Another weekend, another chance for a Spring Time Fun Time outing. This time, a large group of us headed to the north of the country to see another ancient ruins site--the Roman city of Gadara.
It was a beautiful day to just wander around.
Like nearly all Roman towns, there was an amphitheater.
What made this town different is that many of the stones are black.
Roman Road.
Pillars along the Roman Road.
Fallen pillars along the Roman Road.
There's a story in the Bible about when Jesus sailed across the Sea of Galilee and encountered a demon-possessed man who lived among the tombs. This is supposed to be that city where the man lived.
And that down there was a mausoleum...a tomb. Could it be where the man lived? Maybe.
Jesus cast the demons out of the man and sent them into a nearby heard of pigs.
The pigs ran off the cliff of the mountain into the sea below and drowned. But the man? He was completely healed and sane.
The people were amazed to see him, dressed and in his right mind, and learning from Jesus.
Once dead in his sins, and spending his days among the dead...now alive in Christ and ready to leave the tombs. He wanted to follow Jesus and the disciples, but Jesus said no.
Now that the man was free and had seen the Light of the World, Jesus wanted him to go to his hometown and tell what had been done for him.
So Jesus went back across the Sea (which you can see in the very middle of the photo below), and the man stayed on this side and proclaimed all that God had done for him. I love that story. I love that I got to study it in the very place where it happened.
This map shows what you see as you look out: Galilee, the Golan Heights, and further off...Damascus. Wowzah.
That hill is part of the Golan Heights.
Our friend with us who is very familiar with this whole area pointed out that the area in the middle of the photo is where all the countries in this area touch. It's crazy to think that I can stand on a hillside, look out, and see so many places. And probably, that's the closest I'll ever get to those places. But Jesus walked all over the hills in His day.
I didn't get a picture of the best part of the day--the museum was all closed up, but one of our friends was able to convince the family guarding the museum to let us in. They opened the door to us, showed us the scenes above from the rooftop of the museum, and let us wander around to look at the things being restored. The women of the family showed us the typical hospitality here and brought us treats. I got to laugh and talk with them some, and wished I had the language to say so much more.
We wandered our way through the rest of the ruins, enjoying the peaceful afternoon.
And all the flowers! So pretty!
Somehow, in all our wandering, we'd ended up at the top of the amphitheater!
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