Month: August 2023

By the time you read this Marilyn and I will be making final preparations to head for the Holy Land, or already be there.

As you may have picked up in last month’s newsletter, gong to the Holy Land had not been a big item on my bucket list. I had reservations about the sites that have been identified, and had become convinced that no one really knew where biblical events actually took place. My skepticism has now been blown away!

Whether it was an algorithm or divine intervention I’m not sure, but I am sure the Lord had a hand in it. However He did it, I was led to Joel Kramer and Expedition Bible on YouTube, and I’m so glad I was. I’ve watched all his videos and read his book on biblical archeology, and am now ready to see it all myself. I couldn’t be more excited. On second thought, maybe I could be.

I really love sharing life’s adventures with you; yours and mine. When Marilyn and I went to Europe we took lots of pictures, and shared them with all who were willing to endure a very long presentation. I can’t believe I was asked if I was going to do it again after this trip.

Rather than have one marathon picture night, I’ve decided to incorporate our pictures into a series of Sunday night studies on the archeological evidences for the sacred sites as presented by Joel in his book and videos. That’s why the “change of plans” for Sunday nights.

I’m still looking forward to sharing with you Tim Challies’ “Epic: An around-the- world journey through Christian history.” I had said we’d start that in September, but at that time our trip to the Holy Land was not on our radar. Now that it’s happening, we’ll begin Tim’s study after we finish our epic around the Holy Land journey with you.

Hope to see you at the kick-off on the 10th, and looking forward to sharing our trip with you Sunday nights, beginning with a lot of pictures on September 17th.

God bless, Rick

I don’t know how many times I’ve said, “I’m waiting for the New Jerusalem.” That was my response when asked why I’d never been to the Holy Land. But now, unless it comes to earth before the end of August, I’ll have to respond differently.

In case you haven’t heard, the elders gave Marilyn and me a pop-up card of the Holy Land at the celebration of 50 years of ministry at CCC, and told me to start planning a trip. I guess I wanted to go more than I thought, because I booked a trip that included more than I had ever dreamed of seeing, on-line, before the tour company was even open on Monday morning! Lord willing, we’ll be flying to Israel on August 25th.

The first day of touring will begin with a trip along the Mediterranean coast to Caesarea, and then to Mount Carmel, Megiddo, Nazareth, and Cana of Galilee. We’ll begin the next day with a boat ride on the Sea of Galilee, and then visit Magdala, the Mount of Beatitudes, Caesarea Philippi, Capernaum, and the place where Jesus fed the 5,000. The next day we’ll watch people being baptized in the Jordan and float in the Dead Sea. The following day we’ll visit Masada, Ein Gedi, and Qumran, before heading to the Mount of Olives and Jerusalem. After spending two more days seeing the sights in Jerusalem and going to Bethlehem, we’ll fly to Athens.

In Athens we’ll board a ship that will take us to Ephesus, Patmos, Rhodes, and Crete. Upon returning to Athens we’ll head to Corinth before going back to Athens for a couple of days to see all the sights there. We’ll get home on September 10th, hopefully in time for the kick-off on Sunday night.

The next time someone asks me if I’ve ever been to the Holy Land, they’ll hear about a wonderful church that made possible an amazing trip that I never even dreamed of taking.

However, I must admit that I will still be looking forward to the New Jerusalem!

God Bless, Rick