Today we went Up to Jerusalem.

This morning after a good breakfast we left our hotel on the Sea of Galilee and headed west toward Tel-Megiddo.

We made a stop along the way to visit a church. I will give you a clue as to where it was. Above you see me holding a bottle of water.

Here is the same bottle after I came out of the church.

A miracle did not occur, but the water turned into grape juice while I was in the church.

A water flavor packet is the trick of course 🙂

This stone water vessel is in the basement of the Wedding Church at Kafr Kanna. This is the traditional location of Cana where the first miracle of Jesus was performed when he changed water to wine at the wedding.

After visiting Cana we continued on to Tel Megiddo. Here is the Canaanite altar that is at Megiddo. This is an interesting structure and one that I want to learn more about.

We walked through the water system to leave the site and then came back to the visitor’s center to eat lunch.

The image above is one that I used in a Sunday morning class that I taught last year.

After lunch we went to Mt. Carmel to get a great view of the Jezreel Valley. It was near here where Elijah defeated the prophets of Baal.

Our next stop was then Ceasarea Maritima. Here we are on the stage of the theatre. This may have been the place were Herod Agrippa was struck down.

And upon a set day Herod, arrayed in royal apparel, sat upon his throne and delivered an oration unto them. And the people gave a shout, saying, “It is the voice of a god, and not of a man!” And immediately the angel of the Lord smote him, because he gave not God the glory; and he was eaten by worms and gave up the ghost.

We were up on the stage at the request of our guide as she wanted to hear us sing again. We decided to sing the first verse of Our God, He is Alive. I believe that this was a good choice, especially if this was indeed where Herod was struck down.

We made one last stop before heading up to Jerusalem. Here we have the aqueducts that brought water from the mountains down to the city.

Tomorrow we will spend the day in Jerusalem. This evening we met with our guide to get an overview of the city, and I am really looking forward to our day tomorrow.

Steven