Episode 1. Be Still & Know that I am God
One of the things that Jesus did a lot of – was to steal away and spend time with His father. Alone. Over and over again. Join Berni Dymet – as photographer Ken Duncan shares his experiences of …
From time to time I’ve been known to do some really stupid things and today is one of them. I had this brilliant idea, there’s a guy called Ken Duncan and he’s just a gifted photographer. He travels all around the world taking pictures that, well they just blow your mind. He published a book not so long ago, 200 pages of beautiful photography, it’s called “Where Jesus Walked” and it’s the places where, quite literally, Jesus walked.
Now Berni thinks to himself, ‘wouldn’t it be great to get Ken on the program to talk about some of those places’ so we organised that. And then when I was preparing I realised my stupidity. We’re doing pictures on radio. So I’m sitting here looking at pictures that you can’t see. I am such an incredible genius. So what we’re going to do is each day open up the picture that Ken is talking about, I’m going to hold it up to the mike so you can see it too, what do you reckon Ken?
Ken: Well that’s a novel approach.
Berni: I’ve been really taken with this book, ”Where Jesus Walked”. It’s sort of a sense of wonder at being transported to places that, well Jesus walked. Is that why you did it?
Ken: Well to me it’s very important to understand where Jesus came from because there’s always a link between people and where they live. So I’ve heard of all the stories from the Bible and you know they all have great meaning to me. I was a Christian before I went there but I just had to find out where He walked and so it adds a whole new dimension to your relationship, for me anyhow, to God because it puts things into perspective. Like when Jesus went from Bethlehem to Jerusalem, how close is it?
Also you find out some of the things that happened in these areas, why they would happen because you understand the customs and the traditions as well. So, for me, I believe when there’s someone as powerful as Jesus has walked in a place He leaves a footprint spiritually and at times on that journey I sort of ran into that, you know you could just feel His presence so strongly you thought, ‘He was definitely here’, so it was great for me.
Berni: You’re going to join us each day on the program this week and today we’re going to talk about Mount Arbel. Now it’s not exactly that well known is it?
Ken: No, Mount Arbel’s one of the highest mountains near the Sea of Galilee and actually from the top of it you look right over the whole Sea of Galilee. And the way I got there is I was actually in Capernaum which is an area Jesus spent a lot of time and I was in one of the synagogues there which Jesus would have definitely been in and it was great to be there and I could feel His presence. But I just said, ‘Lord, I’d really love to go to a place that hasn’t changed.’ I just felt an inkling to look off to the right and I looked off and I saw that mountain, Mount Arbel. And it was a steep-cliffed mountain and I just felt Him say, ‘I was there’. And so I thought, ‘right, that’s it, I’m going off to that mountain.’
So I got up there the next morning for a sunrise and to get there I had to catch a taxi and go a huge way to get there. And I finally climbed up in the dark to get ready for sunrise. And as the sun came up, and it was coming up over the Sea of Galilee, I was just amazed. I just thought, ‘my goodness, you know, I can feel as if Jesus would have spent time here because it was very close to where He lived, the highest point around here. He would have spent time there praying and He would have been able to see the boats out on the Sea of Galilee. And then while I was sitting there I just thought, ‘how did you get here? Man you wouldn’t….
Berni: He didn’t have a taxi right?
Ken: He didn’t have a taxi, he’d have to walk a long way because there was a sheer sort of cliff in front of me. And then just as I’m thinking that all of a sudden this shepherd came up through this little gap in front of me, with his sheep. And he came up and I’m thinking, ‘man, how did you get up here? Can your sheep climb or something?’ and he said, ‘oh no, there’s an ancient shepherd path that comes up through from the Sea of Galilee and it goes off and it’s before the time of Christ.’ And I thought, ‘God, you’re just so incredible!’ and I thought, ‘Lord, you’ve just shown me how you got here.’ And that area hasn’t changed and you know, there’s no tourists there, at sunrise definitely.
Berni: Well that’s pretty good because a lot of these places you go to in Israel, it’s just, they’re tourist traps right?
Ken: Yeah!
Berni: With lots of people.
Ken: And so this place, I just sat there and watched the sunrise and even the Lord provided a shepherd with his sheep coming in front of me. How good is God? You know Jesus is so true and faithful to us.
