercussions of their actions. It alienated a large group of people. And not just LBGT people, but people who aren't Christians. You just gave millions of people around the world a chance to mock you, laugh at you, and say, "that's why I'm not a Christian." Why would people say that about you? Because you say that God is love, you say that God wants everyone to come to God's family, and then you completely alienate a group of people in the name of...well, you probably don't even know why you went. And that's just it - how would you feel about Christians today if you were LBGT? Christians marched up to CFA yesterday like they were going to find the beast in the forest! Get your pitchforks and torches everyone! We're going to slay the giant! "Van, we were defending the freedom of speech!" Who said Danny Cathy didn't have the right to say what he said? He has every right to say that, but there are consequences and fallout from those words. And the consequences and fallout of people showing up to CFA yesterday are far greater than the support they gave.

3 - "We were supporting the Bible, Van!" Ohhhhhhh reaa-heaaaa-lllleeyyyy?! You were, were ya? Then I'm awaiting the arrival of your children to the slave auction tonight, especially your daughters because they're not allowed to go free (yippee!). Speaking of your children, let's sacrifice them because we made a vow! And, why we're sacrificing our children, let's chop someone up into twelve pieces and mail them off to start a war! "Wait, Van, that ain't nice!" Well, you said you were supporting what the Bible says, so I'm just bringing up what the Bible says. You see, people don't like that, especially Christians, because they, for the most part, don't even know their own scriptures. They champion the parts they really love, and ignore the parts they don't love. They champion the part that says that a man and a woman leave their father and mother to get married, but they ignore the part that says that if a man rapes a woman she has to marry him. "We're supporting biblical marriage!" Oh really? So you support raping women who then have to marry the rapists? (Not to mention the other biblical marriage standards, found here) If Christians say they support biblical marriage, I really hope they understand what it is their actually saying.

4 - By going to CFA yesterday, you proved that you completely ignore the mission of Christ. You're more focused on "issues" than what it really means to follow Christ. What if I started a campaign and called it "homeless appreciation day"? Would millions of people show up? Would millions of people give their money to buy food? Would millions of people blog about it and post it on facebook? Christ spoke of the poor over 100 times, and yet Christians for the most part ignore their charge to take care of the poor. It's downright embarrassing how Christians made themselves look yesterday in lieu of things that really matter - millions of people dying of AIDS in Africa each year; homeless sleeping on the streets right outside their windows; millions of orphans in Africa who have nothing; being peacemakers in a world that so desperately needs to hear peace (Sudan and Syria anyone?) to name a few. Christians completely ignore these major issues that should have their full attention, and instead they give their attention to a matter that doesn't even need their attention. I've said these things to a few people the past couple days and the answer I get is, "yeah but it's easy to support CFA, because we need to eat and it was for a good cause." The irony in that statement is so heavy it could sink a submarine. Christians can spend $10 at CFA, but they can't spend $10 a month supporting a child overseas. They can spend an hour waiting in line waiting to buy a sandwich, but they can't spend an hour in a line passing out a sandwich to someone who is desperately hungry. They can brag and post about going to CFA on blogs and on facebook, but they can't go down to the prison and visit with someone who desperately needs to hear of the love of Christ.

5 - Still aren't convinced people? Here's what Christ says about worrying about food. By the way, in the Greek, this is an imperative - a command. You DO NOT do this. Is not life more important than food?! Aren't these other things I've mentioned more important than CFA?!

And doesn't that get you absolutely FIRED UP people?! This angers me! I am a believer and I am a follower of Christ and this stuff really makes me angry! We can't go out into the street and look someone in the eyes and just talk to them; we can't go the prison and put our hands in someone else's hands and tell them that we love them, that we're thinking of them; we can't send our money to someone who is so desperately poor that they can't even eat; we can't give money to someone who is sick so that they begin the process of healing (it's the economy, we just don't have any money right now. You understand); we can't give our time to volunteer at a homeless shelter; we don't line up by the thousands demanding peace in Syria and in the Sudan (because, that's not what Christians do - leave that to the government, because the government always handles those situations perfectly); we can't talk to strangers and share the love of Christ because we're too busy flapping our gums about CFA!!! We can't do any of those things, but let's all line up outside CFA to support...uh...what was it we're supporting?

