All around Galilee . . .

We completely circled the Sea of Galilee today. We started this morning from Tiberias, where we are staying, and headed north to Tabgha, the site of the feeding of the 5,000. We visited the Church of the First Feeding of the Multitudes which houses a rock that was believed to have marked the place where Jesus fed the 5,000. Afterwards, we traveled a short distance to the shoreline where the events of John 21 took place. This location is known as the Place of Peter's Primacy. Karen presented a wonderful lesson on reunion and recommitment and challenged us to consider how much we love Jesus --- more than "these"? "These" can be whatever we give importance in our lives above Jesus Christ. It was very convicting and thought-provoking!

We returned to the bus and traveled on to the Mount of Beatitudes for another teaching time. The Mount of Beatitudes is a mountainside that is an acoustically perfect natural amphitheater. We eagerly look forward to the teaching times each day.

Our next stop was Capernaum, a town where Jesus spent much of His time here on earth. We saw the ruins of the synagogue, the base of which dates back to Jesus' day and the excavated house where Simon Peter lived! They are 99.9% sure that this is Peter's house, as his name was written in the stone walls in several places and they also found fish hooks and other fishing instruments in and around it, all dating back to the 1st century. Can you believe we saw all of this before lunch??

Lunch today was a delicious fish meal on Galilee, and afterwards we rode in a boat out on the sea. That was one of the highlights of the trip so far! Our group sang as we rode along and had a special time of worship and prayer out in the middle of the Galilee. Awesome!! Our day trip concluded with a stop at the Jordan River on the south side of Galilee and a baptism of several people in our group. A pastor on our tour baptized about 6 people with our group. That was a special time, and then we returned to our hotel for dinner.