Philistia-Saturday

I just got back from my longest weekend ever! My class went on our first overnight field study that went from early Saturday morning until late Monday night. I'm going to blog each day separately because I have so many pictures (I took over 700!) and I'm not sure if I have time to do them all tonight, though that is my goal.

Day one we focused on the different Philistine cities and history which exist mostly along the western coast of Israel. The view above the Sorek valley was our first stop where we looked at cave homes and crawled through this water tunnel figuratively referred to as a "locked spring."

Cortney, me, Kaytlin after coming out of the water tunnel- barely wet!

Ash, Kaytlin and me at our second stop of the day- Beit Shemesh Tell. We are poking our heads out of an ancient tomb...lovely.
The hills are covered with these dry flowers, they are actually kind of pretty with the right perspective.
Here's Dr. Wright showing us all the key Philistine cities on one of our well marked maps (third stop).
Matt and Kaytlin reenacting David and Goliath at Azekah. Somewhere in the valley and hills behind them is where this actually took place.
Peter, Kaytlin, Liz, me, and Ash on our fourth stop on top of the Lachish Tell.

And finally, our last stop of the day-Ashkelon (maybe a bit more familiar sounding city?) This ancient Philistine city is located directly on the Mediterranean and, so, we got to spend some time on the beach too! It's going to be hard going back to the cold Oregon coast after these warm waters. Here we are in front of the oldest known arch in the world. It was built by the Canaanites around 1850 BC in Ashkelon.

And now for my favorite shots of the day...
Kaytlin's silhouette against the setting sun of the Mediterranean.
God's creation again stunned me and grabbed my heart.
How can you not see a piece of His glory in that sunset? As my cousin Lynzy told me, God is leaving little pieces of His glory all around this beautiful country and I get the honor of discovering them on a daily basis. The key is to look- everything may not be as breathtaking as this sunset, but there is always something to take hold of and praise him for.