Category funny

May 8 2011

Megiddo – The end of the world?

Just taking a brief break from Nazareth, I thought I would share an important place on the way up….

This road looks actually quite exciting as it goes along a viaduct into a tunnel in the side of a mountain to Nazareth, but the bus took a left at these lights.

But before I came to here on the bus went through the town of Ha Megiddo, which in the Greek; Armageddon as mentioned in Revelation , the place of the end of the world.

Its mentioned in Joshua, Judges, 1 and 2 Kings and first Chronicles.  There has been previous battles here.

This is a prison in the town of Megiddo, I think it contains long term offenders, ie: terrorists.

A little while ago, some archeological remains were found underneath (hopefully not from convicts trying to tunnel out!)   showing some very significant history of early Christianity underneath the prison.  Check out this link:- http://www.mfa.gov.il/MFA/Israel+beyond+politics/Megiddo+Prison+dig+yields+rare+3rd-4th+century+Christian+structure+9-Nov-2005.htm

Some people have said that this find is important enough to tear down and move the prison to somewhere else maybe.

These fields look nothing that special, but in the middle is where the last war will be fought it seems.

Petrol station if you want to get fuel, go to the loo, get a can of Tango and a choc-ice before the end of the world.

Revelation 16 : 16 Then they gathered the kings together to the place that in Hebrew is called Armageddon.

Now Revelation is a very symbolic book and probably the most difficult part of the bible to understand, but its quite clear this is the place outlined.

Many people I speak to think that Jesus’s return is not far away, I see more people slandering God, Jesus, Israel, Christians and the Jewish people today than in the past, here in Megiddo is a place where you want to be on the right team when that battle happens.

May 7 2011

Nazareth – 9. More old city streets and market


Heading back on the main road to Nazareth’s main city centre as it was very hot today and need to get another bottle of water.

This alleyway near one of the youth hostels I was staying has a drain at street level, this sounds primitive but this path is very old as its intended so donkeys can relieve themselves and can be flushed away into the drains.

On one of the city tours I was on, our guide told us that these diagonal sections on corners of streets are there so men cannot use the corner as a toilet, a design feature since the bible times!

In the week I was there between the Jewish holiday of Pesach (Passover) and Easter, there were quite a few visitors to Nazareth but it wasn’t that busy, being the wrong side of the country (ie: people are in Jerusalem)

On the left as well as more fruit and vegetables and familiar western food products, there is someone with 2 litre coca cola bottles with a different coloured liquid in them for sale, locally made olive oil.  One the right Nazareth’s famous White Mosque has some of it side entrances leading onto the market, I don’t now much about the typical building layouts of Islamic holy places, so this entrance for funerals was quite surprising!

This gent is the Imam of the mosque seems friendly and also runs a shop next door  to the White mosque.

A lot of butchers have a specially refridgerated van for transporting meat, here this Nazarene market trader brings in meat on the back seat of a beat up Renault 5.

Fluffy yellow chicks in a box!  can you tell its Easter?

Pork for sale? In Israel?   You can tell there are a lot of Christian Arabs and secular Muslims who visit this butchers shop!
Next the Spice shop, and the various types of churches around Nazareth…

1. Arrival at the city – 2. Staying in the old city – 3. The modern day Nazarene carpenter – 4. Where Jesus first preached – 5. Religious vehicles in Nazareth – 6. Mary’s Well and the Bath house – 7. The precipice – 8. On top of the Precipice hill – 9. More old city streets and market – 10. The spice shop – 11. Churches from A to Z or Alpha to Omega – 12. The Basilica church – 13. Easter service at the Basilica


Apr 30 2011

Nazareth – 5. Religious vehicles in Nazareth

Often in the UK, some Christians opt to put a fish symbol on their cars to show their faith.  This has been debated about for a long time.

In Nazareth, where there are Christian and Muslim Arabs living together, modern day Nazarenes have some different symbols to show their beliefs on their cars, such as this chain with a cross:  (click to get a bigger image)

This is just a personal choice and there has been big debates in the past if its right or not, especially if you get upset with the actions of another motorist who in turn may say or gesture something that may not be a good representation of a follower of Christ.

Muslims have a variation on this neckless design too.

The chap who has this Citroen van has the chain thing and a fish too 🙂   By the way its going through a highway northward through Ha Meggido, whats commonly known as the place of ‘Armageddon’.

