While you were sleeping . . .

. . . we were landing in Tel Aviv this morning at 7:30 in Israel. (That's 12:30 a.m. in Texas.) We shared the flight with about 600 other people, and we had excellent service. The toughest part was trying to sleep in our seats, and we didn't do a very good job with that. We saw the sun come up over the Mediterranean prior to landing -- a beautiful sight!
Once we landed, we immediately boarded our tour bus and drove through Tel Aviv, stopping in old Jaffa (Joppa). This is a beautiful seaport, and we stopped at the place that is believed to be the home of Simon the Tanner for a reading of Acts 10:1-23 before driving on to Caesarea for the rest of the story.
Caesarea is amazing in its beauty and the theaters that have been excavated there. Today, as we visited, the winds were high and the waves of the sea were crashing against the wall. We sat in the 2,000 year old excavated theatre which held around 2500 people and learned that this was very probably the site where Paul was brought before King Agrippa in Acts 25-26. When Jerusalem fell in A.D. 70, the Jews were dispersed throughout the world from this seaport. We are enjoying Karen's wonderful teaching and the helpful information shared by our Israeli guide, Haim.
After leaving Caesarea, we continued driving north to Mt. Carmel, the site of Elijah's face-off with the prophets of Baal, as described in I Kings 18. The weather was perfect for us to see for miles and miles. One can see much of the entire land of Israel from the top of Mt. Carmel. We have been amazed at how green everything is and how lush the vegetation!
Once we left Mt. Carmel, we drove on to Tiberias, where we will stay for the next 3 nights. It is awesome to round a bend in the road and see the Sea of Galilee ahead with the Golan Heights on the other side, pink in the setting sun! Tomorrow, we head to Cana, Nazareth Village, and another full day of seeing everything we can! For now, though, it's time to try to get some sleep and not let jet lag win the battle!