Joe Bryant and the Travels in the Promised Land

It's hard to put into words what this trip has been like. I can tell you where we've been and what we've seen, but it's hard to capture the passion of our leader Todd. I really would almost like to hold off telling the lessons we've been going through until I can tell you in person, so I think that's what I'll do. (By the way, that means you're going to have to come ask me about this) I'll just say that God is showing me my ignorance once again, and I have so much work to do in knowing the Bible. Please pray for me and help keep me committed to learning the scriptures. Anyway, so far we've been to almost every geographical region in the country, from the Negev to the Golan Heights, visiting archaeological sites along the way and learning about the stories in the Bible in the context of it's people and land. The first part of the tour focused more on stories from the Hebrew scriptures, building a foundational basic knowledge of some of the history of the land. Now we have moved into the region around Galilee and are focusing on the ministry of Jesus. Today, we visited the ruins of Gamla, the headquarters of the Zealots during Jesus' day. The Romans came and took them out in September 67 A.D. after they decided they'd had enough of these terrorists in the middle east. If you want a really full account of the story, read the writings of Josephus, who was actually there. Anyway, no one has settled at that site since then, and so the synagogue there is dated to the time of Christ. I was told it's about a day's walk, maybe a bit more, from Capernaum, Jesus hometown during his ministry. So, it is pretty much guaranteed that Jesus taught at that synagogue, because He taught at all the synagogues in the area. That was pretty cool. There's so much more I could say, but again, it's hard to do this justice in just words. I suppose that's a reflection on my vocabulary and use of English, but more than that really I guess I want to at least attempt to present the material in a way that captures the passion behind it. There's also just so much to tell, I can't pick which ones to tell and which ones to leave out. Well, that's all 'til later. May God bless you and keep you, may he make His face to shine upon you and give you peace.

Joe