Are you thankful for Thanksgiving? I know this sounds like a strange question, but take some time to let it sink in. I had always grown up taking Thanksgiving for granted- it was a holiday that I enjoyed and looked forward to, and a good reminder to be thankful for what we have... but being thankful for Thanksgiving? I don't think I ever was- until yesterday.
If you put yourself in my shoes for a second I think you'll understand what I mean. You've just experienced three amazing months of adventure, learning, and fellowship with fellow believers in the land of Israel... you've hardly had time to even let it all sink in, and just when you are starting to, you look at the calendar and realize you only have two and a half weeks left. But part of you is secretly excited about going back to normal life, real food, family, a regular routine, etc. You're physically and emotionally worn out, and on top of that, your diet is severely limited because you can only take so much of the bland kosher food, and the moshav has decided to serve you GIZZARD for the past week. And then comes Thanksgiving. And you walk into a beautifully decorated room complete with tables and tables of every kind of delicious, NON-KOSHER Thanksgiving food imaginable. And you glance over to the never-ending dessert table and notice the coffee- not instant Israeli coffee or disgusting Turkish coffee. Authentic coffee, complete with real cream, which you have been craving for three months. You are filled with pure delight as you take a seat next to your IBEX family and join them in meditating on Psalm 136 and God's lovingkindness... and then a wonderful silence fills the room as everyone savors each bite.
Do you get my picture now?
But that's not all. In a year from now when someone asks me to share a past Thanksgiving memory, I won't just repeat the scenario I have just described for you. I'll tell them about the Thanksgiving that I went on a hike in Adullam. That's right, Adullam, where David and his four hundred men hid out from Saul. Right after our Thanksgiving meal one of our profs took about fifteen of us to Adullam (on the Southeast corner of the Elah valley, where David fought Goliath). It was a nice, laid back non-academic field trip, and we were all excited about the amazing view of the Shephelah. We spent some time exploring some of the caves in which David could have hidden, and discussing the psalms which were written during this time. Two things especially caught my attention: the fact that God chose to start the Davidic dynasty, through which His Messiah would one day come, in such a lowly, humble place with four hundred nobodies, and the fact that fifteen goyim (Gentiles) were now worshiping God with Hebrew songs. In many of the psalms that David wrote while he was fleeing from Saul (like Ps. 57), he speaks of the glory of God coming to the goyim. Little did he know that three thousand years later, Gentiles would be worshiping in that very same land. Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good.
But of course, no Thanksgiving would be complete without Thanksgiving leftovers. And so, after the hike we all gathered into the miklat (the "bomb shelter," ie., the IBEX hangout) for Turkey sandwiches. But not just any Turkey sandwiches. These had BACON in them. And if you know anything about the Jewish diet, you know that there is absolutely no pork whatsoever.
A delicious Thanksgiving meal, a hike in Adullam, BLT's... what more can anyone ask for?
So yes, this was the year that I learned to be thankful for Thanskgiving.
The End.
Egypt is not for the faint of heart.
Egypt and Jordan are not for the faint of heart. Sure, the pyramids and ancient tombs are spectacular. Petra is breathtaking. It’s fun, it’s an adventure, everything costs about half of what it does in the States… but I wouldn’t recommend it for everyone. You may qualify if…
• You think clothes and personal belongings are overrated, and are willing to pack your life into a very small backpack which you will carry around with you all week. You don’t mind wearing the same pants and shoes all week.
• You have no real sense of time. Waiting on a crowded taxi as the taxi drivers, who are all in cahoots, yell at each other in Arabic for an hour sounds fun. You have no problem falling asleep to loud Arabic music and find the bumpy ride to be soothing.
• You love saving money. $10 for a hotel gives you a sense of satisfaction that supersedes your disappointment at the stark contrast between what the Lonely Planet guide said about the hotel and what you actually find: public bathrooms and showers, dark, smoky rooms and dirty sheets, hard beds and pillows, and a few meager breadsticks and jam in lieu of the “included breakfast” you were so excited about. And since you almost never have the time or money to eat during your trip, you don’t mind eating peanut butter and jelly sandwiches at least once a day.
• You have always secretly wanted to be a racecar driver. No, you still won’t fulfill this desire if you go to Egypt, but the crowded streets with absolutely NO lanes and no apparent speed limit will probably be the closest you’ll ever get.
• Just walking around the pyramids isn’t good enough for you. A ‘pleasant’ bumpy two-hour camel ride that your sore muscles won’t let you forget for days sounds much more appealing to you… despite the nagging feeling that you are being scammed beyond belief. And you think being proposed to (with a dowry of two camels!) by an Arab tour guide who already has four wives is hilarious.
