life is good today

I sit in my living room with a cup of tea looking out as the sun sets over the Sea of Galilee. There are rocks and wildflowers on the sandy shore, palm trees and grass in my backyard, and so many colors on the water.

We arrived yesterday afternoon at Ein Gev resort. We ate our usual lunch and once again ran, laughing and screaming, into the water. The weather was like a late spring day, where the sun is pleasant but not blazing and the water is cool. The sand is so soft here and the water is as clear as Lake Tahoe. After swimming, my friend Shanan and I sat on the rocks with his guitar staring at the lake. Everywhere we travel I try to figure out what each place reminds me of. Most of the time it naturally comes to me, it is somewhere in central or northern California- but this place is entirely unique. I have never seen anything like it in my life.

I love this place.

(my lovely backyard)

I was so thirsty for nature. Israel has been even harder that European cities in that respect. Beautiful but dry and dusty hills with the sparing fertile valley. This trip to Samaria and Galilee is more than I could have hoped for. Yesterday we traveled through Nazareth and Samaria, learning about the trade routes and fortresses of the cities as well as the Samaritan faith and the community of Samaritans left today. We drank water from the well of Jacob where Jesus talks to the Samaritan woman in John 4. Today I woke up and watched the sunrise on the shore and ate French toast at breakfast! We then traveled north of the Sea of Galilee into the Huleh Basin and into the Golan Heights seeing Biblical sites such as Hazor, Dan, and Caesarea-Philippi. Though Israeli school kids harassed us the entire time, I greatly enjoyed Dan’s beautiful spring water and wonderful walk through it.

(sunrise)

(Dan and the spring water)

We feasted on a Thanksgiving lunch of pumpkin bread and pita with turkey (and the usual hummus, pickles, olives, and carrots). In Caesarea-Philippi we stood at the cave that once was a temple to Caesar Augustus which was known to be where one could enter the gates of Hades through the River Styx. We read from Matthew 16 where Peter confesses Jesus to be the Christ, Messiah and Savoir. Jesus then tells Peter that, “on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it’ (vs. 18). And I was right there, right at that rock, pretty cool.

On the bus ride home my friend Kyle and I decided to jam together and play our favorite songs for the other on our iPods. We sat there and listened to beautiful music as we watched the sun set from the bus. I ate a little bit of pumpkin bread and thought to myself ‘this is the good life’.