Taking a walk along the
Promenade below the town (Tiberias) and found an information board telling that
the promenade had been constructed after a major wave from the Lake in 1935
destroyed a considerable part of the old town with, I think,12 lives lost. With
the lake as tranquil as it has been since we have been here, that barely seems
credible, but adds a sense of the fearfulness within the story of the storm on
the Lake.
An amazing interlude at
lunch time as we explore Scots Hotel which had been recommended to us by the
very pleasant German Jew we had met on our first outing into town ( he offered
to take our photo and we then got chatting until his wife phoned to ask him where
he was!). We had a more than adequate lunch at a cost only marginally above
what we had paid in the street cafe yesterday but Pam spotted that the cost of
using the Internet was $18 for 24 hours. That would have proved a very
expensive few days as between us we’ve been facebooking and blogging several
times a day!
The very pleasant
bartender from Knutsford in Cheshire UK told us that the restaurant staff
around the town typically earn only £4 per day; so, unsurprisingly in a region
where nothing is cheap, they need two jobs to survive. He was thankful to have
a job which allowed him not to have to do this. Whether this has anything to do
with the Church of Scotland's ownership, one would have no idea - but hope that
it might.
Back at our own hotel (Ron
Beach), Pam thoroughly enjoyed another opportunity to swim in Galilee while I
and other less adventurous pilgrims merely splashed around in the hotel pool
which is a mere 5 metres away from the sea wall of.Galilee.
Later, we gather for our
final Communion as a group; a poignant
reminder of the real purpose of being in Israel – to become just a little more
familiar with the places in which Jesus carried out his world-changing
ministry. If it were not for this ministry, we, as a group, would have had no
common ground that would draw us together as a family fellowship. Dear Lord and
Father of Mankind was sung once again. I suspect none of us will be able to
sing it in future without a memory of this moment or one of the others we
experienced around the Lake’s shores. Tomorrow we travel home, hopefully
changed by this rich experience which is only possible because of the
remarkable travel facilities available to so many of us, these days and for
which, at this moment it is appropriate to give thanks.
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