Musings from Israel
- 2017
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| Mount Carmel WC |
June 2-14 of 2017 will go down in the books as
the greatest journey I have, and will ever, go on. A group of Worthington
Christian students and staff, including myself, embarked on the adventure to
Tel Aviv Israel on June 2. Our first day in Tel Aviv we spent roaming the
streets, and swimming in the Mediterranean Sea. This was quite the experience,
because there were biting fish in the sea, and one bit our own dearly beloved
Mr. Baugher. Luckily the bite was so small that it barely even drew blood.
After a day of recuperating ourselves in Tel Aviv, we continued our Journey to
Galilee.
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| The Sea of Galilee |
The sea of Galilee was my favorite stop on the
trip. Galilee, more than any other stop, truly brought the Biblical stories to
life. I could clearly imagine Jesus calming the sea, because waves on the sea
of Galilee could be crashing five feet high one minute, then still as glass a
few moments later. This is due to the desert terrain and the valley that is the
sea, which creates a wind tunnel. We climbed up a mountain cliff while there,
which had no biblical significance, but was possibly the most breathtaking
sight my eyes will ever gaze upon.
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| Mt. Arbel |
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| Bethsaida |
We also ventured to the site where Jesus fed the
5,000
Our Worthington Christian crew all were baptized
in the sea, by Mr. Baugher.
After a few days exploring around Galilee we went
to our next stop, the Dead Sea.
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| The Dead Sea |
The Dead sea is the saltiest place on earth. The
sea itself is so salty that we were floating like ice cubes as soon as we sat
down in it. The salt is so powerful that if I would have taken my phone into
the sea it would have started to disintegrate. A single drop of the saltwater
was enough to send me out of the sea with my eyes watering like old faithful.
In the Dead sea area, we got to embark on a trip
up to Matsada. We planned on hiking up the stronghold, but the temperature was
close to 115°F, so it would have been a health hazard. Although disappointed
that I was not allowed to tackle this physical challenge, what I saw at the top
was amazing nonetheless. We got to see
the ancient ruins of the Jewish stronghold, and see where the Romans would have
camped out to surround them.
Next we went to the Negev Desert, a Bedouin camp
where we rode camels and slept in huts.
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| Negev Desert |
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| Bedouin Camp |
This was an experience that I will never forget,
not only because we slept in a sweet hut in the middle of a desert, but because
my best pal turned 18 that day. I tried to give Pete a bar mitzvah, but Dr.
Price was the only participant.
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| Western Wall |
After we left the desert, we continued on to our
last stop, Jerusalem. We hit about every sight you could possibly think of in
Jerusalem, from the Western Wall to Hezekiah's Tunnel.
Roaming the streets of Israel, I ran into one of
my baseball coaches and great friend, Michael Kraynak, who was on a separate
tour around Israel. It was one of the highlights of my trip, and was exciting
to hear what he had learned too.
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| Coach Mike and Danny Myers |
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| Streets of Jerusalem |
On our very last day in Israel, we ventured
around and went to the Israel Museum in Jerusalem, where our Biblical Hebrew
students read and translated the dead sea scrolls with Dr. Price. Walking
around Jerusalem was also a journey, and we ended up reenacting the Beatles famous cover photo.
This marked the end of our adventure, one that
truly brought this unlikely group of students closer together as brothers and
sister in Christ.
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| The Worthington Christian students and teachers with tour guides Hagia Gov and Dr. Randall D. Smith |
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