Shalom from our last day on the Sea of Galilee!
In order to best organize my manifesto this evening, I thought it best to compile a list of the “TOP LESSONS I LEARNED TODAY.” In no particular order, they are:
1. Conies do exist.
Despite the Doubting Thomases and Snipe Naysayers in our group, Ruti pulled through. “O ye Tex-Annes of little faith.” She had carefully arranged for not one, but TWO, Nazareth Village conies to be present on the “row-ad” to Caesarea Phillipi. There they were, the mechanical conies, perched and sunning atop some rocks near where, we heard for the third time, Christ is thought to have taught the disciples to pray the Lord’s prayer. In addition to finally SEEING these fabled creatures, our group also learned that they eat ju-ju bees, are quite vicious (one actually bit Ruti’s finger several years ago), and like snipes, they usually come out at night when you’re running around beating a paper bag and yelling, “Here conie, conie, conie!”
2. Everything in Israel is built on top of something else.
It’s true. Every village, souvenir shop, church and restaurant we visit is built on top of at least three other cities, Peter’s mother-in-law’s house, and some sort of artifact waiting to be discovered. We visited the Tel Dan Nature Reserve which features the beautiful fauna & flora of Israel. The real treat, however, is the excavation site of the ancient city of Dan. We hiked up a winding rocky path which led to the site of a temple dating back to the time of Jeroboam. Jerry led the people’s revolt against the heavy taxes levied by Rehoboam, son of Solomon and was the first “king” of the northern tribes of Israel. (He’s mentioned in 1 Kings11 & 12). This is the guy who created the golden calves and encouraged his people to worship them, as opposed to going “all the way” to Jerusalem to do what was commanded of them. Terrible ending for him and the city, as now all that’s left are a few artifacts and a really great view of Syria.
3. My life is very different from the lives of the Israeli people.
Today, we visited the Golan Heights and the site of what Ruti says has the best Coffee in Israel (her daughter is the Head Barista in Charge). Turns out, we were on a plateau that overlooks the Syrian border. We toured a bomb shelter and a bunker (had some coffee and meandered among the weird yard art) on this site of 1967’s Six Day War and 1973’s Yom Kippur War. It was eerie walking through the bunker and thinking about lives that were no-doubt lost and a war that will probably always go on over land and water rights. Ruti pointed out the historic and political significance of the area in maybe the best explanation I’ve ever heard. Down below, there were homes…down the roads there were villages and cities that have been destroyed by bomb-shellings and mass exodus. As we were leaving, a group of Israeli high school students was coming to tour and had an armed guard escort, which is apparently law anytime Israeli kids go near a border or an area with any probability for danger.
Not to pull the ethnocentricity card AGAIN, but I feel SO fortunate to live in the good ol’ US of A with the freedoms and safety I have!
4. My parents are very different people.
A conversation I had with Daddy this afternoon (at $3/minute) went like this:
Daddy: “Hello.”
NJ: “DADDY! Hey! How are you!”
Daddy: “Hi”
NJ: “Daddy, it’s me…Your daughter. You know, your only daughter. I’ve been in Israel since last week.”
Daddy: “Yeah. How are you?”
NJ: “Great! We’re having the best time. We just got done going right to the border of Syria, there were bomb shells, land mines, tanks, UN soldiers, old bunkers, and you could almost smell the Hezbollah.”
Daddy: “Sounds like ya’ll are having a great time. Listen, I’ve got to run to church now. Call me and mom later. Love you.”
A similar conversation a few hours later with Mama went like this:
Mama: “NANNY GOAT!”
NJ: “Hey Mama. How are you?”Mama: “Great. Daddy and I just got done with church and I’m on my way home to fix a little lunch. How’s your trip? Are you having fun? How is Lincee? I saw your blog. Loved the pictures. What a good-looking group ya’ll have!”
NJ: “It is just great. We saw so many wonderful things today (omitting the war-torn countryside comments).”
Mama: “Well, I’m so glad. I have been praying for you. I hope you are being careful. Promise me one thing…Please don’t go anywhere by yourself and don’t leave your hotel room after dark. Also, did you remember to bring the pepper spray I gave you? And honey, please don’t talk to any strangers. I know how you can be sometimes. Please be careful. You’re the only daughter I have.”
So, despite their differences, I love them both SO much and miss them. Shalom, Mama & Daddy!
