Home at last (incomplete)

---Updated with photos on July 5, 3h30 PM---

[July 5, 2h30 PM: This is the posting I started on May 19, and I've left it unchanged. Obviously I got interrupted and never got back to it.]


We just got in this afternoon after being up for about 27 straight hours. (Sitting in an airplane seat and trying to sleep doesn't count as resting.) All the connections went well and there were no major problems, the only complication being an oven in the galley of the 757 that wasn't working as we prepared to leave Newark. We sat there for an hour or so while they fixed the problem, and we were glad they took the time to find out whether it was just the oven that had electrical problems, and not some of the navigational circuits.


We stayed one night at Joy and Mark's, and they went with us on Friday. Mia offered to drive home.

They'll be here Friday, after spending a week in the UK.

Braewyn

Rachel and Braewyn flew in Sunday night and were present for the funeral Monday morning. They had to leave early Tuesday morning like we did. We really didn't get to see them much.


Abbie (in white jacket), with her sisters and father.

It was good that all the sisters could be together, but Dad kept having to ask each one who they are

[That's where it ended. Joy and Mark did come--a picture or two from that visit to follow. As for Abbie's dad, we would like to think he's dealing with the situation better by now. Still has memory problems, of course. Our son Jeff spent a week with Grandpa, while Uncle Ben was away. Jeff got his grandfather to help weed the flowerbeds and he bought hanging baskets of flowers for the front porch. Abbie's dad told a visitor, "That man (referring to Jeff) makes me work! And sometimes I don't even remember who he is!"]

Arkansas Update

We made the trip from Lisbon to Arkansas with no delays or problems. There was a close connection at Newark, but the Lord's timing was perfect. We spent Thursday night at Joy and Mark's, and we came over to Abbie's parents' house on Friday. Joy, Mark and Mia came with us for the afternoon, but had to go back home that night. They left yesterday for London, and after spending the next few days in London and Scotland, they will fly to Madeira on Friday. (We saw on the news last night that the ash cloud is threatening the UK airports again, so we pray there will be no problems for Joy, Mark and Mia next week.) We leave Tuesday and arrive home on Wednesday.

Abbie's mother's funeral is tomorrow morning. All Abbie's brothers and sisters are here and most of the grandchildren. Jeff is here, Rachel and Rick arrive today from Colorado.

Abbie's father is having a very difficult time understanding what is going on. Due to his dementia (not Alzheimer's) he keeps missing his wife and learning all over again that she has gone. His renewed grief is an added pain to the rest of us, but we pray for a special measure of God's grace at this time, for him and for us.

Pilgrims, not home yet

In Israel, our guide called us pilgrims; the Bible says that we who live by faith are pilgrims, like our father Abraham. In our travels back and forth across the Judean desert and in Jordan we saw many, many tents like this one.




From now on, I will always picture Abraham living in one of these Bedouin tents, although I'm sure he didn't have a pickup truck parked next to it like nearly all of them do nowadays. In 1 Cor. 5, Paul says we live in tents now, but God has an eternal building prepared for us when we move out of our tents.

Last night Abbie's mother finished her pilgrimage; she moved out of her 88-yr. old tent. It was shortly after I had posted the previous entry, around midnight here in Lisbon, when I saw the e-mail from Abbie's sister asking me to call or e-mail urgently, because she couldn't get through to us (because we weren't home, of course). When I called, she told me the news that their mother was found in the bathroom, where she had probably been dead 30 minutes or so. Barb said that Mom most likely died instantly of a heart attack with a minimum of suffering.

Abbie was already sleeping soundly when I got the news. She woke up about 5:30 to go to the bathroom, but I waited until she got up at 7:30 to break the news to her. Pastor Paulo Pascoal took us to the travel agency in Lisbon to get our flight changed, as we were due to return to Madeira from Lisbon this afternoon. We got flights booked for tomorrow and we should be at Joy's house by 7:00 p.m. We'll leave the States Tuesday and be home a week from today, "if the Lord wills."

Joy and Mark leave Saturday to spend a few days in the UK before traveling on to Madeira a week from Friday, on the 21st. We'll just have time to get home before they arrive.

The Lord's timing was perfect. A couple of days ago, we were in the middle of the desert in Jordan and the Negev Desert. We were practically unreachable, and even if we had been notified, we were in no position to change our travel plans. If Abbie's mother had died today, a day later, we would have been in Madeira, and we would have had to book flights back to Lisbon, with the possibility of airport closings. Had she died next week, it would have interfered with Joy and Mark's visit. This morning was the one day when we could change our plans with the fewest complications.

So, another pilgrim has finished her journey and left her tent behind. She's moved into the building God has prepared, eternal, not built by human hands.

