Being There


Posted On: Saturday - May 30th 2026 9:25PM MST
In Topics:   Bible/Religion  Peak Stupidity Roadshow



From our recent post on trees, that is again the olive tree in the Garden of Gethsemane In Jerusalem that's said to have been there at the time Jesus was "detained", one would say now, as reported by Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. I touched it, no matter what any sign might have said, when we were on a tour of the Holy Land recently.

This was on an official tour rather than just a trip in which we made our own way. As much as I'd rather do the latter, I think my wife was right that we'd have to do it this way. She's not always. When we visited London in '22, I'd have rather spent more time off the double-decker buses.

There's also the photography problem, as Peak Stupidity has written about here and here. Can we just experience a place without having to take pictures in front of old or famous stuff? Our friends and family will believe us when we tell them we've been there, and there thousands of better pictures of said places all over the internet.

Without being on a tour, we'd have probably had a hard time visiting the sites from the life of Jesus. However, between that and the picture taking, it was much too much like the scenes of tourism one see in the movies. "OK, you've got 10 minutes here. Take pictures, and you'll have a couple of minutes to use the bathroom, and back on the bus. We've got 5 more stops today." That was really no way to appreciate where we were and what had happened there 2,000 years ago.

Back in Rome some years ago, I was kept busy taking a picture here and there, and everywhere, at this, also ~ 2,000 years-old, Colosseum, when what I wanted to do is sit there, BE THERE, and reflect on what people were doing RIGHT THERE, so many years ago.




That hillside is on the north-northwest shoreline of the Sea of Galilee* just to the west of Capernaum. The rotunda you can see is on the top of the Church of the Beatitudes on a nicely kept site up the slope. It was built as an octagon to represent 8 blessings from the "Sermon on the Mount", as excerpted by Matthew in Chapters 5, 6, and 7. OK, one can learn more there and enjoy the view... till the 15 minutes are up and "back on the bus, please."

No, I just wanted to sit on the hillside and put myself back 2,000 years to the time of Jesus. I could have stayed there half a day doing that. Just being there - that's the experience I came for. We may go back one day and do it right...


* The Sea of Galilee is not big enough to be a "sea" really, but it's a decent-sized natural lake. The elevation of the surface is 200 ft below sea level. The boat voyage was great.

Comments:
The Alarmist
Sunday - May 31st 2026 3:03AM MST
PS

Hmmmโ€ฆ Iโ€™ve only taken a double-decker bus two or three times in 30 years in and around London and only to get from A to B.

I took a tour of The Tower of London, and when you get to the room with the Crown Jewels, they have a conveyor belt to keep people moving so they donโ€™t mob the display.

Rules Britania.

๐Ÿ•‰
Adam Smith
Saturday - May 30th 2026 9:55PM MST
PS: Good evening, Mr. Moderator...

I want to thank you for posting this song the other night...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EGsk5oXw5Q4

I hadn't heard it in a while.
And I really do love it.

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๐ป๐‘’๐‘™๐‘๐‘™๐‘’๐‘ ๐‘ ๐‘™๐‘ฆ โ„Ž๐‘œ๐‘๐‘–๐‘›๐‘” โ„Ž๐‘’๐‘Ÿ โ„Ž๐‘Ž๐‘Ÿ๐‘™๐‘’๐‘ž๐‘ข๐‘–๐‘› โ„Ž๐‘œ๐‘ฃ๐‘’๐‘Ÿ๐‘  ๐‘›๐‘’๐‘Ž๐‘Ÿ๐‘๐‘ฆ
๐ด๐‘ค๐‘Ž๐‘–๐‘ก๐‘–๐‘›๐‘” ๐‘Ž ๐‘ค๐‘œ๐‘Ÿ๐‘‘
๐บ๐‘Ž๐‘ ๐‘๐‘–๐‘›๐‘” ๐‘Ž๐‘ก ๐‘”๐‘™๐‘–๐‘š๐‘๐‘ ๐‘’๐‘  ๐‘œ๐‘“ ๐‘”๐‘’๐‘›๐‘ก๐‘™๐‘’ ๐‘ก๐‘Ÿ๐‘ข๐‘’ ๐‘ ๐‘๐‘–๐‘Ÿ๐‘–๐‘ก
โ„Ž๐‘’ ๐‘Ÿ๐‘ข๐‘›๐‘  ๐‘ค๐‘–๐‘ โ„Ž๐‘–๐‘›๐‘” โ„Ž๐‘’ ๐‘๐‘œ๐‘ข๐‘™๐‘‘ ๐‘“๐‘™๐‘ฆ
๐‘œ๐‘›๐‘™๐‘ฆ ๐‘ก๐‘œ ๐‘ก๐‘Ÿ๐‘–๐‘ ๐‘Ž๐‘ก ๐‘กโ„Ž๐‘’ ๐‘ ๐‘œ๐‘ข๐‘›๐‘‘ ๐‘œ๐‘“ ๐‘”๐‘œ๐‘œ๐‘‘-๐‘๐‘ฆ๐‘’

๐‘Š๐‘œ๐‘Ÿ๐‘‘๐‘™๐‘’๐‘ ๐‘ ๐‘™๐‘ฆ ๐‘ค๐‘Ž๐‘ก๐‘โ„Ž๐‘–๐‘›๐‘” โ„Ž๐‘’ ๐‘ค๐‘Ž๐‘–๐‘ก๐‘  ๐‘๐‘ฆ ๐‘กโ„Ž๐‘’ ๐‘ค๐‘–๐‘›๐‘‘๐‘œ๐‘ค ๐‘Ž๐‘›๐‘‘ ๐‘ค๐‘œ๐‘›๐‘‘๐‘’๐‘Ÿ๐‘ 
๐‘Ž๐‘ก ๐‘กโ„Ž๐‘’ ๐‘’๐‘š๐‘๐‘ก๐‘ฆ ๐‘๐‘™๐‘Ž๐‘๐‘’ ๐‘–๐‘›๐‘ ๐‘–๐‘‘๐‘’

