It’s our first day in the Galilee area and we headed northward to the Golan Heights.

Our guests are voluntarily sharing morning devotions and what a blessing it is. Our devotional this morning was given by a blessed brother in Christ who reminded us of God’s faithfulness not to abandon His people. He read to us from Romans 11, encouraging us that, as God opened a way of salvation to us Gentiles, we are also commanded to provoke the Jews to jealousy. What a great place we’re in to understand that Biblical truth.

We entered Tel Dan as the only tour bus in the lot this morning! The place is typically crowded with tour groups, yet here we are with the place to ourselves. The lack of crowds makes it the perfect time to be in Israel, and Israel needs tourism to boom once again. If you have never been, I encourage you to come!

We walked the beautiful nature trail to the old city walls of Tel Dan. Much of the city walls and gates still exist and the king’s platform outside the city gate remains. The city gate is where all commerce, legal matters and contracts were executed.

After another short hike, we came upon what is known as Abraham’s Gate. We don’t know with 100% certainty that Abraham entered that very gate, but it is possible. If not, what an incredible representative of what was likely Abraham’s entrance into the land.

Our next stop was Caesarea Philippi, also known as Banias. Many pagan practices occurred here, but Jesus said the gates of hell will not prevail. Why did Jesus say that? Because what appears to be a bottomless pit is said to be where demons descended and ascended from the depths of hell. It was also here that Jesus called Peter the little rock, then promised to build His church on the larger rock.

It was a great start to the day, but we were not finished yet! We’ll post more soon!