Petra

Well it was quite a day.  I am absolutely whooped.  We did alot of hiking today all over Petra.  Well I didn't find my rock.  I looked for a while and finally gave up.  Even though I could not find it I am allowing myself to exit Petra.  I think it was buried under a bunch of dirt.  Who knows.  Tonight we eat dinner then go to bed and tomorrow we start our track home.  I cannot wait to see Ann and the kids.  Two weeks is a long time.  I know Scott is ready to get back and see Metta and Arlen, and I think Richard, Cliff, and Charla are ready as well.   It has been an amazing trip.  Here are some pics from the beautiful city of Petra.  Petra was home to so many people over the last three thousand years plus.  Many feel it is Petra where the people who received the prophesy of Obadiah lived.  Some also believe this could be the place where the Jews flee to during the last 3 and a half years of the Tribulation.  Over time it has been home to the Edomites, the Nabateans, the Romans, and the Crusaders to name a few.  The pics just cant show how amazing it really is to be there.

Standing in the Siq

Richard and Scott in the Siq

The Treasury Temple (remember Indiana Jones?)

this is the first thing you see as you enter from the Siq

Here is the Riverside 5 in front of the Treasury

Roman Theatre at Petra

Beautiful view on walk to Monestary - takes what seems like forever to get there- but it is worth it

Monestary- I am standing in doorway

Leaving Petra- One more shot of Treasury Temple

Leaving the Siq

Good Evening from Wadi Musa!

Good evening from the Hashamite Kingdom of Jordan.  Yes, that is what they actually call it.  I am writing this from Wadi Musa, known as the Valley of Moses.  The archeological part is the amazing city of Petra.  Tomorrow we get a chance to explore this incredible place.  Today we left the Dead Sea and drove over to Mount Nebo.  Mount Nebo is the place where Moses was able to look into the Promised Land.  A land that Joshua would lead the children of Israel into.  Looking out you can see the Plains of Moab.  There are so many biblical stories that take place from this area.  As you look into Israel you can see the Dead Sea and the outline of the Jordan River as you look towards the area moving towards the Galilee.  Hard to imagine what must have been going through Moses's mind as he looked upon the land he would not be able to enter.

It is taking forever tonight for pictures to upload so I will try to get more pictures later.

Tomorrow we are going to hike to a place called the High Place and then a few of us are going to try and make it to the Monestary.  The Monestary is a monument way back into Petra that is my personal favorite.  It is a really long hike and about 12 years ago I hid a rock.  Ok, I admit it I am a dork, a big kid at heart, and years ago I hid this rock and put my initials on it way back into Petra.  So tomorrow I am going to try and find this dumb rock.  If I never make it back to the States you will know I never found it.  Well it is getting pretty late and it will be a long day tomorrow.  Good night from Wadi Musa!

Here are a couple of pictures of Petra I found online to give you an idea

Hello from Jordan!

Well I was too tired the last two nights to type anything but we have had a great last 48 hours.  First off Scott is recovering well and is back in action.  He stayed at the hotel two days ago to get his arm rested up and is still sore but seems good to go.  Thursday morning we listened to Dr. Deyoung talk about the crucifixion and resurrrection.  It was very interesting hearing his thoughts on Jesus being crucified on the Mount of Olives.  Most people believe He was crucified at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre or the Garden Tomb, but the reasons he presented for the Mount of Olives spot are very compelling.  He has some very interesting biblical arguments and historical data to back up his position.  After listening to him teach we headed out to a few sites.  We started at the Church of the Pater Noster.  This church is interesting,  it has the Lord's prayer on the outside courtyard in over 100 diffferent languages. This is the location where many scholars believe the first church in Jerusalem met the first two hundred years it was in existence.  We then headed over to the area on the Mount of Olives where Dr. Deyoung thinks the crucifixion took place.  It was an area where Josephus (the famous historian) writes that over 500 people a day where being crucified.  It is also the location of the altar of the red heifer.  The significance of everything that took place on the Mount of Olives is truly amazing.  From here we headed over to the Garden of Gethsemane. This is such a touching place.  There is at least one tree that many believe would have been alive at the time of Jesus. 

