after Arbel

well this morning i got up and spent 30 minutes writing a blog with a great teaching, but it was lost somehow in cyber space, so i am just going to have to trust G-d with it. (I am not Joking) today we walked from Nazereth to Sephoris. it was a great walk were i picked wheat and rolloed it between my fingers and ate the kernals of wheat, it was pretty good. it was amazing walkingthe path again, when you learn it with your feet it is amazeing what you remember. i could have found it without a guide. 2 years ago right at the beginning there was an elderly man picking cucumbers from his field, this is the sabbath year and his field was unplanted. I said a special pray for G-d to bless him for his obedience to Torah, as there were many fields that were planted. we also had a special treat in that we went to Meggido, some of you will recognize it as Har Meggido or Armegedon. it was very heavy, for we stood ontop of the alter that would have been used for infant sacrifices during the time of Abraham. it is too graphic to put on here so you will have to wait to hear what they did, but it breaks my heart. there was also a tunnel much like hezzekiah's tunnel but much smaller, but still impressive. Meggido is the largest tell in Israel, gezer is the second having 29 layers of civilization. Meggido has 77, it is crazy, but if you wanted to control the world the easiest way was to control Meggido. we then went to some place very special, the place most likely referred to in mark 1:35 and Luke 6:12. Mount Arbel. it was an amazing hike that i had serious doubts about our group making, but they did. it was awesome. up on the top we talked about what kind of dedication it takes to hike up to a place like that just to pray for someone. sorry adults, i didn't eally pray for you, but i did pray for you children, many of them by name. i laid on my face and with all the fire i can muster i earnestly battled for them. we owe it to them to pray for them as we have never prayed before, with all the energy it takes to climb a mountain and more. they are the treasure G-d is trusting us with and what a treasure it is. Let's lead them by example to be the men and women G-d is calling them to be. it was also cool that we prayed for our disciples and mine happened to be up there with me.
we are all exhausted and i have a sweet tan line, you will all be jealous. tonight is our last night in Galilee before we move to Jerusalem. I can't wait to see it again. I pray that many of you are seriously considering the October trip, my heart leaps at the idea of sharing an experience like this with those in our community.

Tben

P.S. Brooke I love you

morning thoughts (the lost chronicle)

The sun will be up soonand the day will begin, I am asking myself agan, "who are you and what are you doing here?" It seems almost simple to answer as i walk through the brambles, the sharp thorns cutting my legs as i go. It even seems easy here, in the early morning at the kibbutz. But who are we really? what are we really doing here? why is it such a difficult question at home where things become practiced? what does it take to know no matter where you are or what you are doing. Sitting in the ancient bathouse on a toilet that is at least 1300 years old, the greek in me says, "hay this is pretty comfortable, i could use this." It makes me think however, how often do i get sucked in by that very kind of thinking. toilets aren't bad, if fact they are one of my favorite inventions. think of what life would be like in a city of a million people if there were no toilets. i know right. i also realize that the hellenistic way of life lead to where i was the toilet. Rome, because of its depraived society, was destroyed by farmers with sticks and rocks. it would be like if Uganda conquered the United States. i also see the difference in the world views and even now by looking at the ruins you can tell what they valued. in the jewish cities, you find large houses with many chambers extending off a common court yard, narrow roads, and every synagogue has a school. in the Roman cities you find all these decadent buildings, theaters, arenas, public spas, shopping centers. they have wide roads paved with cut stones and drains, and gymnasiums which you would attend naked because man is the measure of all things. In the Jewish ruins it is clear that family was the ceter, that they desired community above all else, and sometimes hundreds lived in the same house. In the Roman ruins self was the center, pleasure and finding what was right for you was what guided their liveseach having their own big house. as i am asking myself, i ask you to ask with me, what would my ruins tell the world? breakfast is starting but i will leave you with this, "big is the gate and wide is the road that leads to destruction, but narrow is the road that leads to life."

