My God is SO much bigger than that!

The picture directly above is one of me holding a teeny weeny little Philistine god from back in the BC days. The top picture is me sitting at the entrance to a tomb that would've been similar to one that Jesus would've been buried in. But wait a minute, I'm getting ahead of myself...

So, I am back on campus, and let me just say that it feels so good to be home! Fall break was very productive and relaxing. I accomplished much, including an extra credit paper that isn't due until December, but it was nice to get that done while the information is fresh in my head. I did some fun stuff too, don't just think it was all work. I took one of my brothers and my sister to see High School Musical 3 for their birthday. I have to say that it was well worth it. If you don't like anything else in that movie, you have to like the choreography. It is simply amazing!

This week has been rather busy for just getting back on campus. Class started off in full swing this week with Dr. George Guthrie coming to us from Union University to teach on the topic of the New Testament. Just like I enjoyed our last professor teaching the Old Testament, it was equally as interesting to hear this professor lecture on the New Testament. I took away so much information this week, including filling out a packet of 100 pages of notes during our 9 hours of class time. I especially loved all the Jewish history that he packed into this time with us. He talked a lot about what the traditions are for the Jews, and especially how understanding these traditions can help us better understand certain phrases in the Bible and even Jesus' parables.

All this class time was brought to an end when we visited a place called Explorations in Antiquity last night (http://www.explorationsinantiquity.net/). Here we ate dinner in the traditional Jewish style complete with food and decor relevant for the time period. This meal was supposed to represent a traditional Passover feast. Some of my classmates got so into the occasion that they dressed up in bed sheets to mimic the attire of the day! That was a lot of fun to see. :) After eating an incredible spread of salad, chicken, lentil soup, tortillas with hummus, artichoke dip and apple sauce, and various fruits and nuts, we headed outside to go through life size structures of different objects you would find in Bible days. Such things included a tent like Abraham would have made out of goat hair, a well where Rachel would've drawn water from, a tomb that would have been similar to where Jesus was buried, catacombs where Christian's would meet in secret when Christianity was illegal, a cross similar to the one Jesus would've died on, an actual size oil press, and a model town such as where Joseph and Mary would've been when Jesus was born. It was so incredible to walk through all this and really see what "Bible days" life would've been like. While being at EiA, we got to see some ancient artifacts found over in the Holy Land, such as broken pieces of pottery, an oil lamp, and the tiny god that you see me holding above. After seeing this, one girl declared, "oh, my God is SO much bigger than that!" How perfect!

Philippians 2:14-17

"Do everything without complaining or arguing, so that you may become blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a crooked and depraved generation, in which you shine like stars in the universe 16as you hold out the word of life—in order that I may boast on the day of Christ that I did not run or labor for nothing."