Author: edebock

Boats on the Sea of Galilee

/ edebock / 2 Comments

We arrived at our hotel in Tiberias overlooking the Sea of Galilee, or Lake Kinneret, shortly after dark on Saturday, January 24th. Sunday morning began with what was definitely one of the highlights of our pilgrimage to Israel; worshipping on a boat on a stormy Sea of Galilee! The original plan had been to travel by boat to another spot along the lake and have the bus pick us up there, but the water was too rough for that and since Jesus wasn’t there to calm the storm (Matthew 8:23-27), we went out and back to the same spot staying fairly close to shore. The boat was aptly named Faith and we all agreed that it was somehow very fitting that we were buffeted by wind and waves just as Jesus and his disciples had been.

As soon as we put out from shore, the Canadian flag was raised and Captain Daniel Carmel, who is also a Christian singer and songwriter with an amazing testimony, declared the boat temporary Canadian territory and “the warmest spot in Canada today!” My heart was full as we all stood and sang O Canada. After a short devotional, we sang hymns and songs of praise and listened to Captain Daniel sing one of his own songs entitled Jerusalem. It was a very moving experience.

IMG_0299

IMG_0306 - Version 2

IMG_0310

Too soon, we were back on shore and on our way to our next destination, the Jesus Boat Museum on a kibbutz at Ginosar. In 1986, at a time when the water level was particularly low, the remains of a 27 meter long fishing boat from the time of Jesus was discovered in the mud on the northwestern shore of the Sea of Galilee by brothers Moshe and Yuval Lufan. Of tremendous historical importance, it was unearthed by a team of archeologists who took particular care to keep the ancient wood wet so that it wouldn’t dry out and crumble. Encased in expanding foam, it was then floated to a spot where it could be lifted from the water by a crane and moved. It was submerged in a chemical bath for seven years to preserve the wood before it was finally put on display. Though there is no evidence to definitively connect the boat to Jesus or any of his disciples, it is an amazing relic from their day.

IMG_0322 - Version 2

Mount Carmel, Megiddo and Nazareth

/ edebock / 6 Comments

Moving inland toward the Sea of Galilee, we stopped to visit several interesting and very significant sites. The first was Mount Carmel where the prophet Elijah called down the fire of God and defeated the prophets of Baal. (1 Kings 18:19-40) Unfortunately, fog obscured our views of the Kishon Valley below.

IMG_0243

IMG_0244

For most of our time in Israel, the weather was unusually cool and wet even for winter. Warm weather clothing stayed in our suitcases while we dressed in layers to fend off the chill. I was very happy to have taken gloves, a warm hat and an umbrella with me!

After Mount Carmel, we continued on to Megiddo (Hebrew for Armageddon) where many, many layers of archeological remains going back thousands of years have been excavated. Here, a giant fortress believed to have been built by King Solomon once stood.

IMG_0252

IMG_0258

IMG_0259

At Megiddo, we had the first of several underground experiences. Descending approximately 180 stairs deep into a shaft in the ground, we followed a tunnel that brought water to the fortress from a small spring outside its walls.

Moving on, our next stop was Nazareth, the childhood home of Christ, where we toured a recreated first century village complete with cultivated terraces and vineyards, an ancient winepress, an operating olive press and a synagogue representing the one where Jesus identified himself to his townspeople as the fulfillment of Isaiah’s prophecy of a coming Messiah. (Luke 4:14-30)

IMG_0274

IMG_0283

IMG_0288

IMG_0287

As we left the village, we were each given a tiny oil lamp, a reminder that we are called to be the light of Christ to a lost and hurting world.

IMG_1352

Caesarea by the Sea

/ edebock / 5 Comments

IMG_0229 - Version 2

Traveling north from Tel Aviv, we came to Caesarea Martima or Caesarea by the Sea, not to be confused with Caesarea Philippi which we visited a couple of days later. Once an amazing complex overlooking the Mediterranean Sea, Caesarea Martima was one of the great architectural achievements of King Herod the Great. Described as both the greatest builder in Jewish history and a madman who murdered his father-in-law, several of his own wives and two of his sons, it was this same Herod who ordered the massacre of all the baby boys aged two years old and under in Bethlehem and its vicinity after he was outwitted by the wise men who came from the east to visit the baby Jesus. (Matthew 2:1-17)

At Caesarea, named after his Roman patron, Caesar Augustus, Herod built himself a magnificent palace, complete with a freshwater pool, on a promontory jutting out into the waters of the Mediterranean. The site also included a harbour that would accommodate 300 ships, a theatre that would seat 3500 and the massive Hippodrome where horse races and other special events were held.