It's just not the same without camels

The last 10 days were spent in a world different from any previous experiences we had. The only thing I could identify with was the arid lands of the desert that in some places reminded me of the desert plains of the American southwest. In the Negev desert on our last day we had to travel through a sandstorm not unlike those I remember from my days of growing up on the dry plains of Colorado.

The last day was a day of real contrasts. We started at Eilat on the Red Sea and drove up along the Jordanian border and ate lunch on the shores of the Dead Sea. (Dry, hot south wind, blowing sand, 43ºC/109ºF). From there, 30 or 40 km away, we ate dinner on the outskirts of Jerusalem, on the way to Tel Aviv. (Western breeze from the Mediterranean, 23ºC/73ºF) Leaving Tel Aviv at 1 a.m., we arrived in Brussels about 5:00 a.m., temperature: 3ºC/37ºF!

We had planned an overnight stay in Lisbon before going back home to Madeira. Just as well. The airport of Madeira was closed yesterday due to the volcanic cloud, and we haven't had confirmation that it opened this afternoon. We may get home tomorrow.

During the hour or so between flights at Brussels, I reflected back over the last 10 or 11 days and considered the world we were re-entering. With a twinge of sadness, I thought to myself, "Life's just not the same without camels."

                                                                                                                                                        Photo taken at Petra

Almost home?

This is our last night in Israel. We're in Eilat, on the Red Sea, after traveling from Petra in Jordan. Most of yesterday was also spent in Jordan.

Tomorrow we travel all the way to Tel Aviv, where we're supposed to catch our place at 1:00 a.m. Tuesday. We're due to arrive in Lisbon shortly after 8:00 in the morning, after changing planes in Brussels. Almost home!

We've heard that Lisbon airport is being affected by the volcano now. Almost home?

Travels in Galilee

We may have missed the boat today, but at least we didn't leave anyone behind like we did yesterday. The tour program called for us to catch a boat and cross the Sea of Galilee this morning, but we took longer at Nazareth than planned and missed that trip. We did get out on the sea after lunch but just for a ride out to the middle and back, so we sailed where Jesus walked and the disciples sailed, so to speak.

On the way to Nazareth, we drove through Cana of Galilee, where Jesus did His first miracle. On the highway through the town, I saw a couple of shops that made reference to that fact: "The Wedding Wine (something or other)" and "The First Miracle (something else)". Tourist shops, most likely, hence the names in English. I didn't have time to snap a photo of either one.

Nazareth, a town of 500 or 600 in Jesus' day, has close to 250,000 population today in the greater urban area, most of whom are Arabs. The signs were more often in English and Arabic rather than English and Hebrew. The YMCA has set off an area on a hillside in the city and tried to give an idea of how people would have lived 2000 years ago, by replicating houses and other facets of life of the time. Our group enjoyed that so much that we couldn't make our appointment at the Sea of Galilee, which is about 30 minutes away.

We visited other areas where Jesus ministered--and there seems to be some sort of church built on the spot. Capernaum, where Peter lived and where Jesus made His home, has a modern church built over the spot where Peter's mother-in-law lived, a block from the synagogue.

Then there's Kursi, the place tradition says the herd of swine went off the mountain into the sea when the demons left the Gadarene. There was some discussion among us regarding that site, as the top of the hill is at least 100m back from the shore line. For that to happen there, under the present-day conditions, only "when pigs fly...", as the saying goes. There are ruins of a church there, too.

At the location where Jesus fed the multitudes by the shore "because it was a desert place", another big church (possibly Orthodox, judging from the icons in the church).
I tried to picture the location as it would have appeared in Jesus' day, but the church, the souvenir shops and the tour buses somewhat spoiled the "desert-place" idea. And we couldn't even see the shore from that spot because of all the constructions. We would never have guessed we were close to the sea.

The Mount of Beatitudes, where the Sermon on the Mount is said to have been given, practically overlooks the area where the 5,000 were fed. Another church. But we stood out on the side of the mountain overlooking the hills of Galilee to our right, the Sea of Galilee to our left, and contemplated what we were seeing and had seen. Despite the interference of "religious" men in building monuments to preserve the memories of an event---like Peter on the Mount of Transfiguration, "Lord, it is good for us to be here; let us built three shelters, one for You, one for Moses, and one for Elijah"---and although on the hills above Tiberias, I could see urbanization creeping ever upward in the form of apartment buildings, that sea and those hills are still the same today as they were when Jesus travelled across them.

From sea to shining sea

Last night we were in Tel Aviv and I took pictures of the sun going down over the Mediterranean. Tonight we are in Tiberias on the shore of the Sea of Galilee and I got pictures of the setting sun reflecting off the hills on the western shore opposite our hotel.

Sorry, no pictures tonight. I only took 134 today and I'm not up to sorting through them, and I know you don't want to have to go through the 134 yourselves!

