Today we did a lot of driving because we went up to the Golan Heights area to see northern Israel. We headed all the way up to going east which just north of us became Lebanon and Syria. We were visiting an ancient city called Ceasefire Phillipi (Bonious)Pan in roman term meaning he would blow his trumpet and panic all the animals.
It was the place where the Lord told Peter that he would build his temple and earth and hell could not destroy it. The three sons of King Herod ruled at this time and it became ruled by his son Hared Phillipi. The middle kindon was ruled by Harod Antipus, and the southern kingdom was ruled by Herod Archeleous. There was a three temple ruins that we saw there dating back to the time of Christ.
We made another couple of stops to some ancient ruins dating back to 1800 B.C. One of them was called Abrahams gate which they believe Abraham would have gone through on his way to save lot from the Babylonians (?) and in the scriptures it said he went through the city of Dan which we were in and back then it would have been called Le Ish. (Gen. 14:15)
The next place we went was to what is called the eye of Israel. It's in one the highest mountains on the Golan Heights mts. It overlooks Syria. There is no border, only a cease fire agreement and its a mountain they can keep an eye on things and have wanted to keep because of it's protection. Henry Kissinger came from the US to see what was going on during the Yon Kipor war and the Us told Israel to let Syria have that mtn. Until Kissinger saw it and realized it's protective value. It been sad to hear some of the storys of terrible things happenning to the Jewish people. It was neat to stand on that mtn. and be able to see Israel, Syria, and Lebanon.
The last thing we did today was we walked down to the Sea of Galilee from the hotel and sat on the pier and watched the sunset. It is amazing and beautiful. We are leaving the Galilee tomorrow morning and I'm sad to leave because it's so amazing to be in this place and to think about all that happened here, all the miracles, all his teachings, and his life. Enen though it was short, a big portion of his life was spent right here on the Galilee.
We are having so much fun, I can't believe all the things that I have learned and has opened my eyes to what we read and study about but I just pass over because I don't understand. We've been able to just sit and ponder the meaning of the condescension of the Savior to the earth and ponder about what his life (which is where we are at on the tour) and death really mean to us. The things he did, the places he went have all come alive to me. It's been awe inspiring, testimony building, and life-changing.
