This is from Meredith Cotton, a rising senior at JMU:
Hellooo sweet friends and family! It’s so fun that we’re able to share a little bit about these sweet experiences we’re having from across the world! Today we went to Tabgha (feeding of the 5,000), Mount of Beatitudes, Korazin, Dan, Caesarea Philippi, and ended the day with a sweet waterfall! This morning we got to go to the Mount of Beatitudes where Jesus gave the Sermon on the Mount (found in Matthew 5-7). The boys on the trip each memorized different parts of the sermon and stood up one by one to recite them – the same words Jesus spoke to the disciples 2,000 years ago in that same spot! We were all able to close our eyes and imagine Jesus speaking those radical words to us. That day up on a mountainside overlooking the Sea of Galilee so many years ago, Jesus spoke about lots of radical, incredible things, but one thing Pete pointed out really spoke volumes. At the end of Jesus’ sermon he said: “Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock”. The truth is that in life the rain will come down, the streams will rise, and the winds will blow, but if we build our lives on Jesus, we will not fall because we will have a firm foundation in him. We are all so blessed to be able to have the opportunity to come here and literally walk where Jesus chose to come down on this earth!! In that moment today, I realized what a gift it is that we are here and that we have the chance to build more of a foundation for our faith (that same foundation that Jesus was talking about 2,000 years ago!) Thank you so much for your prayers and for taking the time to read this
A view of the Sea of Galilee from the Mount of Beatitudes