First Christian Church, Wauchula, FL

  Today was filled with about 4 total hours of driving and what seemed like 40 miles of walking.  We left Jerusalem this morning around 8 AM and headed to the lowest point below Sea Level in the world, the Dead Sea.  On the way we saw many Bedouin Villages.  Bedouin are basically Gypsies that have existed since before Jesus.  They raise sheep and goat as well as hand make jewelry.  They live in thrown together huts in the desert and move when their animals need food and water.  They believe that they were created from the dust and the wind.  Many of them still use camels as their mode of transportation.  We stopped along the roadside and I took my first camel ride.  Totally crazy!  As it stood to it’s feet beginning with it’s back legs first it felt as though I was about to be launched into the air.  I held on tight and before I knew it he was off the ground and moving forward.  It was pretty much like riding a horse once it got going.  It was a fun experience and the pictures certainly gave the kids a good laugh.

After parking my camel and escaping the 5000 flies I was surrounded by we loaded back up in the bus and made our way to Masada.  Masada was a fortress of King Herod.  There was at one time during King Herod’s reign a group of Jews that wanted to overthrow the Roman government, they were known as zealots.  They had taken ownership of this fortress and were hiding out there.  The Romans eventually came for them and instead of being captured and made slaves to the Romans they decided as a group to die and remain free.  Together the men agreed to cast lots.  Ten names were chosen to oversee the deaths of everyone in their camp.  The husbands then went to their homes, killed their children and wives, these ten men killed the husband.  They then burned everything and everyone except for the food in the storage area.  They left the food behind to make a statement, “you didn’t kill us, you didn’t make us slaves, we made the choice today to die free.”  After all of this the ten remaining turned their swords on each other and fell on their partner’s sword.  Not really sure how I feel about this story, but the fortress was amazing.

  Once done at Masada we headed toward the Dead Sea. As we approached the Dead Sea it was to our left.  What an enormous body of water.  It was much larger than I thought it would be.  I learned that there are two reasons for it being called the Dead Sea.  Reason #1 – Nothing can live in the Dead Sea because the salt content is so high.  Reason #2 – The source of it’s water starts at the Sea of Galilee, feeds the Jordan River, which empties into the Dead Sea where it dead ends.  We enjoyed lunch together as a group at the Spa by the Sea then I made my way down to the shore.  It was necessary to wear shoes the entire time, even while in the water.  The shoreline wasn’t covered with soft sand like we are used to seeing when at the beach.  It was more a mixture of dried up mud (bottom of the sea) with layers of salt everywhere.  Where the water met the shoreline the salt would just pile up and form together, it looked sort of like rock candy looks, or large clumps of rock salt.  As I walked out into the water it was like walking on a white marble floor.  Almost the entire bottom was a 3” thick floor of salt.  At some places there would be openings.  I stepped into one and sunk down to my knee.  I had to pull my leg out then reach down with my hand and dig out my shoe that had been left behind.  I’m sure the scene I was creating gave everyone on the shore a good laugh.  I was about a hundred yards out into the Sea and decided to try floating.  (You know they say it is impossible to sink in the Dead Sea.  They were right!  I picked my feet up off the bottom and immediately began floating on my back like a bobber on a fishing line.  It was amazing.  I was floating on the surface of the water without a raft.  No way was I going to sink.  I could had stayed there for hours and never even moved.  It was a pretty neat experience.  You could even make yourself sit as though you were in a chair and your body would stay that way and float.  I spent 30 – 45 minutes just enjoying the water and my new ability to float, and then it was time to head out.  

We loaded back up on the bus and headed back to Jerusalem.  It was really a fun day today.  How amazing it is to be in the Holy Lands.  This truly is God’s country!  (giving thanks)