Update on the July Gathering

The July Gathering of SoBoPilgrims was held on Sunday afternoon, July 17th at Carole Woodward’s beautiful lakeside home in Clarkesville. We had a smaller group for a couple of reasons; vacation and sickness mainly. But those who were able to come had a great time. Several took the time to take a ride with Russell on Carolyn’s pontoon boat and found out that he is quite the wild captain. We had hats overboard three times. Thankfully Winston Harrell was aboard with experience at water rescue!

After the lake outings we retired to the house for the hamburger and hot dog cookout. Picnics are great but we were very pleased that this one was at Carole’s house for a pretty intense thunderstorm came up right as we were preparing to cook. Still, Paul and Jim proved to be pretty good at flipping the meat and everyone claimed the meal a success.

After dinner, as usual, we gathered together to study Day 5 for our tour. On this day we will leave the beauty of Tiberius, on the Sea of Galilee, and head almost directly West toward the Mediterranean Sea. Our ultimate goal for the day will be to arrive in Jerusalem but we will be taking the long way across the infamous Valley of Armageddon and up the Seaside Mountain to Mount Carmel. The pictures taken from Mr. Carmel that we saw were almost as spectacular as the biblical story that makes it famous. You can just imagine Elijah the prophet confronting the ministers of Baal to show their god to be real, taunting them through the day. “Maybe he (Baal) is sleeping and must be awakened” he says to them before praying to God to consume his water drenched sacrifice and having a consuming fire devour it all. We all agreed that this will be a day of spectacular scenery when touring.

Once again we enjoyed sharing the wonderful research of the places we will visit gathered by Mike Koch. Unfortunately Mike and Doris were among those on vacation and so Jim shared from his writings. A copy of the material is attached to the e-mail. One of the very interesting stories is told of Napoleon who, when on his conquest of the area came to this same view overlooking the Valley of Armageddon stated that it was the perfect place for the battle to end all battles. Surely we will view the prophesy of end times in Revelation with new awe as we consider it in context of this visit.

From the magnificent seaside mountains to the mountaintop city of Jerusalem we will travel. Along the way we will consider the kingdom of Israel under the reign of King David and Saul. Among several stops we will see King David’s tomb, and view Mount Zion, the wonderful symbol of New Testament grace. As we enter Jerusalem we will stop at the Upper Room where Jesus had his last Passover meal with the Disciples. This night will be our first of four in Jerusalem. From the city we will take all of our tours until we return.

For our August gathering we will discuss the first day of our time here exploring the “old city.” The description from ACTS says:
We will begin the day at the Western Wall. Tread on the sacred ground of the Temple Mount and see the Dome of the Rock. Walk the Via Dolorosa (The Way of the Cross), and visit the Pool of Bethesda and St. Anne's Church. Proceed to the Antonia Fortress where the crown of thorns was placed on Jesus' head and take time at the Stations of the Cross for prayer and reflection. Enter the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. Visit the House of Caiaphas, where Peter denied Jesus.

Our August Gathering has been set for Wednesday the 18th at 5:30pm. Angela Lewis has reserved the poolside deck near her residence at Edgewood Townhomes. Set your calendar now so you won’t miss it. Details for the gathering will be coming, as usual, just prior to the program.

Please remember a couple of our pilgrims who are having health issues in prayer; Larry Davis was unable to join us at the July gathering because of surgery at Duke. Roberta McCrowell continues to battle with physical limitations that are hindering her mobility. We pray that they will both get healthy soon so that there will be no limitations for them on the trip!

I continue to remind you that there is still room for more pilgrims! We are almost at twenty-five and the bus will hold between 30 and 40. Don’t leave any of your close friends that are interested in going behind. Final registration without late penalty is early October. We would love to have a bus full of the fun-loving SoBoPilgrims!

Interesting articles in Christianity Today

Pilgrims,
April's Christianity Today had two articles specifically relevant to our trip to the Holy Land, specifically around the Sea of Galilee. The articles are available online, but without the pictures. I'm planning to bring the magazine so that we can share them tomorrow night at the June meeting.

