Those dreams did come to reality in March of 2018 when I went to the Holy Land with a group of 45 travelers made up largely of members of my church. It was a wonderful experience and a great photo opportunity. I will share just a few of my favorite experiences with you.
The Jordan River was even more beautiful than I had imagined. About sixteen members of our group chose to be baptized in the river. One thirty year-old man was baptized for the first time even though he had made a profession of faith in Christ many years before.
Many of the sites were brought to life by devotionals brought by our pastor, Stan Allcorn. At the above site in Caesarea Philippi, pastor Stan brought a challenging message based on the Gospel account of Peter's great confession that Jesus was the Messiah.
Jesus and his disciples left Galilee and went up to the villages near Caesarea Philippi. As they were walking along, he asked them, “Who do people say I am?”
“Well,” they replied, “some say John the Baptist, some say Elijah, and others say you are one of the other prophets.”
Then he asked them, “But who do you say I am?”
Peter replied, “You are the Messiah.”
But Jesus warned them not to tell anyone about him.
JESUS PRAYS IN GETHSEMANE: They went to the olive grove called Gethsemane, and Jesus said, “Sit here while I go and pray.” He took Peter, James, and John with him, and he became deeply troubled and distressed.
The Garden Tomb is operated by a nondenominational Christian charitable trust based in the United Kingdom. However, the tour guides who lead groups past a hill that could be Golgotha and into the empty tomb only go so far as to say, "It could be the actual tomb of Jesus."
The most important thing is not whether this is the actual tomb where Jesus was laid, but that the tomb did not contain Jesus permanently. The important thing is that he is not there. On the door of the tomb we see these words, "He is not here, he is risen."
I took over five hundred photos on this trip and then narrowed them down to about a hundred of my favorites. This represents a handful of those favorites. I might share some other photos in future blogs, but with Easter just a week away, I wanted to share these to give us something to think about during this time.
