Visit to the Holy Land

At the invitation of Kristi’s parents, we recently returned from almost two weeks in the Holy Land, visiting sites situated in modern day Israel/Palestine. After visiting two coastal cities and going to the top of Mount Carmel, we spent a few days on and around Lake Galilee, smelling the scents, listening to the birds, treading the areas and seeing the very landscapes where Jesus and his disciples made known the Kingdom of God through demonstrations of God’s mercy and power. 

Mt. Arbel, the highest point above the Sea of Galilee where Jesus may have ascended to the Father;

we spent some time here in mediation and prayer

Our first evening together in Galilee, a wonderful meal overlooking the Sea (or Lake) 

I was moved to tears leaving the very place on the shores of Galilee where Peter was restored by Jesus after Peter’s failure. Moving up to Dan in the high north, we stood at the entrance of the city which Abraham would have entered 4,000 years ago, also passing Caesarea Philippi, a place of a panoply of Greek and Roman gods and goddesses where Peter answered Jesus’ question about his identity, confessing to Jesus, “You are the Messiah.” Moving south, we travelled down into Jericho, down to the Dead Sea and then up again through the Judean Wilderness on our way up to Jerusalem. 

Tabgha, the place of seven springs where Jesus restores Peter
after his thrice-fold denial (see John 21)

Touching a stone from the original synagogue in Capernaum where
Jesus taught and healed

 I was deeply moved as we prayed alongside devout Jewish men, women and children at the Western Wall (aka Wailing Wall), and it was a blessing to exchange greetings in Arabic with young men in the Muslim Quarter of the Old City. We were mesmerized as we descended down from the Mount of Olives to the Garden of Gethsemane and, on our last day, as we walked the traditional Via Dolorosa (the Way of Suffering), following the general path Jesus would have taken from the traditional place of judgment outside the Temple (destroyed in 70 C.E.) to Golgotha, where he was crucified. At the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, the site of execution and a traditional site for burial and resurrection, I was able, despite the masses, to meditate on Jesus’ agony and enter into the spirit of the place alongside Eastern Orthodox believers who spread their cloths and kissed a holy stone believed to have been in the tomb where Jesus lay. 

The iconic view of the Temple Mount from the top of the Mt. of Olives 

Devout Jewish men worshiping and praying
at the Western Wall (aka Wailing Wall)

Members of our large group on the Southern Steps, a place where Jesus and his
disciples would have entered the Temple

Inside the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, a large an ornate church shared by seven communities of faith; it is the traditional spot where Jesus would have been crucified, buried and raised 

 Kristi and I want to express our immense gratitude to Moody Bible Institute of Chicago, the leadership of our trip and the local guides and bus drivers for organizing this significant pilgrimage, and we are so grateful to have experienced it with Mom and Dad Bertolet. It was amazing to see fellow pilgrims from all over the world, from Brazil, Malaysia, Indonesia, China, Korea, Ghana, Ethiopia, Eastern Europe, the US, and other distant lands. May we treasure up in our hearts the things we have seen, heard and experienced as we continue to follow in the footsteps of the Risen One, the One who continues to tread through the steps of His broken and beloved people. Glory be to the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.