David's Notes

Christmas In Bethlehem

2010-12-25T12:33:00.003-06:00

Merry Christmas Everyone!

I trust you have a blessed day today (Jesus' Birthday) as we celebrate the day upon which all of history hinges. This is the first Christmas in 35 years that I have ever missed with my family, but they understand as duty called me to help an archaeological team excavate the very place where not only did God make his covenant with Abraham that through his seed the "families of the earth' would be blessed, but it is also the place where he came with Lot to give him his choice of dwelling places when Lot chose "the well-watered plains of the Jordan (river", which included the city of Sodom (Tal el-Hammam). I am not digging there this year with the team, but am assisting Dr. Scott Stripling as a "square supervisor" at the dig at Kahirbet el-Maqatir (Joshua's Ai). I will post pictures and videos of the dig and our time this year in Israel, which should be of interest to those who study Biblical history.

2010-11-07T01:44:00.001-05:00

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Summer Shots 2010 to Fourth of July

2010-07-03T19:38:00.004-05:00

Happy Fourth of July everyone, as we celebrate the FREEDOM we have as Americans, and the individual FREEDOM we have in Christ our Lord, who said, "You shall know the Truth, and the Truth will set you FREE" (Jn. 8:32).

The pictures in the Smilebox below are recent shots during the first part of this Summer 2010, as we took Hollis on his first trip to Florida, to DisneyWord, Daytona and a quickie 2-night cruise to the Bahamas. A short trip but loads of fun. Oh yeah ... we stopped in New Orleans (the Big Easy) for a day on the way, seeing the French Quarter and the World War II Memorial. Hope you enjoy it. I'll try not to take so long until the next post.

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2009--A Year of Contrasts: "Kirschkes' Year in Review"

2010-02-27T04:11:00.009-06:00

Last year (2009) was a tough one, with Jen and I both losing our dear Mothers, both named "Dorothy." We also lost my ex-brother-in-law (but really, not "ex-anything," for he remained a good friend to the end, which is why he chose to live the last year of his life here). I'll try to post 3 links here, the first photos of 2009 in Review, secondly, a memorial to Gramma Dorothy (my Mom), then a memorial to Jen's Mom, and finally the Memorial to Garry Kirschman.

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[NOTE: The Memorial to "Gramma" Dorothy can be seen my clicking on the lower right box under the month of May in the media item above. I'll try to make another external link later]

The Memorial to Dorothy Kauffman, Jennifer's mother, will be posted here shortly, as will the Memorial to Garry Kirschman.

Garry and I were friends before I met my first wife, and remained friends after she deserted the family almost 16 years ago. He could have hard feelings about that, but our relationship went deeper than his relationship with his own "flesh and blood," which reminds me of what Jesus said, "Those who do the will of my Father--these are my brothers and sisters and mothers."

Before cancer could take his life, Garry truly wanted to restore old friendships in the Family of God and wanted to be with his true, spiritual family, who loved him, clothed and fed him (so to speak), paid his bills, and met his needs in general the last year of his life, according to 1 Jn. 3:17-19:

"If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him? Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth. This then is how we know that we belong to the truth, and how we set our hearts at rest in his presence."

While some (even relatives) thought Garry was a dreamer and a bit "off," LifeWay Christian Community aided in restoring his relationship with his children and gave dignity to his life, and gave him a place at the table of God. One of his favorite songs of mine, which he, as a great musician and bass-player, helped me record in the studio had this refrain, "Don't Turn Your Back on Your Brother, My Friend; We're in together until the end---Until the Day we just begin, To share God's love forever." That day finally came for Garry, and we will miss him---his enthusiasm for life, his excitement about new discoveries, his sarcastic humor and the transparency of his human short-comings, making way for the grace of God to uplift and make him a better friend, brother and father. A little bit of Garry will always stay with us all.

Comparing Early-Middle Bronze Age Sites to Tal el-Hammam (ancient Sodom)

2010-01-08T19:56:00.006-06:00

Today was a free day, yet most of the team decided to take a little venture about 50 km outside of Amman to two sites that date back to Early Bronze and Roman-Byzantine times: The first was Khirbet Iskander (pix below), previously thought to be the only fortified IBA (Intermediate Bronze Age-2340-2000 BC) city in Jordan, which of course we now know is not true.

