New Email Address

Check it out, my new email address is kf972@eagle.pbu.edu. I will not receive your emails otherwise.

I was bonked by an elderly jewish woman

Independence day in Jerusalem is not quite as extravagant as Purim, but it certainly packs an amazing cultural experience with which to go home. I have been considering making a list of "first's" in this journey to show how amazing it has been. I am now able to add to that list (if I ever make it) "Being in the capital of a country on their 60th anniversary of independence." I'd say that that is an accomplishment.

Walking down the streets on the way to Ben Yuhuda Street is like the calm before the storm. The shops are closed, the people are scarce, and even the cars seem to be at an unusual low. It has been somewhat chilly lately, just enough for a hoodie and perhaps a hat, and it is completely comfortable out. The wind blows gently onto what little skin you have exposed, making it all the better. Whenever I feel a cool breeze here I remember Eden, when God dwelled with Adam and Eve in the cool of the day, such a beautiful feeling. There are sky lights shining through the dark sky even piercing the thinner clouds next to a crescent moon. Actually, the dark side of the moon is as vibrant as it can be against the blackened sky.

Anticipation builds as the lights get closer and the music gets louder and the crowds start growing. There is a gate at every entrance towards the Zion Square. Passports are being checked on everybody to ensure full security at such a momentous occasion. Approaching the Square is like entering a carnival in the city. Shouting, dancing, blowing shofars, blowing horns and noisemakers, banging on drums, all of it is in front of a giant stage where a band is setting up. People bonk one another on the heads with blow up hammers with the Jewish flag on it. Men and women, boys and girls, all different types of people are wearing the Jewish flag like a cape. There are so many young teens that it is reminiscent of a high school dance, only a little more intense (and with a whole lot more booze).

The night continues with fireworks, light shows, music, and dance as the citizens of Israel join in celebration of their independence. In fact, it probably won't end until 1 or 2 in the morning, if not later.

This may be my last post in Israel, so what better way to conclude it than with the celebration of Israel's independence, and perhaps a list of firsts...

In this journey, it was my first time:

Being in a plane

Being out of the US

Being in Israel

Drinking alcohol legally (just wine and it was gross, but a first regardless)

Living in a city

Bargaining

Seeing a Shuk

Seeing sharks hanging out for sale

Seeing lambs hanging out for sale

Seeing snow in Jerusalem

Seeing a desert

Walking 6 miles through a desert

Sleeping on the desert sand in Jordan under the stars

Breaking laws to enter an ancient tomb

Seeing a camel

Walking through a tunnel

Walking through a cave

Being within a couple of miles of a terrorist attack

Going to Stars and Bucks

Seeing the Mediterranean Sea

Going to a spa

Taking a sulfur bath (with clothes on = worst idea ever)

Seeing the Dead Sea

Swimming in the Dead Sea

Going to Sinai

Going 150 kmph in a 11 passenger van

Sleeping at a Bedouin camp

Hiking at 2 in the morning to see a sunrise

Drinking fresh hot tea with mint leaves in it and sugar

Drinking Turkish coffee

Seeing the Red Sea

Diving into water

Diving in the Red Sea

Snorkeling over a reef through jellyfish

Eating a falaffel

Eating a shwarma

Hanging out with Mormons

Sharing the Gospel with a Muslim

Going to the Sea of Galilee

Swimming in the Sea of Galilee

Wearing a Keifeyya

Seeing natural springs

Peeing off of or onto just about everything I could (ask for the list haha)

Standing on top of a mountain and seeing a full paneramic of about a 30 mile radius

Being in a large boat in a lake

Backpacking and living outside

Hitch hiking

Climbing and standing on pillars, which includes conquering a fear of heights

Sleeping outside in the rain

Sleeping outside in the dew (darnit!)

Staying in a 5 star hotel

Seeing a bede

Seeing a scorpian owning a snake

Seeing multiple displays of fireworks from my home for free

Watching a sheep get slaughtered

8 Days Left

It is crazy to think that I've been in Jerusalem for over 100 days and the semester is coming to a close. I've written about 40 pages of papers within the last few weeks, and I have just one final left in History of Church in the East. I also have one last field study up in the Galilee region. By next Tuesday, I'll have completed my studies here at JUC, though I'll still have to finish up my Greek independent study. Putting into words the incredible blessing this has been and the tremendous impact that this has had on my understanding of the Bible is something we'll have to speak about in person.

I'm coming home on the 10th, arriving in Newark around 17:55 at Terminal B. The following day, if you would like to drop by my house and say hello, you're welcome to. It's not going to be a full out party with all the food you can eat or anything, I'd just like to see you all ASAP.

See you soon =]

Things on my mind.

I have recently been thinking more than ever about God judging the motives of my heart. Two verses are lingering in my mind: Jeremiah 17:9 "The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?" and Hebrews 4:12 "For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart."

The heart is deceitful, and it has thoughts and attitudes that we will not understand.

