Some pictures (if this works)

Us on the Nile River

Ramesses II (what's left of him!) It used to stand almost 70 feet tall and weighed up to 1000 tons.

The Sphinx

Pyramids at Giza

Days 1-3

Hello from Egypt! It's been an absolutely amazing few days already. Things are going very well and we have already learned much about the greatness of the God we serve and His story about bringing Shalom. Right now, we're in Luxor (Upper--or southern-- Egypt), and i'm struggling with an arabic keyboard with sticking keys. But anyway, we're doing well. We have much to tell you and it probaly won't all fit in this post. PLEASE CONTINUE TO PRAY FOR US AND OUR CREW as the evil one (jerk!) is doing whatever he can to try to derail and distract.

Day 1 -- Egypt Museum where the Merneptah Stele sits, along with many of the artifacts from King Tut's tomb. From there, to the pyramids and the sphinx. For the egyptians, the stones were their scripture--that is, they tell the story; they communicate a system. More on that later.

Days 2, 3--Luxor (we flew from Cairo to Luxor after our day 1 activities). We visited several Egyptian Temples here (Karnak, Hatshepsut, Ramesseum {ever read the poem "Ozymandius"?}, Medinet Habu, Hathor Temple) and the worker (slave) camp of Deir al Medina. People sought peace, prosperity, and power from their gods and their pharaoh, but there was a pricetag to all that and it brought chaos to many others. God chose to pull his people out to teach them a new belief system--one by which people sought peace and order (the opposite of chaos) from God, and also passed it on to those who were deep in chaos. Anyway, we have lots of things to share, but they can't really be communicated in such a short time and space. We love you all, and continue to covet your prayers.

Last post State-side

He is risen!
He is risen indeed!

Later today we take off for the Middle East. We are excited, of course, but also a little sad to see our boys head out with Grandma and Grandpa. Please continue to pray for us. We have faith that this will be an amazing experience, but there are several things that aren't going to be easy about it, and there are alot of administrative things that need to come together along the way. The verse after the two that I quoted a couple posts ago goes like this: "Your clothes did not wear out and your feet did not swell during these forty years years." In a way, we pray that same thing for us over the next three weeks--that all the little (and not-so-little) things that can distract from what God is teaching us are minimized or nullified even to a miraculous extent. Thank you for praying for us.

The Trip approaches!

We are super excited about this opportunity! Please pray for us, our group, our leader, and all things administrative. Please also pray for our boys and our parents.

Why this title?

Remember how the LORD your God led you all the way in the desert these forty years, to humble you and to test you in order to know what was in your heart, whether or not you would keep His commands. He humbled you, causing you to hunger and then feeding you with manna, which neither you nor your fathers had known, to teach you that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD.
-Deuteronomy 8:2-3