Check out my running trip on @EveryTrail: 2010-09-06 To Cana with Mary http://bit.ly/cpxE0M
Always wanted to walk in Mary and Jesus’ path from Nazareth to Cana and today I did – running from Nazareth to Cana and back before lunch.
Again it was hot with lots of hills but I drank plenty of water along with a peace and a tomato.
Started at Mary’s Well in Nazareth then over the big hill before descending on my way down to Cana. Visited four churches, took my picture by the famous Cana arch sign and headed back. Walked up and down the steepest inclines to preserve my knees. Lots of lizards and dead cats along the way. People looked at me like I was crazy :-) in Arabic “crazy” is “mashnoon”.
It was a great experience and glad I did it and can share it. We head back to the States later today.
Tomorrow, America’s Labor Day, I plan to run from Nazareth to Cana of Galilee (and back) mentioned in John 2.
Mary walked from Nazareth to Cana, as did Jesus and his disciples. There was a wedding and Jesus turned water into wine. I’ll have some good Israeli wine at the end of the run.
We’ll see how it goes since it’s very HOT here, but hey, they did it! And, I was just at a wedding here yesterday!
Check out my running trip on @EveryTrail: 2010-09-05 New Run thru Nazareth. Click here: http://bit.ly/bUBfHq
Hot! A bit of a scuffle with two Arabs. Good time and great adventure. A few pictures of many below, including the stadium where Pope celebrated Mass here in Nazareth in 2009.
See pictures, videos and maps oh my run thru Nazareth today. Hot! Ran thru the holy sites, visited friends and to experience the city of the Holy Family. Enjoy!
Janet and I are in Nazareth, as I’ve already shared, and right now we are at the pre-wedding party of 1,000 people — family and friends of the bride and grooms family. We are honored to be guests.
The groom’s family puts on this huge party to welcome the family and friends of the bride (including us). Amer and his family had hosted a party for the groom’s family a few days earlier.
Families are very involved in the weddings to a degree unknown in the West. No wonder divorce and premarital sex is virtually unknown here.
Actually the wedding is in Nazareth, but that is only four miles away. Janet and I are going to the wedding of Nagum Shehadeh who is the beautiful daughter of our friend and local Catholic guide Amer.
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I will also be posting YouTube videos of this authentic Holy Land pilgrimage here on my blog at http://www.CatholicConvert.com/2010.
While there Janet and I will be renting a car, exploring new places, running new trails (like from Nazareth to Cana) and working on our next book for Ignatius Press. Keep us in your prayers.
Home this week catching up on a lot of things. Going to see our friend Liz Lev from Rome who us here speaking at Our Lady of Good Council in Plymouth Michigan. She is the only guide I work with in Rome.
But that is not why I’m a bit weary today. The cause of the weariness is a new personal record. Today I ran 11 miles.
I ran the first two with my wife Janet who is building up her running so we can run together. We are using a new iPhone app “Couch to 5K”.
Then my son Jesse joined me to for next nine miles. We ran around the huge country block and took a few excursions off road through trails and side roads. We even met a couple from our parish out running.
We are now eating a healthy lunch, resting, trying to catch up with e-mail and a lot of other things while waiting for the plumber to fix the leak which caused a flood in our basement.
Next Monday we head to Nazareth for a wedding, four miles from Cana of Galilee. Our friend Amer’s daughter Nagum (means Princess) is getting married and we’re going to the week long wedding.
The new iPhone 4 has the ability to make movies using a new app called iMovie. It is pretty easy to use and I thought I would experiment while sitting for over three hours flying home from Seattle. This is the result. Not perfect but I am learning.I will be more aware of the pictures and videos I take with the iPhone knowing now what I need to make a better movie.
You will see a handsome young man named Isaac in this video. He was an exceptional young man who came right up to me, looked me in the eyes and said, “My name is Isaac and I want to be an apologist like you!” I was very impressed with his manner, his forthrightness and his intelligence. He also, along with his whole family, had a palpable love for Jesus and the Church.
So you will see a brief segment where he states his name and says “and I want to be an apologist.” There were a good number of very impressive young folks at this conference. Watch out world, there is a new generation on the horizon that will rock the world with their love for Jesus and his Church. They will fact tough times I think, but the Lord will bless and prepare them to be lights in the darkness.
