Oh, now I see!

We sailed the Sea of Galilee this morning!!! It was a beautiful day to be on the water and to see with our own eyes:

The mountain upon which Jesus likely gave his famous Sermon
Where Jesus walked on water and encouraged Peter to do the same
Where Jesus fed 5,000 with a few fishes and loaves of bread

It was incredible to see these sights from inside a boat appropriately named Noah. We listened to some original music as we sang/danced along. Can you imagine how much fun we had singing the words “Jehovah, give me eyes of faith and help me always see” . . . While we are seeing with our literal eyes what we have only read about from afar! It was awesome!

We saw a real Galilean fishing boat dated from the 1st century. Some fishermen uncovered it in 1986 having been preserved in silt for over 20 centuries! It took 14 years for the conservation team to complete its work and we got to take a picture of this ancient treasure.

The Sea of Galilee used to supply 30% of the country’s water. Now, they have developed a desalination system to use the water from the larger Dead Sea. However, the Dead Sea is shrinking due to evaporation aggravated by extreme drought conditions. We will let you know how the Dead Sea is doing tomorrow!

We crossed the Jordan River (still can’t believe that just happened) and saw some people getting baptized there while others were doing the backstroke. It’s something to see how many of these landmark places have become so commercialized. This is not at all what I expected.

But the traditional fish lunch was so good - Stacy ate the whole thing!