We then headed back to the hotel to regroup.  The afternoon was free.  Once we were dropped off I decided to explore a little by myself in the Old City.  Jerusalem is such an amazing city.  The old city is divided up into 4 quarters- The Armenian, the Jewish, the Muslim, and the Christian quarter.  It is difficult to figure out where you are as you walk around, because it feels like you are in a large maze.  I finally figured how to get out of the Damascus Gate so I could go over to Rockefeller Museum.  This is Israel's largest museum of antiquity.   You could spend an entire day here but I got a chance to spend a little time there.  I then headed over to the Lions Gate.   From the Lions gate you are very close to St. Anne's church.  This place is really neat due to the acoustics in the church.  Most groups that come through the church take time and sing to hear the amazing sounds within the building.  It was exciting sitting there for a few minutes to listen to some of the groups sing.  Outside of the church is the Pool of Bethesda.  It was here that Jesus healed the lame man.  This is one of my favorite spots.  As I was standing there looking at the pool it reminded me that I am no different than the lame man.  I am unable.  I need Jesus to do what only He can do in my weak and desperate situation.  This is what salvation and the Chrisitan life is all about, our inability and His sufficient strength.

Church of Pater Noster- site of early church in Jerusalem for first two hundred years

Met this guy at a place called Jacob's Pizza- He was a professing believer in Jesus

This is the Damascus Gate- it took me forever to find it

This is Rockefeller Museum

This is the Lions Gate- close to the Pool of Bethesda and Antonio's Fortress

Pool of Bethesda

Friday we got up and headed towards Jordan.  We crossed over the Allenby Bridge near Jericho and began our way towards the Dead Sea.  On the way we stopped off at what many feel is the area where Jesus was baptized by John the Baptist in the Jordan River.  There have been many churches in this area dating way back.  John's gospel says that it took place in an area known as Bethany Beyond the Jordan.  This very area is known as Bethany Beyond the Jordan.  In fact there were churches built on the area right over the water.  During flooding season the church would be destroyed and then they would build it back only to have it destroyed again.  It really appears this may be the area.  We then went through Amman, Jordan.  While there we went to this Jordanian lunch place.  It was really unique and the food was really good.  We then drove to the Dead Sea where our hotel is.  This place is beautiful.  I wish Ann was here to experience it with me.  It is a spectacular hotel with beautiful views.   This morning as I type we are getting ready to head towards Petra.  I had a chance to backpack a little through Jordan years ago with my friend Josh and this was by far our favorite place in Jordan.  I am really excited to go back and explore some more. 
Hope everyone has a great day!

Scott holding an Arabic Diet Coke

Where we are at the Dead Sea

Change of Plans

Well this morning Jerusalem was cooler. We have been having some pretty hot days but today we were in the upper 50's. It actually felt pretty good. There has been some conflict in the area near the Old City in response to the recent political situations taking place. Due to the conflict we were unsure as we went to bed last night if we would be able to get to the Temple Mount area. Everything worked out and we were able to go up on the temple mount. Everything in Israel if filled with so much history, but this place is truly unbelievable. It was here that the temple stood. In the time of Jesus the temple would have stood 21 stories high. Being there is amazing, not only reflecting back to the temple in the Old and New Testament times but also looking to the day when Christ sets up His temple to rule and reign. The Dome of the Rock is the gold top building you always see when they show Jerusalem on the news. Most scholars believe it is here under the Dome of the Rock that the holy of holies was located.   It is amazing to think of being that close to the original holy of holies.  If you are not careful you forget how Christ fulfilled the Old Testament.  You see when God became man, John says that, "The Word became flesh and dwelt amongst us".  What a beautiful statement.  The literal idea here is that the Word became flesh and "tabernacled amongst us".  As Christ walked this earth the Shakinah glory of God tabernacled amongst men.  Isn't that amazing?  It gets better.  As believers changed by His grace, Christ now lives in us.  Paul even says that we are the temple of the Holy Spirit. 

