The Fifth Day of the Trip

Thursday, June 9, 1994
Tiberias, Israel

We spent a full day in the Galilee today. We began the day with a multimedia presentation called "The Galilee Experience". It is on the 4,000 year history of this region. Terri Morey is the owner. What a dear lady.

We left there and drove around the Sea of Galilee to Gadarenes. Here Jesus cast the demons out of a man who lived among the tombs and sent them into the swine. We read the accounts in all three Gospels. Mark 5.1-17 gives us the greatest detail. There was a Byzantine Monastery there which was uncovered in 1970 while road construction was taking place. After the accidental discovery the moved the road closer to the shore. Then the archaeologists came in. They have named the place, Kursi. There is a church as well as a chapel. The chapel is above the church which lines up with the scripture about the swine going off a cliff. The ruins indicate the event took place there. Amazing!

We then drove to the Mount of Beatitudes where it is believed Jesus gave Th Sermon on the Mount. We parked the car and back-packed down to Tagbha, the traditional site of the feeding of the 5,000and the place where Jesus called to the disciples to cast their nets on the other side after He rose from the dead and met them on the beach.

When we arrived at the Sea I went in and put my feet right in the water. It was so refreshing. Somewhere out there the disciples were coming in from a night of catching no fish when Jesus called to them.

On the wall of the church that sits next to the place where I am standing in this picture are these words:

"At Thy Word I will let down the nets..."

"The deeds and miracles of Jesus are not (just) actions of the past. Jesus is waiting for those who are still prepared to take risks at His Word because they trust His power utterly." (parenthesis mine)