Tuesday evening, 10:00 PM at the Leonardo Plaza Hotel in Tel Aviv
After several months of anticipation, today we arrived in Israel! We had a 5 hour flight from San Francisco to Toronto, and then a 10 hour flight from Toronto to Tel Aviv. There was a person from the tour agency to greet us, and we headed on a tour bus from the airport straight to a banquet room in a Tel Aviv Hotel to join the rest of the group for dinner, with our hosts Chuck and Cynthia Swindoll.
Next to the city of Tel Aviv is the ancient seaport of Joppa. In biblical times ths city was called “Jaffa”, and was the place where Jonah boarded a ship to flee from the Lord’s command to go preach to the Ninevites. (From our hotel we can see the Mediterranean Sea.) In the New Testament, Peter raised Tabitha from the dead in the city of Joppa. Peter also had a vision from the Lord in Joppa, leading the conversion of Cornelius. Tomorrow we head to will be staying in a hotel in Tiberias.
On the airplane we were surprised how many young Jewish families there were.. As we struggled to sleep, we were often interrupted by crying children. We remember those days. We heard one of the Jewish boys near us calling out to his father, “Abba!” Abba was the familiar term for our heavenly Father that Jesus tells us to use in prayer. Wow! What a powerful image.
Chuck Swindoll’s encouragement to us this evening was to walk a little slower, look a little longer, and listen a little better during our time here. There will be information overload as we see the sites and learn about what happened. But rather than struggle to get the best camera shot, we need to allow God to speak to us though our time here. (This is probably a good word for us where ever we are.)
On a personal note, I figured out our international calling card, and we called home to my parents to say, “We made it!.” The kids were in school when we called. Tomorrow morning before we leave I will try to figure out the internet to post this blog and then skype our kids (Wednesday, 6:00 AM in Tel Aviv will be Tuesday, 8:00 PM in Modesto – 10 hours time difference).
Our next post may be Thursday evening. Thanks for your prayers!
