Journey to Israel Day 3 (Part 1 of 2): Sea of Galilee

Our day began on the Sea of Galilee!  The real deal Sea of Galilee...and I was so shocked by the vast size of it.  For some reason, I've pictured a little lake in my mind since I was a child.  The Sea of Galilee or Lake Kinneret as it is often called, is 13 miles by 7 miles long and can be as deep as 200 feet.

I opened the sliding patio door of our hotel room early to see the beautiful sun rise over the Sea of Galilee.  It became the perfect place for me to have my morning devotion with the Lord...just He and I overlooking the sun rising~it was perfect!

After breakfast our group boarded the bus for a five minute ride to the dock where we boarded a wooden boat to sail across the Sea of Galilee.  Delight!  The day was perfect, a true gift from the Lord, the water was so calm.  The captain proudly flew the USA flag for us and even attempted fishing just like Jesus and His disciples would have done.  He cast his net on the left side of the boat and did not catch a single fish and he asked us what to do.  Naturally, we all exclaimed, "Cast it on the other side!" 





I think we all unknowingly held our breaths at the same time to see if he would catch a fish.  Sadly, he didn't but what a thrill to see how it would have been done in Bible times.  Our guide explained that the Sea of Galilee really acts like a sea.  Storms can quickly approach.  I kept picturing in my mind Jesus being asleep in the boat when the disciples were startled by the storm.  Listen as my dad tells this story straight from God's Word:



I wish my video skills were a better but I am so thankful that I switched my big girl camera over to video mode so that I can have this treasure.

Our group so enjoyed being on the Sea of Galilee!  Our guide brought along some pita bread and Rachel and Poppie had fun feeding the birds.  I love this picture of the two of them laughing together:




I love this picture of my parents:



And all of us together:

(My brother, Hannah, my man, Rachel, me, Mom, Dad, Nonnie and Poppie (Mr. Incredible's parents))

From the boat, we could see Capernaum, the place that was at the heart of Jesus' ministry, His home-base.  Our guide explained that looking out over the Sea of Galille we were actually seeing with our earthly eyes where 80% of Jesus's ministry took place.  Wow!

After a little while our boat docked at the Kibbutz Ginosaur where we were able to visit the "Jesus boat" located at the Yigal Allon Museum.  You can read more about the museum here.  The boat is believed to be 2000 years old.  We also saw pottery and nails that were found near the boat.  It was quite amazing to see. 


(Hannah took the picture above)






A man blowing a shofar (a traditional ram's horn-what Joshua used when they blew their horns to bring down the walls of Jericho) caught Hannah's attention.  It wasn't long before he had an apprentice.  She blew the shofar the very first time she tried.  Naturally, we had to purchase the shofar and she keeps it proudly in her room. 



I have so many more details about our day to share, but I am afraid it might be taking too long to load the pictures on my site, so please come back tomorrow for information about our journey to the Mt. of Beatitudes and Tabgha.  Two more incredible places we were blessed to see!