Boats of Galilee - Then & Now; Sunday, 4/6/08

For us, Sunday also included two experiences with the boats of the Galilee; one from the ancient past and one modern day. Several years ago, during a drought when water levels were low, a fisherman noticed an old nail lying on the seashore. They picked up and then noticed a piece of wood nearby. They started digging and soon realized they had discovered an old boat. Experts were called in and full excavation quickly started taking place in order to get the boat out and preserved before it was destroyed by being exposed to the air. They were ultimately successful and the 2,000 year old boat now sits in the Jesus Boat museum here. The museum is run by Messianic Jews (Christians). Of course there is no way of knowing who the boat belonged to but it would have been similar to the boats used in Jesus' time.

Here is a model of what they think the boat would have looked like 2,000 years ago...

For the Galilean boats of today, we visited another ministry run by Messianic Jews. Daniel Carmel has been a fisherman on the Galilee for all his life. During the Intifada in 2000 he saw many Christians coming to Israel to help the Jews in their time of need. He was surprised by this, having believed as many Jews do, that the Christians hate the Jews and just want to destroy them like the rest of the world. The love of the Christians opened his heart to Christianity and he became a follower of Yeshua (Hebrew for Jesus). He soon started a ministry translating American hymns and choruses into Hebrew for his people to learn. Then more recently he started a new business of taking groups, especially Christians, out onto the Sea of Galilee in a wooden boat. His boat is named "Faith," so we were "Sailing on Faith."

While on the boat we had a great time of teaching and worship. Again, it was too bad that the day was so overcast, but the time singing and praising our Lord on the Sea of Galilee was just amazing. Of course we were encouraged not to follow in Jesus' footsteps and try to walk on the water ourselves although they said they would throw us a line and fish us out if we did try. Fortunately, as well, the waters were calm so we did not need Him to calm the waters for us. To be on the sea and imagine the waves so choppy that they scared experienced fishermen like Peter, though, is amazing as well.