I have been thoroughly examining myself and analyzing my actions as of late, trying to discern what exactly my motivation is for worshipping God in any way shape or form. Is it because I know what is right and feel an obligation to do that which is "good" to look favorably in the sight of God? Is it because I know what is wrong and do not want to do it lest I become apostate? Or is it because it is neither obligation or fear of my own failure, but out of love I have for Jesus Christ? Do I have a natural inclination to do evil or good in certain circumstances? When I follow or resist the natural inclination, where is my heart in that matter, and what are my motives?

I may not be able to understand my heart, or any man's heart for that matter, but I have a better understanding of myself in general. In Matthew 9:4, Jesus says, "Why do you entertain evil thoughts in your hearts?" When we are inclined to do what is wrong, we're obviously just entertaining the wretched heart within us. But how do we overcome that? More importantly, how do we overcome that with pure motives? It can't be because we "want" to do good. If it is because we "want" to, we have to examine why we want to. Like I asked above, is it because I know what the "good" and ethical choice is and want to do it in order to maintain an ethical standard? That question goes deeper than that though. Why would I want to be ethical? Is it to be pleasing in the sight of God? Is it vainglory? Am I neglecting that God has already looked upon me favorably even as a complete sinner and drew me to His Son?

What about avoiding that which is evil? When presented with the option to sin or to abstain from a sin, am I choosing on the basis of what I feel is an obligation to be "Christ-like" or because I do not want to sin? If I hate sin, why do I hate it? Even when I am completely engulfed in it, I can't stand it and I want to be set free. But what does freedom from sin grant us? Freedom to love. Why would I want either?

When it comes down to it, if we act out of the motivation of our hearts, we are falling into a deceitful trap that will convince us that what we are doing is for the love of God, but it is only self-seeking. However, if we act in the Holy Spirit, we are accomplishing nothing on our own, but the Holy Spirit is leading the way for us. Think about the following verses:

Galatians 5:16 "So I say, live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature."

Galatians 2:20-21 "I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness could be gained through the law, Christ died for nothing!"

So how does one act in the Holy Spirit? How does one live by the Spirit? I don't know, just do it. What I have learned within this past year is that there is no recipe for sanctification. Just seek God with every bit of your heart, mind, and soul and pray that your intentions, even the intentions of the prayer itself, are pure.

A Little Update

Hello everybody!

I know that as of late, I haven't posted many blogs, and those I have posted have been enormous. Thank you for those of you who actually spend the time reading through them, I really appreciate it. This one will honestly be short haha.

I have been extremely busy, I wrote about 28 pages of 3 different research papers within the past few weeks, as well as 8 pages of impression reports for a recent trip to Jordan. I would love to share all of the experiences of these past few weeks with you, but I feel so backed up that it would just come out as a huge blurt of a month of new experiences in one blog.

This weekend, I'll be going to Jordan to sleep in a Bedouin camp. I also have another 8 page final paper to complete. The following weekend, I will be going up to Galilee once again for Second Temple History. Then, it is finals week - and PRAISE JESUS I only have one final to do that week. It is Tuesday, so I am currently considering the option of going to Cairo, Egypt to see the pyramids.

Let me know what you think, let me know how you're doing. I miss you all!!!

What a hike!

"As you like! As you like!" yelled the taxi driver desperately trying to get our cash. On Monday morning, only a day after returning from a 4 day field study of the Galilee region, I started another journey returning to upper Galilee for a 5 day backpacking trip from Mt. Meron to the Sea of Galilee to Yehudiya and back to Tiberius.



Tim, Kristy, Shlomy, Craig and I were planning on meeting our friends, Steve, Ben, and Ruth up in Sosa. We left JUC at 9:30, got our food from the local shuk, and went on to the bus station. The fun began early when we found that our bus did not actually leave the central bus station, but another bus stop in Jerusalem. The bus was supposed to leave at 12:40, so we were there a little early, around 12:00. Tim was given a piece of paper with Hebrew on it that he was supposed to show someone outside. "They'll tell you where to go," he was told. This was only after we stood in line for about 10 minutes, where one woman ticked off the teller so much that the blinds were shut on her. Yeah, that's right. I have no idea what was said, because it was all in Hebrew, but I wish every job came equipped with a handy set of blinds to close any time someone annoyed you. We thought it was fortunate that she opened them back up until she told us that our bus didn't come there.



