Israel Day2 (Part 2 of 2): Tel Megiddo and Nazareth

After dining on Pita bread filled with Falafels ( they remind me of hush puppies with a way different taste) for lunch, we drove from Mt. Carmel (God' Vineyard) to Tel Megiddo.  Tel Megiddo is the chariot city of King Solomon and it is an evil place. 

We walked among the ruins of Tel Megiddo and then our hearts sank as we noticed clearly an altar:

(Can you see it in the above picture?  It is circular and right there in the middle)


This was the place where sacrifices to baal were made. The people even sacrificed their precious children on this altar. The Bible talks about how the people would offer their children to baal and then go and worship God in the Temple. It was an awful site to see. My first reaction was to not capture a picture, but I thought again. It is a visible reminder of just how far we can stray from the Lord and from His ways. And how, even today, we can live like and act like the world wants us to and then a few minutes later go and worship the Lord in church.  What a reminder, that we are to live in this world but not of it!

Interestingly, you can see Mt. Carmel and Nazareth from Tel Megiddo. Jesus would have been able to view Tel Megiddo from Mt. Carmel and Nazareth. Wow!

Our guide showed us an incredible ancient water tunnel in Tel Megiddo. Most of us walked down the 183 steps to the underground well that was hand dug by men for their water source.

From Tel Megiddo, we travelled to Nazareth...oh what a much better place to visit! We entered the Church of the Annunciation which is believed to be the home of Mary and Joseph:



I fell in love with the beautiful ceiling of this church:



While some of the group took a break to the "Temple of Relief" (the restroom) my family and I took a few pictures together outside of the beautiful church:


From the church, we walked through the Nazareth marketplace and on to a very special place.  Here are Rachel (Major-as in Drum Major) and Poppie walking hand in hand:

We arrived at the Synagogue Church in Nazareth.  This was where Jesus would have gone to church as a little boy and then later teaching here as an adult:

These are the original tiles His precious feet would have walked on.  I get chills just looking at them again!  I could have stayed here all day long.  I felt privileged to walk on them and to kneel down and place my hands on the tiles but I really wanted to just fall down with my face to the ground, just me and my Saviour.  Our group sang praises to Him together and the tears flowed.  Not all tourists, pilgrims to Israel, have the same blessing of visiting this place.  I am so thankful that our guide made special arrangements for us to be here.  I wouldn't have missed this Holy place for the world!


Please, join me tomorrow for Day 3.  We are on the Sea of Galilee!!!