5. Kids are the same everywhere.
At the Nature Reserve today, a group of 269 Israeli school kids were just leaving as our tour bus was pulling in. They had 2 teachers, one guy/one girl, to all 269 kids. The teachers, who were flirting with one another and probably shooting up behind the gift shop, paid no attention to the students running through the parking lot and sneaking ice cream cones at 10 a.m. As we passed by them, we noticed they were playing skip rope, jacks, and several ran up to us to practice their English:
“Hello. How are you? The hot is very weather outside today, thank you!” It took me back to my days as a Navasota Junior High School Fang Flag Corp member field tripping to Washington-on-the-Brazos State Park & practicing my Spanish to anyone who remotely looked like they MIGHT speak the language.
This lesson was reiterated later in the day when Linc and I went down to dip a toe in the Sea of Galilee. We could have gone with several members of our group to the beach, which was a 15 minute walk from the hotel, but to be honest, I was all about taking the easy way out after 10 hours of Ruti-style touring. We spotted a jetty off the Sea where several frolickers appeared to be having a wonderful time. We gathered our sheckels, towels, cameras, and room keys and were off to swim.
We walked down the boardwalk to where the jetty was supposed to begin and looming before us was a 15 foot chain link fence with a “DO NOT ENTER” sign and barbed wire to ensure that we could not. Reminded us both of the Syrian border we had seen earlier. These people frolicking, though…how in the WORLD did they get on the jetty? I approached a rather unfriendly looking woman whose family was on the other side of the Berlin Wall and asked her. After several attempts at performing sign language, pointing, and making the universal sign for “We want to fish and swim” she said: “You climb. Follow me.”
In four-inch heels and a skirt with what had to be a Benson and Hedges menthol dangling from one hand, Mama Israel swung her body around the barbed wire post and hiked her leg up over a 5 foot wall. She effortlessly floated to the other side of the Jetty. SHE was in the Promised Land.
I followed suit, as did Lincee and there we were…just 15 feet up from the Sea of Galilee where Jesus once walked on water. As we began to descend the rock wall that separated us from the shallow Galilean waters below, a greasy Arab man on a jet ski built for two pulled up to our landing spot and in broken English asked ME if I wanted to take a ride and go swimming with him. Lincee, through her hysterical laughter, told him no & I politely refused, remembering my mother’s parting words to me & not wanting to be on the front page of Mondee’s Tiberian paper.
He slowly idled. I’m guessing he was sort of hoping I would change my mind, but probably really to see if Lincee’s hysterical laughter was going to cause her to fall down the cliff into the shallow waters of the Sea of Galilee. Sweet Justice!
We sauntered over to the other side of the jetty and as we began to descend these rocks I felt a hand on my shoulder. I looked up and into the smiling faces of 6 school-aged kids. Speaking Heblish (Hebrew & English), we learned that they all had uncles in either LA or New Jersey, wanted to take pictures with us, teach us about the history and geography of the land (Rudi plants, I wondered?), teach us Hebrew phrases (which we are convinced were dirty phrases because they’d laugh hysterically at each suggestion), and thought we were beautiful (Man, I LOVE dis country!).
We escaped from this game of “Let’s practice our English” when Lincee suggested she take a picture of each of them diving off the rock wall. As we walked up to our hotel, we could see our new Israeli friends waving and shouting “SHALOM, SHALOM!”
6. Jokes are always funnier to the person who is telling them.
I have to admit, we got Ruti started on a lesser known genre of jokes…those about Russians. I figure they are akin to our Aggie jokes. I’m not sure if the punch lines were lost in translation, or my brain was just that fried, but I didn’t get any of them. And ask my dad, who is the king of all joke genres, I usually don’t. The courtesy laughs throughout the bus for Ruti’s jokes, however, got her going and in turn the head honcho leader got to telling jokes in the Biblical humor genre. It turned out to be quite the Sonny & Cher Variety Hour! Ruti and Daddy would be great friends!
7. You don’t get the product without the process.
In our de-briefing tonight, the head honcho talked about one of the goals of the Christian life as seeking to become more like Christ. And, he added, we can’t become like Christ, unless we go through the process of becoming more like him, which includes suffering. Dave referenced Philippians 3:10, which says, “I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death.” Not only does suffering place me in the middle of that process, but it becomes my greatest platform for ministry to others. Such an important lesson!
8. Israel is a veritable biosphere.
In our almost two-hour bus ride today from Golan Heights to our hotel, we learned about storks, wolves, eagles, horses, gazelles, sheep, lizards, a breed of Israeli man that Ruti says is “for the dogs,” & of course, the Coney. I won’t mention, since we’ve heard it about 14 times, that bananas are everywhere in Iz-Rye-El and the stalks are wrapped in blue plastic to make the bananas grow bigger in less time.