Hope you don’t mind my little experiment with technology.
I will add more about the conference when I get home. I had a great time with all these wonderful Catholics in the upper NW of Washington State. I ran in the Washington State Park which you can see here.
You can also see a few pictures and videos of the Faith on Fire Conference where I had the privilege of sharing the microphone with Tim Staples and Sister Miriam (a wonderful and eloquent SOLT nun). You can see more at www.Facebook.com/JerusalemJones. I will try to add more when I get home.
To see the map and pictures of my run thru the wilderness, click here Just posted a new Running trip, “2010-08-22 Washington State Park”, to @EveryTrail. Check it out here: http://bit.ly/9NlBmg
Comment from a participant at the conference:
Thank you for sharing your time, stories, and wisdom with all of us, Steve! The Holy Spirit was rocking Anacortes this weekend. We all felt it. You were central to that – what a blessing. I hope you’re now enjoying your family back home…let them know that we appreciate their willingness to share you with all of us here.
Oh, and the slugs you photographed are banana slugs (some have irregular black spots)…native to these parts, and wonderful help if you brush up against stinging nettles…the slime works wonders if you can get over the idea that a slug is crawling on you : ) Glad you found the park.
I will post the link to the audio archives on Monday when the link is ready at Catholic Answers.
Link for Real Audio http://www.catholic.com/audio/2010/real/ca100820b.ram. For other listening options: http://www.catholic.com/radio/event.php?calendar=1&category=&event=6358&date=2010-08-20
I am writing this on my iPhone at 34,000 feet above the heartland of America. Below is a real-time map of our location. Very cool!
I am on my way to Anacortes Washington, just north of Seattle. I will be joining Tim Staples to teach there this weekend.
On the way I will be stopping to use a conference room at a Hampton Inn to use my laptop and iPhone as the guest on Catholic Answers Live tonight. The topic is Open Forum for Non-Catholics.
Questions I Answered:
1) Will there still be a Purgatory after judgment day? 2) Who do Catholics believe are God’s chosen people? 3) Why do the Eastern Orthodox churches not believe in the Immaculate Conception like the Catholic Church does? 4) How do Christians explain why people are sometimes born with disabilities? 5) I am divorced and remarried and my husband is offended that the Church doesn’t recognize our marriage. What is your advice? 6) How do we decide which traditions to follow? 7) If Mary was without sin, why does she praise God as her savior?
Janet and I (crazies) laying out in the driveway at 4 AM watching the Perseid Meteor Shower. This year we only saw one but last year a whole bunch way up north where there was no ambient light. Jupiter was very visible and so was the Milky Way. We didn’t stay out long because of pesky mosquitoes. (Why did God create them, or are they a result of the Fall like thorns and thistles?)
Another name for these showers is St Laurence’s Tears because it occurs on the feast day of this famous Roman deacon who was martyred by being roasted on a griddle.
It is a good exercise to gaze up into the heavens like this once in a while to remember how small we are and how big God us. The ancients took more time for things like gazing at stars than us too-busy Americans with TVs on all the time (we pulled the plug on TV two years ago – great decision for the family).
Read Psalm 19:1-3 and Romans 1:18-22. Below is similar to what we saw tonight.
See my latest runs with map and pictures — through England.
Just posted a new Running trip, “2010-08-04 London Run”, to @EveryTrail. Check it out here: http://bit.ly/bGGiI9
Just posted a new Running trip, “2010-08-05 Norfolk Countryside”, to @EveryTrail. Check it out here: http://bit.ly/9EHDRj
Just posted a new Running trip, “2010-08-06 Another Country Run”, to @EveryTrail. Check it out here: http://bit.ly/a94HN1
Just posted a new Running trip, “2010-08-05 Reading England Countryside”, to @EveryTrail. Check it out here: http://bit.ly/dlJwzS
Pictures below: 1) country road, 2) idyllic cottage, 3) location of execution of Sts. Thomas More and John Fisher, 4) inside Bell Tower where Tomas More was imprisoned.
Updated picture of Janet and I with our eight grandkids taken this afternoon before we leave for England. From left:
Giana Catherine, Sebastian Thomas, Dominic Joseph, Samuel Tarcisius, (standing), Joshua Thomas, Elizabeth Arabella Rose, Maria Faustina and Damian Augustine.