IMG_0195

Theatre

IMG_0219

Remains of Herod’s palace

IMG_0218

The pool

IMG_0219 - Version 2

Mosaic floor

IMG_0225 - Version 2

Hippodrome

The Hippodrome originally sat some 10 000 people, but the seating on the sea side is missing. Large sections of it have been found in the sea some distance from their original location. It is thought that they might have been dragged out to sea by a tsunami. A major geological rift runs the entire length of Israel making it an earthquake zone.

From a Biblical perspective, perhaps the most significant find at Caesarea thus far has been the Pilate stone, a damaged block of engraved limestone with an authentic 1st-century Roman inscription mentioning the name of Pontius Pilate, the Roman governor who sentenced Jesus to death. (Matthew 23:1-25) It provides non-Biblical evidence proving the existence of this man. It is likely that he made his base here at Caesarea Maritima.

IMG_0213

The Pilate stone

It was also at Caesarea that the apostle Paul was imprisoned for two years while he awaited transfer to Rome. (Acts 23:23-26:32) It may have been in this small room or one just like it that he was held.

IMG_0221

Lack of fresh water at Herod’s complex required it to be brought from springs at the base of Mount Carmel nearly ten miles away. That posed little problem for the great builder, however, who simply had his labourers build an aqueduct. An amazing engineering feat, the aqueduct was built on arches and the gradient carefully measured so that the water would flow by the pull of gravity.

IMG_0237

IMG_0238 - Version 2

Shalom Israel!

/ edebock / 9 Comments

As I begin to process and share all that we saw and experienced on our pilgrimage to Israel, I am reminded that there is a fine line between worshipping at a place and worshipping the place itself. There is no holy magic to any of the sites that we visited, but I have no doubt that being there and seeing them with our own eyes will give greater context to scripture as we continue to read and study it; to make it come alive or, as Richard says, to help us see it in 3D. As we traveled the length and breadth of this small country, I think everyone in our group gained a greater appreciation for the land that our Saviour traversed and for the ways in which He used His environment in His teachings.

We arrived in Israel on January 22nd via a direct ten hour flight from Toronto to Tel Aviv. The ultra modern Ben Gurion International Airport, named after the country’s first prime minister, is the world’s gateway to Israel.

Tel Aviv is a vibrant, modern and very liberal city located on the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea. Its next door neighbour is the ancient port city of Jaffa (Joppa). The two cities have grown together to form one metropolitan area with no line of distinction between them.

IMG_0138

Jaffa is of both Old and New Testament significance. It was here that Jonah boarded a ship headed for Tarshish in an attempt to flee from the mission that the Lord had given him. (Jonah 1:3) Much later, in the book of Acts, we are told that Peter was staying in Joppa with a tanner named Simon when he was summoned by Cornelius, a Roman centurion in Caesarea, to come and share the good news of Christ with him and those who had gathered in his home. (Acts 9:43-10:48) We were reminded that we can choose to be like Jonah and stand in God’s way or like Peter who cooperated with God. (Acts 11:17)

IMG_0128

IMG_0151  IMG_0150

Walking through the narrow stone alleyways of historical Jaffa, we came to the purported house of Simon the Tanner. There we were reminded that there are, in Israel, two types of Biblical sites; those that may be/might be/ are traditionally thought to be the original sites and those that definitely are. Simon’s house clearly falls into the first category. The present house simply doesn’t date back to the first century AD, but it is in the approximate location of the original home.

IMG_0146

Returning to Tel Aviv proper, we spent about an hour exploring the colourful Friday market which reminded Richard and I of similar marketplaces in Korea and Cambodia.

