A letter to Northern Israel:

(Caesarea Philippi and Golan Heights)

You are a place of contradictions and I don’t know what to do with this. But I’m seeing more of what Jesus must have experienced in his years of ministry - the battle of good and evil, the tension of the spiritual and the physical, the compassion for the broken, and the longing for people to understand the truth.

Let me explain. I stepped into Caesarea Philippi. That’s what Scripture calls this place. This is where Jesus asked Peter, “who do you say I am?” And Peter declared, “You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God.” (Matthew 16:13, Mark 8:27) Jesus told Peter right here that He would build His church on this rock and the gates of hell would not prevail against it. 

Oh this is where it gets good! This is where the good and evil battle. This is what defines contraction. 

Caesarea Philippi was called Paneas by the Roman world, named after the Roman god, Pan, the god of shepherds and flocks. Today, this place is called Banias. Jesus chose to ask Peter this question in a very pagan place. He pointed out the church and the gates of hell in this town. People referred to the Roman temple to the god, Pan, as the gates of hell. It was common knowledge. So it makes sense that Jesus would have pointed to this temple as he had this conversation with Peter, that no other god, no evil will prevail against His Church! It’s in this place that Jesus gave Peter the keys to the kingdom of heaven! 

Contradictions continue. We took a drive through Golan Heights, an area of land that is new to your country  since 1967. It was explained to me this way, if you can draw a line along the Jordan River up to Syria and Lebanon, Golan Heights would be the ear. 

I could see Syria before us and an Israeli missile launch site behind us and snow-capped Mount Hermon that rises in both lands. I learned of the Six Day War in October of 1967. I heard of your people flying back to Israel to fight in the war. One Israeli who returned to fight said, “A voice called and I went. I went because a voice called.” 

I hear the questions arise in my heart as I see contradictions around me. “Shauna, who do you say I am?”

“And when the internal battles rage, when you see the fights of good and evil, when you hear My voice call, will you go?”

And it was this very day in your corner of the world, where I declared in the Sea of Galilee, I believe with all my heart that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the Living God and my Risen Savior.

And on these shores, where I heard Jesus say again, Follow me.

A follower of Jesus,

Shauna

P. S. I put my trust in Jesus when I was 8 years old. Shortly after I was baptized to declare to my faith family that Jesus is the Christ and my Savior. That was 34 years ago. It’s been a wonderful journey with Jesus and I’ve got so much to learn and more stories to share and step into. I decided to be baptized in the sea because I wanted to declare again, at an older age, that I still believe. The declaration sounded differently. It felt deeper. It echoed through my body. Jesus has done so much for me. I choose to follow Him all the days of my life. And yes, the water was cold, but my insides warmed my outsides!