To the Ends of the Earth

by William Meyers

Today we wrapped up our final day in the region around Galilee. We spent much of the day yesterday around the Jezreel Valley, and the trend continued today. We started off taking one last look at the Sea of Galilee before hopping on the bus to head to Jesus' hometown, Nazareth. In Nazareth, we went to the top of the city overlooking the Jezreel Valley where Bunga talked to us about Jesus' roots. Many did not hold Nazareth in high esteem, and wondered if anything good could come out of a place like that. People apparently had a good reason to be ashamed of Nazareth, and Bunga posed the quetion to us, are we ashamed of where we come from? When faced with our past and what we have done do we try and hide it from others out of shame? Or do we look at our past as a beautiful picture of the redemptive work of Christ in our lives. It was a great reminder.

After Nazareth, we left and went to Megiddo. Set in an extremely important location, it has changed hands many times in the past. While we were there we talked about many things, but what we were able to see; I do not think I will ever forget the altar that was in the middle of the city. This was not an altar to God, but in all likelyhood it was an altar to Baal. Baal is a God that is mentioned many times in the Old Testament, and when the Israelites conquered the land they were commanded to destroy all of the altars in Canaan. However, this one stood. It was a great reminder for me that so often I am just like the Israelites in that I look to other things for security rather than God, and they become altars. I am no different from the Israelites apart from Christ, and because of that realization I am all the more thankful for what Christ has done for me.

We stopped for a quick lunch break at a great restaurant (the Pita Chips there were the bomb), and then headed up to Mt Carmel. While overlooking the Jezreel Valley we looked at the life of Elijah in 1 Kings 17 & 18. Elijah was sent across the Jordan at one point and lived in obscurity, away from everyone else, and was fed by animals. Cierra taught us how our circumstances are a bad indicator of God's love for us. Elijah was in hiding for years, and the place where he goes means "the place of cutting." Elijah is sent to the place of cutting for years before God uses him to begin to change the hearts of Israel. We we reminded by Elijah that God loves us and that is true regardless of where we are.

As we pulled away from the Jezreel Valley and headed to the Coastal Plains, we stopped at a beautiful city that happened to be the largest port in the world at one time, Caesarea. In Caesarea, Cierra taught us from the book of Acts. She started with the conversion of Cornelius in chapter 10, and moved on to when Paul was on trial starting in Acts 24. The ramifications of these events are huge because from here, the Gospel of Christ was taken not only to the Jews, but also to the Gentiles. This is the beginning of the Gospel that was brought to us about 2,000 years ago. At Caesarea we were reminded that there is still work to be done. We can celebrate that the Gospel has come to us, and because of that we are able to travel to Israel and see the text come alive. However, Cierra talked about how there are over 6,000 unique groups of people still who have never heard the name of Christ. The task is not complete, but much headway has been made. Caesarea was the start of it all, but I pray that we will fulfill the Great Commission and not only make disciples of all nations, but our neighbors as well.

It was an awesome way to end our time in Galilee, but we are all excited because tonight we head to Jerusalem!