Tben

P.S. Brooke I still love you


this is the one that was lost

by the Jordan

today was one of the best days we have had yet. we started off the day by going to the Jordan river, it was amazing to be there in that place again. we had two high school students that got baptized for the first time there, it was amazing. but for me that wasn't the best part. first i got to help while Emily and Caleb did mikvah in the Jordan and then do it myself. i also prayed for our community in general and many of you specifically there. i hope to be bringing home water for the church from the Jordan. one of the prayers i had for our community was Psalm 133. it could be the most improtant Psalm for a community in my opinion, sorry you will have to look it up. also during calebs 16 rite of passage dinner i read him a verse from Jeremiah 12:5 and it says; "if you have raced with men on foot, and they have wearied you, how will you compete with horses? And if you are worn out on flat ground, what will you do in the thickets by the Jordan?" I told caleb that he was a man that i would be proud to walk through the thickets with and today we walked through those thickets. i wept. it was awesome to see so many people desperately seeking to follow G-d with all their heart, with all their soul, and all their might. it brings me great joy to think that one day i will trudge through the thickes by the Jordan with many of you. I took a rock and wrote the Riverside community on it and placed it on top of another rock by the river as a standing stone to all that may come. i wrestled with G-d over you and i believe we will see great things in our community.
we also went to Bet She'an, it was hot, getting to 120F we had to move through it fairly wuickly but it still makes me sad. Alexander the Great was willing to do way more to promote his world view than christians are willing to today with theirs. we spend so much on so little and when it come to showing people the love of jesus we don't have enough. breaks y heart.
we came back to the hotel early but wnet past it down to the dock where a big wodden boat met us and took us across the Sea of Galilee. as we are leaving the dock i ask the man, can i drive? "come, come" he says and i steered the boat across the sea. it was a great experience to think of Jesus and his disciples following a similar path as they made their way to the decapolis. don't worry dad you would have been proud as i captained our boat. we went up to susita and talked about witnessing, and some of the people shared theirs. my heart aches for somee of these people as they have dealt with some difficult tragedies. once again mh heart yearns to be with you all here sharing our lives, walking the same paths, encouringing each other because we can do it. it brings tears to my eyes to think that one day we might help each other over the rocks in timna or through the rushing water of the Jordan. trying to see what it is like to truely live in G-ds type of community.
I know there is not much teaching from me, my hope is that in October we will be here again together. it is too hard to try to explain in the time that i have what we learned, but know that my heart is pleading for you and my spirit will not give up until G-d blesses us. I pray that we will "stand at the crossroads and look, ask for the ancient paths, ask where the good way is and walk in it. then we will find rest for our souls"

Tben

P.S. Brooke I still love you

real quick

well i don't have long before the morning starts and we are off, could be that we are going to the Jordan river, could not. i am going to have the same breakfast i have had everyday, at least it is good. Good news honey i didn't buy anything from Kojak, or should i say dad since last time i used your credit card. whatever, the morning are getting a little harder each day but after the easier day yesterday i am looking forward to a pretty full day today. i will try to bring some living water back from the Jordan, we will see. I also adopted our guide Walid who has been with us while Boaz is with RVL, i told him he was welcome in texas anytime and that he could stay with us. he said that his house was mine which is great because its worth like a million dollars because of the land its on. So honey we now have a house in Israel, sweet. anyway I am wearing my riverside t-shirt today so guess who is coming in the Jordan with me. we will pray for you all.

Tben

P.S. brooke i Love you more

early evening

well today we had a great day, we started the day at a place that is very special to me, a place i like to call Gamla. this is where the zealots lived during the time of Jesus, biblially it says Jesus spoke in all the synagogues in the area and the only one for that time that was not built on top of. so the bema could very possibly be the same one Jesus spoke on. that is so cool. but it has more significance for me because most likely if i had lived during that time i ight have died there fighting the Romans. we left there and driving through the war torn Golon heights we went to Caesarea Phillipi. the Golon height do not look like they seem on TV. No war, no bullets, no bombs. it was a beautiful sight and was safe than spring branch road. by the way RVL and Todd say hello. well tonight we get to talk with Kojak. for those of you who don't know Kojak is the one who made my ring here and he looks exactly the same. Gamla is a good reminder that we cannot use the worlds techniques to try to bring about G-d's will we must use G-d's way to bring about his will. Well emily keeps looking at me like she thinks because this is her computer she should get to use it. so write to you all soon, oh and i got us a mission trip to Canada, OH Ca na Da.

Tben

P.S. I Brooke I love you

good morning

we know that people are reading, its just that it cost us 2 dollars for every 15 minutes that we are on and like now i have to get up a 5 in the morning to post. its just nice for us to hear from you also. we think of you all often on the trip and and are blessed by the comment you make. we have breakfast in a few minutes and then begin another day in Galilee. i am not sure but i think we are going to cesarea phillipi, we will see. I am excited whatever the day brings. there are so many wonderful people on this trip, i am pretty sure i have all their names and have definately had time to talk to all of them. it has also been awesome to share the experience with Brent again. we are adopting two canadians they will be coming to visit sometime with their families. and i think more, more of them want to live in texas. gotta go eat, i will pray deeply for you all today wherever we go

Tben

P.S. Brooke I love you.

THE SEA OF GALILEE

After an awesome day today of visiting the triangle of Capernaum, Chorazin and Bethsaida, we returned to the kabbutz, changed into our swimming suits really fast and headed toward the sea of Galilee. It was so refreshing! although the dead sea was really unique, this was much better to jump into after a long day.

Yesterday was awesome as well, highlighted by a visit to Qumran the home of the Essenes, and probably better know as the place where the dead sea scrolls were found.

Anyway I don't really know how much more I should blog because A)It doesn't look like anyone is reading, at least not commenting:)and B)Every minute cost money which goes back to point

If any of you read this I hope everything is going well:)