I think it has some good parts, I know Christians I have worked with who were friends and one found out the other they were a believer from the fish on his car.

Its very rare I see Christian symbols on cars in Jerusalem.   Jews don’t really have religious symbols on their cars that often.   I sometimes do see ‘Moshiach Now’ on a sticker though (Hebrew for Messiah now)  and the occasional image of Rebbi Schneerson, a deceased Rabbi who is thought to be the Messiah amongst some of the Ultra Orthodox community.

Also its also interesting that Nazareth has a lot of young men in souped up cars (mostly Honda Civics and Seat Ibizas) with bass laden Arabic pop music driving around the city.

1. Arrival at the city – 2. Staying in the old city – 3. The modern day Nazarene carpenter – 4. Where Jesus first preached – 5. Religious vehicles in Nazareth – 6. Mary’s Well and the Bath house – 7. The precipice – 8. On top of the Precipice hill – 9. More old city streets and market – 10. The spice shop – 11. Churches from A to Z or Alpha to Omega – 12. The Basilica church – 13. Easter service at the Basilica


Apr 27 2011

Nazareth – 3. The modern day Nazarene carpenter

Before I came here, I wondered if there were practicing carpenters in this town now like Jesus’s earthly stepfather.

Turns out woodwork is very much part of Nazareth’s businesses today, although it is an Arab city – there are Jews that live in a closeby town called Nazareth Illit (‘Upper’ in Hebrew) which is a modern place only around since the 1950s.

This is one of fourteen carpentry shops, fairly standard sort of methods and tools, with lathes, routers and jigsaws.

Usual kind of woodwork, interior doors, shelves, coffins (!) etc.

The panels on these doors look extremely precisely done.

The wooden nativity sets popular with tourists made of olive wood often seen for sale tend to be made in Bethlehem though.

1. Arrival at the city – 2. Staying in the old city – 3. The modern day Nazarene carpenter – 4. Where Jesus first preached – 5. Religious vehicles in Nazareth – 6. Mary’s Well and the Bath house – 7. The precipice – 8. On top of the Precipice hill – 9. More old city streets and market – 10. The spice shop – 11. Churches from A to Z or Alpha to Omega – 12. The Basilica church – 13. Easter service at the Basilica


Apr 25 2011

Nazareth – 1. Arrival at the city

I have always hoped Michael Palin could do journals around the holy land one day, until this happens I try and blog on the places of the life of Jesus myself.  I am tired by the attitudes of the media and fellow Brits who try to slander Israel and accuse it of being a ‘Apartheid’ state amongst other things.  I set out to the central Galilee city of Nazareth, to see what it was like for Jesus to have grown up there, glimpses of places from the bible, how the Arab people there live in the centre of the Galilee and how different it is from Jerusalem.

Just before getting off the bus which took me from Jerusalem, I asked some people next to me if this was the right place to get off, and there didn’t seem to be a proper bus station, just a stop by the main road.   This Arab couple were really friendly and were happy oblige to walk with me from the street through some narrow streets uphill through the old city towards my hostel.

Jesus frequently went to and fro from here or the greater part of Galilee to Jerusalem and Bethlehem.  When you live some distance from your family this must be a lot of effort to travel often.

This provocative message to Christians stands out a junction heading north towards the Synagogue where Jesus first preached.  Behind is the tall turret of the famous huge and grand looking Bisilica Church.   It says “and whoever seeks a religion other than Islam, it will never be accepted of him, and in the hereafter he will be one of the losers. – Holy Quran”

I have a better message though: Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. John 14 : 6

I have seen this on some guides before, and all the research I did suggested Nazareth is a safe city to visit, and it is too.  I had a number of worries though to do with the busy time of year.  I booked this trip at rather the last minute as its in between Pesach and Easter, and with two different holidays, the buses are not running for some of those days, Easter making it more busy for Christian visitors, and I had hoped to visit Tiberias but both youth hostels were fully booked, so was one of the main hostels in Nazareth, and I got myself one night booked but not for the other days, this needed a lot of prayer of exactly how to figure out where to stay….

Soon!  Different Youth Hostels, the Spice Mill, Thousands of Arab Israelis Christians in the streets at Easter, the church at Cana for weddings, today’s modern Nazarene carpenters and residents finding hidden wells in the back yards by accident!

