This past October Meshell and I had the opportunity to do a study tour of Israel.  It was an amazing opportunity fulfilling a lifelong dream to be able to walk where Jesus walked and dive deep into the Word of God.  During our time around the Sea of Galilee one of the places that intrigued me was Eramos Topos, which is the Greek term for “Solitary Place.”  It is an open grassy hill overlooking the Sea of Galilee.  This is the place that Jesus would go to early in the morning to pray and be with the Father. (Mark 1:35)  It was amazing to me that this grassy hill looked basically the same today as it did in Jesus’ day.  There was still no development anywhere close to this area!

It was one thing to visit these places with a group and sit and learn from a Rabbi, but I needed to visit this place alone and get some time with the Father.  Wow – just like Jesus did.  The Kibbutz (Jewish Communal Neighborhood) we were staying at was about 4 miles from Eramos Topos.  And our bus pulled out at 7am sharp every morning for a long day of hiking and studying, so it required an early morning run.  So Ryan, one of the other men on the trip, and I got up at 3am and put our camelbacks on with some water and our bibles and journals and we took off for Eramos Topos.  It was dark so we needed headlamps, but we finally found it and then went our separate ways to find a solitary place to be with the Lord and watch the sun come up over the Sea of Galilee.  One of the key spiritual lessons I have learned over the years and am still learning is:

Our First Thoughts in the morning will determine our First Love.

Are you making room in your life for love?  Are you making room in your heart for God?  Love doesn’t just happen, it must be nurtured.  When we get busy in life we have no margin left to build deep relationships especially with God.  The busier we get the more we lose heart and if we lose heart we lose love.  Let me encourage you this Christmas and New Years to join our church community in committing our First Thoughts of each day to the Lord.  Make a plan to set your alarm at least 30 minutes earlier than normal and get up and find your Eramos Topos.  Make sure to only take your paper Bible and paper journal – no electronics!  These will only be distractions.  God will honor this time if we honor Him with our First Thoughts just like Jesus did.  And finally, let me encourage you to pray Ephesians 3:14-19 for yourself, family and others.  This is a life-changing and world-changing prayer that Paul modeled for the church.  Our heavenly Father longs to fill our lives with His love and He sent Jesus to save us so that He could dwell in us bringing forth streams of abundant life.

Merry Christmas and a Blessed New Year!

Picture: taken at Eramos Topos overlooking the Sea of Galilee October 2013