I had to think twice before posting this. But my daughter Charlotte (the author; college graduation picture to the right) and my wife said it was OK – and since others have enjoyed and laughed — well, I thought I’d share it with a wider audience.
Charlotte was writing to a friend who was a medic in Iraq to prepare him to meet our family. We have taken my aged parents into our home. My son and his family are renting their house out so they can live with us to help with my parents — since we are traveling six months out of the year. He and Anna have four kids from seven years old down to one year old.
So we have four generations living in our home, from one year old up to ninety-one years old. My parents are celebrating their 71st anniversary. (See their picture on my couch below.)
So, here is our daughter’s e-mail to her friend who was preparing to come home from Iraq.
“I can’t wait for you to come to Michigan and meet my family. I hope SO much that you like them.
We are kind of a strange family as you can already probably tell, but I think it’s great! I think we are like the family in My Big Fat Greek Wedding. We are noisy, we are happy, we are opinionated, and we laugh at just about anything.
We are made up of 10 months old all the way to 91 years old! Weird things go on in my house. I was just thinking about it last night and it really hit me just how weird and funny (and strange) some of the things are.
For instance … pooping is a really big deal in my house! Ha ha. With 3 kids, a baby, and now a constipated grandpa of 91 years old, when someone poops you are bound to hear about it! Even if it’s just “MOM, I POOPED, COME WIPE ME!”.
(Picture to right: Bella under my desk).
Last night Anna caught baby Bella just as she was pushing and about to poop in her diaper so she set her on the toilet to see what would happen. I think every single person in my family was crowded into the bathroom laughing and clapping and taking pictures of little baby Bella pooping on the huge toilet! The kids STILL haven’t stopped talking about it!
We don’t crowd around and clap for my grandpa or anything, but we do congratulate him, share the good news, and write it down in his hospice journal. LOL. This is really making me laugh writing this!
It’s really not as bad as it sounds, we are not a gross family I promise. We are refined and well educated too
so it’s not all bad. Is your family crazy or are they really prim and proper?”
I have to say, I love being a father, a grandfather a son — and a family. God knew what he was doing!
LOTS of pictures of our talk at Woodrose Girls School today. Also pictures of all our other talks. The Filipinos are adding pictures like crazy!
We talked about God and boys! Great time!! High School girls were laughing their heads off and even crying and wouldn’t let us leave. Visit www.facebook.com/jerusalemjones
What a 2-day stretch! And what a typhoon (a hurricane in the Pacific is called a typhoon).
First, Janet and I spoke yesterday to over 1,000 beautiful, excited and brilliant high school girls at Poveda Catholic School in Quezon City. I spoke about Mary, purity and living the Christian life in the real world. We spent over 2 hours with them. Over 100 of them swamped my Twitter account leaving messages at http://www.twitter.com/JerusalemJones. These girls were unbelievable and we thoroughly enjoyed their enthusiasm, spirituality and laughter.
In the evening Alex Tan drove us to the huge gathering of the Couples for Christ Regional Gathering. We entered the hall to the joyous singing of Catholics in love with Jesus and the Catholic faith. I gave my conversion story to the enthusiastic group.
Then the real excitement began! On the way home, around 11PM the typhoon hit with powerful winds. The locals said it was a strong typhoon with little rain but stronger winds.
By the time we entered our subdivision in Alabang the electricity was already gone and branches were falling onto the road. We rushed into the house. For the rest of the night we listened to howling wind as trees crashed to the ground, including one in our yard here. I slept thru much of it but Janet laid awake with big eyes much of the night.
Lots of folks prayed for us and gave advice on http://www.facebook.com/JerusalemJones. It was very exciting but a bit scary too. I always wanted to experience a hurricane or typhoon and I got my wish. God is good to us.
The power and force of the storm, way bigger than us puny humans puts things in perspective. Romans 1:19-20 tells us that we can know about God by the power and order expressed (preached) by creation. We sure saw the power of God’s creation last night. Puts a bit of fear of God into your life.
We got up early to take a walk since the typhoon had blown over. You can see our walk here http://bit.ly/9In6zY
Then I went for a run to see other areas effected by the storm. You can see the run here http://bit.ly/bwReT5.