Here's a link to the articles: (click on the title)
The Jesus Trail:

The Jesus Boat:

I was very pleased to notice that the author of the article about "the Jesus Trail" is a Professor of Religion at Roanoke College, where our daughter Sarah attends. I have sent him an e-mail to see if he would be available to come speak to us about his trips and study. I'll let you know what I hear from him.

Rejoice Always!

May 21st, 2010

Dear Fellow Pilgrims,

I’ve been working to set the date for the June gathering. Many of you have sent me e-mail to let me know what your vacation calendar looks like for the summer, as requested at the last meeting and on the Blog. The results show that June is a very busy time for us! In fact, the week that interrupts the fewest plans is the very first week. So we will plan our get-together on Wednesday, June 2nd, at 5:30 PM. We had no volunteers to gather at a home this month so we will plan right now to meet in the 1st Presbyterian Church Fellowship Hall. Kitchen facilities are available, but the cover dish plan has worked well so far. Let’s stick with that for June.

The second day of touring for us will focus on sites around the Sea of Galilee. We spent some time during our May discussion to talk about this area of Israel. On this day we will visit the hills overlooking the Sea where Jesus is thought to have given the beautiful Sermon on the Mount, and Tabgha, the site where he fed the multitudes with just a few loaves and fish. (see John, chapter 6) In the afternoon we will actually take a boat across the Sea to visit Capernaum, and go to the Jordan River where Jesus may have been baptized. One of our discussions at the gathering will be about the spiritual significance of baptism, and what a “renewal of baptismal vows” might mean to us while at the Jordan.

Please plan to come prepared to set a time for our July meeting. There are a couple of special considerations that we should keep in mind. One is the proposal made at our April meeting that we should plan a picnic during the summer. Several of our pilgrims have boats they have graciously offered to share. The other is that some of our travelers cannot join us for these meetings on weeknights but would like to get to know the folks planning to travel. A weekend gathering would give us more time for a nice picnic and give these persons a chance to meet with us and “catch up” on our plans and materials. I would therefore like to propose that we meet in July on Sunday afternoon, July 18th. Please consider this and come prepared to agree, or offer another time for us to meet. We’ll determine other specifics about the place and picnic arrangements as well. If you cannot join us for the June meeting then e-mail me your response about the July proposal.

One last thing, I’ve received several positive comments about the materials that we’ve shared at the meetings about the places we are visiting. You’ve also let me know that it helps to have digital copies of these available in our GoogleDocs folder on the Internet. Some have not been able to collect materials from the early gatherings. I am trying to get more copies of these materials so that I can make them available to you. I’ll let you know as I make progress.

Till next time...Rejoice Always

Notes from our May Gathering

Overview of May Gathering

On Tuesday, May 11th , we had a wonderful second gathering of Pilgrims at Mark and Carol Foster’s home. What a beautiful place to meet. I noticed many of the pilgrims taking a tour of the house to ‘ooh and aah” at the art and artifacts that Carol and Mark have collected through the years and arranged so creatively. Once again the cover dish was more a feast than a pickin with plenty for everyone. More good news! We welcomed several new friends to the meeting who have learned of our Pilgrimage and considering joining us. Thanks to all for making these get-togethers such a success.

Before starting with the overview of the tour we were to cover I took some time to review the list of people that have signed up, and those still expressing interest. The last registration count that I got from ACTS last Friday shows that 16 of us have sent in their registration forms. We’re over half way to our goal of having at least thirty to fill the tour bus. This is wonderful. And there are still 23 others on the list that are still interested but had not registered by the time ACTS sent me the list. So I’m very hopeful that our goal will be reached if not exceeded. Another component of this list is to see how room sharing options are coming along. Obviously couples are registering together for rooms. Others are planning to room together and registering with this in mind. Still, several have registered looking for a roommate. ACTS informs me of the “singletons” and we can begin now to try to make appropriate connections. Contact me if you are in the later group and we can begin this process.

