Good News Managing Editor Scott Ashley and I have just finished a fast five day tour of many sites in the State of Israel. We had been on two extended tours of Egypt and Israel following our observance of the Feast of Tabernacles in Amman, Jordan. It has been an enlightening and exciting visit to this land designated by God as the setting to record His great plan for human salvation.

One of the things that struck me was the compact size of the nation. You can easily go from north to south in one day, and east to west can be only a couple of hours in most cases. The Biblical sites we visited are very close to one another. From many mountain peaks you can look in any direction and view the location of several Biblical events. From a mountain top crusader fortress we could see the hills of Nazareth where Jesus grew up as a child, the Jezreel Valley (where Revelation 16 says the armies will gather at the end of the age to a great battle called Armageddon) and the Sea of Galilee where He conducted much of His ministry.

We traveled through the northern region of upper Galilee visiting many Biblical sites such as Hazor, Megiddo, Capernaum and Caesarea. A great deal of archaeological work has been done to these sites and the finds in some cases go back to the time of the united kingdom of Israel, Solomon's time.

In Jerusalem we spent time touring the Temple Mount area where quite a bit of history has been uncovered by decades of digging. The Western Wall, (Israel no longer calls it the Wailing Wall) can now be toured virtually it's entire length. This takes you along many courses of the wall built by King Herod in what is called the second temple period. Shafts have been sunk down to the street level of the city during the first century Roman period. A tour along this tunnel takes you directly in line with where the temple stood during that time. You see Jews praying along this area as they seek to get closer to the spot where the temple with the holy of holies stood.

The southern wall of the temple mount is now a large archaeological park showing the many periods of civilization that ruled Jerusalem for the last two thousand years. Thirty four years ago I worked as a student volunteer on this project along with many other Ambassador College students. It was exciting to revisit this site and see what our efforts helped to uncover. In the second temple period there were monumental steps leading up to the temple gates. You can now walk up those reconstructed steps, pausing as you go to contemplate that Christ and the apostles must have walked up the same steps.

Both Scott and I have collected much material and ideas for future articles and television programming for our new television program, Beyond Today. As we sort through this over the coming months you will see the fruit of our visit on this site and in our publications.

For anyone who has not traveled to this part of the world I encourage you to do so. Although international travel today can be grueling and exhaustive it holds many rewards that make the cost and effort well worth it. We have felt safe throughout our travels (Jordan, Egypt and Israel). You do see s heightened security wherever you go but when you focus on the people you see and meet you find people getting on with the business of life as best they can, just like you and I in our own homeland. I am already anticipating the next journey.