Breakfast was delicious again. There was much more variety than the first (Inbar) hotel. And that one was Kosher, so they do not serve dairy products in the same meal as meat. Hence no meat for breakfast. This one (Ron Beach Hotel)had cold sliced sausage, hot turkey breast, and lots of kinds of cheese! And scrambled eggs, the poached eggs dish I mentioned before, vegetable and egg “muffins”. Pastries, breads, fresh fruit. And MUCH more. The crowning touch was a frame of honeycomb!
By 8:30 we went aship. A big boat was at the dock, waiting for us. The crew lent us their hand to climb aboard and we slowly sailed out. The sea was beautiful and calm. After we were out a ways, Andrew read a poem about “Mine Was the Boat.”
We sang several songs – Master the Tempest is Raging was one of them.
Aaron also gave an inspirational talk. We discussed what the “these” were when Jesus asked Peter “Lovest thou Me more than these?” We concluded that most likely Jesus meant his career, his life, his earthly pursuits
We were out for about an hour’s cruise. We popped in to our hotel rooms to pick up our bags and were off for the day.
The next stop was at what is called the Mount of Beatitudes. We walked up the path and sat in a pavilion to listen to Andrew read the Beatitudes. Aaron expounded on the first verse — “seeing the multitudes He went up into a mountain.” He made comparisons between Moses and Jesus. Then Aaron read in Hebrew and expounded in English on the Lord’s Prayer.
We had 15 minutes to tour the Catholic chapel there. There were 8 stained glass windows, each with a Beatitude on them. We were to be in total silence, so there were no explanations there.
Next stop was at Capernaum. We saw the hard basalt rock that is so plentiful in that area. They made mill stones from the basalt. Here, very close to the sea, is where Jesus said to his disciples “whosoever offends one of these little ones, it were better that a millstone were hanged about his neck and he be drowned in the depths of the sea.”
We also saw the remains of the synagogue. The basalt foundation was most likely from Jesus’ day, but the limestone walls were from the fourth century.
From there we went to a restaurant for lunch (paid by Pilgrim Tours. 😊) We had the choice of a whole “St Peter’s fish”, a fillet, or chicken. Six of us took the whole fish, one ordered chicken, the rest ordered fish fillets. We teased Nate that he’s a “chicken” for ordering chicken! When the meals came, they set fish in front of Nate too! He ate it and even said it was good. Our bus driver, Tarek (long e) said he doesn’t eat fish. He doesn’t like to worry when he’s eating.
After lunch we went to Magdala. Here we saw the ruins of a synagogue that was from Jesus’ day. Here Jesus most certainly sat. Matthew 9:35 tells us he went through all the cities and villages and taught in the synagogues.
There is also a Catholic cathedral there. In this one we were welcome to sing in the high domed foyer. We sang one song, then the priest came and took us to a room off the side where there was a mosaic of Jairus and his daughter, whom Jesus raised to life.
He showed us to the basement, to another room with a cobblestone floor. He said that was once part of the road where Jesus walked. There was a mosaic on the wall of “The Encounter,” depicting the woman who touched the hem of Jesus’ garment (or the corner of his tassels, as the Hebrew says). He asked if some woman would like a gift to take back home for some broken, depressed person. Lafaye was the first one to say yes. He got her to stand in an exact spot, and make her hand like she was touching Jesus. He took a picture of her. It turned out beautifully, looking just like she was touching the garment. He said, “Send that picture to someone and say ‘I touched Jesus in prayer for you today.’”
We returned to the foyer and sang a few more songs. The priest came and showed us that by standing at different places we get a different crescendo. He had us stand out at the edge of the circular foyer to begin the song and move in a few steps part way through, then end it right in the middle. It was glorious! We sang another 4-5 songs. We sang “Tell Me the Story of Jesus”, “There is a God” and more. Another tour came in and some of them sang with us. A touching experience, words don’t do justice.
It was warm in there, we were all in need of water by then.
It was well past 3. Time to head back to the hotel. We stopped at a parking lot on the north side of the lake and crawled out over the rocks to enjoy the view. Some dipped their toes into the cool water
We got back to the hotel around 4:15. We had time to relax, stick our toes into the water again, do laundry, etc.
