In the Eye of the Beholder

In 1999 I traveled to Israel with a group led by my daughter and her husband. We had a great host/tour guide who took us on a wide range of territory from Tel Aviv up to the northern border, and all in between. It was an amazing experience to walk in places where Jesus walked.

I was amazed at the unique beauty in the different areas. I saw beautiful orange groves, unique rock formations, and those biblical areas we read about in the Bible.

We visited the place at the Jordan River where some chose to be re baptized… very interesting.

We made the trip up on Masada, a unique fortress built high on a flat rock plateau. It is where the Jews called Zealots build their home to escape the Roman army. When the Romans found them, the Jews fought the army of Roman soldiers for 3 years until the Romans finally broke through. The Zealots chose to commit suicide rather than be captured or killed by the Roman soldiers…a sad but interesting part of Jewish history.

I found the Dead Sea at En Gedi to be very beautiful. We spent the day there. Some actually went in to float around — you cannot sink in that very salty water.

We saw the caves where the the ancient scrolls were discovered. We visited the empty tomb. And, we visited the relic of the synagogue where Jesus publicly read scripture the first time. We saw so many other things of Biblical history.

Where as, my friends on their trip to Israel saw only dirt and rocks, I saw unique beauty everywhere. It is all in the eye of the beholder!