A friendly Israeli directed us to the bus stop where we stood for another half hour. The trip up took about 2 hours, and we were dropped off at a nice middle-of-nowhere junction in northern Israel. Another bus was supposed to come, but as we waited, a taxi driver stopped to harass us. It was probably one of the most hilarious times of the entire trip. First of all, we waved him off because we didn't need his service. He stopped anyway, pretending to view the orchard behind us, but I knew what he was up to. He asked us where we were going. "Sosa," we told him. He offered to do it for 100 sheqels - about 20 a person for a 10 minute drive - and repeatedly told us that there was no bus going to Sosa from where we were. Too bad we had already been told by two bus drivers that a bus would in fact be stopping there. We offered him 80 sheqels total, but he wouldn't budge his price. "100 sheqels!" he kept saying. He would have been breaking a law if he let 5 people in his cab that only fit 4. He didn't care, he just wanted our money. We tried to convince him that Kristy was small, and that she only counted as half a person. He said, "No! she counts as two!" openly insulting Tim's wife (who is nowhere near being two people). We decided that we would take the bus, and he continued to say, "As you like!" but didn't leave. When he did leave, he turned around and continued to harass us on the other side of the road, trying his hardest to make some cash. He probably wasted 20 sheqels in gas in the duration of his terrible attempt to get us as customers. What a goon.



The bus did come... twenty minutes late. During that time, storm clouds were moving in quickly over the mountains. That was certainly an unfortunate sight. Before we left, I asked Mrs. Wright for a tent, which it turned out she had already given to somebody in my group. But she assured me that the weather would be fine, the chance of a downpour in this season is highly unlikely. Pffft. We got off the bus into a squal of rain, then walked about a kilometer up the road to a campsite, absolutely soaked and freezing, where we met up with the rest of the group.



Busses were leaving as we were coming to the National Park of Mt. Meron, it was around 5:30 or 6 at this point. Little did we know that those busses contained about 700 junior high/high schoolers that were supposed to be sleeping there but were leaving because of the rain. We walked down to the campground, passing a small group of people cooking a whole lot of food. They offered us some hot soup, and of course, we GLADLY obliged. Heck man, slightly warm soup would have been relieving after freezing in the rain like that.



We said our hello's to the group of 5 cooks and found out that they were cooking for 700 school children. The main guy, I think his name was Ofer, pointed down to the campsite and offered us some of the tents that the teachers were going to use. Again, we gladly obliged, since we were somewhat crammed to begin with. We set up camp and began to make a fire with our nice, wet wood. Craig and Shlomy worked on that while a couple of others spoke more to Ofer. We ended up being offered to rummage through their food and take what we wanted. Again, we fully, and I mean to the fullest extent, GLADLY obliged, taking peppers, onions, fruit, four loaves of bread, a bag of milk, sugar, eggs, and margarine. We were then told to use their grills after them to cook up some burgers and kabobs. Dang, you better believe we gladly obliged. We got so beyond hooked up by those kind people. I'll never forget when we tried to refuse some of the stuff. "That's right, they're Americans, they are polite," while they piled more stuff into our arms.



It continued to rain on and off that night after we got a little bit drier from the fire (which Craig and Shlomy successfully started). I had the pleasure of cookin' up the burgers and kabobs. What a way to start a hike huh? Hey, for the record, not all tents are water proof. Good to know huh? I didn't. At some points in the night, it poured so hard. I joked around the next morning, "I'm gonna have to have a talk with Mrs. Wright."



We woke up and I got the privilege to make some delicious eggs with turkey, peppers, and onions in them over the fire that we managed to start. The fire was so strong the night before that embers remained under the ashes which kept the heat in. This made it pretty easy to get the fire going regardless of the soaked wood.



We started our hike around 10:30 that morning on Tuesday. I know it was late, but hey, it was a crappy night and we got a slow start because we were being so spoiled with all the food. We had to return some of the bread and other stuff because it was just too much. The hike that day was beautiful. We got to the peak of Mt. Meron around noon, dogding kids all the way.



Here's a joke - what's louder than a group of Israeli school girls? That's right, NOTHING.



We got away from them into the Nahal Ammud going towards the Sea of Galilee. Around the time we began to prepare to set up camp, a National Reserve worker came along and reminded us that it is illegal to sleep in the Nature Reserve and told us to go to a nearby campground. I was so ticked off, but I'm glad my group was subordinate. We had to hike out of the Nahal, up a very steep ascent to a campground that wanted 10 sheqels for us to sleep on their ground. I get so ticked off at that. How can I be charged to sleep outside darnit?!



It's really not that bad, it's about 3 bucks. Kristy hooked us up with some pasta that she cooked on a portable stove. We had a flavor packet and some other goodies from Ofer, so it was actually really good.



Hey, another fun fact, Israel gets an enourmous amount of dew in the summer time. That was a crappy lesson to learn the hard way. I had the bright idea to sleep under the stars Tuesday night. I woke up realizing that the outside of my sleeping bag was soaked. I got up and went under the small tent that Shlomy set up sometime in the middle of the night. What a wet way to start the hike huh? His tent wasn't water proof either, so the dew slowly seeped through the tent and when I brushed up against it, I was again made wet.



