Israel
Caeseara Maritime was our first stop on the 10-day trip. The trip started and ended with pouring rain and a misty wind. Since I had only brought my Pentax K1000 to capture my trip, I did not take many photos in the rain to try and protect the film. That also resulted in more hazy photos, which you’ll see later on at Caeseara Philippi as well. However, that is exactly what the moment looked like. We could all barely open our eyes without being pelted with large raindrops that might as well have been sleet or small bits of hail. The friends I was walking around with luckily had an umbrella - or maybe they were using my umbrella - and were covering me while I tried to take even just a couple of photos to remember our stop.
This is a documentation through photographs and journal entries of the last days of 2019 and the first days of 2020 for me…
…while in Israel.
On a rainy hillside, we looked over the Nazareth Valley. Although covered in clouds and mist, the rocky hillside was still as grounded as it would’ve been on a sunny afternoon.
After I received the film scans back from the trip, I was so amazed at how accurate the colors were compared to the moment I experienced. What it looked like in real-life…the blue/green haze over everything that blended colors and depths, the mist that made it hard to fully open my eyes or to look up and not down at the rocks to be sure I didn’t slip down the cliff.
While in Galilee, we stayed right on the shore. For the three days that we stayed in the area, most of us didn’t miss the opportunity to start or end the day at the shore of the lake. One of my favorite photographs that I took from the entire trip is this one (below). On the last evening of us staying in Galilee, I was determined to get to the shore in time to watch the sun set below the mountains on the other side of the lake.
As most of us made our way to the lake, we all kind of had this same feeling - I think - of “we’re here…together.” As some of us sat on the pebbles and seemed to be washed in the yellow, orange, pink waves of the moving sun, the others decided to wash themselves with the crippling cold water of the lake. Those on shore couldn’t help but laugh as we wished we were that brave…and some of us were with a late night dip (we all apparently had this thing where if there was a body of water, we were getting in, no matter how cold).
The Sea of Galilee was one of those places that we saw and felt that just didn’t feel real. It’s difficult to look at a location or a landmark and come to the realization that it’s not just a story. It didn’t come out of a storybook, it came out of real, true life experiences.
As we stopped in the middle of the lake, it was overwhelming. Looking out at the same water that was walked on, that healed, that provided a place for miracles during storms and nights of fishing. It was the place where Jesus called the disciples and where He last showed Himself to them. It’s a place of full circle revelation. As the boat came to a halt, we were all silent - with the occasional sniffle or heard tear. All we could hear was the water hitting the boat below us, the soft breeze coasting above the surface of the water, and the gentle chirp of birds singing their songs to the morning.
The mornings I spent on the shore as the sun rose behind me and projected the colors onto the mountain range across the lake, it was the most peaceful moment of my life so far. I wrote this in my journal on the last morning before we left:
The way the sky turned from one shade of blue to the next, so seamlessly, to switching to purple, then pink, then maybe even an orange before going back to a pale blue. I’ll remember this forever.
Whether there was a spiritual action or not, you couldn’t argue that the lake was a place of peace now.
Below are two small slideshows - one of the sunset on the shore, the other of the sunrise. I only brought my camera to one of each during the 3-day stay there.
At The Mount of Beatitudes, we were greeted with another sunset that would’ve been named “Peace.” There was a cave up on the hill where Jesus would’ve gone to pray, to find solitude. Most of us hiked up the hill to the cave and just as I looked back over my shoulder to the lake, church bells were heard signaling the setting of the sun. Golden rays touched everyone’s faces as we all seemed to face the sun.
Would I have known that it was You? Would I have recognized You? Would I have said anything?
It’s always a mystery to me how while the sun sets, the last rays of light given seem to show something’s true colors - faded but true. Everything turns more vibrant in a different way than it appears in full daylight. An orange becomes a deep orange. A yellow becomes a brighter yellow. A blue becomes a softer but more saturated blue. Colors can’t hide in a sunset as long as the sun is touching it.
Caesarea Philippi was one of the darkest places we visited. Naturally, it was sprinkling and misting drops of rain while we walked up the hill to the rock face of the mountain base. It could’ve been the dark face of the rock, or the wet reflections of everyone on the ground, or maybe the fact that we were all in our black raincoats but it felt like a dark place. There was something in the air.
We all shuffled into one of the cutouts in the rock face to listen to a message as it started to pour. So now it was loud, and distracting. The cutouts shown in the photos above were for idol worship. They scaled the entire rock. As we walked away, the sun seemed to peek through the clouds above.
“And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.”
Matthew 16v18
One of the coolest places we saw - I guess I say that lightly considering I felt that from most things I saw there - was Magdala.
Magdala is a small fishing village located near the Sea of Galilee, most known as the birth place of Mary Magdalene.