1. Arrival at the city – 2. Staying in the old city – 3. The modern day Nazarene carpenter – 4. Where Jesus first preached – 5. Religious vehicles in Nazareth – 6. Mary’s Well and the Bath house – 7. The precipice – 8. On top of the Precipice hill – 9. More old city streets and market – 10. The spice shop – 11. Churches from A to Z or Alpha to Omega – 12. The Basilica church – 13. Easter service at the Basilica

Apr 17 2011

Back to Ramon Crater, camping in the Desert

Camping! I went and spent a weekend with some friends, two from the Netherlands, one South African and one Hispanic Jew who has been Israel for some years now.

Its funny in an age where we try to make our lives more complicated with technology and creature comforts we still want to escape to basics of living under a piece of canvas with just the bare minimum to enjoy being out in the open air.

The Dutch seem to be the most hardcore campers in Europe, and where as I have had a fair bit of experience in camping up in Yorkshire and the New Forest as a child, my friends from this part of Europe seem to be very savvy as using gas cookers and putting up tents.   In addition to that my friend from South Africa was brought in a farm so is very adept at outdoors living also.

I have been to this site before back in about August 2009.    This is inside the Ramon Crater in the middle of the Negev Desert.

Some people opt for a more sophisticated camping experience, needing proper showers.   We opted for a site just rocks and bushes to use the bog.

This site we passed on the way home, just being a bit cheeky using the toilets that were by the road.

Here you can park your tent on the ground or inside the bedouin style huts, which look nicely made.   There is a kids playground in the middle which stands out as a bit odd!

This picture I took out of the window of the car is not that great, but it was a small clip of a large shanty town style village, these are Druze, traveling Arab people who live Bedouin style today often by the side of busy roads.  They may have cars or camels or donkeys and often grow their own groups in their communities.

Apr 2 2011

Quick return to Akko…

On Wednesday after a tricky two days with me and my colleague having to work extra hard to fix IT equipment breaking down in several places, all the staff at Bridges for Peace got to get on a retreat away up north to a Kibbutz converted into a hotel for a relaxing mid week break.

On the way we got to stop off at Akko, an ancient city that I visited only a couple of months ago, there was no obvious toilet block in the main road next to the sea, so it was a case of take a frantic wander round the old walls of city for the loo.

I saw a few new interesting discoveries, last time the sea was fierce and was lashing onto the road.  The time the tide is out, and there is this wonderful mix of ancient ruins and green seaweed or moss out in the harbour.

This adventuorous chap is doing abseiling down the sea walls, and someone else is fishing on the ruins.   I hope they know the tide times!

This may be distressing to animal lovers, but not sure who leaves a box of very new looking tiny kittens on the side of a street?

I found an English speaking young Arab girl, who said they were there just waiting for their mother, but looks to me like they were left for someone to take maybe?  Anyway she put them somewhere a bit more sheltered away from the cold wind coming from the sea.

Next, I get to learn to be a shepherd and see biblical farming techniques!

 

Mar 28 2011

Tel Aviv – robotics competition Part 4 Competition

The competition is here!

Each round is only about two and half minutes, each robot has to scoop up a variety of coloured inflatables and place them on a peg, its a bit like basketball I guess.

The specification of each robot is roughly the same so the size of the chassis, and has a vertical section with some kind of arm, the movement can be with bicycle chain, wire pulleys or hydraulics.

An unusual part of the competition, is each robot has an extra mini-robot, looking like a rollerskate, this gets launched from an extra extending arm, put onto the these poles where it has to climb up and press the top activating a switch making a green light come on, for a massive bonus in points.   As you can expect this is a very difficult task to do in a short space of time, as well as implement into the design of the robot.

My job here was simply as a marshal to gather the shapes and put them on the side in between each game.  There are teams come out after each tournament to load their robot onto a trolley and take back to the pit.  These things look like giant bagels!   The glasses are necessary in case pieces break off a robot, theres a lot of sharp metal bits in the inner workings there.

A lot of the judges have some engineering background, some of the Israelis work for famous names in IT such as Google and Hewlett Packard.  It was good to chat about humorous connections to Futurama (looks like Tel Aviv at the beginning credits of this show!) and I-Robot as well 🙂

The winners!