• Crossing over crowded six “lane” streets of traffic every time you want to go anywhere- or pushing your way through dozens of Arab men to get onto an already overcrowded metro (even if it means sacrificing half of your toenail, as my roommate did) sounds thrilling to you.
• You like to use your imagination when you go to museums. This will be a very important asset for you when you walk into the Cairo museum and realize that there are hardly any labels for anything. In fact, it’s like one gigantic, two-story ancient Egyptian garage sale. And you find the idea of ancient mummified crocodiles, fish, horses, and every other kind of animal possible fascinating.
• You never liked the idea of bicycle helmets and riding on the sidewalks as a kid. Riding an old, rickety bicycle through the busy streets of Luxor, a city you have never been to before, with only a flimsy break to protect you appeals to you much more.
• You are known for your persistence. You don’t mind going to the train station not once, not twice, but five times to try to buy an overnight train ticket, and you don’t even mind when you realize that the tickets your hotel manager finally got you are to the wrong city, at the wrong time, and on a train that foreigners aren’t allowed on. You are bound and determined to get on that train, and excited when you finally do, despite the Arab officers waking you up every five minutes from your non-sleep to demand either more money or to see your ticket.
• You love trying new, unidentifiable food like “stuffed pidgeon” and “liver beans.” (No, we didn’t try these, but the Egyptian food we did try was delicious, in my humble opinion).
• Even when others tell you that you need at least four hours to see a particular site (Petra, in this case), you would much rather do it in two and a half, for the sake of getting out of Egypt, through Jordan, and back to Israel in a record time of 12 hours.
• You have never understood the concept of personal space, and don’t mind cramming five people into four already small seats in a taxi. You are creative and are able to think of a new way to rearrange yourselves every ten minutes in an attempt to find the most comfortable position.
• You are not afraid to approach strangers and ask for favors. After trying out every possible mode of transportation in Egypt and Jordan, you get back to Israel and realize that there is one you have not yet tried. So when you get to the Israeli border only to find that it will cost you about one hundred times what you have in your pocket, you have no qualms going up to a group of Israeli men and pleading with them to let you hitchhike with them to the nearest bus stop. You almost cry for joy when they agree.
If you found yourself nodding your head eagerly in affirmation to at least half of these descriptions, you should seriously consider fitting a trip to Egypt and Jordan into your life schedule. But if you are my mom or dad or anyone else reading this who probably just about had a heart attack as they pictured me living each of these experiences, you might want to keep on reading for the sake of your health. Part 2: How God protected me and blessed me every step of the way…
• I had the blessing of being accompanied by my two world travelers who just happened to be my roommates and dear friends, as well as two guys who were masters at staring down any Arab guy who tried to come close to us, and who took care of our budget the entire trip.
• As if that accompaniment weren’t enough, the Lord was pleased to provide two Egyptian friends who guided us through the massive city of Cairo and got everything we needed for about half of the price we would have had to pay. Praise the Lord that we were able to develop a precious friendship with Omnia, a nineteen year old Muslim girl whom we met through a past IBEXer, and clearly lay out the gospel for her. It was a very eye-opening experience, and we all learned a lot about Islam and the Arab culture.
• Even though sadly, most of the people we met were more concerned with emptying our wallets than with helping and welcoming us, we did meet several Egyptians and Jordanians who were sent from heaven to point us in the right direction or offer us a delicious cup of Egyptian tea, or just to smile at us when we needed it the most. We got everywhere we needed to go on time (which is a miracle in and of itself, as I’m sure you are beginning to realize), and had a great time experiencing the culture first hand. God is good.
• Etc. Etc. Etc. times one hundred. I have never been so intensely aware of how much I have to be thankful for, both at IBEX and back in the States. If this silly post has done nothing else for you, I hope it encourages you to count your blessings, as well.
• You think clothes and personal belongings are overrated, and are willing to pack your life into a very small backpack which you will carry around with you all week. You don’t mind wearing the same pants and shoes all week.
• You have no real sense of time. Waiting on a crowded taxi as the taxi drivers, who are all in cahoots, yell at each other in Arabic for an hour sounds fun. You have no problem falling asleep to loud Arabic music and find the bumpy ride to be soothing.
• You love saving money. $10 for a hotel gives you a sense of satisfaction that supersedes your disappointment at the stark contrast between what the Lonely Planet guide said about the hotel and what you actually find: public bathrooms and showers, dark, smoky rooms and dirty sheets, hard beds and pillows, and a few meager breadsticks and jam in lieu of the “included breakfast” you were so excited about. And since you almost never have the time or money to eat during your trip, you don’t mind eating peanut butter and jelly sandwiches at least once a day.
• You have always secretly wanted to be a racecar driver. No, you still won’t fulfill this desire if you go to Egypt, but the crowded streets with absolutely NO lanes and no apparent speed limit will probably be the closest you’ll ever get.