We woke up and had some oatmeal with chocolate chips and raspberry jam in it. Good camp food, isn't it? It was delicious. We continued our hike, and this time we avoided the school children completely, descending down the Nahal Ammud again and travelling all the way to Migdal near the Sea of Galilee. We wouldn't have gone that far, but we ran out of water and water sources. Now, you may be wondering, how can you run out of water when you are traveling along a Nahal? Actually, you may be wondering, what in the world is a Nahal?! In Israel, there are streams that form off of mountains called Nahals or Wadis. Nahal is Hebrew, Wadi is Arabic. In the Winter, many people die in them because of flash floods that are actually frequent with rain. Along the Nahals or Wadis, if they are in Cenomanian Limestone, the land becomes very fertile. For instance, the oasis of Jericho next to the Dead Sea is made possible because it is at the end of the Wadi Kilt.



Anyway, it was dry because it had been a terribly dry winter. What little water we had from the downpours on Monday apparently did nothing to the Nahal.



When we reached some civilization, namely a road, we decided to add a prefix to our "hiking." That prefix is "hitch." Now, mom and dad, you're probably reading this, thinking, "Are you effin' kidding me?!" and I'm not at all. Hitch hiking in Israel is much different than in America. In the Tanaach, the Hebrew Bible, Jews are instructed to pick up hitch hikers. So, most of the people who would pick a hitch hiker up in Israel, are religious Jews - which I found to be true. Northern Israel is populated by some of the nicest people I have ever met in my life by the way.



Tim and Kristi got a ride by one car, while Shlomy and I got a ride from a Jewish couple who we had actually seen on the path earlier (come to think of it, I have no idea how they ended up in a car going that direction). How about that. Maybe we saw them near the other road that we went across. Anyway, the others wanted to walk the rest of the way instead of hitch hike. We got into the cars, and asked them to take us to Khof Tamar. "Where is that?" the couple asked Shlomy and me, "Do you have a map?" We didn't have a clue, so we told them to follow the car that Tim and Kristi were in.



We were dropped off right in front of the campground we were trying to get to. But this place wanted 35 sheqels to sleep there. Shlomy said, "We could sleep in a Kibutz for that price and have a shower and warm bed." So we looked around, passing the place we were supposed to pay and looked at their crummy spot on the beach. It was not worth that price whatsoever. I saw a path along the beach on the left, and said to them, "Hey, lets check that out, maybe we can find another place." So we snuck past the people who wanted to rip us off, and found ourselves in a big wheat field along the Sea of Galilee.



We made a left, went a little ways, made a right, and then made another right at the pirate ship and ended up finding an open field with a shanty house along the shore. Shlomy and I grabbed a grapefruit that had fallen onto the ground on the way - best grapefruit I have ever had, but maybe that was the dehydration speaking.



We were greeted by some dogs and a woman who barely spoke English. She was apparently from Egypt, and apparently was not expecting visitors but gladly offered a price to us. It was 100 sheqels for all of us, which wasn't too bad really. When you have hiked around 40 kilometers within two days and have a 30+ pound bag on your back, you take what you can get. It was a great night, beautiful out and comfortably warm in the little house-thing we slept in.



The next morning, Craig and I departed from the group after watching the beautiful sunrise over the Transjordan. They planned on hiking the Arbel cliff, which I had just done on the Galilee field study, and heading home after that. Craig and I started our hike (with the hitch prefix again) around 8. We got a ride to a local supermarket from a nice Israeli man that we met at a gas station. Restocked and ready to go, we stood around pointing at the ground to every vehicle to pick us up until 9:30, when finally a man in a small truck picked us up. He dropped us up on the Northwest Junction of the Sea of Galilee, which means we were still very far from our destination. We walked along the shore on the road that goes around the sea, waiting patiently for another person to help us.



We actually passed Capernaum before a man in an Israel Post vehicle picked us up. What a nice guy. He took us all the way to the Yehudiya Junction, on the Northeast side of the Sea. One last ride finally brought us to the Yehudiya National Park.



There, we began another 6 hour hike, into another wadi that was actually full of water. The land was beautiful, and so were the falls. This was no simple hike either. It required that you go through absolutely freezing water to stay on the path. You just walk along when suddenly, there is a ladder next to a waterfall going straight into the water. Fortunately, the sun was beating down on us, keeping us warm despite the frigid waters. At the third set of falls, we jumped in completely willingly, even though it was unnecessary.



The walls of the cliffs surrounding us were covered in streaming water. The natural springs were perhaps the most beautiful things I have ever seen in my life. We took turns taking pictures of each other under this enourmous natural spring waterfall. The fish were abundant and kind of intimidating. They were huge!



Getting out of the wadi was a workout and a half. You know those stair master machines that people buy for thousands of dollars? This was a stairmaster better than any of those. It was just a huge pile of Basalt boulders piled on each other. It looked like the after math of some sort of basalt avalanche. My cavs and quads and absolutely every part of me was exhausted at this point. I didn't mention yet that the shoes that I previously had on were tearing into the soles of my feet because the padding didn't withstand my weight over prolonged hikes. That was lame. My friend Ben let me borrow his hiking boots for Thursday and Friday (yeah it was that bad).