The subjects of the tour discussion focused on the first day of our touring as we move from Tel-Aviv to the area around the Sea of Galilee. We began the discussion by projecting Google Earth on a big screen and showing the nation of Israel. We will be landing in Tel-Aviv and spending a night there to recover from jet-lag. The first stage of our journey will be from Tel-Aviv to the Sea of Galilee where we will stay 2 nights in the city of Tiberius. On the way to Tiberius we will visit the ruins of Jericho and the Mount of Temptation that we studied in April. And we will make stops at Nazareth, and Cana before we arrive at our destination. We followed this path on Google Earth. I am including a picture of the region on this posting so that you can see the North-East direction that we are traveling. If you have access to the Internet you will want to download and view the area on Google Earth. There are wonderful pictures that others have taken, and descriptions of the areas linked to a variety of websites. The program is free. You can find it at http://earth.google.com.

Mike and Jim took some time to review the research that they had done on Nazareth, Cana, and Tiberius. All three are mostly found in scripture in the New Testament. This area is actually where Jesus spent most of his life. Mary and Joseph both lived in Nazareth. The angels that announced Jesus conception visited them there before they traveled to Bethlehem for the Roman census. They fled Bethlehem to Egypt to avoid Herod’s terrible wrath, an attempt to kill the baby Messiah. But they returned to Nazareth after a few years and Jesus grew up there. His first miracle, turning the water into wine at a wedding feast, was at Cana. Though there are some disagreements about the exact place that these events occurred most have a church or temple at a location that claims to be the spot. We will review the stories as we visit the sites.

Tiberius has always been a popular city. It was built on the Sea of Galilee and has attracted tourist, not all seeking vacation, for centuries. There is much history dating back to the early Roman Empire and earlier that is available here. We will be very happy to spend time at this wondrous city. Next month we will study more about the landmarks around the Sea of Galilee that it is built on. One that is very interesting is a story about an ancient boat that was found. It is exactly the type of boat that is thought Jesus would have been sleeping on when the mighty storm came upon the disciples. It is now known as “The Jesus Boat.” There is a great story on YouTube about it. Connect at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=66BKA9bWjHI. This is part one of two. Other video and stories about the Jesus Boat are also on YouTube. Christianity Today had a good story on this as well. This article can be found at http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2010/aprilweb-only/26-41.0.html. Perhaps we can visit the museum to learn more about this archeological wonder.

As usual there were handouts related to the places we are visiting. I have uploaded these documents to the SoBo Pilgrim Holy Land folder in Google Docs. You will be getting an invitation to view and download these documents soon after getting this message.

We did not reach consensus about where and when to have the next meeting for there is many vacations planned during June. Please e-mail to me your vacation schedule and I will look for the week that has the fewest conflicts. We may choose a Saturday in June and July to try to include some of our folks who work each weeknight. We anticipate that the July meeting will be held as a picnic at Buggs Island Lake. I would like to have your vacation schedule by the end of May so that we can make this decision as soon as possible!

Thanks again to the Fosters for hosting our gathering. Till next time!

May Gathering is next Tuesday night

May 7, 2010

Our second study group gathering will be next Tuesday, May 11th, at Carol and Mark Foster’s house in South Boston. Let me know if you need an address. There is a change in the plans. We will be meeting at 6:00 PM rather than 5:30. Plans for dinner this time are the same as last, cover dish. It worked out very well as all the bases were covered; salad, main course, desserts, etc, and everyone had plenty to eat! There is talk of a picnic at the lake for the June meeting so we will be having some variety in the future.

Last month we started our study of the places we are touring with a look at the ancient city of Jericho. We couldn’t complete a study of our first day’s tour because we had several travel issues to take care of. So this month we will continue the first day’s tour with a study of The Mount of Temptation, Nazareth, Cana of Galilee, and Tiberias. On the trip we will actually be staying in Tiberias for two nights as we visit the areas around the Sea of Galilee.

I’ve received information from ACTS (our travel tour group) that more of you have registered. That’s good! Betty Ann has written that she is excited for us that the study groups are going so well. Please be sure to send me any specific questions that you have about the travel arrangements. I will get in touch with her and try to have answers by Tuesday night. One big reminder to pass on, May 1st was only a deadline for an early registration discount. There is still plenty of time to register for the trip. We are excited for all of you that are going and talking with friends to get them to go with you. Don’t forget to send me their e-mail information so that I can add them to the contact list.

