Chris and I are back home… Sadly we did not get to start the dig or advance the date. As some of you know the dig was scheduled for the first part of December, but with the involvement of an ecologist things got changed to April so Chris and I hoped to convince the ecologist that there was no danger to the environment while doing advance preparations for the dig...but the war put an abrubt stop to that plan. Some people had asked me if the government was holding us up by way of the ecologist intentionally or was it just simply fate. My answer is, it was just fate, nothing more.
Thank all of you that recommended that we take some time for our families…because the last week has been so nice, just relaxing and spending time with my wife and grandchildren adjusting to the jetlag once again. I am in the midst of writing letters, updating our budget expenditures and coordinating speaking engagements.
The Archaeologist and I had met a couple of times at the site where he was doing the emergency excavation. The
name, “emergency
excavation” means nothing more than a dig conducted as a result of an accidental antiquities discovery by a construction crew but one of the
archaeologists
roles with the IAA is to do that very thing. After some small talk and interesting discussion about the site he was currently on he explained
what he knew about the problem with the ecologist wanting us to wait until April of 2009 to begin the dig. The
archaeologist was as in the dark as we were
about the reason. In-fact, the best possible reason for the delay came from a most unlikely source…a waitress in one of the only restaurants
in the small city of Arad by the name of Emmie.
Emmie had been listening to us talk about the project and began asking questions about what we could tell her. We explained that an ecologist was delaying us and we were not sure why. She said, “I bet I know why.” And of course we wanted to hear what she had to say. She then began to tell a story about how her brother was on the way back for a program in the area this time last year and how the wadi he and his girlfriend were crossing had a small stream of water flowing across the road. She said that by the time he had reached the middle of the stream it had exploded from his left side with a wall of water trapping him and his friend for six hours in the normally dry river bed. She said very matter-of-factly, “Gentlemen this is the rainy season for us and I bet he is concerned not only about the artifacts you may find but about your safety as well.” At that we all looked at each other and realized…she just may be correct.
Armed with that information and having established a great base of operations in Arad we began to pack for our return
to the US. Honestly, we were disappointed about not getting to speed up the dig date but at this point our concern is for our friend Yuval and his family. Not just him but all of Israel and the dangers they face every day. Living in that environment, a country at war, made me so thankful for the safety of my family that we take for granted here in America.
At this point, the project is still on and we at least know that we will be starting the dig in April. I am not going to push anymore for a date any sooner, apparently the Father has something in mind? This last trip was the most productive trip yet. Chris and I got a lot accomplished and made lots of arrangements for the team that will be going with us on the dig. We learned what to do with the rental equipment and what “not” to do “LIKE FORGET TO REFUEL” before taking the Budget rental car back. Wow, $25 bucks for a quarter of a tank of gas.
I will be going back out to speak about the project and already have people calling wanting me to discuss the project
at their groups. We hope to replace the money that we used so we can be at maximum status for April. The Father has been more than faithful to this date and we know all will be well when the time comes.
Thank you all so much for your prayers for our safety and success!
PS If you have not seen the video updates (which we are learning to do for the big trip) go to this address and view them. Things were changing so fast in Israel that we had to change the updates several times for the most current info. Here is the web address…
www.youtube.com/copperscrollproject
