Ralph:

We visited an Saleem Shalash, an Arab Pastor who is involved in church planting in Nazareth.  He shared his testimony and how became a believer and how God led him to start a church in Nazareth.  On one occasion God told him to feed the poor but he lacked any money.  “How can I go to the grocery store without any money?”, he asked God.    Finally he obeyed God and went to the grocery store manager to tell him that God asked him to feed some of the poor in the city.  He fully expected to be rejected.  Instead Saleem was so surprised that the store manager told him to take whatever he wanted and pay him later.   While delivering some of the food, he met a stranger who wanted to know what he was doing.  Saleem shared with him how God was told him to distribute food to the poor.    After hearing this, the stranger said that God told him give Saleem $1000.

Brenda:

Larry keeps asking for our comments of the day so he can get the blog sent.  The only problem is is that there is so much to remember and absorb that it is a mind boggling process.  Okay here it goes.

We stopped at a church of a local Arab Christian pastor.  He explained how his church came to be.  The doubts that they had about financial commitments were foremost on his mind.  Every time they thought it was impossible, God would remind him “it is not your business, it is mine”.  They would move forward in faith and stood in awe as time after time things were “taken care of”.

On the drive up to the strategically placed Golan Height, Jane our guide told us story after story of the wars and the history of Israel.  The goal of this trip was to show us why the Golan Heights is absolutely necessary for Israel’s defence.  If the land goes back to Syria as Obama wants, it would mean that Syria would be able to launch missiles directly down on Israel.  It really brought to light what is happening politically today that is so important.

Lynda:
Today in the morning in Nazareth, we met with a  Christian Arab pastor who walks out his faith everyday as he puts himself in God’s care. His testimony of learning to follow God was amazing.

Other things for me to think about is
1) “tikun olam” : Jesus’  mission statement of coming to fix broken people and
2) how to put Jesus/God into His rightful place as King into my life.

More written blogs coming soon please check again later

Mount Precipice- Luke 4 16-30 – Hey look who’s leading the singing!

Just us….. with Nazareth backing us up!

Cliff Dwellers on Mount Precipice.

Pointing to Damascus! From the Golan Heights