Many years back at our joint college planning meeting, we agreed to add more Bible curriculum classes to our catalog. I love to learn, so I volunteered to develop and teach Biblical Archaeology.
Several months later, a retired Biblical Archaeologist came to visit the community where I lived, accompanying the sister of our college director. Robert (Bob) Allen had spent ten years journeying through thirty-nine European nations, including seven years in the Middle East and Israel without returning to the U.S. During that time, he collected enough artifacts to establish and fill ten-rooms in the Prewitt-Allen Archaeological Museum in Corban (Baptist) College in Salem, Oregon.
Our college director suggested I tell Bob I was creating a class.
“Don’t you dare,” I said, embarrassed for him to know I had so little to work with. Of course, she did tell him. Bob asked to see my materials. Instead of laughing, he asked if he could send us books, slides, replica artifacts, and several genuine originals. I told him we would be grateful.
The day came when his large insured box arrived by mail. His preceding letter had explained what would be inside. At mid-morning school break, I gathered our elementary, junior high, high school, and college students together. They crowded around as I knelt and undid the wrappings to lift out the treasures inside. Our favorites were the two-thousand-year-old earthenware oil lamps small enough to hold in a hand, like those in the Matthew 25 Parable of the Ten Virgins.
History came alive for me that day and I’ve never forgotten it!
I studied and taught an introductory course evenings so our neighboring communities could also attend, and many did. Next, Bob donated $3,000 to our college if I would go to Israel and volunteer at several Bible archaeology sites to learn hands-on and come back even better prepared to teach the subject he loved.
My 36 day trip was so wonderful, I worked summers after that to send myself eight more times, all the while accumulating notes and experiences. Through the years others have asked me for tips and guidelines for their own travels to learn Israel from the inside out. Now that material and best stories have grown into my book, A Traveling Grandma’s Guide to Israel: Adventures, Wit, and Wisdom, which will release in about a month. Stay tuned! I’ll share more information as details finalize.
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