A Conscious Effort

Hiii from your friends and family in Israel!

We have just completed day five and it was wonderful as always. Today was more of a transitional day, which means we started our day at the Dead Sea in the desert and ended up at our new destination, the Sea of Galilee. Although a majority of our day was spent on the bus, we still enjoyed each other’s company during the drive and were able to get a few stops in that were (as always) a powerful learning experience. Our first stop was at the remains of what we believe to be the original city of Jericho. It was beautiful to be able to witness the Bible coming to life by not only hearing the stories of the faithful Israelites following God’s instruction and causing the fall of Jericho, but also by being able to walk on the land where the battle occurred and seeing evidence with our own eyes of God’s faithfulness to his people when they listen and obey.

Our next stop for the day was Megiddo. We explored the remains of one of the most fought over cities of biblical times. It was an overwhelming feeling to stand and look out over the Jezreel Valley, which lies between the mountains of Galilee and Samaria. This valley is believed to be the place where the final battle of Armageddon will occur. While there, Rabbi Scott talked about the importance of viewing scripture as a memory and not as history, just as Jesus did. We then discussed what may be keeping us from speaking with God and how we should not let fear, disappointment, or feeling unworthy ever affect our relationship with Him. I walked away from the teaching feeling reassured that God will always accept us no matter where we are at in our lives. After this, we were able to see first-hand what was most likely used as a pagan alter. Rabbi Scott used the illustration of the pagan practices to open our eyes to the fact that as a society we have slowly come to accept things that are sacrificing our morals and values. The Rabbi then put the question on our hearts of what we can do to help change this. We agreed as a community to make a conscious effort to meet people’s needs, as God does for us.

We ended the day with a short shopping trip and settling in to our new headquarters at the Sea of Galilee. I’m going to sleep tonight excited for the adventures and teachings that tomorrow holds.
Sincerely, Madison Rion