IMG_0160

After checking into the lovely Dan Tel Aviv Hotel where every room has a view of the Mediterranean Sea, Richard and I went for a stroll along the promenade overlooking the rocky shore to a sandy beach where, in spite of the coolness of the day, I shed my shoes and socks, rolled up my pant legs and fulfilled my dream of wading in the Mediterranean Sea!

IMG_0181

IMG_0177

 

Nature photo challenge

/ edebock / 6 Comments

A week ago, a friend and former student of mine nominated me to take part in a Facebook nature photo challenge. The idea was to post one nature or wildlife photograph every day for seven days and to nominate one other person on each of those days to take up the challenge.

I am very much an amateur photographer. In fact if there was a word for less than amateur, that would probably be me, but I love playing with my camera and once in awhile I even manage to take a really great photo. I’m quite certain that that’s because I’m fortunate enough to live in the age of digital photography and cameras that make all the tough choices for me!

Accepting the challenge sent me out into that bright, sunny January morning with my brand new camera in hand. At -5ºC, it was unseasonably warm, and since I live on the edge of a very tiny town, a few minutes of crunching over the newly fallen snow took me to an area where it was easy to snap several nature shots. Next, the challenge sent me searching through my older photos for some of my favourites.

For those of you who aren’t my friends on Facebook, here are my seven selections:

#1   This is my favourite shot from that sunny winter walk. The seeds against the brilliant blue sky hold hope of spring and new life to come. 

#1

#2   This one was taken on a hike in the hills near Hardisty, Alberta in late September.

#2

#3   I’ve always said that you can take the girl away from the ocean, but you can’t take the sea salt out of her blood! A series of nature photos from me wouldn’t be complete without at least one ocean scene. This one was taken at Porteau Cove Provincial Park on Howe Sound, just a short drive north of Vancouver, BC.

#3

#4   This is probably my all time favourite macro photo.

#4

#5   I love the colours of fall. Though they’re more subdued here on the prairie than in some other parts of Canada, there’s still much beauty to be found at that time of year. This one was taken on a hike near Gwynne, Alberta.

#5

#6   I wanted to include at least one photo from our international travels in this series, so here’s The Old Man By The Sea on the Pacific island of Saipan.

#6

#7   Choosing the final picture for this seven day challenge was difficult as there were so many possibilities! I finally chose this one because nature isn’t always beautiful scenery. Sometimes it’s weird & wacky creatures like this mantis that  I also photographed on the island of Saipan!

IMG_7486

All of these photos were taken with easy to use Canon point and shoot cameras.

Pilgrimage

/ edebock / 2 Comments

If you know me personally or have been reading my blog for very long, you know that my husband and I love to travel and you may not be surprised to learn that we’re busy preparing for another trip. I included a hint to our destination in my last post, but no one guessed where we’re going. Since I’m bursting at the seams with excitement and can hold it in no longer…

Richard and I are leaving Canada on January 21st for a ten day tour of Israel! Although we’ve explored a number of fascinating places over the years, I don’t know if I’ve ever been as excited about a trip as I am about this one. When someone asked me recently if it was a mission trip or a vacation, I wasn’t sure how to answer. It’s definitely not a mission trip, but I hadn’t really been thinking of it as a vacation either. So what is it? Our pastor came up with the perfect term. We’re going on a pilgrimage!

Pilgrimage, a journey undertaken for a religious motive. Although some pilgrims have wandered continuously with no fixed destination, pilgrims more commonly seek a specific place that has been sanctified by association with a divinity or other holy personage. (www.britannica.com)

Knowing that I’m going to stand on Mount Carmel where the prophet Elijah called down the fire of God and the Mount of Beatitudes where Jesus Christ delivered his Sermon on the Mount; enjoy a boat ride on the Sea of Galilee where Jesus calmed the storm and walked on water; float in the Dead Sea; visit Bethlehem, the birthplace of Christ, and Nazareth where he spent his childhood; pray in the Garden of Gethsemane and view the modern city of Jerusalem from the Mount of Olives almost takes my breath away. These are just a few of the highlights of our very busy itinerary!

