Upon the Rock

Day 3

After seeing what I saw and feeling what I felt yesterday . . . I, honestly, wasn’t all that excited about what Day 3 had in store for me and my fellow Pilgrims. But it didn’t take long for me to see how misguided of a thought that was.

First, we went to the tribe of Dan’s— one of original 12 tribes of Israel. There we saw beautiful ruins, but the highlight for me was Abraham’s Gate. Believed to be the same gate Abram/Abraham entered through in Genesis 14:13-16. . . That means the gate I was looking at was from 1750 B.C. American Pickers sure has NOTHING on that find as it was uncovered in 1979— the year I was born. I marveled as I looked at the gate they actually believe is the one who Abram entered through. That’s amazing! Abraham’s Gate is the OLDEST arch in the entire world— that’s pretty awesome! Anything that falls in the ‘BEST OF’ category is simply in a class of its own.

Sometimes in life, although it’s rare, we can go from amazing to even more awesome!! In a world, where we often times self-sabotage, fear and doubt extremely too much, living in a waiting for the other shoe to drop mentality, we rarely live with expectation instead of dreading what could possibly coming.

But after Dan’s exploration and Abraham’s prized relic, and symbol of Christiandom, I didn’t think it was possible to get any better especially just a few minutes down the road! I have have never been more wrong in my life.

We went to a place that gave me one of the biggest a-ha moments in my 41 years— Caesarea Phillipi. The Bonia Springs, which flow, peacefully and gently over the rocks, beneath the temple of Pan and cave gateway are as serene as it gets. But what happened today, I simply wasn’t prepared for!

I was overwhelmed by the sheer beauty of this place from the moment my eyed locked onto it! But what floored me even more was a story you can back up with Holy Scripture. I’m actually tearing up as I type this lying in my hotel room.

Jesus, who I mainly call Yeshua, brought the disciples to this place. He asked them, “Who do you say that I am?” While the disciples meekly- offered up responses; it was Peter who said, “You are Christ Son of the living God!”

Jesus, pleased with his answer replied, “Upon this rock, I will build my church and the gates of hell/hades will not prevail against it!” Matthew 16:15-16.

There I stood, after failing to notice the significance at first, in utter shock, complete disbelief in total JOY!! The HUGE pillar of rock I was gazing upon. The blue, green water in the cave I was looking in were exactly what Jesus and His 12 disciples were looking at a couple thousand years ago!

I had, and trust me, I don’t say this lightly and still can’t comprehend it, just walked where Jesus once walked literally and stood in the same place! Why did Yeshua bring the 12 here to reveal to them WHO He was?!?

Remember that cave I was telling you about? Guess what it served as for the followers of Pan— a portal to hell!” The Messiah took them here to reveal Himself as the Son of God, but also as a LOUD declaration the gates of hell . . . Even the most famous one in the region could NEVER prevail against it!

Talk about my mind being BLOWN!!! It’s one thing to see the Bible— the people, places, things and customs— in word-form, but this journey is making the Bible literally come ALIVE!! Visiting the beautiful intersection of historical facts and devout faith and the wanting, and longing, your beliefs are true and just as real as the God Who saved us, is something that’s hard to put into words. The validity of the facts mixed with the validation your beliefs can be backed up with locations, Scripture and people even by people who don’t believe, or belong to another religion, is something truly something!! See, they don’t have a dog in the fight and still they can confirm this happened even if they don’t believe it for themselves.

My day was close to as perfect as I could imagine. Was I perfect?! NOPE, but this day was like a Hollywood script. Nobody on my bus made a big to-do about birthday when they had volunteered they would announce it earlier. I wasn’t bummed, and a few people wished me a happy birthday along the way. It made my heart smile. My Mom gave me a card, along with my aunt and uncle and some delicious jelly beans . . . Oh, how I love jelly beans!

But ascending the Golan Heights, seeing lush grass and craggy gardens of rocks, seeing a snow-capped mountain and picturesque lake made for a good second half of the day! Tamar, our guide, was again well-spoken, efficient, filled with knowledge and truly a fountain of facts and did you knows? To about 98.9% the answer is NO we didn’t know!

We even ran around, given full access to a castle— a CASTLE!! I’ve seen castles on TV and even explored a couple in Europe, but this one, King Nimrod’s, was absolutely stunning! We marveled how could a castle as maginifcent as this still be not only beautiful with amazing architecture and design, but how could it still be in-tact after all these years?

After we left there, during lunch, we sat outside on the porch, above the aforementioned lake, two of the pastors Pastor Lee and my pastor on this trip Mark Muckler, of Mt. Pleasant Methodist, came out and busted into song.

“Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday to John Mark. Happy Birthday to you!”

With Nutty Buddy in hand, serving as my make-shift birthday cake, I about busted into tears. I was so grateful!

I was, once again, overwhelmed. Mom and I went for a walk on the boardwalk called the Prominade hand-in-hand with my Momma. Did I mention she’s my Little Rock?

We bought some souvenirs then headed to dinner. After a little bit at dinner . . . Boom, it happened again— completely blindsided!! Though I’ve been blindsided by death, heartbreak, feelings of fear and inadequacy; this was the good kind of blindside . . . That has nothing to do with Michael Oher. Nearly the whole cafeteria erupted in singing Happy Birthday! I, not one to be embarrassed, was shades of red!!

I talked to my Mom, Uncle Marcus and aunt Patsy Mullen and ended the night talking to Laughy Taffy, Debbie, Cherie, Amber, Jill and even an Israeli named David. God showed up. He showed out! We laughed, I shared my heart, they cried, I cried. They spoke so many beautiful, life-affirming, challenging and awesome Truths into my life. We talked for over an hour— No surface-level, mundane stuff . . . Deeper, than the deep-end conversation! David shared with me how he had just lost his Dad 2 weeks earlier— a 47-year-old man opening up his heart to me and a table full of Americans. That can only be the work of God.

I encouraged him and told him about losing my Step-Dad and told him grief is more unpredictable than the weather in North Carolina. I was honest about how there would be good days, days where they felt close, bad days, days where the tears seemingly would not end, but I also told him HOPE ABOUNDS even in the midst of death’s cold grip!

We ended the night hand-in-hand praying for each other. Man, you talk about some powerful stuff! It was powerful!! I talked to David another hour or so, picking his brain about his beliefs, what separates Jews, Christians and Muslims. I listened how he lost his dad— One minute he had a fever, next he was on life-support. His lungs had failed him. I cried with him. He opened up to me as if he had known me for years. My Mom and I met him last night. See, contrary to popular belief no matter what race, what religion, background or sex, no matter how DIFFERENT we are . . . We are STILL the SAME!

This was honestly probably the BEST birthday I’ve ever had. If I’ve wronged you, if you hate me, if you hate to read this excitement and happiness . . . I’m truly sorry. I’m sorry for whatever I’ve done and I’m working to become a better man. For those of who in my corner, you are truly the wind in my sail and I’m blessed and happy I get to voyage through life with you! Truthfully, I have to say— this was not just one of my best birthdays, but one of the best days of my LIFE!!

So, I leave you with this. Jesus asked His disciples, “Who do you say that I am?” He’s still asking that very same convicting question today. Do I always answer that right? Heck no! Not even close! Not by a long shot, but I want to be able to answer through my words, and MORE importantly through my actions, “You are Christ Son of the Living God!”

Because He is just ALIVE as EVER!!

Remember friends— + התקווה שופעת +

JMB