It is now 8:15 PM (8:15 AM Eastern time) and the electricity came on. The excitement is over. Tomorrow we fly early to Davao in Mindanao for five talks there. Then back to Manila for a three evenings teaching the history of salvation from Adam to today. Also more talks at schools.
For all you radio listeners out there … STEVE RAY LIVING THE BIBLE IN THE HOLY LAND!
While on Pilgrimage in Israel we stopped at Qumran, near the Dead Sea and the place where John the Baptist baptized. John the Baptist ate grasshoppers here (Matthew 3:4).
I mentioned to my pilgrims that if anyone found a grasshopper — I would eat it like John the Baptist did in the desert. Grasshoppers, locusts and crickets were considered “clean foods” for the Israelites (Lev. 11:22).
Did Jesus eat them? Why not? It was clean food for the Jews specifically mentioned in the Bible. Leviticus 11:22 says they are “clean” and can be eaten.
Well, finding a big juicy grasshopper became the goal for many of the pilgrims. And before long I found myself with a 4 inch long wiggling insect in my hands and only a sense of humor to get me through.
I promised the group if they found one I’d eat it — never believing they’d find one. They found a BIG one. What to do?
I ate it — live and wiggling — very crunchy. Now I know what a locust tastes like and I know why John the Baptist ate them with wild honey!
Living the Bible here in the Holy Land!
You can see all our past videos of our pilgrimages at www.SteveGoes.com. Go to Pilgrimages > Past.
On your mark, get set — GO! I set the alarm for early to run the route I would be leading our pilgrims through Assisi and to get a four-mile run in before the rest of the group got up. I wanted to cover four miles and did a bit more.
Assisi is one of the most beautiful cities in the world. Medieval with gates, stone walls, banners, flowers, churches, a fortress and tile roofs. It is quaint and stunning — candy for the eyes.
I ran through the life of St. Frances — his birthplace, his family home, the “prison” where his father constrained him. I also ran to the church named after him and past his tomb. “No fotos, no fotos!” but in the morning it is always allowed, since no one is there to yell at you.
Down the valley is the Church of San Damiano where the “St. Damiano Crucifix” spoke to Francis and said, “My church is falling into ruin. Repair my church.” Francis thought he meant the little porziuncola in the valley. He realized later that God meant his universal Church. These sites are all within hiking distance in Assisi.
On the Serious Side What biblical saint died twice and was buried twice?
Who was the first man who broke all Ten Commandments?
What biblical character killed one quarter of the population?
What prophet anointed two kings who lived simultaneously?
Explain this riddle: Born once, die twice; born twice; die once?
On the Lighter Side Who was the smartest female financier in the Bible?
Who was the smartest male financier in the Bible?
What biblical character had no parents?
Since we are here today leading the Dr. Scott Hahn and the St. Paul Center’s Rome/Assisi pilgrimage, I thought you would like to see what we are all seeing!
Through the courtesy of the Vatican Museums ….. enjoy this meditative virtual visit of the Sistine Chapel…a timely reminder of the beauty of the Church, the magnificence of Christian art, and the impending reality of the Final Judgment.
Note by clicking on the mouse you can enjoy the visit from various vantage points! Click here.
Today we saw the Holy Shroud of Turin! No words can describe what the pilgrims experienced and felt — though some try to express their thoughts and feelings as they stood within a few feet of the precious relic of Christ.
No one in this group doubts for one second that it is the authentic burial cloth of Jesus Christ who died painfully on the cross in Jerusalem 2,000 years ago for our sins and rose again for our salvation.
You can insert your name in the famous verse from John 3:16 — “For God so loved [insert YOUR name] that He gave His only Begotten Son that if [insert YOUR name] will believe in Him he will not perish but have everlasting life.”
It was an awesome day and probably the highlight of the whole trip! We were all moved and profoundly blessed. It demonstrates that Christianity is not a myth or wishful thinking, not just faith — it is fact rooted deep in history. It is objectively true and demands our obedience.
We had free time after our visit to the Shroud (see upcoming video) and many went back to the Shroud, entered the main church and prayed in front of the Shroud as long as they wanted.
For all you radio listeners out there … STEVE RAY LIVING THE BIBLE IN THE HOLY LAND!
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