Tel Meggido

The Valley of Armageddon is seemingly endless viewed from the top of Tel Meggido.  

On our second day in Israel and before sailing on Galilee, I traversed  broken stone paths of Tel Meggido. I listened for whispering echoes from the lives of people who lived in this oldest city on record. It was most difficult to imagine the existence of children in this land that appeared to be so desolate. 

I felt the heat of the afternoon sun and the grace of cool valley breezes when I could find a little shade behind a broken down wall.  

The stone outlines of adjoining squares indicated where small single room homes shared walls with their neighbors. Market booths signified by central paths still stand as high as 7 feet tall in some places. Interiors of these stone structures  are exposed to the sun with no wooden beamed roofs surviving the endless years. 

The remains of a grain bin are unmistakeable. Look close. You can see a spiraled narrow ledge on the interior wall. The precarious steps allowed one to reach the storage level of grains even as it dwindled to its lowest point. 

Several stone feeding troughs for horses are exposed throughout the city. I remember thinking that perhaps the manger where Jesus lay may have been stone like these rather than the common wooden slats displayed at Christmas. It doesn't really matter. 

I'm sure there are many conjectures a little off in our understanding. But there are facts I'm sure about. He came, He died, He rose again.  

I've already been asked several times what it was like to walk where Jesus walked. Just to be there. My answer is "amazing", but the real truth is "confounding".

Jesus is reality to me, all that He did.

Being there, seeing these things deepened my yearning for Him. He's alive.  

"This will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger."    Luke 2:12