• Just walking around the pyramids isn’t good enough for you. A ‘pleasant’ bumpy two-hour camel ride that your sore muscles won’t let you forget for days sounds much more appealing to you… despite the nagging feeling that you are being scammed beyond belief. And you think being proposed to (with a dowry of two camels!) by an Arab tour guide who already has four wives is hilarious.
• Crossing over crowded six “lane” streets of traffic every time you want to go anywhere- or pushing your way through dozens of Arab men to get onto an already overcrowded metro (even if it means sacrificing half of your toenail, as my roommate did) sounds thrilling to you.
• You like to use your imagination when you go to museums. This will be a very important asset for you when you walk into the Cairo museum and realize that there are hardly any labels for anything. In fact, it’s like one gigantic, two-story ancient Egyptian garage sale. And you find the idea of ancient mummified crocodiles, fish, horses, and every other kind of animal possible fascinating.
• You never liked the idea of bicycle helmets and riding on the sidewalks as a kid. Riding an old, rickety bicycle through the busy streets of Luxor, a city you have never been to before, with only a flimsy break to protect you appeals to you much more.
• You are known for your persistence. You don’t mind going to the train station not once, not twice, but five times to try to buy an overnight train ticket, and you don’t even mind when you realize that the tickets your hotel manager finally got you are to the wrong city, at the wrong time, and on a train that foreigners aren’t allowed on. You are bound and determined to get on that train, and excited when you finally do, despite the Arab officers waking you up every five minutes from your non-sleep to demand either more money or to see your ticket.
• You love trying new, unidentifiable food like “stuffed pidgeon” and “liver beans.” (No, we didn’t try these, but the Egyptian food we did try was delicious, in my humble opinion).
• Even when others tell you that you need at least four hours to see a particular site (Petra, in this case), you would much rather do it in two and a half, for the sake of getting out of Egypt, through Jordan, and back to Israel in a record time of 12 hours.
• You have never understood the concept of personal space, and don’t mind cramming five people into four already small seats in a taxi. You are creative and are able to think of a new way to rearrange yourselves every ten minutes in an attempt to find the most comfortable position.
• You are not afraid to approach strangers and ask for favors. After trying out every possible mode of transportation in Egypt and Jordan, you get back to Israel and realize that there is one you have not yet tried. So when you get to the Israeli border only to find that it will cost you about one hundred times what you have in your pocket, you have no qualms going up to a group of Israeli men and pleading with them to let you hitchhike with them to the nearest bus stop. You almost cry for joy when they agree.
If you found yourself nodding your head eagerly in affirmation to at least half of these descriptions, you should seriously consider fitting a trip to Egypt and Jordan into your life schedule. But if you are my mom or dad or anyone else reading this who probably just about had a heart attack as they pictured me living each of these experiences, you might want to keep on reading for the sake of your health. Part 2: How God protected me and blessed me every step of the way…
• I had the blessing of being accompanied by my two world travelers who just happened to be my roommates and dear friends, as well as two guys who were masters at staring down any Arab guy who tried to come close to us, and who took care of our budget the entire trip.
• As if that accompaniment weren’t enough, the Lord was pleased to provide two Egyptian friends who guided us through the massive city of Cairo and got everything we needed for about half of the price we would have had to pay. Praise the Lord that we were able to develop a precious friendship with Omnia, a nineteen year old Muslim girl whom we met through a past IBEXer, and clearly lay out the gospel for her. It was a very eye-opening experience, and we all learned a lot about Islam and the Arab culture.
• Even though sadly, most of the people we met were more concerned with emptying our wallets than with helping and welcoming us, we did meet several Egyptians and Jordanians who were sent from heaven to point us in the right direction or offer us a delicious cup of Egyptian tea, or just to smile at us when we needed it the most. We got everywhere we needed to go on time (which is a miracle in and of itself, as I’m sure you are beginning to realize), and had a great time experiencing the culture first hand. God is good.
• Etc. Etc. Etc. times one hundred. I have never been so intensely aware of how much I have to be thankful for, both at IBEX and back in the States. If this silly post has done nothing else for you, I hope it encourages you to count your blessings, as well.
Archaeology is sanctifying.
