Walking the Trail with Jesus Series

Walking the Trail with Jesus is an eye-appealing and heart-impacting, three-part book series about journeying through the Holy Land of Israel – Yet this time, not on your own, but with Jesus, through His Word, as your fellow-sojourner in the adventure. Exploring through beautiful photographs and personal stories by the author, you will experience events that occurred in the Desert of Ein Gedi, on the Jordan River, in Nazareth and Capernaum, then along the Mediterranean coastal cities of Caesarea and Jaffa, then returning to Jerusalem, as the completion of Jesus’ life here on earth. This is the Biblical tour you’ve been wanting to take into Israel, but because of worldwide or personal limitations have held you back. Only on this tour you can linger for a while at the sites and consider the event that occurred at that location. You can complete the recommended meditations at the end of each story as well as studying additional Bible references and Internet sites making this journey life-changing and personally relevant. What can one say when it comes to the land of Israel? The biblical connection, the natural history, archaeology, the prophetic connections between the land, the prophets and the people; the wars, the kings and kingdoms and their rise and fall, the diversity of the land itself – the beauty in winter and spring, the dry barren places in the summer and the early autumn. And most of all, Jesus! From the first breath into man by God until today, there is a continuous yearning inside the soul to find the answers to life. This yearning is an evidence that we are created by and for something greater than ourselves, and no person in this world can satisfy this deep longing. So, until we find the One by which we are created, we will never be fulfilled. There will always be a longing. We were created for longing, because we were created for love and that love can only be fulfilled in God, since God is love. Story after story and photograph after photograph this series points to the existence of Jesus, His disciples, their journey with Him, and ultimately what He would do to redeem mankind, which was spoken of through the prophetic words in Isaiah 53. Hope is abundant through these stories. Faith is increased because of miracles that Jesus performed to raise the dead and heal the sick and broken-hearted. This book series offers you a journey of seeking and of restoration. Seeking to find answers and hopefully a deeper more intimate relationship with God, as it was intended to be. Come, let’s see what Jesus will do in your life on these Trails.

Imagine yourself walking today with Jesus on the road from the Judean Desert up to the mountains of Jerusalem. This journey could possibly take a few days to complete. Starting the ascent from the Jordan River, Jesus begins to share regarding the importance of baptism and the significance of it for Himself in the Jordan River (Qasr Al-Yehud). He also speaks of His experience after His baptism in the nearby desert when He was fasting and praying - both of these were preparation for His own ministry here on earth. Along the dusty path, Jesus continues to share about other events that happened in the nearby wilderness. One of His favorite stories is about David, the man after His own heart, who was to become King of Israel after the death of King Saul. How David and his men hid in the wilderness of Ein Gedi, fleeing the rage of Saul who was so consumed with jealousy and hatred for David that he would go to any length to destroy David's life. The gentleness of the Lord's voice soothing the burning feelings of injustice rising within your own heart after hearing of Saul's many heartless attempts to kill David. Jesus finishes this story by telling of God's judgment coming over King Saul, and David eventually rising as King of Israel, as God had promised through the Prophet Samuel years before. On the way up to Jerusalem, because the road is steep, the trail uneven, and the air heavy with the heat, Jesus invites you to sit down with him under an ancient olive tree with broad branches providing shade. While resting, His eyes look off into the distance, not a distance of natural space, but a distance of time in the future. Jesus begins to explain what came just a few decades after His own death and resurrection, that being the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 CE and what happened to the surviving Jews who fled Jerusalem. Their only perceived safe place was the famous mountain fortress of Masada built by King Herod between 37 and 31 BCE. Yet, this place of refuge became their final destination as nearly 1,000 Jewish men, women, and children died a very unusual death hours before the Roman soldiers broke into the fortress. With sadness in His eyes, Jesus shares that it was after this tragic event, that the worldwide dispersion of the Jewish people began, and it wasn't for another two thousand years that the Jewish people were able to return to their own land, as the prophets foretold. In the pages of this book, Jesus is speaking personally to us through the significant events that occurred in the Judean Desert. Though they were thousands of years ago, they are timeless in their application.

Jerusalem: Walking the Trail with Jesus is the final book of the Trilogy. It is the completion of 40 stories written on biblical trails within the Land of Israel. It invites the reader into a virtual journey with Jesus into the sites where He walked, taught, and did miracles.  How can one think that they are alone in this world? How can one think that they are the creator of their own lives and destiny? We are quite fragile human beings, mortal—and very much not immortal. If one is truly a seeker regarding the origins of their life and purpose, they will find what they are looking for—a reason for living.  This discovery comes from opening your heart, first to the possibility that there is a Creator. One who created all things—from the formation of the universe, to the creation of human beings. From studying those ancient books and researching the stories with an open mind, and asking the eternal question: “God, are you real?” “Is your son, Jesus, Truly the Messiah? “He will answer you. He promises this in Scripture, “You will seek Me and find Me when you seek Me with all your heart.” (Jeremiah 29:13). This book on Jerusalem takes the reader to the ultimate purpose of “Why” Jesus came to earth. You will be with Him when He is with His disciples on the Mount of Olives, when He is gazing out over the city of Jerusalem and weeping for those in the city. As He approached Jerusalem and saw the city, He wept over it and said, “If you, even you, had only known on this day what would bring you peace…” (Luke 19:41-42). You will be with Him as He is in the Garden of Gethsemane, and His ultimate betrayal by Judas Iscariot.  You will hear Peter’s denial, just as Jesus had prophesied. Concluding with Jesus’ crucifixion and His victorious resurrection three days later. Also, included in this book is a brief story of the Holocaust and the subsequent salvation that comes from this—a homeland for the Jewish people—Israel. Can a nation truly be born in one day, as some believe was prophesied in Isaiah 66:8 regarding the returning of the Jewish people to the land promised to Abraham by God (Genesis 12:1-3; Genesis 15). These stories will stir your heart and hopefully provoke you to asking many questions and search out the Scriptures yourself. As you study, faith will increase in your heart—and truly, may it be that you are aware that “Jesus is walking the trail with you!”