9. Our GBC group is fantastic.
Allow me to wax sentimental here at the end of the blog and give a quick shout-out to the folks responsible for making this such an incredible trip. I can’t even tell you readers what an incredible group of folks I have from my church here in the Holy Land. I was just thinking tonight, as we sat in the lobby and played “Killer & Detective,” how fortunate I am to experience this place with these people. SHA-LOM!
PICTORIAL DIARY:
In order to best organize my manifesto this evening, I thought it best to compile a list of the “TOP LESSONS I LEARNED TODAY.” In no particular order, they are:
1. Conies do exist.
Despite the Doubting Thomases and Snipe Naysayers in our group, Ruti pulled through. “O ye Tex-Annes of little faith.” She had carefully arranged for not one, but TWO, Nazareth Village conies to be present on the “row-ad” to Caesarea Phillipi. There they were, the mechanical conies, perched and sunning atop some rocks near where, we heard for the third time, Christ is thought to have taught the disciples to pray the Lord’s prayer. In addition to finally SEEING these fabled creatures, our group also learned that they eat ju-ju bees, are quite vicious (one actually bit Ruti’s finger several years ago), and like snipes, they usually come out at night when you’re running around beating a paper bag and yelling, “Here conie, conie, conie!”
2. Everything in Israel is built on top of something else.
It’s true. Every village, souvenir shop, church and restaurant we visit is built on top of at least three other cities, Peter’s mother-in-law’s house, and some sort of artifact waiting to be discovered. We visited the Tel Dan Nature Reserve which features the beautiful fauna & flora of Israel. The real treat, however, is the excavation site of the ancient city of Dan. We hiked up a winding rocky path which led to the site of a temple dating back to the time of Jeroboam. Jerry led the people’s revolt against the heavy taxes levied by Rehoboam, son of Solomon and was the first “king” of the northern tribes of Israel. (He’s mentioned in 1 Kings11 & 12). This is the guy who created the golden calves and encouraged his people to worship them, as opposed to going “all the way” to Jerusalem to do what was commanded of them. Terrible ending for him and the city, as now all that’s left are a few artifacts and a really great view of Syria.
3. My life is very different from the lives of the Israeli people.
Today, we visited the Golan Heights and the site of what Ruti says has the best Coffee in Israel (her daughter is the Head Barista in Charge). Turns out, we were on a plateau that overlooks the Syrian border. We toured a bomb shelter and a bunker (had some coffee and meandered among the weird yard art) on this site of 1967’s Six Day War and 1973’s Yom Kippur War. It was eerie walking through the bunker and thinking about lives that were no-doubt lost and a war that will probably always go on over land and water rights. Ruti pointed out the historic and political significance of the area in maybe the best explanation I’ve ever heard. Down below, there were homes…down the roads there were villages and cities that have been destroyed by bomb-shellings and mass exodus. As we were leaving, a group of Israeli high school students was coming to tour and had an armed guard escort, which is apparently law anytime Israeli kids go near a border or an area with any probability for danger.
Not to pull the ethnocentricity card AGAIN, but I feel SO fortunate to live in the good ol’ US of A with the freedoms and safety I have!
4. My parents are very different people.
A conversation I had with Daddy this afternoon (at $3/minute) went like this:
Daddy: “Hello.”
NJ: “DADDY! Hey! How are you!”
Daddy: “Hi”
NJ: “Daddy, it’s me…Your daughter. You know, your only daughter. I’ve been in Israel since last week.”
Daddy: “Yeah. How are you?”
NJ: “Great! We’re having the best time. We just got done going right to the border of Syria, there were bomb shells, land mines, tanks, UN soldiers, old bunkers, and you could almost smell the Hezbollah.”
Daddy: “Sounds like ya’ll are having a great time. Listen, I’ve got to run to church now. Call me and mom later. Love you.”
A similar conversation a few hours later with Mama went like this:
Mama: “NANNY GOAT!”
NJ: “Hey Mama. How are you?”Mama: “Great. Daddy and I just got done with church and I’m on my way home to fix a little lunch. How’s your trip? Are you having fun? How is Lincee? I saw your blog. Loved the pictures. What a good-looking group ya’ll have!”
NJ: “It is just great. We saw so many wonderful things today (omitting the war-torn countryside comments).”