๐ป๐‘’๐‘Ž๐‘Ÿ๐‘ก๐‘™๐‘’๐‘ ๐‘ ๐‘™๐‘ฆ โ„Ž๐‘’๐‘™๐‘๐‘–๐‘›๐‘” โ„Ž๐‘–๐‘š๐‘ ๐‘’๐‘™๐‘“ ๐‘ก๐‘œ โ„Ž๐‘’๐‘Ÿ ๐‘๐‘Ž๐‘‘ ๐‘‘๐‘Ÿ๐‘’๐‘Ž๐‘š๐‘  โ„Ž๐‘’ ๐‘ค๐‘œ๐‘Ÿ๐‘Ÿ๐‘–๐‘’๐‘ 
๐‘‘๐‘–๐‘‘ โ„Ž๐‘’ โ„Ž๐‘’๐‘Ž๐‘Ÿ ๐‘Ž ๐‘”๐‘œ๐‘œ๐‘‘-๐‘๐‘ฆ๐‘’ ๐‘œ๐‘Ÿ ๐‘’๐‘ฃ๐‘’๐‘› โ„Ž๐‘’๐‘™๐‘™๐‘œ

๐‘‡โ„Ž๐‘’๐‘ฆ ๐‘Ž๐‘Ÿ๐‘’ 1 ๐‘๐‘’๐‘Ÿ๐‘ ๐‘œ๐‘›
๐‘‡โ„Ž๐‘’๐‘ฆ ๐‘Ž๐‘Ÿ๐‘’ 2 ๐‘Ž๐‘™๐‘œ๐‘›๐‘’
๐‘‡โ„Ž๐‘’๐‘ฆ ๐‘Ž๐‘Ÿ๐‘’ 3 ๐‘ก๐‘œ๐‘”๐‘’๐‘กโ„Ž๐‘’๐‘Ÿ
๐‘‡โ„Ž๐‘’๐‘ฆ ๐‘Ž๐‘Ÿ๐‘’ 4 ๐‘“๐‘œ๐‘Ÿ ๐‘’๐‘Ž๐‘โ„Ž ๐‘œ๐‘กโ„Ž๐‘’๐‘Ÿ

๐‘†๐‘ก๐‘Ž๐‘›๐‘‘ ๐‘๐‘ฆ ๐‘กโ„Ž๐‘’ ๐‘ ๐‘ก๐‘Ž๐‘–๐‘Ÿ๐‘ค๐‘Ž๐‘ฆ ๐‘ฆ๐‘œ๐‘ข'๐‘™๐‘™ ๐‘ ๐‘’๐‘’ ๐‘ ๐‘œ๐‘š๐‘’๐‘กโ„Ž๐‘–๐‘›๐‘” ๐‘๐‘’๐‘Ÿ๐‘ก๐‘Ž๐‘–๐‘› ๐‘ก๐‘œ ๐‘ก๐‘’๐‘™๐‘™ ๐‘ฆ๐‘œ๐‘ข
๐‘๐‘œ๐‘›๐‘“๐‘ข๐‘ ๐‘–๐‘œ๐‘› โ„Ž๐‘Ž๐‘  ๐‘–๐‘ก๐‘  ๐‘๐‘œ๐‘ ๐‘ก

๐ฟ๐‘œ๐‘ฃ๐‘’ ๐‘–๐‘ ๐‘›'๐‘ก ๐‘™๐‘ฆ๐‘–๐‘›๐‘” ๐‘–๐‘ก๐‘  ๐‘™๐‘œ๐‘œ๐‘ ๐‘’ ๐‘–๐‘› ๐‘Ž ๐‘™๐‘Ž๐‘‘๐‘ฆ ๐‘คโ„Ž๐‘œ ๐‘™๐‘–๐‘›๐‘”๐‘’๐‘Ÿ๐‘ 
๐‘ ๐‘Ž๐‘ฆ๐‘–๐‘›๐‘” ๐‘ โ„Ž๐‘’ ๐‘–๐‘  ๐‘™๐‘œ๐‘ ๐‘ก

๐ด๐‘›๐‘‘ ๐‘โ„Ž๐‘œ๐‘˜๐‘–๐‘›๐‘” ๐‘œ๐‘› โ„Ž๐‘’๐‘™๐‘™๐‘œ

๐‘‡โ„Ž๐‘’๐‘ฆ ๐‘Ž๐‘Ÿ๐‘’ 1 ๐‘๐‘’๐‘Ÿ๐‘ ๐‘œ๐‘›
๐‘‡โ„Ž๐‘’๐‘ฆ ๐‘Ž๐‘Ÿ๐‘’ 2 ๐‘Ž๐‘™๐‘œ๐‘›๐‘’
๐‘‡โ„Ž๐‘’๐‘ฆ ๐‘Ž๐‘Ÿ๐‘’ 3 ๐‘ก๐‘œ๐‘”๐‘’๐‘กโ„Ž๐‘’๐‘Ÿ
๐‘‡โ„Ž๐‘’๐‘ฆ ๐‘Ž๐‘Ÿ๐‘’ 4 ๐‘“๐‘œ๐‘Ÿ ๐‘’๐‘Ž๐‘โ„Ž ๐‘œ๐‘กโ„Ž๐‘’๐‘Ÿ

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Thanks again and Happy Sunday Morning!

โ˜ฎ๏ธ
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