I’m looking forward to seeing you on Tuesday night! Remember that we have changed the time to 6:00 pm! Early thanks to Mark and Carol for hosting us!

Rejoice Always,

1st Monthly Gathering a Success

On Tuesday, April 20th, we held our first monthly gathering at Paul and Kay Nichols home. It was a big success. We had over 15 of our pilgrims attend! Everyone brought a delicious cover dish so there was plenty of food; appetizers, salad, main course, and desert. The evening was beautiful so there was the option to eat outside or in.

After dinner we gathered in the den to take care of business! First order was to review the travel plans. Several had not yet registered so we reviewed the registration form. Then we discussed tips for traveling overnight, packing bags, and dealing with foreign currency. We also discussed Passports. If you don't have one its time to get one. Check closely to be sure that your passport date is good for at least three months after we are due to return.

Knowing that we would probably need to spend more time on travel tips at this meeting than most we prepared for a discussion of touring Jehrico only. Mike and Russell had some great information. Mike started by sharing about how important this part of the world, the Crossroads of Cultures, has been throughout history. He showed us a very interesting website tracing the major empires in history. Click here to take a look!

Then Russell shared about his trip to the ancient city of Jehrico when he went before. He suggested that we all get a notebook and put information that is shared during these meetings. Then he handed out some maps, pictures, and information to put in the first entry. If you couldn't be there, or didn't get a copy, just let us know and we can get it to you.

Before closing in prayer we talked about our May meeting. We've decided that the best time and place to meet could change from month to month so we won't set a regular plan. The next meeting will be on Tuesday, May 11th, 5:30 PM, at Mark and Carol Fosters home. Watch the e-mail to get the address. We will be discussing the other places that we will visit on the first tour day along with Jehrico.

Did you notice the new feature on the Blog? Pictures!! I got several good shots that I've added as a slideshow. We'll be collecting these at each of the meetings, and then on the trip. Feel free to share the Blog site with your friends and family so that they can keep up with our trip.

Till next time... Rejoice Always!

April Gathering is tomorrow night!

Good morning! One more day until our first gathering. Kay and I are excited to have this first dinner and discussion group at our house. It's going to be warm and hopefully the possibility of rain will remain further west so that we can take advantage of space in the yard as well as the house for dinner. We've heard from several of you, but not all, that you are coming. We hope everyone can make it. Remember, this is very casual. We'll be dining with paper plates and plastic forks and spoons. We want to set the precedent for convenience so that no one will hesitate to participate in these in the future. So plan to bring a simple cover dish meal or desert. We'll furnish drinks, ice, etc.

This first gathering will primarily focus on travel tips because the first two days of the trip will be involved in traveling from Raleigh-Durham Airport to Tel-Aviv. Several of us have not flown out of the country before so this will be a good time for those that have to give recommendations for traveling. Bring your passport if you have it because there have been some questions about what information from it is needed on ACTS registration form. We will also have other forms, like the Travel Insurance form, and discuss these.

ACTS has sent a second video for us to review. This one is from the Tourism Department of Israel. In order to get a sense of the study we will have for the future we will take a look at Jericho, one of the places we will tour on our first tour day. We have a plan for these studies now. I will review the places from their significance in the Old Testament. Jim Leudtke will teach us about them from the New Testament and Jesus day. Russell, who has taken this trip before, will give us a cultural and geographic perspective. And Mike Koch will talk about the places from a historic perspective. Tomorrow night Mike has a special website that shows the significance of the Middle East in all of the world powers of western culture. We're going to be very enlightened! In April we will be ready to really begin our study of the other places we'll visit on our first tour day.

We will also review the Blog that I'm using to keep folks up to date. I'm not sure how many of us have visited the Blog but only very few have registered as "friends." My goal is to use it as a repository for all of our journey, including the studies, so that our families, friends, Sunday-school classmates, and church may follow and participate in the experience if they want too. As we complete this pilgrimage we will then have a repository of stories, pictures, and even video to refer to. You may not have ever participated in a Blog before so we'll review how it works and you can then sign up with confidence if you want too!

Looking forward to tomorrow night. Please, I'll remind you once more, send me a response by e-mail or phone call to let us know if you are coming. We will have a better idea of how many to prepare for!