A Wonderful Journey of Fun and Learning :)

Currently in Jerusalem. Over the past six days or so, I have experienced and seen many things!
A really enriching trip :)

Tel Aviv

The beautiful sunset of Tel Aviv

Caesarea

The Herodian Amphitheatre and the Bathhouse in the Caesarea National Park

Haifa

The Bahai'i Garden

Rosh Hanikra

Beautiful but marred by a standoff between the Lebanese and the Israelis gunboats

Akko

The Templar's Tunnel in the ancient city of Akko

Mount Tabor

Tiberias

Sea of Galilee

The Golan Heights

Qumran

The site where the Dead Sea Scrolls were found

En Gedi

Lovely Walk and springs

The Dead Sea

Totally mind blowing and whole new experience and meaning to swimming :)

Jericho

The friendly Palestinian kids

Israel is really a land of wonders. A place so small and yet it offers so many!
Israel is very safe. Definitely much safer than the US!
History has sometimes been cruel to this wonderful place.
Yet, we should not lose hope that one day, this beautiful land will see true peace and harmony!

The children of Israel were promised complete victory in their conquest of the Promised Land if they remained faithful and obedient to God. This victory, though, was not given automatically; they had to fight each battle one at a time. In the first seven years of conquest, Israel did not lose a single soldier in battle except on one occasion. The battle at Ai is found in Joshua 7. In this conflict, Israel lost 36 men because of the sin committed by one person, Achan. Once this sin was confessed and punished, Israel again became victorious. Unfortunately, after seven years, Israel turned their eyes away from God and their victorious life ended.

There are three lessons to be learned from Israel’s conquest of the Promised Land. First, a life of victory does not include an absence of problems and conflicts. Second, there can be victory and rest for the believer in this lifetime. We can have consistent victory in all temptations and trials we face. Finally, this victory and rest is dependent solely on our obedience to God.

Hebrews 4:1-11 exhorts us to "enter into His rest." This rest is compared with the rest (or victory) Israel had when they first entered the Promised Land. There were many Old Testament Hebrews who missed God’s rest and victory because of their unbelief. We, as Christians, can choose to enter into His rest or face a life of frustration and struggles.

God created the world and universe in six days and on the seventh day He rested. The work had been completed and God rested. Likewise, the book of Hebrews exhorts us to rest in the same way God rested on the seventh day. He has done all the work for us through Christ who died on the cross. Now, we can rest from our inner struggles. God created the Sabbath Day to provide the Hebrews with physical rejuvenation. Likewise, God has created an inner Sabbath Day rest to provide us with spiritual rejuvenation.

The choice is ours. We can rest in Christ, draw from His strength and produce fruit naturally, or we can live a life of fruitless struggles and frustrations. Entering into His rest is not an option for the Christian worker; it is a prerequisite.

God Bless All and tata for now!