Christmas In Bethlehem

Merry Christmas Everyone!

I trust you have a blessed day today (Jesus' Birthday) as we celebrate the day upon which all of history hinges. This is the first Christmas in 35 years that I have ever missed with my family, but they understand as duty called me to help an archaeological team excavate the very place where not only did God make his covenant with Abraham that through his seed the "families of the earth' would be blessed, but it is also the place where he came with Lot to give him his choice of dwelling places when Lot chose "the well-watered plains of the Jordan (river", which included the city of Sodom (Tal el-Hammam). I am not digging there this year with the team, but am assisting Dr. Scott Stripling as a "square supervisor" at the dig at Kahirbet el-Maqatir (Joshua's Ai). I will post pictures and videos of the dig and our time this year in Israel, which should be of interest to those who study Biblical history.

Sorry, this video cannot be embedded.

Summer Shots 2010 to Fourth of July

Happy Fourth of July everyone, as we celebrate the FREEDOM we have as Americans, and the individual FREEDOM we have in Christ our Lord, who said, "You shall know the Truth, and the Truth will set you FREE" (Jn. 8:32).

The pictures in the Smilebox below are recent shots during the first part of this Summer 2010, as we took Hollis on his first trip to Florida, to DisneyWord, Daytona and a quickie 2-night cruise to the Bahamas. A short trip but loads of fun. Oh yeah ... we stopped in New Orleans (the Big Easy) for a day on the way, seeing the French Quarter and the World War II Memorial. Hope you enjoy it. I'll try not to take so long until the next post.

Customize a slideshow design

2009--A Year of Contrasts: "Kirschkes' Year in Review"

Last year (2009) was a tough one, with Jen and I both losing our dear Mothers, both named "Dorothy." We also lost my ex-brother-in-law (but really, not "ex-anything," for he remained a good friend to the end, which is why he chose to live the last year of his life here). I'll try to post 3 links here, the first photos of 2009 in Review, secondly, a memorial to Gramma Dorothy (my Mom), then a memorial to Jen's Mom, and finally the Memorial to Garry Kirschman.

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

[NOTE: The Memorial to "Gramma" Dorothy can be seen my clicking on the lower right box under the month of May in the media item above. I'll try to make another external link later]

The Memorial to Dorothy Kauffman, Jennifer's mother, will be posted here shortly, as will the Memorial to Garry Kirschman.

Garry and I were friends before I met my first wife, and remained friends after she deserted the family almost 16 years ago. He could have hard feelings about that, but our relationship went deeper than his relationship with his own "flesh and blood," which reminds me of what Jesus said, "Those who do the will of my Father--these are my brothers and sisters and mothers."

Before cancer could take his life, Garry truly wanted to restore old friendships in the Family of God and wanted to be with his true, spiritual family, who loved him, clothed and fed him (so to speak), paid his bills, and met his needs in general the last year of his life, according to 1 Jn. 3:17-19:

"If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him? Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth. This then is how we know that we belong to the truth, and how we set our hearts at rest in his presence."

While some (even relatives) thought Garry was a dreamer and a bit "off," LifeWay Christian Community aided in restoring his relationship with his children and gave dignity to his life, and gave him a place at the table of God. One of his favorite songs of mine, which he, as a great musician and bass-player, helped me record in the studio had this refrain, "Don't Turn Your Back on Your Brother, My Friend; We're in together until the end---Until the Day we just begin, To share God's love forever." That day finally came for Garry, and we will miss him---his enthusiasm for life, his excitement about new discoveries, his sarcastic humor and the transparency of his human short-comings, making way for the grace of God to uplift and make him a better friend, brother and father. A little bit of Garry will always stay with us all.

Comparing Early-Middle Bronze Age Sites to Tal el-Hammam (ancient Sodom)

Today was a free day, yet most of the team decided to take a little venture about 50 km outside of Amman to two sites that date back to Early Bronze and Roman-Byzantine times: The first was Khirbet Iskander (pix below), previously thought to be the only fortified IBA (Intermediate Bronze Age-2340-2000 BC) city in Jordan, which of course we now know is not true.

Tal el-Hammam, where we're excavating, is much bigger during this IBA (and Early Bronze to Iron Age), which means both history books and maps are now being re-written to fit the new discovered facts gleaned from the research of Dr. Steve Collins (Project Director) and his team. The Tal el-Hammam project has incidentally been joined by the Jordanian Dept. of Antiquities as a joint-project, which is good, not only for cooperation of the Jordanian government, but to possibly insure an extension on the license (which has only 3 more seasons left). The site is so large it could easily take another 10 seasons of excavation.

The second site we visited was Dhiban (biblical Dibon). The value of these sites was to be able to compare features, such as Early Bronze Age walls and City Gate, with the same items being excavating at Hammam. They are the same, and corroborate findings and theories postulated at Hammam (common features of that day confirming distinct time periods and chronology of building, etc.).

Although I am only a volunteer and not an expert on the archaeology of these periods and their Biblical implications, which I have to leave to our Dr. Scott Stripling (biblical archaeologist extraordinare), I can provide elementary knowledge and have provided a chat feature if you would like to ask about this expedition. Sign in (with Skype) below to use this chat feature (assuming I'm "online" at the same time):

David Kirschke in Jordan hosted by davidkirschke.

Join now

---

Chat about what's on your mind. More about public chats.

Day in Decapolis Cities--Jerash & Gadera

Yesterday we went to two of the cities of the ancient Decapolis (10 city confederation in ancient Middle East), where Jesus sent his disciples (and visited Himself). In the region of the Gadarenes (near the Sea of Galilee) we went to Gadera, where he delivered the man who lived in the cave (photo at rt) in the graveyard from demons, who went into the swine and over the cliff (Mark 5). We found the cave in the graveyard where he lived and stood at the cliff where the swine went over (and don't say "someone had deviled ham that day" -lol). Photo to the left shows me in front of the cliff with the Sea of Galilee in the background.

Then we went to Jerash (below), one of the largest of the cities of the Decapolis.














Today in Amman (ancient Philadelphia) we saw the 3,000-year-old wall still standing from when King David took the city, having Uriah the Hittite killed so he could be with his wife, Bathsheba. This all really makes the Bible come alive with new meaning. I'll keep everyone posted here with new material & photos.