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Note from the Author: Copy/paste GPS Coordinates listed below into Google Maps to see or travel to each location.
Since returning back from an overseas assignment in July of 2012, I’ve immersed myself in research about the sites where Jesus lived and performed His mighty works. I’ve been fascinated with being able to see the places in the Gospels where our God made flesh walked and redeemed our world. As I did more research, I learned of many sites I hadn’t heard of before and that are not very well-known. Over ten years since I last visited, I had the opportunity to go back to Israel and visit many of these and other incredible sites I had not seen before. Many of these sites are not normally found on travel itineraries for the Holy Land, but are nonetheless significant.
My wife very generously allowed me to go on this trip while she watched our kids–she is a living saint and very generous to me. For this trip, I wanted to travel quickly and for long hours to fill my days with as many sights as I could; I mostly lived off of beef jerky, trail mix, and bagels with peanut butter over my five days in Israel. By traveling solo on this trip, it also was like a “silent retreat” for me–at the very places I could read about in the Gospels! I was joyful for this opportunity, but being away from my wife and kids and the ever-present unknown of what challenges could await me on a pilgrimage are always sources of anxiety, but opportunities to trust in God’s providence. For this trip in particular, which originated at my current home in Germany, this anxiety gave me a miniscule taste of what it must have felt like for the many pilgrims throughout history who left families and homes, and traveled the great distance from Central Europe to the Holy Land. Except, my “journey” there in the 21st Century would only take 5 hours by air and I would be traveling into a friendly nation–these circumstances are a huge blessing that countless other pilgrims in centuries past were not so lucky to share. Pilgrims traveling from Central Europe in centuries past–on fire with the desire to see the places where our God and Master actually walked the earth in human form–traveled, many by foot, at least 2,400 miles over months (for some, it took YEARS). They boldly, step by step, trekked through lands where terrible sicknesses were pervasive without modern medicine, the elements and terrain were harsh, hunger was a part of life, and death by the sword was a distinct possibility. The conditions of the past are a stark contrast to the blessings of modern travel we enjoy today; and yet, millions were inspired on a visceral level to risk *everything* for love of Christ. If only I could share in but a sliver of that love and devotion!
Continued below.
zistezesto.wordpress.com
Since returning back from an overseas assignment in July of 2012, I’ve immersed myself in research about the sites where Jesus lived and performed His mighty works. I’ve been fascinated with being able to see the places in the Gospels where our God made flesh walked and redeemed our world. As I did more research, I learned of many sites I hadn’t heard of before and that are not very well-known. Over ten years since I last visited, I had the opportunity to go back to Israel and visit many of these and other incredible sites I had not seen before. Many of these sites are not normally found on travel itineraries for the Holy Land, but are nonetheless significant.
My wife very generously allowed me to go on this trip while she watched our kids–she is a living saint and very generous to me. For this trip, I wanted to travel quickly and for long hours to fill my days with as many sights as I could; I mostly lived off of beef jerky, trail mix, and bagels with peanut butter over my five days in Israel. By traveling solo on this trip, it also was like a “silent retreat” for me–at the very places I could read about in the Gospels! I was joyful for this opportunity, but being away from my wife and kids and the ever-present unknown of what challenges could await me on a pilgrimage are always sources of anxiety, but opportunities to trust in God’s providence. For this trip in particular, which originated at my current home in Germany, this anxiety gave me a miniscule taste of what it must have felt like for the many pilgrims throughout history who left families and homes, and traveled the great distance from Central Europe to the Holy Land. Except, my “journey” there in the 21st Century would only take 5 hours by air and I would be traveling into a friendly nation–these circumstances are a huge blessing that countless other pilgrims in centuries past were not so lucky to share. Pilgrims traveling from Central Europe in centuries past–on fire with the desire to see the places where our God and Master actually walked the earth in human form–traveled, many by foot, at least 2,400 miles over months (for some, it took YEARS). They boldly, step by step, trekked through lands where terrible sicknesses were pervasive without modern medicine, the elements and terrain were harsh, hunger was a part of life, and death by the sword was a distinct possibility. The conditions of the past are a stark contrast to the blessings of modern travel we enjoy today; and yet, millions were inspired on a visceral level to risk *everything* for love of Christ. If only I could share in but a sliver of that love and devotion!
Continued below.
Chapter 1: Exploring Little-Known Sites in The Holy Land–Jonah’s Beach, The Carmelite Mother Church, Spelunking in Galilee, and Crusader Battlefields
Note from the Author: Copy/paste GPS Coordinates listed below into Google Maps to see or travel to each location. Since returning back from an overseas assignment in July of 2012, I̵…
zistezesto.wordpress.com
