The Trip Across the Seas:

Long, Thats how I would describe it.  We Flew out of KC at 11 A.M or so and arrived in Israel at around 8 A.M. the next day.  I managed to sleep about four hours on the flight, and that was mostly accomplished with OTC drugs, earplugs, and a face mask.  The adjustment to the time difference happened fairly quickly and I really haven’t felt “Jet Lagged”  maybe that will happen on the return trip?  We did have one security incident .  Paul Wilson, husband to pastor connie, was pulled off of our flight from KC to Chicago just as we boarded.  Apparently Canadians pose some new risk we were all unaware of.  He made it to Chicago an hour or so later though and all has been well except for a couple of ladies who lost their baggage.  The baggage made it a day later.

Chicago to London
I watched Elizabeth, the second film about her rein – thought it was appropriate since we were flying into London.  As we landed at Heathrow, I saw the London Bridge – It had not fallen down contrary to reports .   I also saw the millenium building and ferris wheel which was pretty hard to miss.  One other note worth mentioning – Heathrow is a bit of a dump, I had expected a much nicer airport.

London to Tel Aviv
As I read N.T. Wright explaining the rise of the Pharisees in the Gentile populated Galilee region, I had the opportunity to sit beside a very large Orthodox Jewish family.  As Wright explained the importance of the dietary laws to the self identification of the Jews in an area with a large Gentile population, the mother of the family explained to the flight attendant that she must have Kosher meals on this flight.  The family sang traditional songs, were learning their memorized prayers, and all clapped loudly as the wheels touched down in Israel.  I began to understand in that moment the importance of this land to the Chosen People.

Tel Aviv to Tiberius

We gathered at the airport and, after reporting a couple of peoples bags missing, climbed onto our Yellow Bus and headed from Tel Aviv to tiberius, 2 hours away.  The trip was mostly in the dark be we heard of the places we would see the next few days.  Lighted cities look the same every-wear  but these had ancient names we have all heard.   Hillel, our Guide, oriented us to the week ahead and welcomed us to the land with a song of Ascents, “I lift my eyes to the hills, from where does my help come…” Eventually we found our way to Tiberius – The city of Caesar and to the Caesar hotel.