It would have been 15 sheqels to sleep at Yehudiya National Park. So we hitched a ride to Quzrin, hitting up another supermarket before we arrived at a nice forest where we slept. Craig wanted to take a bus back to Tiberius, but I wanted to hitch hike to save money. Fortunately for me, there were no busses to take to Tiberius from Quzrin at that point in the day. We hitched a ride all the way down from Golan to Tiberius in 2 shots. Actually, we landed 6 Kilometers outside of Tiberius, but decided to walk because it was so beautiful out.

We found the central bus station of Tiberius and finally got back to Jerusalem at 3:45 p.m. Friday afternoon. I have scrapes, blisters, sore muscles, a bad sunburn, and I'm completely exhausted, but I haven't felt this great for so long. Hiking certainly builds up appreciation for the little things in life that you take for granted. And hiking in Israel builds up a tremendous appreciation for all those who had to do it without the convenience of the nice prefix "hitch" with cars. Jesus did a lot of traveling between Jerusalem and Galilee. He must have been a beast. Same with Paul. Dang.

A dive into the Red Sea

On Thusday, plans fell through to go visit my friend in Galilee for the weekend, so I decided to join others in a plan to go down to Mt. Sinai to watch the sunrise on Saturday. We left early Friday morning. Around 7:00a.m. our bus left, taking us down along the Dead Sea, through 4 hours of desert, finally reaching the tip of the Central Bus station in Eilat at around 11 o'clock. We took a bus to the border, where we stopped at a hotel to use their rest rooms to change.

The Red Sea was absolutely beautiful. The view of Jordan and Saudi Arabia was magnificent over the great blue water. The rocks along the shore glistened and shimmered in the sunlight, even through the water. There was little sand, and as we swam out further, it became rather apparent that those glimmering rocks were most likely placed there, because they were only on the shore haha. Regardless, it was a nice free beach without the hastle of sand, which I thoroughly appreciated. There was a bridge that reached about 40 ft into the Sea to which we swam. My friends, Craig, Theo, and Crosby all took it upon themselves to dive into the water off of the bridge. I have just within the past two years become better at swimming and going under water, so diving in was quite a feat in my eyes. I looked at them enviously and decided, "Hey, if I'm going to learn how to dive, I might as well do it in the Red Sea." I had that erking feeling in my stomach of indecisiveness as I considered calling it a day and learning some other time. Craig held his video camera in my direction giving me the thumbs up. Then I remembered, I won't have another time like this. I put my arms up in that arrowhead position, placing palm on top of backhand, and proceeded to dive into water, head first, for the first time ever. It was amazing. The tragedy is that Craig is a goon and totally pressed record right when my feet entered the water. Worst photographer/cinematographer ever lol.

We crossed the border after our little swim and lunch at the beach. Crossing a border is always frustrating without a student visa as a student. I'm not quite sure why the director of my school did not have us get one, but it really does cause a problem lol. "What are you doing here?" "I'm with a study-tour group, we're just touring the land." "So you study here?" "Well, I'm touring right now." "Where do you stay?" "At the American Institute in Jerusalem." "So you're studying here, why don't you have a student visa?" "I don't know." "Alright, I'll ... blahblahblahblah get a student visa." Dumbest thing ever. So I got out of that, and we all found a taxi driver and bartered with him to take us from the border to Sinai, and then take us the next morning at 11:30 from Sinai to Nueva, and from Nueva back to the border at 3:30 p.m. We got him down to 800 Pounds, which is roughly 160 dollars. There were 8 of us, so it was 20 dollars each. If you do the math of all the miles (or kilometers) we drove in that time, you'd realize that this is RIDICULOUSLY cheap!!!

Tourists in Egypt are blessed with the Tourist Police of the country. We were accompanied by a man dressed quite well, hair slicked back, gun at his side, all the while we were in Egypt (except for the hike). We weren't even charged for his services! Really, we weren't put into a position to need his services, fortunately.

We arrived at the foot of Sinai Mountain around 6pm. We got settled into a Bedouin village named Fox Camp. It cost 15 pounds to stay there a night, and 25 pounds for a meal (Remember, 5 pounds to 1 dollar). We ate and went into their little town and hung out until 8 and went to bed. I met a guy named Muhammad and spoke with him a little bit, sharing the Gospel with him. I did not, however, have a Bible on me, so I'm not sure whether or not he will think about it - it is times like these where I realize even more that it is the Holy Spirit, and not I, that does the work.

We woke up at 1:45 a.m. on Saturday to trek up Mount Sinai. Our taxi driver was awake and prepared to take us a little closer than we already were. A guide named Solemon (yes with an e) was going to take us up the mountain for free (I'm not quite sure how legitimate that was) but he ended up being left behind. A mass of people stormed in front of us as we got closer. Hundred of people, maybe thousands, all prepared to climb this 3 hour path up the mountain. We wanted to be among the first up there, so we marched on making haste. It was a tremendously tiring hike, especially at such an early hour.

