Hello, everyone! My brother sent me these nice pictures, and I’m looking forward to sharing them with you! This church is built on the place where Jesus preached the Sermon on the Mount. That’s one of my favorites! It’s where Jesus says that you’ll be very happy when you try to make everything more peaceful, when you you just sit at someone’s feet and listen when they’re sad, when you don’t bark, even when you want to, and all kinds of other nice things.
Here’s the funny thing. All my friends – fellow dogs and other animals – know all of this like the back of our paws. But even my brother says that it’s hard for him to follow those teachings some times. That never made sense to me, like he was trying to explain colors when describing music. But then our buddy Jim (he’s in the blue shirt in the picture above) told us that that there’s a story in the Jewish tradition that says that all of us animals used to be able to talk, but when we saw Adam and Eve disobey God and eat the apple, we were so dumbstruck that we never spoke again! All of a sudden, I understood. I’m just glad that the Lord lets me type on the computer, although having opposable thumbs might speed up the process a little. You might keep me in your prayers.
Anyway, thats the Chapel at the Sermon on the Mount. My brother say that there were people from all over the world there! And here’s the place where the people may have gotten to hear Jesus’ words.
And now, here’s something completely different! This is the Cliffs of Arbel. If you look over on the left side of the picture, you’ll see some of my brother’s friends on the ledge. I’m just glad that no ducks flew over because, if they’re like me, they might have jumped up after them!
The Cliffs were a defense line for people trying to take over the land. They built little elevators so that the soldiers could go down the cliff and fight off the invaders. Here’s some of our friends, showing how that worked. I think I would just rather bark!
Here they are at the top of the cliffs, looking out over the Sea of Galilee. Wow, I wish I could have been there!
If you’re like me, you’ve probably figured out that Israel is pretty hot and dry. Well, the Lord has provided some nice shady spots every now and then. I know that, in the hot months, my brother will go out of his way to park our F150 in a shaded spot. I think I would just go right under that tree!
Do you remember all the Synagogues we’ve been talking about? Well, here’s one right on the Cliffs of Arbel!
When my brother and the group got back down to the the town of Tiberias, they saw these three stones, which represented three people who had stood firm in the face of adversity.
Now, here’s lunch on the Sea of Galilee. St Peter’s fish and French fries. A match made in Heaven!
I don’t have pictures for the rest of the day, but it was probably the best time they had! Has that ever happened to you? In their case, they went to the Jordan River and everyone that wanted to got to go into the river and reaffirm their baptism. I would love to get into the river and, as a Retriever, I would take a flying leap from the bank and – Splash! I know that might sound disrespectful, but I think the Lord knows what I mean. Anyway, my brother said that the best part was that there was a family from Colombia sitting over by them and they were just waiting for someone to come along so that their son could be baptized. So, our friend Jim did! I wish I could have been there! My brother said that he would have driven our truck if he could, but there weren’t enough gas stations along the way. Well, at the rate our friends at QuikTrip are going, maybe we can get there by next year!
Meanwhile, back in Tulsa, the Yenzers are getting a new fence. Abe and Beckham don’t seem to be that interested, but I’m keeping watch!
Love, Winston