Who's on the Lord's side who?

Shephelah Field Trip (9/30/13)

 

On September 30^th we had a full day field trip with a ton of different sites in the scriptures! We started at Lachish, which was the Shephelah's largest city in the Old Testament times. The scriptures that outline some events here are Joshua 10:3-11, 31-32, 2 Kinds 18:13-16, 2 Chronochles 32:9, Isaiah 9, Jeremiah 34:7, and Nehemiah 11:30. It was cool to see the siege ramp built by the Assyrian king Sennacherib! The main theme we discussed this field trip was the power of divinely-led warfare. If God is on your side, you will not fail!

Next we went to Mareshah and Beth Guvrin. My favorite parts of these sites were the huge olive press, dovecotes, and Bell's Caves. It was neat to see the equipment and process of pressing olives. I also never realized this processed happens underground in order to obtain "pure virgin" olive oil. It made me even more excited for when we get to make our own olive oil when the olives are ripe.

 



 Above is part of the olive press

 

 Don't Megan Bassett and I look great workin this olive press?!

 

The Bell's Cave was also amazing! It is nothing like what we call caves back in Idaho! The one cave had 4 different "rooms" and was as big as my house I bet! The sound was also incredible. We were able to sing a few songs but my absolute favorite was when we sang The Spirit of God (one of my all-time favorites to begin with!). The Spirit was so unbelievably strong, it was honestly my favorite part of the trip! (pictured below) I did capture a recording of the hymn but our bandwidth won't allow me to upload so it will come available at the end of the trip!

 

We also went to ELah Valley/Azekah where the story of David and Goliath took place, a classic childhood favorite! (1 Samuel 17) Just for fun we even went over by the riverbend on the edge of a mountain side and practiced with our aim. We had rope slings and flung rocks against the mountain. Believe it or not but it was hard and definitely pointed out that David had to have the Lord's help, there was no way I was even close to being able to kill someone with a single stone!

 

Here is a picture of Amanda and our with our David and Goliath slings!

Lastly we finished at Beth Shemesh overlooking the Sorek Valley. There really wasn't much to see there but it is mentioned in 1 Samuel 6. When the Philistines suffered for possessing the Ark of the Covenant, they put it on a cart and directed the animals toward the Israelite city of Beth Shemesh.

Miracles do Exist!

We arrived home at 6:15 exhausted and ready for dinner then bed. Although I could have fallen asleep right after Family Home Evening, the night wasn't over for the 3 associate nursing students. We had a test to take from 9-10:30 pm, in which we barely had time to study. I witnessed a miracle that night! We received a 92% even after reading questions wrong, fighting the urge to go to sleep, and not having any time to concentrate and study like usual. I realized no matter how insignificant the desires of our heart are, if they are righteous desires then God will be on our side and even perform miracles!