Quiet Weekend with Family

Not much going on this weekend at the Pretty house...just hanging out with family. You too? Glad to hear it! Oh...and I did finish a sweater!

As we accept the reality of living through a pandemic, more and more are meeting only in online forums, chat rooms and meeting spaces. Even my knitting group had a Zoom meeting on Thursday! While there is no substitute on the internet for a real, in-person, arms-wrapped-around-you-tight hug, I am thankful that we can interact face-to-face...kinda...just like the Brady Bunch.

Laughter is good for the soul, and sharing is how we all stay connected. So keep calling, texting, and video chatting until we can all hug each other again. 

What's that? You think I should share more about my Israel trip? Well, sure! No danger of contagion via the blog, so let's go! I believe we are on day 4, January 26, which was a Sunday. No church to go to, which I missed, but lots of great stops this day!

Our first stop was Magdala, the home of Mary Magdalene, and our guide took a back seat to a young woman from France who was guiding the tour at this stop. The really neat thing here is that this is the first stop where we were told, "Jesus was here." Not 3 levels down, on the original streets, or we think it was here but no one can really be sure...but "Jesus was here."

His feet were in at tiny synagogue (no mega-synagogues, just room-sized gathering places indoors), he read the scriptures and he taught here. This evoked feelings of wonder and awe, and a longing in my heart to know Jesus more! This was the theme of the day, and our next stops were the mount of Beatitudes...

...and the chapel of the primacy near the Sea of Galilee.

The water was calm, and we read the miracle of the loaves and fishes on the shore here. 

Plus I got a great photo to use at church. 

And while this is a traditional site, rather than historic, we know that Jesus lived and walked on these shores throughout his ministry. 

He taught and called out to his followers, he encouraged large catches of fish and fed thousands. It is humbling to look out at see these waters that Jesus once calmed in a storm.

Next it was on to Capernaum, a town we know Jesus spent a good deal of time in. 

The ruins of the homes, the synagogues and meeting places are preserved and visible, even when a church is built right above them!

This church is an 8-sided facility, built in the early 1990s on top of Peter's mother-in-law's house. 

In the first chapter of Mark, we see Jesus coming here after teaching with authority in the Synagogue and casting out an impure spirit from a man there. Upon arriving, he find's Peter's wife's mother is very ill with a fever, and Jesus heals her. She receives the healing touch of Jesus, and she immediately starts serving. Here. Right here. Mind blown. Also, houses were very small then. ;o)

After Capernaum, Tabgha...the traditional site which celebrates the miracle of loaves and fishes.

Then a group photo...

...while we waited for the boat...

...that took us across the Sea of Galilee (it took about an hour)...

...where we enjoyed a fisherman's lunch...

...which was super yummy!

After lunch, back to the River Jordan for those immersions we could not do a couple days earlier. I hear the water was cold, but I did not go in. Still, I got some photos!

I think my big take-away from this day is a more intense feeling of family in my faith. I am thankful for this trip and that I have walked where Jesus walked. I learned where Jesus taught, I ate what he ate in the places that he ate it. I lived and breathed the same air Jesus breathed as a man. Being there, seeing what he saw and doing what he did, connected me to Christ in a more powerful way than ever before...like visiting Italy would certainly tie me more into my Italian ancestors and ancestry. My spiritual family heritage has solid ties to these places in Israel.

I heard on the news yesterday (or was it the day before?) that Israel has been hit by COVID-19, as so many countries around the world have been. My recent travel, paired with knowing people online who live all over the world, helps me to appreciate our global community. Regardless of our faith or ethnic heritage, our humanity makes us family. 

If you are the praying type, please lift up our whole world.
If you are part of a community touched by COVID-19, please stay safe and stay home if you can.

If you are feeling isolated, please use that phone-a-friend option.

If you need to know Jesus, please ask me. 

Better yet, ask him. He is waiting for you.

Thanks for stopping by, friends! As you spend your down time away from people, may you also Knit in Good Health!