Pita and Peanut Butter

I ended my last post with "crazy adventures planned for this weekend". Well, part of the reason why those adventures were so crazy was simply  because there was very little planning that went into the weekend, or at least not very wise planning. Bridget and I decided to hike the Jesus Trail - a 60km hiking trail that "follows the footsteps of Jesus". So with a simple map and a quick check of the bus schedule, we planned to hike from Tiberias to Cana or Nazareth. Note: We both acknowledged the stupidity of this plan going into this weekend, and decided to fully embrace the crazy adventure that would result.

I title this post with "Pita and Peanut Butter" because that was the fuel that made this weekend happen. We started the weekend off with a grocery shopping trip where we bought all the food we would eat for the weekend: 15 pitas, a jar of peanut butter, a bag of carrots, 4 oranges, and 8 apples. In addition to food and ample water, we packed all the warm clothes we had and a toothbrush, and began our journey.

 

Thursday afternoon we first took a bus to Tiberias, a city on the Sea of Galilee (well technically we missed our bus and then took a nap in the sun at the bus station and went out and got some shawarma for dinner). Once in Tiberias, we took another bus further up north, and got off at a random stop. Our first goal was to find somewhere to sleep. We figured we would sort of camp, aka find somewhere in the woods to sleep, one - because we could (the weather said it wouldn't drop below 50 degrees), two - to add to the craziness/stupidity, three - to save money, four - why not? We happened to get off at a kibbutz that had a fancy tourist hotel next to it. So we sketchily crept through the hotel property until we ended up at the end of a pier that jutted out into the Galilee. It just happened to have two metal benches at the end of it - obvisouly where we were meant to sleep that night. It was absolutely gorgeous - a bright moon, lots of stars, mountains all around the sea, no bugs, and a club down the road playing "Adele" all night haha. It was cool to read the story of Jesus walking on water on the Galilee as we sat there, and to gaze at the many mountains that Jesus could have escaped to before feeding the five thousand. I didn't ever think I'd be sleeping on the shores of the Galilee, where Jesus spent so much of his life.  Hotel guests definitely came out to the pier a few times after we had laid down to sleep, and a fishing boat passed by making all kinds of noise. We surprisingly were never kicked off or told to leave. Around midnight, we both were freezing, so we moved to the beach where there was less wind. Despite getting up every few hours to run around and do some jumping jacks to stay warm, we slept rather well. Before the sun came up, we woke up at 6am, and began our hike.

The Jesus Trail was absolutely beautiful - and confirmed to me that Israel has the most varied landscape in a small area than anywhere else I've ever been. We started hiking through vineyards (and picked up some free orange-lemon-grapefruit like fruits on the ground to add to our food supply). We shortly were hiking up a mountain, with ancient caves and a gorgeous view of the Galilee and the boats of fishermen on it (like the disciples!). Then we passed through farmlands, woods, muddy rivers, a kibbutz, even the road. We hiked rather quickly, and took very few breaks, thus our few stops to eat a pita with peanut butter were almost heavenly. You'd think after eating copious amounts of peanut butter every day of my life I'd be sick of it by now…especially since thats mostly what I've been eating in Israel. We ended up hiking around 15 miles in 10 hours (from sunrise, to sunset). Right before sunset we found a little hill to camp for the night. After eating another pita, and putting on all our clothes, we went to bed around 5 pm, hoping to get some sleep before it got really cold.  

An ancient synagogue.

Bridget trekking through muddy streams.

The snake I ferociously killed...or found dead on the side of the rode.

Around 8pm, we both woke up freezing, and quickly made the decision to not even try to sleep through the night. We could either hike all night to stay warm, or find somewhere else to sleep. Luckily we had stopped near the rode, so we started walking that way, until we found a gas station. Once there, we started calling hostels, and ended up finding a "camp lodge" that would pick us up for free and had HEAT. It was run by a family, who were so kind, so loving, and so shocked that we called them at 9pm on Shabbat, but they graciously welcomed us in, offering us tea, a warm shower, and a cute little heated tent-like thing on their goat farm. Bridget and I couldn't have been more ecstatic or grateful.

Oma, I figured you'd appreciate this one :)

We slept in the next morning - completely exhausted from the day before, and not wanting to leave the family and farm at all. Around 10am, we started hiking again though, and made it to Cana, the place Jesus turned water into wine, early in the afternoon (it was only about 5 miles). Instead of hiking to Nazareth, we decided to take a bus. Nazareth and Cana are both completely Arab cities, so we stood out a lot more, and wearing shorts and a t-shirt didn't help. It reminded me a lot of Mombassa, Kenya though, so I was pretty comfortable. Once in Nazareth, we visited the largest church in the Middle East, and a few other famous sites. We then just hung around there for a bit, until the one and only bus back to Karmiel arrived.

More of God's beauty that randomly landed on me!

The largest church in the Middle East.

Watching the sunset in Nazareth as we waited for our bus:

"May the glory of the Lord endure forever;
    may the Lord rejoice in his works, who looks on the earth and it trembles,
    who touches the mountains and they smoke! I will sing to the Lord as long as I live;
    I will sing praise to my God while I have being. May my meditation be pleasing to him,
    for I rejoice in the Lord." -Psalms 104

All in all, the weekend was fantastic. I grew a lot closer to Bridget, got to see way more of the country by foot, met some amazing people, and felt pretty accomplished after hiking 20+ miles. The good points definitely outweighed the few points of misery; I wouldn't have asked for it any other way.

I also came to understand Luke 12:22-34 in a whole new way:

"And he said to his disciples, “Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat, nor about your body, what you will put on.  For life is more than food, and the body more than clothing. Consider the ravens: they neither sow nor reap, they have neither storehouse nor barn, and yet God feeds them. Of how much more value are you than the birds! And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? If then you are not able to do as small a thing as that, why are you anxious about the rest? Consider the lilies, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass, which is alive in the field today, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, how much more will he clothe you, O you of little faith! And do not seek what you are to eat and what you are to drink, nor be worried. For all the nations of the world seek after these things, and your Father knows that you need them. Instead, seek his kingdom, and these things will be added to you."


Almost becoming like a sparrow, with no storehouse of food besides the few pitas on our back, or a lily of the field with only what few clothes we could carry, it was a journey of completely trusting in God to take care of us. And He did in ways that I could not have asked or imagined. We ended up having just enough food for the trip, just enough money to get home on the bus, just enough water before we would find a place to fill up, two benches and a warm tent to lay our heads for the nights, sunny weather, no getting lost, safety, and a full moon as a night-light. How thankful I am to know that I don't need to worry about anything, not the food I eat, the place I will sleep, or my entire future, because God provides.