Hello From Bethlehem!

Hello from Israel!
Pastor Kris here, sending you greetings from the Holy Land. Well, I was there a couple days ago anyway. I’m actually en route back home and waiting in an airport at the moment. Finally a chance to stop and share a few pictures! After our summit with Bible Societies from all over the world in Athens, we found tickets to Israel for just $57. That was a deal we couldn’t pass up! Joining me for the trip were TTW’s Executive Director, Ryan McCarter, and our Social Media Director (and my beautiful wife of 22 years), Andrea Langham. For Andrea and I, it was our first trip to Israel, and what a trip! We could only stay three days, so we packed in quite a trip! Here’s a few pics from our adventures. I have so many more! I’ll try to post some more and tell more stories soon. Hope you enjoy!
 – Pastor Kris

Arriving in Tel Aviv! That’s me on the left, then Andrea and Ryan. Ready for adventure!

And adventure found us! This is the doorway to Bread of Life Church in Bethlehem, in the West Bank, just two blocks from the church of the Nativity. That’s right – West Bank. We got to know the pastor and his amazing family  – Palestinian Christians living in one of the most challenging places you can imagine, and shining a light for God for Palestinians and Israelites alike. The Palestinian situation is quite complex, and I believe most Christians in America judge the situation without really understanding either the history or the present situation here. For starters, many of those Palestinian people are Christians. Their hospitality to us was amazing, and they send greetings to believers all over the world.

Ryan and I outside the caves at Qumran, where the Dead Sea Scrolls were discovered. I don’t remember why I made that face, but I do remember it was hot!

At the Jordan River – at the place where they say Jesus was baptized. Is it the exact location? Hard to say. In Israel, you have to get over the desire to know precise locations where every last thing happened.  The Jordan river runs from Galilee to the Dead Sea, and the Bible doesn’t give an exact location – for this and many other events.

This is the the remains of a 1st century synagogue in Magdala, just steps from the Sea of Galilee. Jesus almost certainly would have opened the Torah scrolls here and preached the good news!

Inside the castle of Herod the Great in Jerusalem – Ryan, Andrea, and our intrepid guide, Pastor Fadi.

Saw this fellow walking the Via Dolorosa. This was a surprisingly clear spot. Much of the path that (they say) Jesus walked is both packed with tourists and lined with souvenir vendors.

This olive grove is on the Mount of Olives at the Garden of Gethsemane – just across the Kirdon Valley from Jerusalem.  This was one of my favorite places to visit.

This boat took us across the Sea of Galilee. More the size of a lake –  it was much more beautiful than I expected.

Something about this sign just struck me as funny. I love explaining! It was posted outside the chapel built on the shore of Galilee at the place where they say Jesus met the disciples in John 21 – after His resurrection – where He called Peter to “Feed my sheep.”