Berni: A lot of the pictures you see on television and in the news of Israel, it doesn’t look a very nice place. But when I look at this picture here in this book that you’ve done of Mount Arbel, it is just stunning. I mean the sunrise is just gorgeous looking over the Sea of Galilee and the colours, it’s an awesome thing.
Ken: Look, in life you’re always have busyness but you’ve got to stop and be still and in that stillness, that’s when you sense the presence of God. And you know, look really, the trouble is with a lot of tourists when they go to Israel, they’re on this program and it’s like, ‘in the bus, woop, off we go.’ What they’ve got to learn to do is stop, and not be driven by the tour operator and begin to sense, ‘okay Lord, where were you? What’s happening now?’
I’ve spent a lot of time with a fisherman there on the Sea of Galilee and mate, they haven’t changed much at all in all the years because here they are, we’re cooking fish on the little fire, that they’ve just caught fresh out of the sea, you know St Peter’s fish. And if you spend time to get to know them, they’re quite funny people. They’re real rogues too, you know. One of the guys name was Armon which means ‘St Peters fish’, you know…
Berni: Okay.
Ken: …so, just incredible people but you have to spend the time to get to know them.
Berni: Well, I mean Jesus had a busy schedule didn’t he? They were always wanting to, the crowds were following Him and He was being chased down and hounded down and He did this. He pulled away. He drew away and He spent time with His Father, quietly and presumably in places like this…
Ken: Yeah.
Berni: … that were beautiful and stunning and peaceful and we have the same problem don’t we? I guess you have a really shocking schedule from time to time, doing the stuff you do and I do and we all do and we just need to get away and spend some time with the Lord.
Ken: Yes, I think that’s why God made me a landscape photographer because, you know, my natural inclination is to get caught up in things.
Berni: Yeah.
Ken: So with landscape photography, I’ve got to stop and wait. And I sometimes think that is why God keeps me waiting so long because He longs to spend some time with me. So I go ‘okay Lord, I’m stuck here so what are we going to talk about today?’ So… but I love that because it gives me a chance to clear my mind, to clear my ‘in-tray’ because unfortunately in life our in-tray just keeps getting piled up, piled up and in the end we’re no longer driving, we’re being driven by the in-tray.
Berni: So when you’re in these remote places you don’t take your satellite dish and your email? You get away from that?
Ken: No I actually turn a lot of those things off every now and then. Like, people try and email me and I go missing in action for a couple of weeks because I think it’s very healthy just to be out of contact every now and then. And people need to deal with that because we’ve become so accessible, here you are in the middle of nowhere with a cell phone. I mean that can just spoil the whole thing, you know.
Berni: It’s an awesome book and people can get a hold of it where? Have you got a website?
Ken: I have a website, www.kenduncan.com
Berni: Okay, that’s really cool. It is an awesome book; we’re going to spend the rest of this week talking about it. If you take your mind back to Mount Arbel, how would you sum it up in just a few sentences? What impression did that place leave on you?
Ken: Very intimate, it’s like, I felt like Jesus was sitting right beside me and I had the opportunity to watch a sunrise with Jesus because His presence was so strong, in that place, and I knew without a doubt, that He had sat in that same spot. In my spirit I just knew it. And I just thought, ‘Lord, you just love us so much to share these things.’ I mean, just for Him to show me that, you know that’s how intimate Jesus can be.
People say to me, ‘well, how come you’re a Christian?’ I’m saying ‘man, how come you’re not?’ You can have intimate relationship with Jesus, you know, this is what I love about it and for Him to, and He cares about everything, our littlest things, for Him to show me that was just like ‘here son, this is just for you. I’d like to show you one of my special spots where I prayed, where I spent time talking to my Father.’ So that’s, you know, I just left that place on a high.
Berni: Listen, that’s fantastic and thank you for that. Tomorrow you’re going to join us again on the program and we’re going to another mountain, you’re obviously into mountains, we’re going to another mountain where Jesus gave that well known Sermon on the Mount. I’m really looking forward to that.
Ken: That’s a great place too.
Comments
John Dohnt
Thankyou very much for your teaching on the Word of God Berni, very inspirational and uplifting. God Bless your ministry.