Out of Egypt-June 7, 2006

Hello All,

I think I'm getting my days mixed up. I thought today was June 8th but the Office Manager at the Hotel Business Office just informed me that it's the 7th of June. I guess that's what happens when there is an 8 hour time difference and the temperature is 130 degrees...that's what it was today!

This week we are in Luxor--tomorrow we fly to the North African City of Alexandria. I'm really looking forward to it. Some of you Biblical Scholars may be familiar with church theologians such as Tertullian and Augustine, well, they were from Alexandria. Also, I've done quite a bit of study on a couple of women martyrs...Perpetua and Felicitas, who were also from Alexandria. Being able to actually visit this city is icing on the cake.

You know gang, I forgot to tell you all about two sites we visited on the first day we were in Cairo.

First, we visited a church called 'The Church of the Holy Family." It is believed this was the place Mary and Joseph fled with Jesus when Pilate was after him.

Inside the church--in the basement, there is a room called the Crypt of the Holy Family. This place is considered sacred and not many people are allowed inside--it is the actual location where they hid from Pilate. Well wouldn't you know the day of our visit--May 30th, was the actual day they believed Jesus arrived with his parents in Cairo, consequently they were having a worship service at the church on the day we were there.

After the service, our group of 23 Seminarians, Scholars, and Theologians were allowed to visit the Crypt. Talk about walking on Holy Ground!! Our tour guide told us that in his 12 years of taking groups to this particular church, we were the first group they have allowed inside the Crypt.

The second place we visit was the Ben-Ezra Jewish Synagogue. This site was built over the place where the baby Moses ended up after his sister sent him down river to escape Pharaohs edict...and where the daughter of Pharaoh drew him out of the water.

So as you can see or shall I say, "as you can read" I've had the unique opportunity to now have mental pictures when I read, study, teach, and preach about some of the biblical narratives, particularly, those occurring in Egypt.

Blessings,

P.S. Oh, I almost forgot, today we had to have a Police escort to Abydos where we visited the Temple of Isis. The reason for the Police escort was that several years ago some tourists were murdered leaving Luxor, so now, whenever a tour group leaves Luxor to visit one of the surrounding cities on a tour, it has to be done by Police escort.

One thing happened that was really funny. I left the group to go to the bathroom, and decided to go to an internet cafe and then return to the bus, well, I was escorted by an Armed Police officer--he didn't go to the bathroom with me, but he sat down right behind me while I checked e-mails and then walked me back to the bus...so I guess I'm well protected.

Peace