Christians completely ignored the mission of Christ yesterday and it makes me sad and embarrassed to be a Christian. Well I don't know about you people, but I'm sick and tired of being embarrassed to be a Christian! We're supposed to be fired up about helping the poor, helping heal the sick, welcoming strangers, going to prisons, being peacemakers, and giving people hope in an otherwise hopeless world. Forget about  CFA, CFA will take care of itself! We need to stop worrying about what Mark Twain's buddy tells us to do, and start doing what we've already been told to do by Christ. We need to get busy doing the work of Christ, and stop delineating on matters that are trivial.

The reason I go to CFA to eat is because they serve me up some dang good chicken! I don't go to support some sort of cause, especially ones that are ill-founded. Speaking of this, I'll be the one to check out and interpret what the Bible says about marriage, not Danny Cathy or Huckleberry Dingleberry Finn. Danny Cathy can just shut his yapper and keep making chicken! So, I'll keep going to CFA to eat, because...uh...wait, why am I going? Oh, because they serve up some dang good chicken!

Peter, Paul, and...Jesus?

We dubbed today St. Peter day because we were just all over St. Peter sites today. First, we went to Capernaum, the main hub for the ministry of Jesus. There is a synagogue there and Peter's house is also there. How do we know it was Peter's house? Well, we don't people, just shut up and keep reading! Ha! We really don't, as with most of these sites. But, it's fun to think that at least we were close to where Jesus and the disciples walked, even if it's not the exact spot. We were at least in the same city!

After Capernaum we went to the traditional site of the feeding of the 5000, where that really cool Byzantine mosaic is located. You know the one, it's everywhere - there are two fishes and a basket. If you don't know it, I'll post my picture of it and you'll go, "ohhhhhhhh yeah, that one!"

We then walked over to the site of the great catch of fish in John 21. You remember the story, right? The disciples are out there fishing, the resurrected Jesus says, "hey you bozos throw your net on the other side of the boat" (the Van Smith translation). They do, and lo and behold they catch a whooooole lot of fish. Yes, believe it or not, someone decided where that spot is located! They call it the Primacy of Peter site, because in that story Peter is seen as the prime disciple. Or, something like that. People have waaaaaay too many theories about this stuff.

After that we went on a boat ride on the Sea of Galilee where the disciples fished. Mostly Peter, James, and John. Yet another Peter place! I must admit, it was pretty surreal to be out on the same sea as Christ and the disciples. Just awesome! No one walked on water though, so that was a little disappointing.

We then ate lunch, and of course we just had to eat some St. Peter's fish! That's the main fish from the Sea of Galilee. It was farm raised, but hey, at least we ate it by the sea!

My favorite site of the day was after lunch at Beit She'an. What an incredible site! Honestly, I'd never heard of the place, but I'm SO glad we went there! This is the largest ancient city we've been to on our trip. After digging down through the tel, it is apparent that the site has been occupied since at least 5000 BC! Juuuuuuuust let that sink in for a second...I said that's over 7000 years ago people! When we climbed to the top of the tel, I was amazed to find hieroglyphs from the Egyptian period.

The Greco-Roman city thrived there for hundreds of years after the first century, so the city was quite large. It has many columns, a bath house, and an amphitheater that is still mostly in tact. They even do live shows there today it's so well preserved. The site is very close to the Jordan river. So, since I was there, does that mean I was Van down by the river?

Tonight we heard a mini-sermon from our professor where we are staying, which is on the mountain where the sermon on the mount took place. And, appropriately enough, we read the sermon on the mount! The fascinating part about the sermon is that Jesus completely changes how we as people should understand power. We hear power and think of military might and physical strength, or perhaps someone who is boisterous and speaks with power. Jesus says, nah, real power, which comes from God, is about meekness, gentleness, and peacemaking. It's not that those things are weak. On the contrary, those things take incredible strength to accomplish. At the end of the sermon on the mount Christ says to seek first the kingdom of God. How do we do that? By being more Christlike - with humility, meekness, by bringing peace, and by thirsting for justice/righteousness.

OK, on to the pictures. That's the only reason you came anyway... Oh, and here's some music for your listening pleasure. Appropriate line in this song. You'll see if you listen closely.

 Ohhhhhhhh, now I understand. Reading the first 4 gospels didn't spell it out for me, but this sign does! Thanks city of Capernaum! You're a lifesaver! 

What is believed to be the house of Peter. For some reason, people build churches on/over every freaking site, which is really annoying! I don't think Peter's house deserves veneration. But I digress...

The synagogue at Capernaum. Now, now, settle down people, it didn't look like this in the first century. This is from the fifth century. Byzantines FTW!

