Israel Day 8 - Dead Sea

We woke up the next morning around 10AM to catch up on some sleep. We jumped on the bus and headed down to the Dead Sea where Matt led us in some worship and Brett did a teaching. It was a great spot right next to the water.

We hopped on the bus and drove north for about 3-4 hours. Very dry with interspersed sites of interest as you drive through the Negev desert. This desert makes up over half of the land mass of Israel. Yet another reason that it makes no earthly sense that there would be so much contesting over the land. Only because God has claimed it as His own is it so highly contested.

We arrived at the Dead Sea in the early afternoon. Once we checked into our rooms, a group of us met downstairs and walked the few hundred yards down to the sea. At first, you are not sure what to expect because of the beautiful blue color and calmness of the water. As you walk out into the water, you feel the hard crystals of salt on your feet. As you can see from our friend jumping around, it actually hurts a little bit.

Here is a view of the bottom and what it looks like when you pick it up.

They tell you to watch out for any cuts that you might have as they will burn when you get in the water. Immediately when you get in the water, you begin to float and you feel the oily consistency of the water. You are not supposed to stay in the water more than 20 minutes as it lowers your blood pressure a good deal. I am not sure about all that but I do know that those who got it in their eyes were screaming quite loudly :o) I also know I have never felt any kind of buoyancy like it...even in a wet suit.

Kelly and Amy had to try out the Dead Sea mud masks...she was having a good old time :o)

We had a great time playing in the water and watching everyone float around and roll in the water. All these pictures are showing us floating, not laying on the bottom. The whole southern portion of the sea that we were in was only a few feet deep at its deepest point. As you will see in later blogs, the Dead Sea itself is an awesome sign of the fulfillment of prophecy and a beautiful and awe-inspiring place.

After we washed off in the nearby showers to wash off the salt, we went back to our rooms and freshened up. We grabbed some dinner and went beside the pool to have an evening session of worship. What a great way to end a relaxing day...worshiping our God and Savior, Jesus Christ!