Day Two in Israel

Amazing. I,m sitting here at six in the morning in a christian guest house that overlooks the Sea of Galilee. It is still pretty dark, but I am sitting out on a balcony waiting for the sunrise. It looks like it will be glorious. Anyhow I want to describe yesterday, our second day here in Israel and tell how we arrived at this beautiful place.

I slept pretty well in Tel Aviv, even though we were in a small, cramped hostel. Pastor Ben's reasons for choosing this place, is for one, to see what the real Tel Aviv is, a very dirty, secular city that doesn't fit in with the general idea that fundamental Christians have of Israel. Also we were a block away from the American Embassy, a good thing to know and see in case trouble happens to arise. And we were planning on having a large delicious breakfast right next door, but the place was temporarily closed and we had to settle for a smaller really yummy breakfast about a ten minute walk away.

After we ate we headed back and loaded into the vans. Can you say fiasco? It was a small parking lot and the attendant was not to impressed about our plan of how to leave. It involved our van backing up and letting the other one out first because the pastor was going to pay for both vehicles as we left. That guy didn't want to have anything to do with it. Other cars were trying to leave and it quickly turned into a four-way argument about how to do it. Once we were all straightened out we were able to leave and the plan was to drive a few minutes to the Carmel Market. The streets were crazy, and there was no parking to be had anywhere. At one point we had stopped for traffic while Ben was figuring out where to go and so Mark, our driver, tries to call Ben on his cell. Next thing we know a police officer walks up to his window and starts grilling him and asking for identification. After a couple minutes he lets us go with an admonition "not talk on phone while driving".

After this happens Ben decides that we will just leave and head up the coast to Cesarea Maritema. So begins our next adventure.Following someone on these roads is pretty crazy, especially when your in a city or large town. And most especially when following another van with a pastor who likes to make sudden lane changes. Mark called our van "The Rolling Revival". "If your not a praying believer when you get in, you will be by the time you get out"! I had the exciting job of being shotgun and trying to keep an eye on the other van and help keep out of accidents with other crazy drivers.

It took about forty-five minutes before we arrived at Cesarea along with a few large tour buses. Upon arrival we step out and are hit with a wall of heat. Uhhg. Not ready for this in mid-October. This is also the time when we learn that the drivers side window doesn't like the idea of rolling up, giving us something to do while we stand in the heat. Ok, window is up. Now, on to the ruins. As we are heading there we stop by a gift shop for restroom breaks and Mark decides to go in and buy a hat to protect from the heat. That reminds me that my hat was left on the last plane we were on and so I join him to see if I can find one as well. Twenty sheckels later, (about five dollars), I am satisfied that I now look like a real tourist, wearing a hat with an actual place name emblazoned across it.

The journey and the first night in Israel

Ok folks, here is a real blog entry for you all!
We started by flying out of Spokane and into Seattle with a couple hours of layover. Nice ,easy flight. Next leg was to Frankfurt, Germany. They do a very good job of making you comfortable for an almost ten hour flight, but it was hard on me. I cramp up pretty easy sitting down for that long of a time making it near impossible to sleep. That and a personal screen on the seat in front of me that would keep shutting off if I tried to watch a movie, and then keep turning on if I was trying to rest. But I did get a fair amount of reading done. The Frankfurt airport is huge, and we had a very long walk to get to our connecting flight with not much time to get there. Then we had to go through Israeli security to get to our gate. Full on pat down, loosen the belt to check the waistband, and hands pulling out every scrap of paper from my pockets. They don't mess around with their safety. From there it was a four hour flight to Tel Aviv. Upon arrival it was a pretty long wait to get through the passport checkpoint, get our group together, claim baggage and then we were free. And there was Pastor Ben and his two teens waiting for us. We are in two different nine passenger vans and riding shotgun, trying to keep Ben's van in sight and navigate the streets of Tel Aviv was pretty exciting. But we made it. Checked into our hotel about a hundred yards from the Mediterranean Sea, and then we were off to take a walk to Joppa, It was a nice, three mile walk with a big meal at the end. We went to a shop that sells only four things, and we were there for the schwarma's. Sort of like a pita, it was stuffed with all kinds of fresh veggies, at least three different kinds of pickled veg, hummus, some kind of spicy sauce, and fresh grilled lamb that they shave off the rotisserie fight in front of you.It was good. We then take a brief tour of Joppa, see some ancient Egyptian ruins, and Simon the Tanners house, or at least the house built over top of his house. This was where Simon had the vision of all the different unclean things coming down on a blanket, And God tells him not to call anything unclean that God has called clean..
Going to add a few picks here and then I have to go

the journey

It has been a long time since I have got to do some major people watching, but here I am, sitting in the Seattle airport waiting to board a plane to Israel. I forget living in a small area how big the world is and how diverse the human race is. Gotta go....

Ok, so I know it has been a long time since I have posted anything here, but I have some new incentive. I'm going to Israel in a couple days and want to leave a record of it here for friends and family to follow. and maybe, just maybe, I'll get back into regular posting after I'm back. That's my goal.So here I'll have some pictures and talk a bit about the travels. If your interested in more of the religious aspect of the journey then I encourage you to follow my other blog at www.waysofthelord.blogspot.com

Changes

  Well, there is going to be a bit of a change here at the Mountain Life. A couple years ago I rededicated myself to Christ and ever since I have been struggling with whether or not to let this part of my life into my blog. Its original intention was to be about family, hiking, foraging, identifying, and things we are doing to (slowly) achieve self-sufficiency. But my life became so much more than that. So much so that I have found it hard to write about those things without bringing some of our spiritual life into it.

  This has been a long hard decision for me, and is part of the reason (along with quite a bit of laziness,) that I haven't had a real posting in so long. I do intend to start a new blog on just spiritual issues in the near future, but never fear, I will keep this one going with its originally stated intentions. And believe me, I have a lot of catching up to do on it.

  But first I need to spend a bit more time on this subject. First off, I have no desire to alienate anyone who follows this blog. I don’t want to cause any division with any friends or family through this, but the hard fact of this is that it can and quite possibly will. But it does not have to be this way. You are more than welcome to accept me as I am and glean what you will from the postings, or, and this is my prayer, that you might be caused to honestly question some things about me or yourself. Indeed, I am more than willing to answer anything through comments, calls, or e-mails.

  And second, I am not doing this out of being in a religion where you are commanded to act a certain way. I have actually found that if you are truly devoted to something (and this can be anything, not just to Christ,) you tend to naturally talk and color your speech with these things. In other words, I am not in the business of offending anyone. I am just being myself with Christ shining though me, and if you take offense, then perhaps you should step back and see just what is being offended in you. I will be more than willing to talk to you about it.

  To close I want to say this, it is hard for me to write something so personal. But I truly feel a need to so that you know who I am. I am not a hiker, or forager. I am a follower of Christ first, then a husband and a father who just happens to enjoy hiking, foraging, cooking, books.......

Back in Action (hopefully)

My laptop is finally back in action! Now all I need is to find the discipline to get back into typing again. I have a lot of posts to finish and many more sitting in my head still. There is part 2 of Learning Leadership, 2 posts on hiking/mountain climbing, one is from Colorado, and the other is a more recent hike from here in Idaho. I have a variety of them on mushrooms that we have found this year, lobsters, chanterelles, and matsutakes to name a few. And hopefully a post or two on our life in general lately.

Still Here

Sorry folks. Been off blogger a long time now. My computer has been in the process of dying since around Thanksgiving. I finally downloaded blogger app on my phone yesterday so I could do this post for you all. I am trying to get a new computer right now so I can get back to writing again. Got lots of exciting news for you friends to come soon!