En Gedi/Massada

Today we hit the southern area around the Dead Sea and were introduced via J.K.'s teaching to the Hebrew word - matsad - it means stronghold. It is the word used to describe the cliffs and caves of En Gedi when David and his men were on the run from Saul and his enemies. It also where the word Massada comes from where Herod built this incredible fortress/winter palace with incredible views to the Dead Sea. The point J.K made was a great one: David's stronghold physically was at En Gedi, but his real stronghold (same Hebrew word) he reveals in Psalm 27:1 - "the Lord is the stronghold of my life of whom shall I be afraid!" Is is possible that David wrote this Psalm in the very caves I walked below today? What is your stronghold? Very inspirational stuff! We also saw two animals at En Gedi you can see only here: Ibex and Hyrex (also called conies and rock badgers). The Ibex is a deer like animal, but the males have long horns...and the Hyrex is kinda like a rabbit. They are mentioned in Deuteronomy 14:4&7..pretty cool. I can't seem to download pictures on this site right now, so I'll try and post some on my twitter account @bakerpastor Shalom!