Up, Up and Away

 

I am getting ready to leave on Wednesday for my archaeological dig in Jordan.  We are excavating in the Jordan River Valley at a site called Tall el-Hammam, that might be Abel Shittim from Moses’ time and maybe Sodom from Abraham’s time.  I  am grateful that my wife gets to go with me!  We will be staying in the 5-star Movenpick Dead Sea Resort and Spa – one of the reasons I go on this particular dig!  This is our 4th season at this site and we really enjoy the time (and the January/February weather in the Jordan River Valley!).

I got into archaeology as a pastor in the 1980’s, as a way to understand the people of the Bible better.  My studies at and graduation from  Baltimore Hebrew University, in the 1990’s, gave me the training I needed and the Associates for Biblical Research gave me the opportunity to use my training out in the field. 

The value of archaeology for me is how it illuminates the Bible and brings the stories to life.  It has strengthened my personal spiritual understanding and walk.  Here at Helping Up Mission, the guys love to see my photographs of what we have been doing and I will try to give them regular updates while I am gone.  Hopefully we can get some of them on as blogs, too.

Sincerely,

Pastor Gary Byers

Spiritual Life Director

PS  you can read an article and see some photographs from our dig site that has just been posted this month at the Associates for Biblical Research’s website (www.BibleArchaeology.org).  The article is listed on the homepage under “What’s New” – Tall el-Hammam: A Personal Perspective.