Holy Land Pilgrimage: February 8th – 18th, 2010

Well, the trip is finally over. I could write and talk for days on all that we experienced. For now, the best way I know to summarize what this trip did to me is to say, “Before I came here, I read the Bible in black and white. Now I see it in color.”

This is a quick chronological listing of the places we visited each day of our trip.

Day 1: February 9^th 2010 (Tuesday)

Tel Aviv

Joppa/Joffa (Jonah 1)

· Simon the Tanner’s House (Acts 10)

Day 2: February 10^th, 2010 (Wednesday)

Caesarea Maritima

· Paul’s last days before being sent to Rome (Acts 25)

Aqueduct

Mt. Carmel

· Jezreal Valley

· Valley of Armageddon (Rev 16.16)

· Elijah and the Prophets of Ball (1 Kings 18)

Megiddo

Mt. Tabor

· Site of the Transfiguration (Matt 17, 2 Pet 1)

Checked in at kipputz (hotel in a commune community) on the Sea of Galilee

Day 3: February 11^th, 2010 (Thursday)

Boat ride on Sea of Galilee

· From Genessaret (Matt 14.34) to Capernaum

Site of demon-possessed man/pigs (Luke 8.26, ff)

Capernaum (Matt 4.12)

· Peter’s mother-in-law’s house

· Synagogue of Jesus’ day

Mount of Beatitudes (Matt 5-7)

· Site of sermon on the mount

Chorazin (Matt 11)

Tiberius

Baptism in the Jordan River (Luke 3.21, ff)

Site where Christ reinstated Peter (John 21)

Site of the Multiplication (Jesus feeds 5000; Matthew 14)

Day 4: February 12^th, 2010 (Friday)

Tree Planting

Cana

· Site of the First Miracle (John 2)

Nazareth

· Church of the Annunciation (Luke 1)

· Church of the Synagogue (Luke 4.16, ff)

Bet She’an (“House of Light;” “The Decapolis” in Matt 4.25)

Drove through West Bank toward Jerusalem

Arrived at Jerusalem

· Mt. of Olives

Day 5: February 13^th, 2010 (Saturday)

Mt. of Olives

· Church of the Ascension (Acts 1)

· Pater Nostre (where Jesus taught the disciples the Lord’s Prayer; Luke 11)

Dominis Flavit (where Jesus wept over the city of Jerusalem)

Garden of Gethsemane (Matt 26)

Walked through the Kidron Valley

· Tomb of Absalom (2 Sam 13)

· Tomb of Zecheriah

City of David

Site where Solomon is anointed

· Spring of Gihon

Pool of Silom

On top of Mt. Zion

· High Priest’s palace

· Dungeon where Jesus kept

· Place of Jesus’ late night “trial”

· Where Peter denies Christ (Mk 14)

Bethlehem (In the West Bank)

· Church of the Nativity

· Shepherd’s Field (where the angel announced to the shepherds; Luke 2)

· Shopping in Bethlehem

Day 6: February 14^th, 2010 (Sunday)

Church at St. George’s Episcopal Church

Church of the Holy Sepulcher (where Jesus was crucified and resurrected; John 20)

Shopping in the Old City of Jerusalem

Day 7: February 15^th, 2010 (Monday)

Wailing/Western/Retaining Wall

· Entered through the “Dung Gate”

Mount Moriah

· Temple Mount

· Site where Abraham was to sacrifice Isaac (Gen 22)

· Dome of the Rock

Stephen’s Gate/Lion’s Gate (Acts 7)

Pool of Bethesda (John 5)

Via Delarosa

· The Stations of the Cross (the path Jesus took on Good Friday; John 19)

· Ended at Church of Holy Sepulcher (site of crucifixion and resurrection; John 19-20)

Mt. Zion

· Church of St. Anne (mother of Mary)

· The Upper Room (Matt 26, Acts 2)

· Tomb of King David

Israeli Museum

· Scale replica of Jerusalem during the 2^nd Temple Period

· Dead Sea Scrolls

Day 8: February 16^th, 2010 (Tuesday)

Masada

Qumran

Swimming in the Dead Sea

Day 9: February 17^th, 2010 (Wednesday)

Birthplace of John the Baptist

Israeli National Holocaust Museum

Garden Tomb

· We closed the touring portion of our trip with communion at the Garden Tomb