This was absolutely superb event to be part of, and as Christian and an IT person to participate in this event, I think its humbling that the Lord God gives some of us Christian volunteers extra ways to serve him in doing different and exciting challenges.  I hope this event continues on to help young people with curiosity for technology in a sporting team event and helps this country’s reputation as a place fertile in highly skilled engineers and problem solvers.

Part 1: Setting up at the arena
Part 2: Meet the robots
Part 3: Robot inner workings
Part 4: Competition

Mar 27 2011

Purim antics around Jerusalem

I got to celebrate Purim three times this week!  At church, work and at a friend’s house.

Lots of dressing up!

What was funny, was the number of people dressed up Hispanic or Asian kind of themed things, and some of my friends, from Jewish and regular Christian backgrounds from Peru, Mexico, Japan, China, forgot to get a costume!   I didn’t have much, just a Hawaiian shirt and some flowers round my neck, but most people had some pretty awesome outfits!

I haven’t seen Arab chap with a Tina Turner wig before!

At work, this is a kind of a Jewish equivalent to a Christmas panto.

Got to watch a movie at church about the story of Esther, sadly the DVD seem to have a scratch on it, as it glitched and eventually froze before the end of the film 😦

Ironically as Purim celebrates Jewish people escaping death from the hands of a King of Persia, today the Jewish people face the same old story all over again, with the current leader of Persia (we call today Iran) and Ahmedinjad who has threatened to wipe Israel off the map, and is a top wholesale supplier of weapons to Hamas and Hezbullah.   Some things just don’t change.  Nowadays of course, Israel is threatened by hostile neighbours and the media rather condemns it for taking land that it had sovereign rights for it already, and recent events like rocket attacks, some with 40km radius reaching Ashdod and Beer Sheva, a family murdered in Judea, and a bomb in Jerusalem are only briefly mentioned. 😦

After church I went with some people out on the town as it was Purim and the streets are busy with people in costume.   We headed to this restaurant I have not seen before in Jaffa Street.  I forget the name now, its a soup kitchen with a mostly student and young adult clientele.   Its one of these places with odd pieces of bric-a-brac, ie: a Hebrew typewriter in the window, odd pieces of furniture that made it feel like an old school canteen.   All the cups used to serve coffee, tea or water are all different types seemingly acquired from a jumble sale.

Chandeleir made of spoons!  You can get Shushkar or soup with some nice crusty bread and a beer!

An interesting twist on “time at the bar please!” when the restaurant staff hinted that it was time (about 11pm) to shut, they just put away some of the chairs, and put on some loud techno music on and danced in the middle of the room!  I would like to find out how easy it is to write reviews for travel books as this place ought to be listed in Rough Guides or Lonely Planet books.

As a gentile Christian, I would like to say I like to join in with the Jewish festivals here, but at the same time I still celebrate Christmas and Easter, as maybe the timing may or may not be correct and they have been heavily exploited commercially, but all these events are good to spend time away from work, be with family, friends and personally seek the Lord and having a party and letting you hair down as well is always good.

Mar 26 2011

Jerusalem marathon and dealing with security threats

Whats the best way of getting over a terrorist attack?   Wearing cute rubber wrist bands, twee looking ribbons to put on your jacket, being a Twitter drama queen?   No, none of this nonsense!

As friday was Jerusalem Marathon day, it is a case of just get on with life, no need to cancel anything needlessly.   This meant it was a bit difficult to get to work as the bus services were going to be hugely different with roads blocked off.The day before I saw barriers being put up and large palette loads of bottles of water.

I went to my church for a worship event, the main hall is in the basement of Clal centre in between Agrippas Street and Jaffa Street, but the meeting is on the 14th floor right at the very top, known as the prayer tower, I could open this huge sliding window and get some air and see an amazing view that you can see a large portion of the city, including the new King David harp bridge.   Here I can see right over Jaffa Street in the distance where the bombing was.

Bad luck to anti-Zionist losers 🙂 the event was sponsored by Adidas and the boycotters of Israel who complained the sporting  brand didn’t succeed in ruining the event for anyone! 🙂

As per every event like this, there are police and security to keep the event safe, although it did rain a little (which is a good thing, its is still really needed!)  this was a nice day.   I was at work as normal but I got some things done in our food bank again.   Actually I thank the Lord I was in this place that day due a power cut due to a fault in our building, which I meant I had to manually shut some servers down, there was some equiment damaged by this but is all under control.

This race shows the determination and character of the Jewish people well I think.