To Run Or Fly?

“Run, John, run.

The law commands

But gives neither feet nor hands.

Better news the gospel brings;

It bids me fly and gives me wings.”

— John Bunyan

My Tall el Hammam Trip

“By the time Lot reached Zoar, the sun had risen over the land. Then the LORD rained down burning sulfur on Sodom and Gomorrah—from the LORD out of the heavens. Thus he overthrew those cities and the entire plain, destroying all those living in the cities—and also the vegetation in the land.” -Genesis 19:23-25

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We Made It

Here’s the link.

On Moving Dirt

“Jon, you moved a lot of dirt today.”

This is the daily refrain I get from my site supervisor, Gary, who I have been working with all week. Gary has been on working on Tall el-Hammam for 8 years, since the very beginning of the dig. He has been my archaeological mentor and has taught me more than I ever thought I would need to know about baulk lines, the ideal trowel size, and when NOT to use a pick to get through dirt.

These lessons have been the daily routine of my week in Jordan. It’s cool, but it’s not all that glamorous (this is why there have not been many updates since digging began).

A Typical Day

6:00 AM. My roommate, Kenny, an 18 year old high school graduate from California and I do our morning devotions together. This week we’ve picked some Psalms to go through. I’m teaching him the importance of daily Bible reading and to believe that God can speak to him personally. I believe it was Martin Luther who said that we teach best what we need to learn most. 

Kenny and I make up the entirety of the young adults group that I now lead. 

7:00 AM Breakfast buffet. They just keep filling your coffee too! 

7:30AM 40 volunteers get on a coach bus and drive off to the site.

7:45AM We load up trucks and hike 10 minutes to our digging square.

8:00AM Start moving dirt around. This part is not very sexy but can be rather tedious, slow and yet still occassionally rewarding. You really have to lower your standards from hoping to see destruction all the time to being excited to see a new wall developing. That being said, it is still quite spooky to go through a solid layer of ash and charcoal on the top of each area.

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Some Pictures So Far

Tebowing At Petra. I had to. It’s been submitted to Tebowing.com for approval.

I like this picture because that photogenic camel has some serious personality.

I swear he was winking at the camera. You decide for yourself.

It’s almost like I had the whole Dead Sea to myself. Certainly didn’t have to share it with any fish.

Today I had my first day on the dig site. Dr. Collins spent a lot of time showing some of the new people all around Tal el-Hammam. Here he is building the case for why this is the historic site of Sodom.

Having read most of his work on it and seeing the site (ash layer, skeletons and all) I am more convinced that he is right than ever. 

A Day In The Dirt

Today got cut a little short because of rain but we will do it all again tomorrow. I told the crew it’s because I’m from Vancouver (and England now) that the rain goes with me. I offered to throw myself off the Tell if it would help.

Or maybe you don’t believe that story either…

Once again I think it is worth pausing to express my thanks to God for the chance to be a part of this project. It is quite the opportunity. Sad I will only get a week to help out with the digging.

The Magic Of Floating On Water

One of the incidental parts of this trip to Jordan is that the dig site (Tal el-Hammam) is conveniently located at a five star hotel right on the Dead Sea. Since this is the winter, we got a really good deal on rooms…and with that really good deal comes really good food as well!

Today we got newbie-archaeology training in the morning and had the afternoon off to do whatever. Some people went sightseeing but I stayed back, did some schoolwork, went for a run and then watched the sun set over the Israeli mountains while floating on the Dead Sea. It felt like I had the whole Sea to myself.

That picture above is taken from the hotel resort we’re staying at.

I was laying there thinking about how weird of an experience I was having. The Dead Sea is magic. Not hokus-pokus magic, I know how the whole saline density thing works. I just think it’s amazing that over here you can float in the water.

I kept wanting to go to the physics of my experience but preferred to think about the wonder of the “Wow, this is really cool” approach. Sometimes being able to explain something takes away the magic of an experience.

This thought can be developed much more. I don’t have the time to do it nor the desire at this moment. 

All I wanted to say that it was a marvel that I could float in water here and how wish I didn’t know how it happened.

More Updates: The Middle East is just a cool place. 

Yesterday was a “get over jet-lag and wait until more team members show up” day for all the Americans and I. A bus took us to the ancient city of Petra. This is where Indiana Jones was filmed and made BBC’s “40 Places To Visit Before You Die” list. 

I sat on a camel and got a picture while Tebowing on it. I’m sure it will be available on the Internet sometime soon.

Who I’m With

It is amusing to see what kind of people sign up to volunteer at an archaeological dig. There are university professors, many retired couples, a few students, and a few six day creationists who love debating Revelation and where the Anti-Christ will come from.

It’s been insightful to talk to some of the archeologists who have been at this place for 8 seasons and hear their stories of how their findings have developed over the years.

Said one pastor with a PhD in Biblical Archaeology, “Coming here I was about 60% sure this was Sodom. Now I’m 99.999999% sure.” 