The photos shown are featuring an ancient tile floor from a synagogue in Magdala - original tiling and painting on a few blocks. The feeling of walking around an active archeological dig site was pretty unreal. We forget that things have outlived us. You don’t have to believe what the Bible says to know that fishing villages in Israel were filled with real people.
After our visit in Magdala, we drove south along the Jordan River through the desert.
Walking through the wildness of the Judean Desert, it was truly unlike anything else. The canyon that were walking above or through - I’m not quite sure how to describe the road being in the middle of the mountain side - held every sound. Not only held, but amplified. I heard every rock fall, no matter the size. I heard every footstep around me. I heard every laugh, cough, sneeze, and whisper. It was difficult to walk considering the ancient road was only 5-6 feet wide, it was a single file road. Layers of orange and yellow rock around me called my eyes, but so did my feet.
The paradox of the desert is one that I never understand until I’m in it. The paradox of everything being completely seen if it moves because the landscape is solitary and still - all while being able to easily hide in the rocks and caves that infiltrate the rock mounts. The paradox of how quiet you feel you need to be because every sound you or something around you makes it heard from literal miles away. The paradox of how when you sit on a rock and look up, you are surrounded by nothing - all while still being surrounded by something. The paradox of how can seem to hear your own heart beating inside of you - all while still being able to hear the birds call hundreds of feet above you, or the lizard walking on rocks across the canyon.
O God, you are my God; earnestly I seek you;
my soul thirsts for you;
my flesh faints for you,
as in a dry and weary land where there is no water.
2 So I have looked upon you in the sanctuary,
beholding your power and glory.
3 Because your steadfast love is better than life,
my lips will praise you.
4 So I will bless you as long as I live;
in your name I will lift up my hands.
5 My soul will be satisfied as with fat and rich food,
and my mouth will praise you with joyful lips,
6 when I remember you upon my bed,
and meditate on you in the watches of the night;
7 for you have been my help,
and in the shadow of your wings I will sing for joy.
8 My soul clings to you;
your right hand upholds me.
9 But those who seek to destroy my life
shall go down into the depths of the earth;
10 they shall be given over to the power of the sword;
they shall be a portion for jackals.
11 But the king shall rejoice in God;
all who swear by him shall exult,
for the mouths of liars will be stopped.
God—you’re my God!
I can’t get enough of you!
I’ve worked up such hunger and thirst for God,
traveling across dry and weary deserts.
2-4 So here I am in the place of worship, eyes open,
drinking in your strength and glory.
In your generous love I am really living at last!
My lips brim praises like fountains.
I bless you every time I take a breath;
My arms wave like banners of praise to you.
5-8 I eat my fill of prime rib and gravy;
I smack my lips. It’s time to shout praises!
If I’m sleepless at midnight,
I spend the hours in grateful reflection.
Because you’ve always stood up for me,
I’m free to run and play.
I hold on to you for dear life,
and you hold me steady as a post.
9-11 Those who are out to get me are marked for doom,
marked for death, bound for hell.
They’ll die violent deaths;
jackals will tear them limb from limb.
But the king is glad in God;
his true friends spread the joy,
While small-minded gossips
are gagged for good.
O God, thou art my God; early will I seek thee: my soul thirsteth for thee, my flesh longeth for thee in a dry and thirsty land, where no water is;
2 To see thy power and thy glory, so as I have seen thee in the sanctuary.
3 Because thy lovingkindness is better than life, my lips shall praise thee.
4 Thus will I bless thee while I live: I will lift up my hands in thy name.
5 My soul shall be satisfied as with marrow and fatness; and my mouth shall praise thee with joyful lips:
6 When I remember thee upon my bed, and meditate on thee in the night watches.
7 Because thou hast been my help, therefore in the shadow of thy wings will I rejoice.
8 My soul followeth hard after thee: thy right hand upholdeth me.
9 But those that seek my soul, to destroy it, shall go into the lower parts of the earth.
10 They shall fall by the sword: they shall be a portion for foxes.
11 But the king shall rejoice in God; every one that sweareth by him shall glory: but the mouth of them that speak lies shall be stopped.
I didn’t expect to really love the city of Jerusalem as much as I did. We spent the last 3-4 days of the trip in the Holy City staying inside the original city gates. As soon as we walked out of the hotel, we were on the streets, the old city. It honestly felt more like a storybook for the first day and a half or so. It didn’t feel real.
To my surprise, there was a coffee shop right up the street on a corner from our hotel and it was a daily stop for me. There was a window bar in the back that I claimed mine whenever I got the chance to spend time there.
Jerusalem at night was not something I expected. Since we couldn’t bear the thought of just hanging out in the hotel after dinner each night, our little groups would head out to explore the different stone streets that formed the maze of a city around our hotel.
