Well, the trip has quickly come to an end. Our flight was scheduled to leave around midnight on Friday night, so when we got up on Friday morning, we knew that it was going to be a very, very long day. However, we don't want to waste our time over here. With that being said, we kept our visiting down to seeing areas and sites that we could drive to. Or, at the least, get to from a very short walk. Today is a great day of the trip because we drive through the Shephelah. The Shephelah is a region of the country between the central mountain range and the coastal region. Our first stop was a Beth-Shemesh, where the Philistines returned the Ark of the Covenant to Israel. It is also the area of Samson.
We then drove through the Valley of Elah. I have to admit, I love driving through that valley. If you open up your Bible and read the story of David and Goliath, the entire valley becomes alive. It's amazing to see the geographic accuracy of the Bible.
We visited many other sites in the area and finally ended up back in Joppa. The port of Joppa is where Jonah tried to flee from God and where Solomon received the cedars from Lebanon to use in the construction of the temple in Jerusalem.
After dinner, we made our way to the airport to head home. It was another wonderful trip. I realize that it is not possible for every single Christian to go to the Bible lands. I've been lucky enough to make the trip to Israel twice. Even though the trip is over, I'm going to continue to place posts on the blog as well as update and add pages to this site. To be notified of the updates, be sure to like us on Facebook.
I hope that you enjoyed the notes about the trip and let me know if you have any questions!