A 8 year veteran was telling the progression of their findings. “And it was the ____ year that we got to the one meter deep ash layer…And in season ______, we found the bodies…”

There are many of these stories. I’m looking forward to being on the site myself. I don’t expect to find much myself. Archaeology is slow and tedious. You actually have to tear apart the site in order to discover it. Since nobody can ever dig here after us, we have been trained to be slow and thorough.

That’s me all right, slow and thorough. Got it.

Well that’s for tomorrow’s business.

Today I floated on water and that was cool enough. 

Dabbling In Biblical Archaeology

What good is a blog if you can’t tell the world about all your crazy adventures?

The Trip

Last year at the Apologetics Canada Conference, our last speaker was Dr. Steven Collins, whose talked called, “Confirming the Bible Through Archaeology” was after lunch, at the end of a tiring week for me. I was tempted to tune out of this one or skip it altogether. Then he said something on in the introduction that I will not forget,

“All the faith of all the Christians in the world is useless if you can’t put trowel to dirt and dig up these places in the Bible.”

What followed was one of the best apologetic talks I have ever heard. Dr. Collins systematically showed why his findings in a Middle Bronze Age ancient city, north of the Dead Sea and East of the Jordan River (just like Genesis 13 states) is the site of the biblical city of Sodom.

He talked about finding a layer of ash. And pottery that was glassy on one side having been heated and cooled quickly. Then he talked about the bodies they found. Something catastrophic happened to end this city. Something so bad that no one settled on this fertile area for approximately 700 years.

I sat there riveted at the possibility that maybe these stories in the Bible are actually true. Dr. Collins gave a very convincing talk as to why this was one of the greatest archaeological findings in history. Here’s the story on Youtube. Then Collins invited people to come along and help out if they could. 

“Here am I, send me!”

Now that I’m in England, I’m much closer than I was that day, sitting in the pew at Coquitlam Alliance Church. I found a really cheap flight on Easy Jet and told Dr. Collins to save me a trowel and one of those large brimmed hats he’s always wearing. I was coming!

January 19. Tonight, that’s officially tomorrow. 

In the morning I’m taking a cab, two trains, and a cheap flight ending up at a hotel on the Dead Sea. You can expect some updates as they come. 

Agree Or Disagree?

From The Presentation Secrets Of Steve Jobs. It’s pretty good.

Would You Know A Great Young Preacher If You Saw One?

Maybe you heard or maybe you haven’t but Driscoll got himself in some trouble over here this week. He basically challenged the evangelicals of the UK to start pumping out some good preachers instead of guys who give comfortable sermons that would satisfy your grandmother’s sensibilities. I suppose he offended them a lot more than that but that was the jist of it.

I heard all about it as I’m at Wycliffe Hall, arguably the most conservative, preacher-valuing, evangelical training Colleges in the UK (or as I now call it, “Ground Zero”). You can imagine I heard a lot of grumbling when the news got out.

Now I am a Canadian, Driscoll is American and my friends here are British…I’m officially staying out of this fight, trying to be a peacekeeper. Like a UN of the blogosphere if you will.

Here is a teaser of what generated all the debate if you’re interested.

How Are Young Preachers Developed?

Let’s say the UK took Driscoll’s challenge and started all over again. How would you develop a guy that you wanted to be a good preacher? He would have to love Jesus, love people, know his Bible, be bright and have character drive all that.

The good news is that we don’t have to start all over again; I see God has been doing this for a long time now.

Last night I was at a house party with a twist. My friend Warren paused the small talk and announced that my friend, Jonathan Sherwin, was going to give his testimony. It was a bit strange given that it was a party but the fact that I’m mentioning it shows it’s effectiveness.

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4 Reasons Why You Should Trust Church OS

My brother, Matt, is in the business of helping churches. He focusses on helping churches reach their communities and serve their communities in the online frontier. He has recetnly decided to step out and go full time with his service called, Church OS. He and his coworker, Luke Cowell, have developed a system that can get a slick and easy to use website that will give churches a personalized and beautiful site both in an affordable way and in a short amount of time.

I’m writing this as a proud, older brother.

Here are four reasons why I believe you can trust his company, Church OS:

1. You need a good website. The website of your church is the new front door for any visitor. These days, before friends invite friends to your church, they invite them to your church website. A good website can both draw and hold people in your church. If it’s done well, your website will give you lots of street cred to all the work you and your people do. It will need announcements, events, pictures, blog and of course, sermons to check out. If your website isn’t up to standard, people will make assumptions about your church or simply not have all the information you want them to know. 

Here are some of the sites they’ve done so far.

2. Church secretary approved. The cool thing is that even your people-loving, IT challenged church secretary will be able to use it. It was designed with them in mind.

3. A great price. Matt has also made it very cost effective, as to allow churches and youth groups of all sizes to benefit from his development.

4. Matt is good at what he does. I’m very proud of my brother. He graduated BCIT at the top of his class and in my opinion could have landed any Vancouver based web design job he wanted. Matt recently felt called to serve churches and use his creative, technological gift to serve the church in this way. Matt’s influence is growing as he is speaking at conferences across Canada, working with Missionsfest, Historymaker and developing an impressive network of pastors through BC. He’s fun to talk to and easy to love. 

That’s what I think. I would suggest you check out Church OS for yourself.