Every step of the way, we were dodging humans and camels alike. Dozens of Arabs shouting, "Camel!" at us in attempts to get some cash. The camels made some of the funkiest gargling, bubbling noises I have ever heard in my life. It sounded like the water was escaping from one hump to another, forcing bubbles of air out of their mouth and flabbing there lips with the force. There were shops set up all of the way, including at the very top. We arrived at the peak, where both a mosque and a chapel stand, around 5 in the morning or so. Hundreds of people were already atop the mountain, causing plenty of commotion. More Arabs were there offering blankets in the same annoying broken Enlish. I only say annoying because when you hear the same tone of voice in the sound of a question, peaking at a weird falsetto in offer to snag some money from you, it becomes terribly annoying.

We climbed a fence and got on top of the very unsturdy chapel roof. You could tap your finger on the plaster and hear a thump. And here, some losers decided to follow us and jumped from the side of the building into the center of the roof, one after another, as we crept lightly along the sides lest we would fall. Fortunately, it was more sturdy than it felt, and it held all of us. Looking down, you could see hundreds of feet of drop-off right in front of you. We eagerly awaited the sunrise, which was every bit of what it is cracked up to be. The great flame arose over the mountains, shedding light upon the land, illuminating every cleft and crevise by it's shadow being surrounded by light.

We departed from there, descending down the 3750 steps of Repentence - and believe me, at that point I was almost repenting the beating my body was taking. I'm just kidding, it was really worth it, and my legs held up better than I anticipated. We actually kind of off-staired it on the way down. We climbed down the rocks and boulders for some extra fun, all the way to St. Katherines Monastary. Apparently, the burning bush from 3200 years survived all of those years, and is conveniently placed in the monastary on a ledge along the wall. I'll tell you what, I did not even waste my time taking a picture of this fallacy that people flocked to just touch for a second. Sorry, but that is just stupid.

We went on from there back to the camp where we slept to gather the rest of our belongings. We left around 11am to go to the shore at Nueva. The drive through the desert was no better than the first one, though we did hit 150 kilometers per hour. Our body gaurd friend took a picture of the speedometer as we went, which totally encouraged me to do the same haha.

We arrived at the beach of Nueva around 1 pm on Saturday. We ate lunch at a decent place that had absolutely great pizza. I am seriously still shocked from how good it was. This beach had much more sand, and a much better sight in all directions. Goggles, a snorkel, and flippers awaited us at the beach, where I had my first experience looking at a reef fifty feet out from the shore. It was amazing. The spikey, black sea urchins were huge and spread out everywhere. The jellyfish, countless in number, floated by me, one after another. The fish poked their heads in and out of the sea floor, which was only 4 feet below me, and at points not even that far. Craig took a lot of pictures of the fish and sea creatures, which I still have to snag from him. After I got out, I saw an enormous school of fish right near the shoreline. It was unfortunate that Craig had just gone back out to find a shark when that school appeared (he was unsuccessful in finding a shark).

We left the beach at 3:30, as planned, and spent the next 8 hours travelling back to our home in Jerusalem. What an amazing trip!!

A 1200 foot drop from sea level!

I really had no idea what I was getting myself into when I agreed to run up Masada. I hadn’t even reached the half-way point when I just about keeled over with the pungent taste of iron under my tongue. Prior to my endeavor, I looked upon Masada in amazement; following the jaunt up the hill, I looked upon Herod who built it and the Romans who overtook the fortress in amazement. Oh, I also looked upon it in disgust as Craig vomited because of his valiant effort to break Jeremy Heikenen’s record of two minutes and forty seconds. He was 32 seconds short. It was amazing that I was 1200 feet above the base of the fortress built into the cliff (that is a popular number around here), yet I was at sea level.

We looked over the site and discussed the details of Josephus’ account and the archaeological evidence that was contrary to his claims. The story told by Josephus was an honorable one, or at least it was in Roman culture. It was a popular thing to swipe away the bragging rights of an enemy by falling on one’s own sword in the Roman culture. However, in Jewish culture, that was not a very prominent defense against an enemy.

Eleazar gave a powerful speech in Josephus’ depiction of the siccaris against the Roman soldiers. Herod had built this fortress/palace in his megalomania in order to perhaps allow his people to live vicariously through him, despite their poverty. After his death in 4 B.C., he passed it along to his son, Archilleus, who made his father actually look reasonable. He was later banished by Caesar into the Siberia of Rome, southern France. The Siccari were radical assassins of the zealots who killed Jewish people that cooperated with the Romans. They took control over Masada, and eventually, the Romans, led by Silva, decided to remove this faction.It took place during August, perhaps the absolute worst time to do anything in the land. A siege ramp was built, along with many encampments below, to attack the monstrosity of Masada. Eleazar put his faith in God’s deliverance, but this faith was to no avail. Soon the siege ramp reached the top, the fires of war blazed on the wall. An east wind suddenly pushed the wind directly into the Romans ramp, causing great damage. A glimpse of hope was in the eyes of Eleazar and his men. That glimpse was soon shattered as the wind quickly reversed its direction into the walls of Masada. Josephus does not tell his readers that there was a second siege ramp on the northern end of the fortress. His account glorifies the Jews but is completely biased, as is most propaganda. The Jews were not suicidal; they fought to the death. The second siege ramp gives evidence of this.