Mama: “Well, I’m so glad. I have been praying for you. I hope you are being careful. Promise me one thing…Please don’t go anywhere by yourself and don’t leave your hotel room after dark. Also, did you remember to bring the pepper spray I gave you? And honey, please don’t talk to any strangers. I know how you can be sometimes. Please be careful. You’re the only daughter I have.”
So, despite their differences, I love them both SO much and miss them. Shalom, Mama & Daddy!
5. Kids are the same everywhere.
At the Nature Reserve today, a group of 269 Israeli school kids were just leaving as our tour bus was pulling in. They had 2 teachers, one guy/one girl, to all 269 kids. The teachers, who were flirting with one another and probably shooting up behind the gift shop, paid no attention to the students running through the parking lot and sneaking ice cream cones at 10 a.m. As we passed by them, we noticed they were playing skip rope, jacks, and several ran up to us to practice their English:
“Hello. How are you? The hot is very weather outside today, thank you!” It took me back to my days as a Navasota Junior High School Fang Flag Corp member field tripping to Washington-on-the-Brazos State Park & practicing my Spanish to anyone who remotely looked like they MIGHT speak the language.
This lesson was reiterated later in the day when Linc and I went down to dip a toe in the Sea of Galilee. We could have gone with several members of our group to the beach, which was a 15 minute walk from the hotel, but to be honest, I was all about taking the easy way out after 10 hours of Ruti-style touring. We spotted a jetty off the Sea where several frolickers appeared to be having a wonderful time. We gathered our sheckels, towels, cameras, and room keys and were off to swim.
We walked down the boardwalk to where the jetty was supposed to begin and looming before us was a 15 foot chain link fence with a “DO NOT ENTER” sign and barbed wire to ensure that we could not. Reminded us both of the Syrian border we had seen earlier. These people frolicking, though…how in the WORLD did they get on the jetty? I approached a rather unfriendly looking woman whose family was on the other side of the Berlin Wall and asked her. After several attempts at performing sign language, pointing, and making the universal sign for “We want to fish and swim” she said: “You climb. Follow me.”
In four-inch heels and a skirt with what had to be a Benson and Hedges menthol dangling from one hand, Mama Israel swung her body around the barbed wire post and hiked her leg up over a 5 foot wall. She effortlessly floated to the other side of the Jetty. SHE was in the Promised Land.
I followed suit, as did Lincee and there we were…just 15 feet up from the Sea of Galilee where Jesus once walked on water. As we began to descend the rock wall that separated us from the shallow Galilean waters below, a greasy Arab man on a jet ski built for two pulled up to our landing spot and in broken English asked ME if I wanted to take a ride and go swimming with him. Lincee, through her hysterical laughter, told him no & I politely refused, remembering my mother’s parting words to me & not wanting to be on the front page of Mondee’s Tiberian paper.
He slowly idled. I’m guessing he was sort of hoping I would change my mind, but probably really to see if Lincee’s hysterical laughter was going to cause her to fall down the cliff into the shallow waters of the Sea of Galilee. Sweet Justice!
We sauntered over to the other side of the jetty and as we began to descend these rocks I felt a hand on my shoulder. I looked up and into the smiling faces of 6 school-aged kids. Speaking Heblish (Hebrew & English), we learned that they all had uncles in either LA or New Jersey, wanted to take pictures with us, teach us about the history and geography of the land (Rudi plants, I wondered?), teach us Hebrew phrases (which we are convinced were dirty phrases because they’d laugh hysterically at each suggestion), and thought we were beautiful (Man, I LOVE dis country!).
We escaped from this game of “Let’s practice our English” when Lincee suggested she take a picture of each of them diving off the rock wall. As we walked up to our hotel, we could see our new Israeli friends waving and shouting “SHALOM, SHALOM!”
6. Jokes are always funnier to the person who is telling them.
I have to admit, we got Ruti started on a lesser known genre of jokes…those about Russians. I figure they are akin to our Aggie jokes. I’m not sure if the punch lines were lost in translation, or my brain was just that fried, but I didn’t get any of them. And ask my dad, who is the king of all joke genres, I usually don’t. The courtesy laughs throughout the bus for Ruti’s jokes, however, got her going and in turn the head honcho leader got to telling jokes in the Biblical humor genre. It turned out to be quite the Sonny & Cher Variety Hour! Ruti and Daddy would be great friends!
7. You don’t get the product without the process.
In our de-briefing tonight, the head honcho talked about one of the goals of the Christian life as seeking to become more like Christ. And, he added, we can’t become like Christ, unless we go through the process of becoming more like him, which includes suffering. Dave referenced Philippians 3:10, which says, “I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death.” Not only does suffering place me in the middle of that process, but it becomes my greatest platform for ministry to others. Such an important lesson!
