Day 9 Jordan River and Decapolis

Hi! This is Rachel posting to give Roy a break, as well as his wife who usually has to (or tries to) wait up for him when he's up blogging! They just got a cold bottle of pop and are walking out the door of the hotel lobby. They were hoping to go down to the shore of the Sea of Galilee which borders the hotel grounds, but they both look pretty dragged out, so I think they're skipping that.
Today was the best day on the trip in my opinion. We walked a mile or more back to the Jordan River, over rocks and under fences. Seated on the rocks, with the Jordan waters rushing by, we let our minds go back to when God told the Israelites to cross while the waters were in flood stage. The miracle happened after the priest's feet touched the water. There is no evil God cannot divide, but He wants our commitment. Are you waiting for the miracle of God's leading and standing on the bank waiting for all the doors to open, for the miracle to happen first? JUMP! GET IN and watch the miracle happen.
And then later when John the Baptist was baptizing people in the Jordan. The waters representing chaos, and God calling us to enter the chaos in people's lives, just as Jesus did. God's whole intent is to bring people out of chaos and bring Shalom (peace). This is the way His kingdom comes . . . and then His presence will hover. We followed the "rabbi" . . . our leader, RVL, into the water (shoes and all) to recommit ourselves and repent of the sins of our head, heart, hands, and feet . . .where we have not brought shalom to the chaos, and maybe even added to it. And to make a commitment to bring peace into people's chaos. What a cleansed feeling!
Then with our feet wet from our Jordan experience, we entered the Decapolis.
The Decapolis was ten cities Alexandar the Great set up to do his "mission work" of drawing people into hellenism (humanism we call it today). His way of spreading the hellenism "gospel" was to take control of the media, education, sports, and religion. We topped a hill to look upon the city of Beth Shean, which is being excavated, and even us Amish and Mennonites were saying "Wow!" and in awe of what man had built. In Hellenism everything is about "you". It is the biggest threat to Jesus' gospel, and completely opposite from bringing peace in the chaos.
We walked up the hill to Susita, a city in the Decapolis. This is the place where Jesus came and met the man coming out of the tombs. The picture of the steep hill is very likely where the pigs ran down and drowned in the sea, after the demons entered them. Love always defeats evil. Jesus' love is likely what drove out the demons. We each picked up a stone or two or three and added it to the pile of rocks from previous tours, for the person(s) in our lives who still need Jesus' touch in their lives.
Today was a hot day . . . 119 degrees was the hottest from what I heard. Thankfully our leader is compassionate and tried to find shade for us whenever possible.
Thanks Ruth and Annette for the "hi" . . . I miss you all, my family and friends, and look forward to seeing you all again. This has been a great trip . . . and I'm finding out who God is and where I am in His plan, just the longing and desire I had for coming. Bless God!!! Love you all. Bye, Good night. Keep praying for us. Some days it's hard to keep the stamina when it's been so hot and your mind and heart is full and running over.