Here are some pictures from the temple mount area:

We then walked down towards the Jewish quarter. If you heard something in Israel in the last 12 hours it was the jubilation of our group finding a burger place. It wasnt the best burger I have ever eaten, but it was pretty stinkin good. This is where our day changed. As we were leaving the burger place meeting up with our guide Amnon, Scott caught his foot on something and took a really hard fall. It was pretty scary. He looked really hurt. The good news is he is going to be ok. Right after the fall, as soon as he was able to stand up he began to feel sick on his stomach. I thought he was going to hurl. The thought of him hurling at this point was pretty terrifying because we had probably just eaten one of the largerst hamburgers available in Jerusalem. We were joking later that if he would have thrown up they would have had to clear the Jewish quarter. He was in pain so the two of us jumped into a taxi and went to some type of emergency center. He was able to get his forearm-elbow xrayed and looked at by one of the doctor's and they feel he sprained it really bad. He might have had a small fracture but they were not comepletely sure. So be praying for Scott when you read this, he is not feeling that good tonight. We are so thankful it was not worse. Lord willing he will be feeling better tomorrow. We were talking when we got back to the hotel this afternoon how quickly things can change. I can't tell you how much I appreciate Scott. He is one of the biggest encouragers I have ever met, so hopefully we can encourage him along the rest of the trip.

The Jewish Quarter

We were emotinal for the Burger.  There is even a picture of the menu

So due to Scott's accident we came back to the hotel. Cliff, Charla, Richard, and the rest of the group got to go to some amazing places the rest of the afternoon.  I am so excited they got to see them.  They went to a place where the religious Jews are working on items anticipating the next temple, they also went to Antonio's Fortress (the place where Christ would have stood before Pontus Pilate), the Garden Tomb ( probably not the place of the crucifixion and resurrection due to the dating of the tomb there, but a beautiful place), and the Western Wall tunnels. 

For me and Scott it was good to rest a little bit and get ready for tomorrow. Good night from Jerusalem!

South to the Dead Sea

Today we made our track to Masada. While not a biblical site, it represents so much in biblical times. The people of Masada were the last stand against the Romans. Herod the Great built Masada and with his influence Masada had much of a Roman flavor. The people of Masada at the time of the Roman siege were after the time of Herod. As the Romans came to conquer the great mountain city they encamped around it in eight different places. Ultimately they used Jewish slaves to begin to build a ramp to conquer. Josephus records the final words of one of the chief leaders. One of the men made a compelling speech inspiring the Jews to take their own lives rather than be tortured and killed by the Romans. Our guide shared an amazing thing that took place in the synagogue. As they were doing the dig in the area they had realized was the synagogue, they found a scroll that was open to Ezekiel 37. It was open to the place that speaks of the dead bones coming back to life. It was as if the individual who left the scroll wanted the Romans to know that one day they would thrive again. Almost 2000 years later the nation of Israel is thriving again.

On our way to Dead Sea

Cable Car up to Masada

1 of 8 Roman Encampments around Masada

On Top of Masada

This is my buddy Maxine.  We are standing in the synagogue at Masada

En Gedi was the place that David hid from Saul. You wouldn’t think this place would be out in the wilderness. There are trails you can take all throughout the preserve. As you go up near the top waterfall you get a great view of the Dead Sea.

 

Richard continues to call our group the Riverside 5. Today as we asked someone to take our picture, there was what seemed like cameras everywhere taking a picture of our group. We were laughing thinking that they probably thought they needed to take a picture to explain to others about the crazy redneck group from Alabama.

Riverside 5

Qumran is where the dead sea scrolls were discovered. This is where the Essene community lived that I mentioned earlier when we went to the Shrine of the Book. Here we got a chance to see the actual cave and also the actual room where they copied the scrolls. When doing the dig they found the actual ink jars and the ink in them matched up perfectly with the ink on the scrolls.

The Scroll Room

Cave #4- Main cave were scrolls were found by Bedouin boy

High Quality Latrine

 

I got to meet one of my favorite preachers tonight. Chuck Swindoll has a large group here from Texas. It was very exciting to get a chance to meet someone that God has used in my life. Tomorrow we may not get to go where we were planning. There is some turmoil that has been taking place in the Old City the last couple of days and today the temple mount area was closed. We shall see. Hope everyone has a great night!