Remembrance Stones from Israel

Ebenezer stones of Remembrance:

Galilee:

• Areamos Topos – listen
• Arbel- busy but never hurried or savor solitude
• Capernaum – Follow Me
• Qatzrin – Household of Faith
• Tabgha – feed my sheep
• Caesarea Philippi – who do you say I am
• Tell Dan – faith is not convenient

Shephelah:

• Azekah – play to your strengths
• Beth Shemesh -no compromise
• Beth Guvrin – soft hearts
• Yad hashmonah – well watered garden
• Qiryat Yearim – God never leaves you. Ever. Don’t leave Him!

Jerusalem

• Southern Steps – Go and Tell
• Azekah – play to your strengths
• Beth Shemesh – no compromise
• Beth Guvrin – soften your heart
• Qiryat Yearim – God never leaves you. Ever. Don’t leave Him!
• Western Wall – practice the presence of God
• Gethsemane – love/in his mind
• Mt of Olives – watch & pray
• Yad Vashem – remember
• Hezekiah’s Tunnel further up and further in
• Bethlehem God with us!
• Herodium It is good to be King

Jerusalem – Jesus is the Cornerstone

• Southern Steps – Go and Tell
• Western Wall – practice the presence of God
• Gethsemane – God’s love never fails
• Mt of Olives – watch & pray
• Yad Vashem – remember
• Temple Mount /Via Dolorosa/Sepulchre- Worship as a way of life
• Pool of Bethesda – trust

Jezreel Valley

• Caesarea Maritima – Share the good News
• Beth Shean/Scytopolis – remove the mask

Negev

• Masada – Never give up
• Ein Avdat – Hospitality
• Ein Gedi – Living Water
• Qumran – faithfulness wins
• Salt Sea – dead things live
• Tell Arad/Beersheva  don’t yield to culture

Hold your camels – here are some other random observations:

• No matter what you put in a pita (shawarma, schnitzel, falafel, kebab, French fries, hummus), it tastes the same! Yummy and earthy.

• Ice and air-conditioning are amazing inventions (probably discovered by an inventive Jew). The dietary laws were definitely given to protect the survival of over a million people as they wandered in the desert without refrigeration. These clever people built cities underground. They used salt, which was in abundance. They learned to make the most of 7 species (plus manna and quail): figs, barley, wheat, olive oil, pomegranates, dates(honey), milk. The timing of the harvest seasons and the blessing of life depend on the rainy season. Sometimes we forget that God’s blessings come in the storms of life.

• Even the land was designed to foster dependence. A land flowing with milk and honey does not mean a utopian paradise. Rather it means a different way of life than the Israelites had known before. (Similarly, people call Southern Cal a paradise, when it is really an overcrowded desert on a fault line!) God may keep us on the edge of our means, for there we more clearly recognize our need for Him. Even more, everything changes in this land so quickly: weather, terrain, from city to desert to mountains, from one religion to another, from untouched nature to intense. This land of extremes all packed into very tight space. Moving from the lowest spot on earth (the dead sea) to the holy of holies. The juxtaposition of such diverse and often antagonistic cultures of the 3 main world religions call this land home. There are visual parables everywhere!

• Shabbat is necessary. Rest and realigning ourselves has become a luxury in this culture, but once again I am reminded that connection with the Almighty is not achieved any other way. Paul says that in Heb 4:11: So let us do our best to enter that rest. But if we disobey God, as the people of Israel did, we will fall.

• The world really is small for the believer! This was evident as we became good friends with the 50 others on our tour who love and serve Jesus and even saw people from home. (Tim saw his uncle)

• Families are God’s idea. They are cool. There are many rooms in our Father’s house. The value of legacy and connectedness is for many future generations. The Bible and the land are not for the immediate only. It is an increasingly foreign concept for us to tame the land and prepare for others that we will never know! Learning that it is not about self.

• The loud, proud, sometimes intrusive Jewish people have learned to have hutzpah. They can be compared to tsabras (a fruit that has a thick prickly outer skin but is very sweet); they are supposedly tough on the outside, but delicate and sweet on the inside.