I’ve prepared differently for this trip than for any other. For me, doing lots of research before a trip is part of the fun of traveling, but this time I’ve done less of that and a lot more spiritual preparation. On Christmas Eve, I started reading through the gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John in my NKJV Chronological Study Bible. Frequently referring to the maps at the back of the book, I jotted down the various locations and what happened at each of them. I’ve read all these accounts many times before, but this is the first time I’ve specifically focused on where things happened and it has really helped tie everything together. I finished that today and will spend the next few days looking at some Old Testament references.

As always, God’s timing is impeccable. My ladies Bible study group recently started doing Beth Moore’s study, Stepping Up, on the Psalms of Ascent (Psalms 120 to 134). In ancient times, Israelite pilgrims sang these psalms as they made their way up to the holy city of Jerusalem for the three great festivals of the Jewish calendar: Passover, the Feast of Weeks and the Feast of Tabernacles. What fitting preparation for my own pilgrimage which will culminate in that very city!

Of course, when people hear where we’re going, some of them think we’re crazy. “Aren’t you afraid?” they ask. No, I can honestly say that I’m not. I’m not naive; I know what’s been happening in that part of the world, but afraid? Not in the slightest. I feel a deep sense of peace knowing that we’ll be as much in the palm of God’s hand in Israel as we are anywhere else on the planet. We are going on a guided tour though. We’ve wandered some pretty sketchy parts of Asia on our own, but I do draw the line at the Middle East. There, I want the safety of a group and a reputable tour company that has sent hundreds of people and brought them all home safely.

We’ll be staying in some pretty nice hotels where Wifi will be available, but this is the trip of a lifetime and I don’t plan to spend it sitting at a keyboard. The blog will be silent while I’m away, but I will have lots to share when we return!

What’s your purse-onality?

/ edebock / 1 Comment

Are you a big purse person or a small purse person? Do you have multiple purses for various occasions or to complement different outfits or do you have one basic bag that goes everywhere with you? Do you prefer a shoulder strap, shorter handles or a clutch? We women are as different as our handbags!

Several years ago, I tried living life as a small purse person and it worked for a little while. It had to have a built in wallet compartment though and I insist on having the hands free convenience of a shoulder strap. Shortly after we went to Japan to teach English in early 2008, the zipper on the last of those little purses wore out (possibly from trying to stuff too much into it!) and I knew I had to replace it with something bigger. During the year that we were there, our days off were like mini vacations and I needed a purse that would accommodate extras like my camera.

Of course, I also had to purchase a wallet as the new, larger purse didn’t have a built in one. Off I went to Seiyu, Japan’s version of Walmart, and found just what I was looking for at a very reasonable price. Though I’ve worn out several purses since that time, I never dreamt that I’d still be using the same wallet almost 8 years later! It’s beginning to show some wear, but I’ll likely have it for quite awhile yet.

Several months ago, I was given what I believe will be the perfect purse for traveling. It can be worn over the shoulder or cross body for extra security. I tried using it as my everyday bag (yes, though I have a couple of  little evening purses, I’m pretty much a one bag goes everywhere girl), but it was actually TOO big. I quickly tired of digging to the bottom of it to find things. I’ll soon be taking it on a long awaited trip though. In addition to the usual items found in my purse, it will handily carry my camera, sunscreen, sunglasses and a scarf. Those (especially the last item) are hints to where I’m going. Can you guess?

IMG_0068

the travel purse

I don’t know how gals who carry teeny, tiny clutches do it. I seem to carry my life in my purse! I found my present one, made of genuine leather, for less than $25 at a Boxing Week sale. (That’s our Canadian equivalent to America’s Black Friday sales and begins on Boxing Day, December 26.) It’s a mid-sized bag with lots of handy compartments. It seems a wee bit cramped right now but that won’t last. When I get everything loaded onto the new smart phone that I was given for Christmas, I’ll no longer need to carry an address book, a calendar or the electronic Bible/dictionary that has gone everywhere with me for many years.

