By Tabby Finton, Coordinator for Alumni and Church Relations, College of Church Leadership
What a privilege it was for Dr. Adam Sikorski and me to lead the inaugural NCU Alumni and Friends Tour inside Israel with the Center for Holy Land Studies (CHLS) based out of Springfield, Missouri. Friends of NCU and alumni from the 1970s through 2022 traveled together. Surrounded by friends, old and new, we discovered afresh the precious way that archeology and historical/cultural understanding enlightens the Truths of Scripture. Geography, geology, and topography have never seemed so fascinating.
Some of us may have been led to believe that watching a miracle should be an absolutely remarkable experience in every way. But we watched “everyday miracles” occur when we were uncomfortable, cold, wind-blown, and soaked-through-the-clothes wet from rain. And still, the “miracles” were marvelous to behold. Journey with us as I recount experiences we shared on this remarkable tour.
We climbed to Ein Avdat, where the Israelites wandered and Moses struck a rock in the wilderness of Zin, where water still flows in streams today in the middle of the desert. We saw a well that Abraham dug in Be’ersheva and saw tamarisk trees like those he planted outside the city to welcome visitors, in the Bedouin style of hospitality. We traveled to the port of Caesarea where Paul set sail for his missionary journeys, and then later was imprisoned in Herod’s Palace. We heard the waves of the Mediterranean Sea crash on the shore, as he must have, as he wrote much of the New Testament while under house arrest.
Time stood still as we marveled at the top of Mount Carmel, where Elijah and the prophets of Ba’al experienced God detonate fire from heaven to demonstrate His power, and we realized the entirety of the region would have been able to witness God’s authority on display. We saw the valley where David stood to face Goliath and the brook where he chose the stones he would use to send soaring through the air to defeat the Philistine enemy who taunted God’s people. We gathered on Mt. Precipice where Jesus fully grasped that a prophet is not accepted in his hometown, as his Nazarene neighbors tried to throw him off the cliff. We walked part of the Arbel Pass on Mount Arbel, where it is likely that Jesus and his disciples trekked to get to Jerusalem from the Galilee region.
The area around the Sea of Galilee, where Jesus spent the majority of His earthly ministry was absolutely surreal. Several of our group experienced being baptized in the crisp, crystal-clear waters of the lower Jordan River. History exploded from the pages of our Bibles as we navigated an actual first century synagogue and city ruins in Migdal. At this archeological dig from just a few years ago (which our tour guide from CHLS, Jeremy Stein, M.A., helped to excavate), a first-century time capsule was discovered, and we saw the place where Jesus more than likely sat to read the Torah and discuss it with the people gathered there. We saw probable homes of some of his friends. We viewed the fish-salting pits where Zebedee’s business prepared tilapia caught in the Sea of Galilee a few hundred yards away and used some of the proceeds to help resource Jesus’ earthly ministry. To be able to use hashtag #Jesuswashere was breathtaking.
We witnessed the rare phenomenon of rain in the desert, and watched Scripture come to life before our eyes. We listened to Hebrew expressions of gladness erupting from our bus driver and Jewish tour guide, as they exclaimed that we had brought the rains back to Israel. Waterfalls began to erupt out of the sides of mountains as we traveled. As the torrents flowed down the mountains towards the lowest point on the earth, we watched Israelis park along the sides of the road to watch dry wadis, where rivers in the desert would soon come to life once more. And we experienced the glory of the Dead Sea in her 34 percent salinity, which prohibits survival of living things (Flattery & Stein, 2019).
We worshipped God near the place where the woman with the issue of blood was healed. We sang songs of praise on the sea where Christ walked on water and understood how quickly a storm (even seismic activity because of underground fault lines) made matters so treacherous for the disciples on their boat. We saw the Wadi Quilt between Jericho and Jerusalem, where the story of the Good Samaritan was likely in our birds-eye view.
Psalm 23 will never be the same after hearing it read through tears at the probable site where David wrote it at En Gedi. Realizing that Bethlehem is now in an area where most Jews are not even safe to walk was sobering. Viewing Jerusalem from the Mount of Olives, the place where Jesus wept over the city, and the Garden where he prayed on the night he was betrayed was life altering for many. Walking through the ankle to thigh-deep, water-filled 2,700-year-old tunnel that King Hezekiah’s men dug as they escaped from the attacking Assyrians was almost as fantastic as realizing that it was also the entryway into the city of Jerusalem for King David and his mighty men to capture the City of the Great King. Not far away is the Jaffa Gate, where we walked the route that Jesus likely walked with the cross. We celebrated His sacrifice and victory near the place where his death and resurrection changed the course of eternity, once and for all.
No longer will we simply read about biblical locations, now we can picture them in our minds. We will recall the smells, the heat and cold, the feel of the land with its hills and canyons – all the while realizing how these elements played a part in the biblical narrative (Flattery & Stein, 2019).
Keith Thompson ‘87 MA ‘87 (Lead Pastor, Living Hope Assembly of God in Little Falls, MN) recalled, “It was inspiring to see the places I read about in my Bible come to life. I will never read and preach the Word the same. From the first teaching about water from the rock to the Mount of Olives, every day was a wow moment.” Todd Marshall ‘83 (Worship is Life) said, “[This was a] top ten life experience, and I’m old! It still seems surreal that we were there. I cannot wait to lead a trip there next year!” Darla (Kuglin ’88) Thompson (Music Educator, Little Falls, MN) shared, “[This experience] was mind-blowing. I didn’t realize I had misconstrued biblical concepts until I learned more about Jewish cultural practices and beliefs. I came back with a new hunger for the Bible and a desire to discover the original intent in each Scripture passage. I came back as a new and different person of faith.”
Certainly, we simply scratched the surface of understanding complexities in the land of Israel. Checkpoints that actually made us feel safer, watching elementary schoolgirls skip arm in arm down the cobblestone streets of the Old City on lunch break from school, smiling at the armed military and Orthodox travelers amidst the tourists. Learning about how our brothers and sisters live within “cease-fire lines” instead of state boundaries. Most of our group flew to Israel together, and we were blessed to experience a sunrise amid a plane full of Hassidic Jews. We watched passion and religious fervor on display, as they performed their prayer ritual for all to see.
More than ever after this trip, I feel released of feeling like I must understand or judge everything as I see it, recognizing that most things are different than what I can see with my eyes or filter through my world view. God loves people more than anything, and I want to be like Him and have His heart, more than ever. I repented of my tendency to be judgy while I was sharing a devotional with the team one day, and I pray that every condemnatory attitude within me will continue to be replaced with love straight from the heart of God, which can only draw others to Him, too.
This opportunity was a precious gift to all who participated, in so many ways. Pray about your involvement in assisting students financially as they experience Israel as part of the requirements for graduating with certain majors. And consider participation in the next tour Dr. Adam Sikorski* is already planning for our wonderful NCU Alumni and Friends to share – possibly a study of Paul’s missionary journey inside Turkey and Greece in 2024, and an encore tour of the land of Israel in 2025. With enough participation, we can continue to offer these adventures and life-changing excursions to our NCU family for years to come.
*Dr. Adam Sikorski is Assistant Dean, Director of Pastoral Studies, and Director of Bible Lands Studies for the College of Church Leadership at North Central University.