My second trip to the Dead Sea this semester was not as good as the first one. I had a couple more scrapes and sore spots than last time, and salt, particularly Dead Sea salt, is not a pleasant thing to put on any sort of wound. The beach was not as good as the beach at Ein Gedi Spa, but it was still awesome to float in the water with a big limestone rock on my stomach. I had one drop of that water splash onto my tongue, and I was trying to spit the salt out for the next fifteen minutes. It was once called the Healing Sea, but I think the change of name was very appropriate.

The Ein Gedi Springs made everything I have done in Israel so far seem miniscule. The beautiful fresh water rolling down the wadi was like paradise in that land. Just to the east is the Dead Sea, and to the west is the Judean wilderness. It is absolutely surrounded by desolate land, except for Jericho which is quite a hike to the north. We jumped into the water, went under the glistening waterfalls, and enjoyed every second of it.

Our last stop at Qumran was actually pretty painful. Wind blowing from the west was spitting dust and small pebbles into us as we observed the caves and city in which the community of Qumran lived. Because of rain that fell earlier in the day, the wadi had just been doused with water, making it somewhat unstable. So we were unable to go up into the caves, which was disappointing. More disappointing was the fact that all of the caves have been thoroughly explored - I was hoping that there was still work to be done so that I could get in on it. This picture is cave 4!

The tangibility of the land.

The warm weather is blowing my mind here in Israel. I am so thankful I can skip a winter in the cold Poconos. When we drove to our first stop at Tel Beer-sheva, I ignorantly thought to myself, “What kind of desert has so much green plant life?” I had forgotten for a moment that I am experiencing the warm winter of the southern part of Israel, thus I had also forgotten that it is the rain season. Abraham would go to Gerar in the summertime due to famine, and I do not blame him one bit. If the winter is this hot, I cannot imagine the heat that the desert pumps out in the summer.


As usual, learning about the Tel Beer-Sheva itself was enlightening. Pieces of the puzzle continued to be put together, giving me such a better view of the Bible. Beer-sheva is placed conveniently in the fork of the Nahal Hebron and Nahal Beer-sheva, and since travel would have been along the bottom of wadis, we know that these were significant local/international trade routes. The international trade route through the Negev demands that there be a city to moderate trade through the area; Beer-sheva served as that very city. 1 Kings 9 gives us an illustration of its importance. Solomon has control over the main gateways to the coast: Hazor, Megiddo, and Gezer. But in addition to these strategic cities, it is noted that he had control of Tamar, implying that he had control over the route down to it as well. Beer-sheva, west of this route, and evidently also controlled by Solomon, is a strategic city linking Tamar to the Coastal Plain as well as Egypt. It is amazing that out of the lowly city of Jerusalem, this broad area throughout the Land Between had been controlled: from Hazor to Tamar, from Megiddo to Beth-Shan, from Gezer to Jericho, and all that was in between .


A small note concerning the horns on the altar. I had never understood the purposes of those horns until today. We saw a model of the type of altar that the Israelites would have used (though it was Ashler Masonry, and the stones were actually supposed to be uncut). The simplicity of it is somewhat embarrassing: they are for tying the animal up. It was also a symbol for God’s protection over the people, but regardless, I probably would not have guessed it.


Tel Arad was a city in the middle of nowhere. We looked at the pool where all of the six to eight inches of rainfall per year would drain, and I was shocked to learn that the occupation of the city lasted for more than half a millennia. The people built the city so that it contained slopes leading down to a large pool that collected rainfall. It was somewhat ingenious. Arad was strategic for the route down from Hebron to Tamar. Anyone (like Solomon) who had control of this would have benefited greatly from it. The trade from the coming from the south towards Egypt, the Coastal Plain, Israel or Syria and beyond would have gone through this city (or gone through a much more challenging route). The remains there were among the best that I have been blessed to see. I have realized today that the reason why the biblical events are becoming more tangible is that the places that we are observing have much less civilization surrounding them - I appreciated that about this site.


Both our visit to the Nabatean site of Avdat and the Mahktesh Ramon were absolutely extraordinary. The Nabateans were absolute geniuses that built dams across wadis in order to turn six to eight inches of water per year to twenty-four to thirty inches, the same amount of rain fall as Jerusalem. This idea was incredible, giving water in over a half of million acres of land in the combined six Nabatean cities. One may wonder how it was possible for the Spice Trade from the south to make it through the desert under such harsh conditions; the answer lies with the secrets of the Nabateans who thoroughly persevered with this method of water gathering.