IMG_0062

for everyday

So, what else is usually found in my purse? Keys, notebook, pen, chequebook, bowling score cards, a mini folder full of rewards cards from a wide variety of stores, a packet of tissues, a reusable shopping bag, hand lotion, lip balm, nail clippers, emery board, a tiny pair of folding scissors (I’ll have to remember to leave those out when I switch to the travel purse so that I don’t lose them going through airline security), medications, a cloth for cleaning glasses, bandaids and safety pins (after all, I was a Mom and a school teacher for a lot of years!), and a spare pair of earrings for those days when I’m out and about and discover that I forgot to put any on. I also carry a travel toothbrush and a tiny tube of toothpaste. After surgery to remove a cancerous tumour from one of my main salivary glands followed by 6 weeks of radiation to my neck and jaw in 2014, I’m supposed to brush my teeth every time I eat. I hate having to brush in public washrooms, but it’s a small price to pay for hopefully keeping my teeth!

What do you carry in your purse?

What’s your purse-onality? 

 

 

You are what you wear

/ edebock / 4 Comments

What we wear affects the way we feel. Have you ever watched a little girl dance and twirl while her pretty skirt swirls around her? Her joy simply overflows. The same is true of we adults. As superficial as it may sound, the right dress or a stunning pair of shoes can be just what a woman needs to give her the confidence to rock an important interview or a boardroom presentation.

Taking care with how you dress also sends a message that you care about yourself. “If I throw on a large, over sized T-shirt and do not fix my hair or makeup, then the message to me and others is that I don’t care or matter,” writes popular fashion blogger, Pam Lutrell.

Over recent years, my interest in fashion has grown and I’ve given more thought to what my clothing says about me, but there’s an even finer way of dressing that is much more important to me.

“As God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience.” Colossians 3:12 NIV

I’m not in the habit of making New Years resolutions, but I do want my 2016 wardrobe to include:

  • compassion ~ I want my life to exhibit sensitivity and concern for the sufferings or misfortunes of others.
  • kindness ~ I want to treat others with warmth and affection.
  • humility ~ I want to accept myself as I truly am, but not consider myself better than anyone else.
  • gentleness ~ I want to treat others with tenderness and be a calming influence.
  • patience ~ I want to have the grace to accept whatever happens in life without anger or complaint.

By clothing myself in these basic items, I hope to experience the joy of the little girl in the swirling skirt, the confidence of the successful businesswoman and the peace that comes from living in harmony with those around me.

I wish the same for you in the New Year!

Beauty2

 

Happy Birthday, Following Augustine!

/ edebock / 6 Comments

Eight years ago today, I wrote my very first blog post. It was just three sentences long and simply announced:

Richard and I have just accepted positions teaching conversational English in Japan. This is a one year commitment and we’ll be leaving in mid March. The main purpose of this blog is to share our adventure with friends, family and anyone else who’s interested.

What a lot has happened since that time and how the blog has grown! Prior to today, I’ve written 688 posts on a wide variety of topics and the blog has been viewed more than 66 000 times. It’s traveled the world with me, chronicling my adventures in each of the countries listed to the right, and early in the new year we’ll be adding yet another one to the list! For the past 27 months, it has also helped me process and share my ongoing cancer journey.

3224919

Though I originally thought the blog would only last for the one year that we lived in Japan, it has become such a part of me that I can’t imagine it ever coming to an end! It’s given me a voice I never knew I had and causes me to live life with my eyes wide open. It connects me with interesting people around the world and fulfills my lifelong passion for writing.

I look forward to many more fine adventures to share, but recently it’s been my opinion pieces that have garnered the greatest readership, so I will continue to write those too. I pledge to do so with as much wisdom as God allows me, with integrity and with respect for those whose opinions differ from mine.

And today, in closing, I raise my glass to you, my readers! Without you, Following Augustine would be nothing more than a lot of empty words floating about in cyberspace!

My love/hate relationship with Facebook

/ edebock / 19 Comments

I have a friend who left Facebook recently (an actual friend, not just an acquaintance who “friended” me), another who has seriously curtailed her friend list by “unfriending” most of the people on it, and a third who is threatening to delete her account.

Why?

What is causing people to abandon what has become by far the world’s most popular social networking site?

Negativity! Plain and simple.

