Messianic Moments: Report from Israel #10

By Janice Beurling

Shalom!

After a wonderful night’s sleep at Beit Bracha, we shared breakfast with the staff and guests. The staff is made up of volunteers from the US and New Zealand (at least the ones we met). The guests were all European -- British, Finnish, Dutch and Danish. It was wonderful fellowship throughout our visit.

We spent the rest of the day visiting various sites around the Sea of Galilee. Our first stop was Tabgha, an ancient church location on the shore of the Sea where, according tradition, Yeshua multiplied the loaves and fishes. Next we headed to Capernaum. These attractive ruins include a synagogue built shortly after the time of Yeshua, but on the foundation of the synagogue that existed during His ministry. You’ll remember that He taught there and stayed in Capernaum often.

Following Capernaum and carefully exiting the narrow lane between busses and tourists, we headed further up the hills surrounding the Sea to Korazin. These two towns, with nearby Bethsaida, were spoken of by Yeshua when they rejected His teaching.

"Woe to you, Korazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the miracles had been performed in Tyre and Sidon which occurred in you, they would have repented long ago, sitting in sackcloth and ashes. But it will be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon in the judgment than for you. And you, Capernaum, will not be exalted to heaven, will you? You will be brought down to Hades! The one who listens to you listens to Me, and the one who rejects you rejects Me; and he who rejects Me rejects the One who sent Me" (Luke 10:13-16).

All three of these villages are completely ruined and abandoned. A good lesson to all of us!

On this trip, we’ve mostly looked after our own meals in our apartment, only eating out a handful of times. While we travel here in the Galilee, we’re eating at Beit Bracha or, as on this occasion, out! We stopped for lunch at a restaurant we found at the top of the hills around Galilee. It was nearly empty and seemed to be Arab owned. They had little English but were very polite and eager to please us. As we browsed through their menu (written in Hebrew, Arabic and English), our waiter asked if we’d like one salad. That sounded great to us, but we were alarmed when he brought about 10 or 12 dishes to the table. They were side plates that held a seemingly infinite variety of mystery foods -- plus one plate of French fries. And he brought a basket of huge, just cooked on the fire, pitas. We determined that we would try everything! By the way, Mom has become a hummus connoisseur. She can’t get enough!

We also ordered one dinner of Peter’s Fish (Tilapia) which arrived head, tail and everything between. Dad loved it. As well, we ordered one dinner of lamb shishlik -- what we would call shish kabob. It was divine!

We weren’t sure what this was all going to cost, but we enjoyed every morsel and were pleasantly surprised by the reasonable price.

By afternoon, Mom was feeling very tired and would have been happy to head back to Beit Bracha. But, Krista and I talked her into visiting Agmon Lake-Hula Valley, a wildlife area. This visit turned out to be a highlight of Mom’s entire visit to Israel.

However, as we drove up to the reserve, our second rental car began making some ominous noises. Not again! After driving a bit further, we began to think it was a brake problem. We’re not having luck with cars! But we carried on.

The wildlife reserve at Agmon Lake has a paved trail that makes an 11-kilometer loop around the waterways. At the main gate, visitors can rent bicycles, pedal cars or electric golf carts to travel the loop and view the birds and other wildlife. We chose a golf cart and were soon quietly gliding through the valley.

We saw many birds, including storks, kingfishers, starlings, ravens, and others. We also saw a mother water buffalo with her calf and many coypu (something like an otter). We highly recommend this experience.

Shabbat began that evening and we had a wonderful dinner with the staff and guests at Beit Bracha. We ended the evening again on the patio, watching the sun set over the Sea of Galilee. As it grew darker, lights of the various villages along the shore and on the hilltops grew brighter. It reminded us of Yeshua’s words:

“You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden; nor does anyone light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven” (Matthew 5:14-16).

This morning we packed up and, after another breakfast/fellowship time, we reluctantly left the Galilee and began driving south again, brakes grinding all the way! Unfortunately, we’ve realized we will have to return this car -- especially since we expect to be doing a great deal of driving with Dov again this week.

But - noisy brakes and all -- it was a great two days away.

These are some of the photos Krista and I took during the last two days (click for bigger):

The entrance to our guest house, Beit Bracha.