I found this mosaic leaned up against a wall behind some shed. Hey Earl, where should we store this 1500 year old mosaic? Oh Billy Bob, just lean it up against that shed over there. But hey, I like it because it has a heart shaped flower. And heart shaped flowers are awesome!

Alright, alright, there ya go. The famous mosaic of the fish and loaves from Tabgha. Now do you remember it? It's probably the most famous Christian mosaic. This is the best picture I could get, because they don't let you go anywhere near it! I had to hold the camera above my head to take this one. This is from a Byzantine era church from around the 300s. Yay Byzantines! 

The entire floor of the Tabgha church is mosaic. I really love this border. 

The church was rather small, so it wasn't all it was quacked up to be. 

Need another song? Here you go. My kids and I listen to this song A LOT! And all three of us sing it at the top of our lungs when we do! 

See? The whole church floor is a mosaic! It's about the life in the sea, which is right outside. That snake looks poisonous! Fly away little crane, fly away!!!

The Sea of  Galilee! I was literally standing in the water. 

Same crane from the mosaic? I say yes. Fly away little crane, fly away! 

Or could it be the holy crane of St. Peter? 

Perhaps the crane didn't fly, but I did! I CAN FLY!!! 

Oh I forgot to mention we saw this 2000 year old boat that some person found in the Sea of Galilee. It dates to the first century. It was stuck down in the mud for 2000 years. Awesome! I kid you not, it's made of 12 different kinds of wood. Do with that what you will.

OK, on to my favorite site, Beit She'an! 

The amphitheater! How awesome is this?! I was standing up on top of it. Probably shouldn't have been up there, but, you know how photogs are ;-) 

The side of the stage of the amphitheater. Now that's just cool!

Walking down the Cardo (main street) of the ancient city. The Romans called it Scythopolis. As you can see, in typical Greco-Roman style, there are columns on either side of the street. Corinthian style on the right and Ionic style on the left. Also, there are sidewalks on both sides, laid out in mosaic, just like we already saw in Sepphoris (if you read that blog that is). You can see behind is the tel, or mound of civilization that dates back from 5000 BC. That's a lot of layers of civilization! 

The Cardo from above. I'm standing just on top of the hill, right next to the entrance of the amphitheater. You can see the sidewalks clearly in this picture. 

As you get to the end of the Cardo, you'll find the cross street called the Decumanus. As you can see, they leave some of the city as they found it so you can see what it looked like when they found it. Those columns all stood originally on the left side of this street. The entire city was destroyed in one fell swoop in the mid-700s by a giant earthquake. 

For this picture I simply turned around from the above picture. The Cardo is now on my right and the Decumanus is straight ahead. Those columns are from the ancient temple built for Dionysus. 

One of the tops of the columns from the temple, a Corinthian style. 

I'm now looking straight down the Decumanus toward the Cardo. Now, look closer. There's a column on the left that has fallen. It's connected to that arch. Follow the arch around and it's connected to the next column, and so forth and so on. The entire structure fell straight down and landed almost as it would have been standing up! 

Remember those giant columns from the picture above? From the temple? I'm now looking down the Cardo from the opposite side and the temple is in front (the staircases). 

What the temple would have looked like.

I climbed up the tel behind the city and took this of the Cardo. The temple is on the bottom left.

Hieroglyphs found on top of the tel from 1500 BC of Ramses III. Incredible!

 The sun was directly behind this Ionic style column. Photo op! 

This concludes our broadcast day. 

Arabian Nights

So I've had the opening song to the movie Aladdin stuck in my head all day long today! My children have made me watch Aladdin at least a thousand times. Not only that, but they also make me listen to the soundtrack in the car wherever we go. And of course, like any good father, I just have to sing along with them. At the top of my lungs. I mean, it's not like I know most of the words anyway...well, ok, I know all of the words. The other day I was listening to my headphones on the bus, and my player was on shuffle. I got about half-way through the "genie song" (as the kids call it) before I realized that I'm a grown man listening to the genie song! Ha!

Why am I singing the opening song to Aladdin? Because IT'S HOT!!! The heat really is intense! That's why! Other than that, I've got nothing else to say for myself. Aw who am I kiddin, Aladdin is awesome! And let's face it, you definitely ain't never had a friend like me! Now if I only had that lamp and a magic carpet...and a talking monkey. And that beautiful princess...but I digress...