I am having a lot of trouble writing these words. Not because I am tired (although I am), or because I can’t think of anything to say, but because I have been working for two days straight in an archaeological dig, and now I can hardly bend my fingers. To be completely honest, I had been dreading this day… I know how helpful archaeology can be for biblical studies, but I had this image in my head of bending over in the hot sun all day with a pick axe, an image which did not particularly appeal to me. I tried to have a good attitude about it, though, and was ready with my water bottle and baseball cap at 6:15am for the bus. A half hour later I found myself being ushered down an unstable wooden staircase to a narrow tunnel in the City of David, dating to the Second Temple Period (around the time of Jesus). “Oh, wow,” I thought, “This looks neat. Kind of like Indiana Jones. Maybe it won’t be so bad after all.” Next thing I knew, someone tossed me a plastic bag full of heavy rocks and dirt and told me to pass it to the next person in line. And then another. And another. “You have got to be kidding me,” I thought. This is what they’ve brought us here to do? Manual labor? I kept on tossing bags, trying to think positively: surely these bags contain dozens of pieces of potsherds and other pieces of important clues about what this tunnel might have been used for, and archaeologists will later be able to examine each piece because of our labor. But when I asked someone about this later on, I was told that no, this was just rubble that needed to be cleared out of the tunnel. Those big tractors outside were taking them to the garbage dump. Sad day.
Sometimes the job would change a little bit. Like being the first in line, and getting to play “Jenga” with an enormous pile of bags, hoping the rocks that held them down wouldn’t fall on top of you as you pulled one out and passed it to the next person. Or hauling bags up the stairs outside, and actually being able to breathe again. Or my favorite part: catching the buckets of dirt and rocks that the Arabic workers threw to you, and swinging them to the next person, who loaded them onto the tractor. And eventually we thought of creative ways to make the bag-hauling a little more entertaining. Like giving each bag a ridiculous name, or playing telephone as we passed the bags, or singing Christmas carols as we worked. Fun stuff, right?
At this point you might be wondering about my title… how on earth does sanctification relate to archaeology? Believe me: it does. For eight hours I hauled bag after bag, trying to work as a team with thirty-eight other sinners, thirty-eight of whom wanted to give their own input about how it should and should not be done, fighting my own frustration and complaining spirit, as well as dehydration and physical pain (I still have a lump on my head from hitting the ceiling of the tunnel so many times!) And I won't even mention how disgustingly filthy we all were. If all of that is not sanctifying, I don’t know what is. I had to do everything I could to replace my thoughts with Scripture and to find joy in Christ even in the midst of such a tedious job. To smile at my fellow laborers and encourage them, instead of complaining that they were going too fast or too slow. To redeem the time and engage in profitable conversation with other students I don’t get to talk to very often…And to force my aching body to get up the next morning at 5:30 to do it all over again, this time knowing exactly what I was getting myself into. But with every bag it got easier, and I can truthfully say that I not only enjoyed the experience, but profited from it. “Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ.” (Col. 3:23-24)
Besides all of this, I have a newfound respect and appreciation for archaeology, because I know how much labor goes into every project, and how tedious the work really is, no matter how exciting the final product.
Yes, friends, archaeology is sanctifying. And every other job we are given to do can be, too, if we look as it as an opportunity to serve Christ wholeheartedly.
Sometimes the job would change a little bit. Like being the first in line, and getting to play “Jenga” with an enormous pile of bags, hoping the rocks that held them down wouldn’t fall on top of you as you pulled one out and passed it to the next person. Or hauling bags up the stairs outside, and actually being able to breathe again. Or my favorite part: catching the buckets of dirt and rocks that the Arabic workers threw to you, and swinging them to the next person, who loaded them onto the tractor. And eventually we thought of creative ways to make the bag-hauling a little more entertaining. Like giving each bag a ridiculous name, or playing telephone as we passed the bags, or singing Christmas carols as we worked. Fun stuff, right?
At this point you might be wondering about my title… how on earth does sanctification relate to archaeology? Believe me: it does. For eight hours I hauled bag after bag, trying to work as a team with thirty-eight other sinners, thirty-eight of whom wanted to give their own input about how it should and should not be done, fighting my own frustration and complaining spirit, as well as dehydration and physical pain (I still have a lump on my head from hitting the ceiling of the tunnel so many times!) And I won't even mention how disgustingly filthy we all were. If all of that is not sanctifying, I don’t know what is. I had to do everything I could to replace my thoughts with Scripture and to find joy in Christ even in the midst of such a tedious job. To smile at my fellow laborers and encourage them, instead of complaining that they were going too fast or too slow. To redeem the time and engage in profitable conversation with other students I don’t get to talk to very often…And to force my aching body to get up the next morning at 5:30 to do it all over again, this time knowing exactly what I was getting myself into. But with every bag it got easier, and I can truthfully say that I not only enjoyed the experience, but profited from it. “Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ.” (Col. 3:23-24)
Besides all of this, I have a newfound respect and appreciation for archaeology, because I know how much labor goes into every project, and how tedious the work really is, no matter how exciting the final product.
Yes, friends, archaeology is sanctifying. And every other job we are given to do can be, too, if we look as it as an opportunity to serve Christ wholeheartedly.
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