Today was a day of contrasts. Our trip to the nature preserve at Banias was filled with the striking beauty of the God of Creation. The Greeks once used this site for the veneration of the god Pan. Along the steep cliffs are niches which held ancient altars offering devotion to the divine beings we associate with mythology. This area was prized for its springs which form the head waters of the Jordan River. Clear, pure water cascades down from the mountain. Along the stream beds are centuries old flour mills and other vestiges of civilizations now past. We walked under a bridge built by the Romans – constructed well enough that modern traffic passes overhead! Herod’s son Philip had his palace here at the time of Jesus. It was in this region where Peter is recorded in scripture has first having made the “good confession” that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the Living God.

This picturesque and pastoral setting is located in the territory that was seized by Israel in the 1967 war. Syrian land mines surround the park. Near the waterfall pictured today is also this memorial to an Israeli soldier who died during the war when his vehicle was forced off the precipice in fierce fighting.

Following a delightful lunch, that included a first taste of falafels for many in our group, we continued our trek passing through more land that was formally Syrian and is now a part of talks for peace. We stopped to observe another contradiction. Fertile orchards loaded with the ripening fruit of olives, cherries, citrus, and apples surround the ruins of a Syrian city laid waste in the 1967 war. Behind us on the hill was large military installation peering across the Syrian boarder, probing with electronic eyes to make certain they will not be caught unprepared, as they were in the Yom Kipper war in 1973. The United Nations maintains a presence at this location, supervising the “disengagement treaty” patrolling along a ½ mile wide strip of land that currently separates the two powers. It is the only passable border entry point between the two countries and only the Druze (a secret religious sect that has members in Syria, Lebanon and Israel) and members of the United Nations military can legally cross. We passed numerous military installations that were bustling with activity. The threat of war is a constant companion in daily life for people who live in the Land called Holy.

The tensions run high between the cultures. Neither has much trust, in many cases, much use for the other. At lunch today, a Jewish woman “cut into” our line while we where getting food and the person running the cash register said “Jews, I just can’t stand the Jews.” Yesterday, in a conversation with a young Jewish woman, she expressed to me her understanding that the obstacles to peace where that “the Palestinians don’t just want the land, they want all of us off of it.”

If there is to be peace here in the future, it appears to me to require more than simple human effort. It will have to be a “God thing” to be total and long lasting. Contrasts indeed – These are beautiful people in a beautiful land – and along side of them, centuries of ugly and violent feelings toward one another.

Some demons require much prayer to be exorcised, says Jesus.