Spiritual Pilgrimage to the Holy Land

I'm inviting you to join me on a journey through the land of Israel... 

Standing at the edge of the Sea of Galilee in Ginosar Israel as the sun set on December 31, 2017, I was experiencing the close of the year in the land where recorded history began and Jesus lived. These seven days in Israel, walking where Jesus walked and hearing the stories from a Hebrew perspective, made the words of Scripture come even more alive and transformed the Bible into a 3-D experience!

Then early the next the morning (January 1, 2018) as the new year began, there we were... 

standing on the beach along the Sea of Galilee, where Jesus fed his disciples AFTER the resurrection.  There are hardly adequate words to describe the experience!

With a heart full of gratitude, there I stood on the shore on January 1, 2018 hearing Jesus say, Tina, do you love me?  To which I replied, Yes Lord, you know that I love you!" In my heart, I sensed the same words Jesus spoke to Peter, "Feed my lambs... Take care of my sheep... Feed my sheep."  

Remembering that Jesus first met Andrew and Simon Peter along the shores of this same body of water when he invited them to follow him, Jesus is calling each one of us to know and follow him. For Andrew and Peter, their encounter with Jesus began a 3-year journey of traveling with him and beginning to understand the wisdom he was imparting.

Imagine this with me...

Afterward Jesus appeared again to his disciples, by the Sea of Galilee. It happened this way: Simon Peter, Thomas (also known as Didymus), Nathanael from Cana in Galilee, the sons of Zebedee, and two other disciples were together. “I’m going out to fish,” Simon Peter told them, and they said, “We’ll go with you.” So they went out and got into the boat, but that night they caught nothing.

Early in the morning, Jesus stood on the shore, but the disciples did not realize that it was Jesus.

He called out to them, “Friends, haven’t you any fish?”

“No,” they answered.

He said, “Throw your net on the right side of the boat and you will find some.” When they did, they were unable to haul the net in because of the large number of fish.

Then the disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter, “It is the Lord!” As soon as Simon Peter heard him say, “It is the Lord,” he wrapped his outer garment around him (for he had taken it off) and jumped into the water. The other disciples followed in the boat, towing the net full of fish, for they were not far from shore, about a hundred yards. When they landed, they saw a fire of burning coals there with fish on it, and some bread.

Jesus said to them, “Bring some of the fish you have just caught.” So Simon Peter climbed back into the boat and dragged the net ashore. It was full of large fish, 153, but even with so many the net was not torn. Jesus said to them, “Come and have breakfast.” None of the disciples dared ask him, “Who are you?” They knew it was the Lord. Jesus came, took the bread and gave it to them, and did the same with the fish. This was now the third time Jesus appeared to his disciples after he was raised from the dead.

Jesus Reinstates Peter
When they had finished eating, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon son of John, do you love me more than these?”

“Yes, Lord,” he said, “you know that I love you.”

Jesus said, “Feed my lambs.”

Again Jesus said, “Simon son of John, do you love me?”

He answered, “Yes, Lord, you know that I love you.”

Jesus said, “Take care of my sheep.”

The third time he said to him, “Simon son of John, do you love me?”

Peter was hurt because Jesus asked him the third time, “Do you love me?” He said, “Lord, you know all things; you know that I love you.”

Jesus said, “Feed my sheep.   JOHN 21:1-17

This land of Israel, and the people Jesus was speaking to directly, would have understood the nuances of what he was communicating.  I began following Jesus in my 20's, learning to appreciate his way of using temporal illustrations, real life examples, to teach spiritual, and more importantly, eternal truths.  Journeying these seven days through Israel brought all of Scripture into a high definition, 3-D experience!  

The LORD who created you and loves you dearly is inviting you to hear what he's saying. Will you journey with me throughout this land of Israel as I attempt to share the experiences of each location?  

Come along and let your heart listen in such a way 

that you can hear the Lord speaking his love over you.