Day 3 in the books

Our third day in the Galilee region found us waking up to a light breakfast, because of it being the Sabbath day and the key puts. As always on a trip of the size, there are times when we have someone get ill. This year we had Tim Cook come down with an inner ear infection and sinus infection. We dropped him off at the local hospital and he was able to be seen and get medicine and spent the day resting. Hopefully he will feel better tomorrow when the meds kick in and we will be traveling on to the Dead Sea area.
after dropping them off we proceeded into Nazareth and we saw he precipice. This would’ve been similar or may have been the actual area where the people of Nazareth May have tried to push Jesus off and stone him when he said that he was the fulfillment of the prophecies in the Old Testament. It was quite windy up there and we had to hold onto our hats. There was a beautiful view of the Jezreel Valley and also of the modern day town of Nazareth.

Our next stop on today’s journey was to visit the Nazareth Village presentation. It was a reenactment of what it may have been like back in the time of Jesus as a young boy. We were able to see several artists and shops and also visited with Abraham the shepherd and his sheep and donkey. The gospel was clearly presented and we were blown away once again by how God used these volunteers to show truth. There was an area that showed off how to make and spin yarn and then weave a cloth. There was also an olive press. We were able to see how they smashed the grapes. And also saw some of the typical fruits and vegetables that would’ve been grown at that time. We were each given a small oil lamp as we departed to remind us that we are to be lights in this world.

We finished the presentation there and went on into the little town of Cana for lunch at a local restaurant there. this is the town where Jesus did his first miracle when he turned the water into wine at the wedding. The traffic was crazy but our bus driver is a pro when it comes to getting into tight spots and breaking through the traffic. We were offered a falafel or Shawarma today. I was thankful for the Coke zero as well.


Then it was time to do a little bit of a hike as we went into the town of Zippori. There was an amphitheater there where we enjoyed the talk from Mickey. And then we went on to tour a crusader building that had been built on top of the remains of a first century building. And then we went into an old city that had been uncovered with beautiful mosaic floors in a governors home. And finished with an ancient synagogue of course Wynn wanted to be a gladiator and get his picture taken in the little chariot.

We next stopped in a village called Magdala, The city where we read of Mary Magdalene. And there is a relatively new dig uncovered there when a hotel was going up. The excavators found the remains of an old synagogue from the ancient city in the first century when Jesus would have lived. This was something totally new from when we visited here 26 years ago. There’s something always being uncovered that once again proves the Bible was real.
There was also a small part of the city uncovered that housed the ceremonial baths for the city of Magdala.

From here we continued to the last leg of today’s journey and went down to the Jordan River for those who wished to be baptized. I have a video available for those who would like to see my good friend Linda Varady getting baptized in the Jordan River. She said the water was very cold but she wanted to proclaim to her grandkids that she was a follower of Jesus and this was an experience she didn’t want to miss. I wouldn’t let her back out but I was a chicken and didn’t join her.

So our last evening at Ma’agan and we had a beautiful sunset from the shore of Galilee. When is practicing for palm Sunday with his palm branch. We will soon be off to dinner and then figuring out how to put everything back in our suitcases for our next leg of the journey. So good night from Galilee.