Well folks, I have failed as a blog writer. I apologize to all my faithful blog followers who have been disappointed day after day! I am going to try harder from this day forward!
This blog will be about the trip that we made to a little place called Jericho. Some of you may have heard of it! We descended lots and lots of feet from Jerusalem to Jericho. As we were going below sea level, we all sang "Under the Sea" from The Little Mermaid. It was great! By the way, if you click on the pictures, you can see them bigger!
Our first stop on this trip was Herod's winter palace. There was a great deal of excavation work done, and historians know enough about the layout of ancient structures that they know right where the throne room would have been. It was interesting to think that Herod himself was right there in the very place that we were standing! Pictures 1 and 2 are from this
palace. The first is of me diving into a structure that was one of King Herod's swimming pools, and the second is in the throne room. Kim pulls off a pretty good King Herod in this pic.
Our second stop was to Tel Jericho. Here we saw some incredible things! We saw the oldest tower in the world, dating back to 7000 BC. We were also able to see the ramp (glausi) that was created when the walls of Jericho came down after Joshua and the Israelites marched around the walls seven times on the seventh day and then blew their horns and yelled. The walls fell down to create the ramp shape that allowed the Israelites to "go up into the city" (Joshua 6:20) When I think of this story, I can't help but think of the Veggie Tales episode about Jericho. I love the part when the peas (guards to the city of Jericho) are mocking Joshua and his people for thinking something as silly as walking around a city every day for six days and then on the seventh day walking around the city seven times and then blowing their horns and screaming at the top of their lungs would actually cause a city to fall. The Israelites must have had so much faith to believe that this would actually work! Just goes to show that walls are never too big and people are never too tough to get past- if we trust in the Lord and do things his way.
After Tel Jericho, we made a quick stop at Elisha's Spring. This is the spring that Elisha healed and caused the bitter water to become sweet. We were able to see the exact place in the stream where the water come out of the ground, aka the place where Elisha cast salt into the ground to heal the waters. (2 kings 2 ) I also got to have a sip of water from the spring- it was cold and delicious!
My favorite part of the day was hiking through a portion of the Wadi Qelt. The road from Jericho to Jerusalem inspires the parable of the Good Samaratin, and marks the place of Christ's last physical journey in his life- from Jericho to Bethany to Jerusalem. At the end of this journey he would be crucified. It was nice to look over that wasteland and think about what my Savior has done for me. I realized that because Jesus Christ took that journey and suffered all along the way, he will help me survive my own journey. He suffered so I wouldn't have to, and I am forever grateful for that.
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