A Mountaintop Prayer

Hello families!! Siera and Shiloh here. Today has been a great day. We are currently sitting and watching the sunset over the Sea of Galilee beneath a small tree. Our morning began with breakfast, per usual. We then received a lovely devotion organized by Media Coordinator Extraordinaire, Benjamin Tucker Horton, about how we should simply rest with Jesus. Then we fluttered into the bus & made way for Chorazin, where we saw ruins of a synagogue and learned about the small, tightly knit community of the region. Next we headed to Mt. Arbel. It was an incredibly beautiful hike and more luscious than we have seen. Once we got to the tippy top of the mount that overlooked the Sea of Galilee, Joey and Eric spoke about how at the end of Jesus’ days, despite his exhaustion, He would retreat to the mountain to pray with His Father.

In order to encourage us to do the same as Jesus, Eric pulled out a page of the Bible when we each said stop. He handed it to us said take only this and devote a few moments to God. It was a very sweet and much needed time to be alone with the Jesus in a place He likely was. Then we had falafel sandwiches for lunch, followed by a Magnum Bar and made our way to the Mount of Beatitudes. Seth read us the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7) in the place where Jesus likely gave it, and spoke about how simple Jesus’ commands are - just to seek His kingdom and Him alone. We then walked across the street to Tabgha, where Jesus found His disciples fishing after He resurrected. He told them to cast their nets on the other side of the boat, and they were faithful to do so. But still, they had returned to what they already knew. While they should have been out preaching, there were back to fishing, but still Jesus met them there. Seth tied this into how we have been faithful by being in Joshua, but as we leave, we are accountable to live differently and practice what we now know. From there, we went to Capernaum where we saw the synagogue in which Jesus taught and the place where He performed so many of His miracles.

Eric encouraged us to seek Jesus, not because of what we can get from Him, but purely because of who He is and what He did. After a long and beautiful day, we returned to our resort and shared a Shabbat dinner as a family. And now the sun has set, and we are excited for rest and another great day.