The Footprints of God: Jesus the Word Became Flesh

In this 94-minute documentary film, host Steve Ray takes the audience to all the places in the Bible where Jesus Christ lived, worked, preached, and died. It's one of 10 films of a series that is unlike anything made before. "The Footprints of God" presents the story of salvation, from Abraham to Augustine with modern visuals of Biblical and ancient Church sites. Steve Ray, his wife, Janet, and a video team spent some 15 years making this series that shows the places and lands of the Bible and early Church - on the ground and from the air. The series covers more historic sites, places and lands than any person could hope to visit in dozens of trips to tour the Holy Land and the Middle East.

The lands covered stretch from Egypt, to Palestine and Israel, to Jordan and Syria, to Turkey and Greece, and to Rome. The various films include aerial scenes of the landscape and closeups of specific sites. Many digs and archaeological sites are included. Ray takes viewers to shrines, synagogues and ancient churches built over historic biblical places. The films show birth places, grave sites and tombs, caves, jails, and fortresses. Ancient ruins include pagan temples, churches, houses, harbors, and Roman aqueducts and paved roads.

The aerial photography of all the mounts mentioned in the Bible - Sinai, Tabor, Carmel, Hermon, Zion and others, gives great perspective to help visualize the Bible accounts of those places. The views above the Sea of Galilee, the Dead Sea the Jordan River, and Mediterranean help one imagine the stories from Scripture that took place there.

Ray intersperses the physical scenes with visits to crafters, fisherman, and digs, with demonstrations of the trades, produce, and travel of Biblical times. He wades in the Nile, fishes in the Lake Tiberias (Sea of Galilee), rides donkeys, camels and horses, , climbs hills on foot, and gazes from peaks over landscapes that stretch many miles. His narrative puts each place and scene in the context of the Biblical accounts.

Among the sites and places visited in this film are the birth place of Jesus in the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem and numerous sites in Jerusalem. Among these are the temple area of the Western Wall, the Way of the Cross (Via Dolorosa), the Church of the Holy Sepulcher built over Golgotha and the tomb of Christ, and the upper room of the last supper. Also, the Antonio Fortress and Herod's palace.

The trip the holy family made to near present day Cairo in Egypt is covered from the air. From Nazareth the film goes to the ruins of Sepphoris three miles away. Joseph and Jesus probably worked their multi-trades of carpentry, masonry, and building in that major Roman city and stronghold. Around the Sea of Galilee, where Jesus spent so much of his public ministry, the film visits churches, digs, uncovered synagogues and museums. Stops include the Church of the Beatitudes north of the Sea. Then the town sites of Bethsaida, Capernaum, Chorazin and the Eastern and Southern shores of the lake.

Ray travels up Mount Tabor, and visits Caesarea Philippi. Flying over and driving along the Jordan River shows where Jesus met John the Baptist. Further on, stops include Bethany where Lazarus and his sisters, Mary and Martha lived. Then, Bethphage, then the Mount of Olives, and the Garden of Gethsemane, where there are olive trees more than 2,000 years old.

Most people should find this and other films of "The Footprints of God" series interesting. I enjoy and have read many history books and historical novels in my life. I have traveled to, walked and visited many of the places in the Bible. It was on an Eastern Mediterranean cruise in 2007 to Biblical sites in Turkey, Greece and Rome that I met Steve and Janet Ray, and learned about their project. We watched part of the film they were working on at the time.

I asked about the preparation, logistics and any problems they encountered. Janet described the usual red-tape in getting approvals to fly over some areas, having to use Egyptian military helicopters for that country, and some of their hassles in travel with their extensive filming equipment. Then she told of some strange natural or mysterious things that happened during their filming. One was in the Sinai Desert filming along the route of the Exodus. Janet said they were all alone in the wild - with no sign of life and no sounds around them. They were filming Steve's narration of the desert route. But when they played it back the audio was overridden with loud noises like jack-hammers. They had to do a number of retakes over a couple of days. Later they checked and there had been no seismic disturbances during that time. Readers can surmise for themselves, but to the Rays, it seemed that there might have been something that wanted to discourage or stop them in making their documentary series on the Bible.