If you know me really well, you know for a fact that you've definitely never had a friend like me for real! I apparently dropped my overnight bag in the parking lot yesterday. They brought it in during dinner, and I grabbed it. The Dean was sitting at my table and he said, "Van, that's your bag?" I said, sure it is. I know so because check it out - I then proceeded to pull out my "redneck teeth" from the bag and put them in and look around at everyone as if there was nothing at all wrong. Ha! He said, "Van, you are absolutely crazy, you know that? You're crazy!" I mean, who else do you know that carries redneck teeth, not only in their overnight bag, but all the way to Israel? This guy, that's who!

I have absolutely NOTHING interesting or thought provoking tonight for you people. Uh, my bad. However, I do have a lot of interesting pictures of my goings on today. Hazor, Tel Dan, some beautiful waterfall, and Caesarea Philippi filled my day with gladness, so I shall fill yours with, uh, something or other. I'm trying to keep one step ahead of you people. Or is it one jump ahead? Well, oh look, here's some pictures, and here's some lovely music to listen whilst you view. I hope these pictures move you!

This is Hazor, an ancient Canaanite city that is thousands of years old. Solomon fortified the city during his reign. This is one of the oldest sites we have visited so far. Why do they call these places "tel"? Because it's an artificial mound of stuff. See that dirt on top? Or that field across from this ruin? That's what it looks like without digging. Then you start digging and the further you dig down, the further back in time you go. So, the bottom layer is thousands of years old. People for centuries would find an abandoned city and build their new city on top of it. This is exactly what Solomon did at Hazor. 

Our next stop was Tel Dan, another ancient Canaanite city that was refortified by the Hebrews. There is a natural spring there that just pops out of the mountain! The water is crystal clear and very cold. It's awesome! 

This is the fortified city part of Tel Dan. You can see the really large round-ish stones, those are the Canaanite walls. Up the wall there you can see some square ones, those are the Hebrew additions to refortify the wall. That stone on the ground laid out there was the "parking lot" for chariots that pulled up to the gate. Did they have to pay by the hour? 

This is a giant stone used for as the olive press in order to get the oil. This was found at Ceasarea Phillippi, our next stop. 

When you're in the desert, water is of the utmost importance. But Van, I see trees! Yes you do, because at the foot of that giant cave there is a huge spring! This is right beside the ancient city of Ceasarea Phillippi. You have water, you can have a city.

The spring. It's huge! The water is crystal clear and very cold here too. Simply amazing. It's about 110 in the air, and the water is very cold. Awesome! Let's go for a swim! Wait, you can't because you'll get arrested! Against the law here. Dog....

Look! The water just comes out of the ground, right out of the rocks here! I wonder, I'm in the Holy Land, right? Is this Holy Water then? 

Remember that cave? Well, the ancients built a little temple area to the Greek gods here around the end of the 1st century. Some of the stuff is laying around, like this column. There are also some temple areas carved right into the cliff. 

Like this one...

A close-up of the one above...

Or this one...All of these are either to Pan or Zeus. I mean, take your pick right? Wine god or the god, whichever. There was even a temple to the sacred goats. Yes, goats. 

From the caves at Ceasarea Phillippi, you can walk down that spring, which turns into a river and find this along the way! How awesome is this?! A beautiful waterfall in the desert. Talk about a change in temperature. It was downright cool under the trees down by the river. This is Banyas waterfall. 

UH-MAZING! I was getting wet, and I loved every second of it! 

The base of Banyas falls. 

How's this for a view? This is the view from the top of the falls. So you have an idea of where this is - that is Lebanon behind me, and to the right is Syria. This site is in the Golan Heights, very close to both borders. Since this was a war-zone not too long ago, there are mine fields all around here, marked with barbed wire fencing. Don't go in there! 

I Have Seen the Top of the Mountain

People I'm not gonna lie to you - this place is HOT! I'm in the middle of a desert I tell you! And yet, even in this desert I am amazed at how many flowers there are. How in the world do these flowers grow with no rain for months? Well I'm not sure, I just know it's bizarre.

Today we traveled from Jerusalem up to the Sea of Galilee area. We took a look at the city of Sepphoris, and it was spectacular! There are tons of mosaic floors around the entire city. Almost every house we came to had a mosaic floor. There was one particular house where the mosaic was humongous. On one side of it was "the beautiful woman," which most people refer to as the Mona Lisa of Galilee, because she's not necessarily smiling, but she's pretty. And by the way, who in their right mind thinks that Mona Lisa is pretty? But I digress...