8. Israel is a veritable biosphere.
In our almost two-hour bus ride today from Golan Heights to our hotel, we learned about storks, wolves, eagles, horses, gazelles, sheep, lizards, a breed of Israeli man that Ruti says is “for the dogs,” & of course, the Coney. I won’t mention, since we’ve heard it about 14 times, that bananas are everywhere in Iz-Rye-El and the stalks are wrapped in blue plastic to make the bananas grow bigger in less time.
9. Our GBC group is fantastic.
Allow me to wax sentimental here at the end of the blog and give a quick shout-out to the folks responsible for making this such an incredible trip. I can’t even tell you readers what an incredible group of folks I have from my church here in the Holy Land. I was just thinking tonight, as we sat in the lobby and played “Killer & Detective,” how fortunate I am to experience this place with these people. SHA-LOM!
PICTORIAL DIARY:
A view into the Golan Heights. Beyond the green patches, you can see Syria.
A view into one of the Israeli bunkers at the Golan Heights spot
Members of our group in Tel Dan at the temple entrance where it is thought the Golden Calf statue may have stood
A picture taken at the Sea of Galilee. The ocean is not in the picture, but if you look closely, youc can see the ocean reflected in our sunglasses. 
Sneaking into our swimming spot
The Sea of Galilee Boys
Lincee dealing the cards at our midnight card game in the Lobby in Tiberius
BABY UPDATE: None. I can’t even get my brother to return my text messages. Supposedly, they’re being induced tomorrow a.m. Pray for safe delivery and happy, healthy baby! I’m maybe, probably going to be an aunt in less than 24 hours!!!
CLIFF NOTES VERSION:
Late eating, late boarding, sweating, walking, touring, interpreting, Transfiguring, warring, coffee drinking, hyssop eating, Sea of Galilieeing, meeting, eating, Maccabbee drinking, Killing, Copping, CHEATING, Shaloming, blogging, FINALLY sleeping!
THE RUTI RECAP:
Ruti on Marriage:
From the migratory patterns of the conies in Northwest Israel, to the owner of the remote roadside Druize unleavened bread/fruit stand spot where we stopped for lunch Ruti has a little bit to offer on everything and everyone. Including marriage advice at dinner tonight for me:
R: “Vat do yooou do fer a liffing?”
NJ: “I’m in residential real estate.”
R: “O no. I hear de mahkket in Tex-ass es crashing.” NJ: “Well, not in my areas of focus” (I’m skipping all the details and statistics I had to give her to convince her that I’m not on my free birthright trip to Israel and destitute for lunch monies)
R: “Well, are hugh marriet? Do hugh haff keets? Do you want keets? How oh-ld are hugh?”
NJ: “No, no, yes and I just turned 32 last week”
R: “Well, hugh are not young. But I will tell you the secret to marriage win it hoppens fer hugh. I marriet a historical archeologist, because the older I get, the more interesting I am to him. Try to find yourself an archeologist.”
Note to self…skip the bedroom community Jewish sugar daddies and start hanging out at the digs.
CLIFF NOTES VERSION:
Late eating, late boarding, sweating, walking, touring, interpreting, Transfiguring, warring, coffee drinking, hyssop eating, Sea of Galilieeing, meeting, eating, Maccabbee drinking, Killing, Copping, CHEATING, Shaloming, blogging, FINALLY sleeping!
THE RUTI RECAP:
Ruti on Marriage:
From the migratory patterns of the conies in Northwest Israel, to the owner of the remote roadside Druize unleavened bread/fruit stand spot where we stopped for lunch Ruti has a little bit to offer on everything and everyone. Including marriage advice at dinner tonight for me:
R: “Vat do yooou do fer a liffing?”
NJ: “I’m in residential real estate.”
R: “O no. I hear de mahkket in Tex-ass es crashing.” NJ: “Well, not in my areas of focus” (I’m skipping all the details and statistics I had to give her to convince her that I’m not on my free birthright trip to Israel and destitute for lunch monies)
R: “Well, are hugh marriet? Do hugh haff keets? Do you want keets? How oh-ld are hugh?”
NJ: “No, no, yes and I just turned 32 last week”
R: “Well, hugh are not young. But I will tell you the secret to marriage win it hoppens fer hugh. I marriet a historical archeologist, because the older I get, the more interesting I am to him. Try to find yourself an archeologist.”
Note to self…skip the bedroom community Jewish sugar daddies and start hanging out at the digs.
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