Saturday – April 25

The last day in Israel – the land God gave his people, the land where Jesus lived and died and lived again, the land that today is so torn and conflicted. I have yet to see what God has for me from this trip.
Anyway, we did not have to make an early start so that was lovely! I got a good long last shower before the lengthy trip home, finished packing the bags, and enjoyed a nice breakfast with my friends. However, no cappuccino this morning – it is the Sabbath and making one is work! Our group is down to 5 as 2 of our number had to leave this morning.
Amit met us again. We needed to walk to our van but this time a nifty little cart took all our bags so no more wandering around the streets, pulling our suitcases! Very spoiled! It was another beautiful day but very windy.
Our first stop was still in Jerusalem. We went to the Israel Museum, first walking through some of the area around it and seeing the Knesset and other important government buildings. The museum itself is beautifully laid out with the special Shrine of the Book building to house the Dead Sea scrolls. After having been to Qumran yesterday, it was rather awe inspiring to see the actual pages of the scrolls. God preserves his word.
We looked around some more of the museum, each of us choosing some favorite exhibits, but we needed to hit the road, so didn’t spend a great deal of time there. Of course, a quick stop in the museum gift store had to be factored in.
We boarded our van and said good-bye to Jerusalem and drove off toward Tel Aviv. We first stopped in Caesarea Maritima, right on the Mediterranean coast. Lunch was our first stop – another fun little restaurant which Amit knew about. He has taken us to such good and fun places! We didn’t rush lunch, nice!, and then headed out to see the sights. This town was built again by Herod – he was a busy guy! It was a Roman port town, built to honor the current Caesar – major kiss up! The ruins are so interesting as they include all the expected sites of a Roman town of the day – all made out of the Jerusalem stone or marble for some of the remaining pillars. We went around the palace, the baths, the theater, the hippodrome, and more. In some places, there were still remnants of the beautiful mosaics used on so many of their floors. The plumbing for the bath houses continues to amaze me – and then the heating of other buildings – some with heated floors! Very ingenious. In one spot, the archaeologists had left a section of the original dig intact. One could see the layers they dug through until they reached the current ruins – fascinating!
We enjoyed walking around the site but it was incredibly windy! At the far end of the site was a much later building, built by the Crusaders many centuries later – fun to see but also sobering knowing how often this piece of land has been fought over since the beginning of time!
Back to the van and into Tel Aviv where we stopped at a little shop for wine, coffee, and snacks – our final “meal” together. It was a funky little cafe and out of the wind! so we enjoyed ourselves very much.
A short drive took us to Jaffa, just at the southern end of Tel Aviv. It is an old town and we just poked around there for a bit. We saw Simon the tanner’s house – maybe! But the narrow old streets and close buildings made for memorable walking. We had seen similar places in Jerusalem but here there were no crowds – we pretty much had the streets to ourselves – lovely. We could have spent much longer but we had flights to catch. Off to the airport and a reluctant good bye to Amit. He has been wonderful and such fun to be with.
We trundled all our bags into the airport, ready to face the security gauntlet! We had been warned that security can be quite tricky and one could be stopped and questioned for quite some bags. One’s bags could be searched and so on. We allowed plenty of time, but we all just sailed through! It took me a half an hour from the time I set foot in the airport until I was through both rounds of security, checked in, and out in the gate area! Thank you Lord! There was plenty of time to kill so we found a table, had some food and took turns minding our stuff while others shopped a little or just poked around. The time passed rather quickly and then I had to say good bye to my friends. We had spent the better part of two weeks together, seeing and experiencing so much. These were the women that I had talked with the most, sharing our thoughts on all we had learned. No great conclusions were reached, but it helped to talk with people who were working from the same reference points. I hope to see them again.
Off to my gate and the long trip home. I have a 12 hour flight to Newark. Then I am in New York for the day, seeing my niece and her family, and then the final leg home.
Thank you, Lord, for all the blessings – for opening my eyes and heart to another part of your world and another group of most dearly loved people. May I be found faithful.