The other days will be educational, too, I'm sure, but today was full of learning experiences. Right off the bat I realized I had confused Haifa and Yofa (Joppa)--see correction to previous post.

Then I discovered that Caesarea is not where it always was in my mind. I always pictured Peter going to Caesarea Philippi over in Galilee, but guess what? There was another, bigger Caesarea on the coast north of Joppa! It was where Pontius Pilate was based, as well as Cornelius.

Then we went up on Mt. Carmel, where Elijah had the showdown with the prophets of Baal. Here I learned that: l) Mt. Carmel is indeed a mountain. 2) It overlooks the Valley of Megiddo (prophetical location of the last great battle when the Lord comes). Which leads to the next amazing discovery.

The Valley of Megiddo is enormous. It is a vast plain in its own right! I had always wondered how the armies of all the nations could go to battle in a valley. What I saw today convinced me there's room for a lot of armies there!

When we came over to Tiberias, on the Sea of Galilee, I became aware, for the first time, that it is also below sea level, somewhere on the order of 213 to 218 meters below sea level. I don't know exactly how I imagined what the geographical setting of the sea would be, but it's different than I pictured it.

Nazareth: we're going there tomorrow, but we saw it today from a distance as we crossed the valley of Megiddo. I hadn't pictured Nazareth perched on the crest and slopes of hills overlooking Megiddo. Nazareth is visible across the vally from the town of Nain, where Jesus raised the widow's son from the dead. We ate lunch in Nain today.

One final curiosity learned today: the pointing system now used for the Hebrew scriptures was developed here in Tiberias. If you think that's a bit of an anti-climax, I did call it a curiosity, not necessarily a life-changing event...but for a foreigner who senses the frustration of trying to read Hebrew without the vowel points, this invention was not insignificant.

Event of the day:

One of the places we went was the archeological site of the town of Megiddo, that overlooks the great valley of the same name. The group walked to the top, and we had a choice of routes for returning to the bus. The guide suggested taking the route through a tunnel dug in the mountain that went almost straight down 183 steps, then leveled out for a 100 meters or so to the spring that supplied the town with water, before going up 80 steps and coming out on the back side of the hill. That number of steps made Abbie decide not to chance her knees going down so far and back up, and one of the men in the group did not like the idea of going through the tunnel, either. So they went back by the path we came, and the bus would be waiting for us on the back side of the mountain and would pass by the entry to the site and pick up the two that walked back to the start of the trail.

20 of us were on the bus, and I was watching for the driver to turn back into the park entrance to get Abbie and the brother. But he kept right on going! I was certain there was no other way up to the park entrance, and I passed the word from the back of the bus up to the front: "Hey, you forgot my wife!" Because we are in a big tour bus, the driver had to drive on a couple of miles or more before he could turn around. Abbie and Helder were sitting waiting patiently when the bus finally got back to them. Just to think: we went off and left them in the middle of nowhere in northern Israel!

First day in Israel

How's that for an appropriate greeting from Israel? We thought it was especially appropriate for any of you living south of the Mason-Dixon line in the US. For those of you living in other countries, you'll have to draw your own lines!

We arrived in Tel Aviv after midnight, and because today was Shabbat, there was hardly anything open except for restaurants and coffee shops. (One of the three elevators in the hotel was the designated "Shabbat elevator"...it only went back into operation after sundown today.) Abbie and I took the morning to walk south from our hotel along the Mediterranean beach, and in the afternoon, went north along the beach. We couldn't buy the Shalom plaque, but we could take a picture of it.

Among the sights today: the street below our hotel window with the palm trees.






As we walked to the beach, we passed through an area that reminded us of what we imagined the landscape of Bible lands to be like. The weather was perfect.




The beach itself extends over a long distance and in some areas was quite busy, while in others it was almost deserted.




Our afternoon walk found us near the old port of Tel Aviv, as the sun was setting over the Mediterranean. Tomorrow begins the actual tour, with a visit to Haifa** (Joppa) and other stops in northern Israel. I won't have time for full descriptions, but will try to keep you posted of our general itinerary.

**Sunday night: My error. I confused Haifa with Yofa, the Hebrew name for Joppa. I knew the local name was different, and as Haifa is a port also, I erroneously said we would go to Haifa. We didn't. But we did go to Joppa (offically part of the city Tel Aviv-Yofa). See Sunday entry.

First stop: Brussels

We flew from Lisbon to Brussels yesterday, where we had 4 hours or so before we had to be back at the airport for the flight to Tel Aviv. We dashed off to the center of the city for a bite to eat and a quick peak at the main square, which is surrounded by elaborate buildings. Here is a sampling of what we saw.









Abbie and I tried Flemish stew and a Belgian waffle (what else?), but I'm afraid there are no samples of those left to share with you.