The Super Bowl, simply put, was the greatest view of any land that I have ever had in my life. The broad, water-eroded crater, the biggest in the world, exposed the volcanic rock of basalt, 1200 feet down. In a matter of five feet off of the cliff, I would have been plummeting all that way down - a straight drop. Fortunately, when me and Craig were taking pictures, we only had one close call...

A mall in the Negev better than Stroudsburg's

Along the Wadi Sorek, we followed the round about way south/southeast of Zobah. It is far away from the natural routes, not even close to a town. Because of the wadis and steep slopes, the travel through this was near impossible for heavy loads. I had not yet considered living conditions outside of towns or how cave houses actually work. It was fascinating to see the bricks outside of the caves and the level of comfort one could find within the cave. Being hidden from that blistering sun (with which I had way too much bonding time for my pale skin) would have been great. Journeying through those caves was a blast; I hope to find more to “shplunk” while I am here. We were given great illustrations from the Bible concerning the land: 1 Kings 4, Psalms 80, Isaiah 5, and John 15 gave us great insight for our location.

Beth Shemesh, or House of the Sun, was where we saw the set of the Samson story. I think that this section, as well as the time looking over the Elah Valley, has been the most realistic experience so far. It is hard for me to come to grips with the fact that I am in the land of the Bible. I have been here for about a month and a half, yet so much of what I have seen seems surreal. But this experience was the most tangible. I could see the story in such better light, as if it were popping off of the paper and making the story visible in 3D. I cannot see the individuals in the story, but I can feel the movement and tension between the Philistines and Danites in that area. The story of Samson is always entertaining, regardless of how well I can picture it, but these glimpses into the story certainly help. I could literally see the area of Philistine occupation, as well as where Minoah moved his pawn up one space.

In the course of this story, we find that the Philistines had control over the territory allotted to the tribe of Dan. The tension here was tremendous. The Philistines in the plains saw the hill country people of Dan as hillbillies, and the Danites looked upon the Philistines as a bunch of yuppies. Minoah, the father of Samson, subtly pushed forward into the land. He wasn't a warrior, but he was making the move regardless. We were told that it is like in a game of chess, where the pawns can move one space, or you could use a queen to jump the entire board or something. He moved up one space. Posting pictures in this would be absolutely absurd, but I'm going to do it a little bit anyway. The first picture is overlooking a hazy Timnah toward the West, and beyond what could be seeing was Ashkalon and Gaza and the Mediterranean. The second picture, North of where I was standing, is a series of hills extending into the plain from the Hill Country. The hill furthest to the right was the place where Minoah settled. Explaining all of the Samson story to you would be somewhat arduous, so I won't do that. But from my location, I could see most of the movement throughout the story of Samson.

I felt that same tangibility as we looked over the Elah Valley from Azekah. We were viewing, as Dr. Wright put it, “the Quakah in Azekah.” Understanding the geopolitical circumstances between Saul in Gibeah and the Philistines coming from the coastal plain was great. It is like seeing all of those puzzle pieces scattered all over your table be put together before you. I would have really liked to get into the Elah Valley to reenact this scenario - preferably, Craig would have been Samson, and we would have needed to get a small child to throw a rock at him. But it would have been a lot of fun. Bethlehem was the only city stopping the Philistines, and that is why the sons of Jesse were up on the front line. From our angle, and from viewing the maps before us, it was easy to see the entire scenario. We were once again in the center of it all, giving us an open view of each little facet of the narrative. This picture is a view of the Elah Valley.

Running up the siege ramp toward Lachish made by Sennacherib, Craig, J.E., Andrew, Jason, and I stormed forward to lay waste the city as it was done thousands of years ago. We may have only had sticks, and nothing to scare away any enemies other than Andrews back hair, but we made a valiant effort. The desperate measures taken by those soldiers in Lachish to build a counter ramp was terribly futile. It must have been a horrifying thing for those men to know that there was so little hope. There was little to see in the remains of Lachich, mostly just grass. But the story is epic!

Our stop at Gerar was refreshing to my sun-burnt skin. The cool breeze and beautiful scenery was pleasant and comforting. We were in a broad open basin looking at fields and fields of farmland, recalling the story of Abraham and his covenant between him and Abimelech. He would come to the land of Gerar in times of famine, most likely during the scorching summer in Beer-Sheva.

Beer-Sheva turned out to be nothing like what I had expected. The modern city was completely westernized, right down to the Tower Records in the mall. In fact, its mall was bigger and better than the mall in Stroudsburg near my home, Bushkill, Pennsylvania. My presupposition was that it would be a city somewhat like what the remains in the Tel Beer-sheva, brick upon brick but with some color and plaster covering the walls. I was so far off. I guess it goes to show how completely ignorant I am of the world in which I live, though what I have seen in Jerusalem is not quite as westernly extravagant as Beer-sheva.