In the past year, I’ve literally seen friendships torn apart on Facebook! That’s largely due to the fact that we in Alberta have been through two very divisive elections in the past seven months; a provincial one in May followed by a national one in October. It’s long been said that there are certain subjects that ought not to be discussed in public and politics is one of them. After what I’ve seen on Facebook in the past year, I’d have to agree! Even amongst people with similar views, opinions vary. In face to face discussion, emotion often takes over and people say things that might be better left unsaid. When they’re sitting alone at their keyboard, some people seem to have no filter at all!

With the elections over, I had hoped that Facebook would return to the more peaceful place that it once was; a place where people shared what was actually happening in their own lives, but I have been sadly disappointed. Controversy seems to be the main course these days with topics like our new Canadian government’s pledge to bring 25 000 Syrian refugees into the country and Alberta’s controversial farm safety bill taking centre stage.

Perhaps it’s only here in redneck Alberta that Facebook has become a forum for speaking out in this manner. One of the reasons that I will not join my friends who are choosing to jump ship is that I have, amongst my 365 Facebook friends, 103 who live outside Canada. They represent 16 different countries or world areas such as Hong Kong, Macau and Saipan and I don’t see any of them posting the kind of angry, negative hoopla that has become the norm for many users here.

There are many things that I really like about Facebook. I’ve used it to reconnect with several people from my past including my best friend from high school, a Norwegian exchange student who shared our home for almost a year in the late 1980s and a second cousin who lived with us for awhile when she was a toddler and I was a teen. It allows me to live vicariously through the words and photos of a former student who lives in Paris and a fellow teacher from our days in China who has retired to DaLat, Vietnam. At any one time, I might be found using the chat feature to converse with my nephew in Red Deer, my daughter in Calgary, a friend in Tokyo and a group of local ladies from my church. Even my 7-year-old grandson has recently started using his Mom’s Facebook to chat with Gram and I’m tickled to discover that he’s already as literate as some of my much older friends!

I miss the days when my News Feed was filled with photos and status updates written in their own words by my friends. Now it seems that I have to scroll through reams of reposted news articles, opinion pieces and absolute trivia to find those few nuggets. As a result, I have decided to reclaim my News Feed!

How, you ask?

It’s not easy. In fact, I’m finding that cleaning up Facebook and keeping it that way is a lot like housework. The job is never done! Every time I see that one of my friends has reposted something, I go to the little v in the upper right hand corner of that post and select “Hide all from…” in the pull down menu. At first, I just hid media sites that I didn’t consider to be legitimate news sources and a few other sites that I found objectionable, but recently I’ve become much more ruthless. I already read the world, national and local news on several sites of my own choosing every day. I don’t need to see the news on Facebook where I’ll only find the articles that support other people’s points of view, so I have started blocking every single news source, mainstream or otherwise. Though some of the thousands of memes that are shared on Facebook are entertaining, I’m tired of seeing my News Feed filled with them too, so I block the source of every one of those as well. If you’re my Facebook friend and you repost something that was written by another friend of yours that I don’t know personally, there’s every likelihood that I’ll block that person too. I realize that by doing all this, I will probably miss a few things that I might have enjoyed seeing, but I’m actually seeing a lot more of what I actually want to see and taking a lot less time to do it.

There are things I dislike about Facebook that I can’t change including the growing amount of advertising that now appears in the main column of the News Feed instead of in the margins where I could more easily ignore it. I do recognize, however, that these ads are what pays for this free site,  which now boasts more than 1.5 billion users worldwide, and keep the myth that Facebook is planning to start charging subscription fees from becoming fact.

There are numerous articles on the internet listing common sense rules of etiquette for Facebook use, but here are a few of my own that I try to hold myself to:

  • Speak the truth. That includes researching a subject and making sure that I have my facts straight before I comment. It may also include refuting those things that I know are false. The endless reposting of false or seriously outdated information is one of the things that drives me crazy about Facebook.
  • Within the confines of being truthful, seek to bless and encourage.
  • Never say something to or about someone on Facebook that I wouldn’t say to their face.
  • As Kenny Rogers sings, “You’ve got to know when to hold ’em, know when to fold ’em, know when to walk away and know when to run.” In other words, know when to leave the conversation. I don’t always have to have the last word.

facebook-thumbs-guardian-express

Image: guardianlv.com