Sepphoris = awesomeness. I finally had to stop taking pictures of the mosaics, because they were everywhere. Even the sidewalks were mosaic! The U2 song Where the Streets Have No Name (go ahead and click on the link, because you know you're already singing the song in your head you might as well hear it :) wouldn't apply in this place, because the street were named by mosaics on the sidewalk. Awesome!

Coincidentally, Sepphoris was probably the place where Joseph and Jesus worked, because it's right across the hill from Nazareth where they lived. Sepphoris was being built by Herod Antipas (Herod the Great's son) during Jesus' lifetime and it required tons of workers. They probably would have worked there, seeing as how (and I warn you, I'm about to ruin your childhood) they were craftsman. Carpenters? Not likely. The Greek word actually means craftsman (go ahead and cry, you know you just died a little on the inside ;-). This is a desert people! I haven't seen a real tree in about 500 miles (besides Olive Trees which are very small). Just where in the world are Jesus and Joseph going to work as carpenters with no wood?! Everything in this entire country is made of stone. So, most likely, Jesus and Joseph were stone craftsman who helped build Sepphoris (go ahead, stick your head between your legs and cry like a baby).

We then went to the cliffs of Arbel, which overlooks the Sea of Galilee. I have four words for you people - in cred i ble. The view is spectacular! You can see the entire Sea from high above, from beginning to end. Absolutely breathtaking! Speaking of cliffs, if you've read my blogs before, you know that me and heights..well, we just don't see eye to eye. Imagine standing 1000 feet above pretty much anything with no rails and looking down. Fear just doesn't describe that feeling; however, I got that picture dangit! You see what I go through for you people? I put my life on the line! I'm out on the front lines taking it! I strike fear in the hearts...ok, I took that metaphor too far. But you get the picture. Scared.to.death! But the pictures and the view were WELL worth it!

We made our way down to Galilee, and it is absolutely a completely different world! This is the place where the majority of Christ's ministry took place. We are staying on the Mount of Beatitudes, which is the site where Jesus mostly likely gave the Sermon on the Mount. It overlooks the Sea of Galilee and it is one amazing view. There are gardens on the site, a convent, and a chapel. We walked around in the garden tonight after dinner, and it was amazing what we didn't hear! Unlike Bethlehem and Jerusalem, there were few lights, it was cool with a nice breeze, there were no car horns, no dogs barking, no idiots yelling in the street - what we heard was the birds and silence.

Can you imagine for Christ and his 12 disciples (or was it 11?) what it must have been like to go up to Jerusalem after sending 3 years in this paradise? Peace and quiet turned into madness! Except that we took the opposite route, and now we're peaceful. Which reminds me of my relationship with Christ. How many times in our lives have we been in a place where all we hear is background noise? Horns, people screaming, dogs barking - and then Christ brings us into a place of peace. I walked around the premises tonight by myself and it was serene. I needed that peace and quiet after 2 weeks of hustle and bustle. That same truth applies to our lives no matter where we are. Christ takes the hustle and bustle and makes it quiet again. He gives us peace in the midst of life's insanity. Remember that as you pray today and ask for peace. Shalom ya'll.

The amphitheater at Sepphoris

 The view from the amphitheater. Sepphoris is set on top of a mountain, so the views were incredible. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden! 

This is the entire ginormous mosaic I mentioned earlier. Near the bottom center you can see the beautiful woman. The entire mosaic is a story about Dionysus, the Greek wine god. 

The beautiful woman/Mona Lisa of Galilee. Ain't she purdy?

This is the Cardo (the main street) in Sepphoris. You can see the ruts in the rocks from the wagon/chariot wheels. Also, look on both sides of the road - those are the sidewalks, and both of them are completely made up of mosaic tiles all the way down. How long did that take to lay down?! 

The mosaic sidewalk. Amazing!

Close-up of one of the mosaics in a random house. Each house is like this! As you can see, the floors on all sides of this house are mosaics as well. Serious craftsmanship at work!

Close-up from the "Nile Room." I put this one up because this comes from a humongous mosaic depicting life around the Nile river. You probably recognize that Greek word up there, right? Yes, it says "AMAZON" 

My favorite mosaic from the Nile House is the Centaur! How awesome is that?

Looking out over the city of Sepphoris. Every single house has a mosaic practically, so you can see how many there are!

Looking out over the Sea of Galilee from the Cliffs of Arbel. Stunning!

Another view. Across the Sea is Jordan.

The cliffs! I literally leaned out over the rocks to take this picture. Scared me to death! Terrified! But hey, I'm the photog for the group, I simply have to get the picture. To me these were the cliffs of insanity!!!