Tal el-Hammam, where we're excavating, is much bigger during this IBA (and Early Bronze to Iron Age), which means both history books and maps are now being re-written to fit the new discovered facts gleaned from the research of Dr. Steve Collins (Project Director) and his team. The Tal el-Hammam project has incidentally been joined by the Jordanian Dept. of Antiquities as a joint-project, which is good, not only for cooperation of the Jordanian government, but to possibly insure an extension on the license (which has only 3 more seasons left). The site is so large it could easily take another 10 seasons of excavation.

The second site we visited was Dhiban (biblical Dibon). The value of these sites was to be able to compare features, such as Early Bronze Age walls and City Gate, with the same items being excavating at Hammam. They are the same, and corroborate findings and theories postulated at Hammam (common features of that day confirming distinct time periods and chronology of building, etc.).

Although I am only a volunteer and not an expert on the archaeology of these periods and their Biblical implications, which I have to leave to our Dr. Scott Stripling (biblical archaeologist extraordinare), I can provide elementary knowledge and have provided a chat feature if you would like to ask about this expedition. Sign in (with Skype) below to use this chat feature (assuming I'm "online" at the same time):

David Kirschke in Jordan hosted by davidkirschke.

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Day in Decapolis Cities--Jerash & Gadera

2010-01-02T15:02:00.011-06:00

Yesterday we went to two of the cities of the ancient Decapolis (10 city confederation in ancient Middle East), where Jesus sent his disciples (and visited Himself). In the region of the Gadarenes (near the Sea of Galilee) we went to Gadera, where he delivered the man who lived in the cave (photo at rt) in the graveyard from demons, who went into the swine and over the cliff (Mark 5). We found the cave in the graveyard where he lived and stood at the cliff where the swine went over (and don't say "someone had deviled ham that day" -lol). Photo to the left shows me in front of the cliff with the Sea of Galilee in the background.

Then we went to Jerash (below), one of the largest of the cities of the Decapolis.

Today in Amman (ancient Philadelphia) we saw the 3,000-year-old wall still standing from when King David took the city, having Uriah the Hittite killed so he could be with his wife, Bathsheba. This all really makes the Bible come alive with new meaning. I'll keep everyone posted here with new material & photos.

Videos from the Middle East (Jordan)

2009-12-09T03:50:00.003-06:00

Thought you might like to see some videos from Jordan as Dr. Scott Stripling and I went on an archaeological trip, digging for the ancient city of Sodom. It includes a day trip to the once-lost city of Petra (site of "Indiana Jones & the Last Crusade"), floating in the Dead Sea and some local sites. Coming will be a video retracing the steps of John the Baptist, from his baptism of Jesus in the Jordan River along the "King's Highway" to Herod's fortress, called "Macherus," where John the Baptist was beheaded by Herod Antipas. These were taken two years ago ... new video will be forthcoming from this year's trip from Dec. 28 to the middle of January, 2010.

Muslim Extremism and Obama's Christian Faith

2009-11-23T10:40:00.002-06:00

Featured on the Media (not just Fox Network) has been a call for people to understand the dangers of Muslim Extremism. This movie documentary "Obsession" which is featured in the previous post (below) and is free to see, is a "must see." Also, for a short introductory video (3 min) on the Muslim Extremist Mentality, check out this interview on Al-Jazeera TV with Arab-American Psychologist Wafa Sultan, who brings a purely objective view (she is not a Christian) posted on my website at www.kirschkes.com/videos/muslim_mentality_exposed_web.mov - Hopefully, any reviewers of "Blogger" will let this stay posted, if they are truly concerned about Truth more than "political correctness." By the way, Obama is NOT a Muslim nor a Muslim-sympathizer (www.youtube.com/watch?v=iQqIpdBOg6I)---I have seen the video of his personal testimony of receiving Christ as His Lord and Savior (see one of many of his testimonials at www.youtube.com/watch?v=myQx7JKM0ns). He may be a liberal, but he professes to be a Christian. As Conservatives (I'm NOT part of the "religious RIGHT"), we don't need to "lie" to make our point, right? Let Truth Prevail! Good viewing ... (Comments Welcome)

Watch 'Obsession' Free this Thanksgiving

2009-11-23T10:39:00.001-06:00

European Notes

2009-07-12T19:37:00.001-05:00

Easter Blessings

2009-04-11T00:57:00.002-05:00

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Return from "Temple Mount" Archaeological project in Israel

2009-01-27T02:50:00.004-06:00

Hi, Everyone!

Well, the Holidays are over (we made it through them-ha), the children are back in college and public school, and we're engaged fully in the agenda for the new year---2009! How did it get here so quickly? It seems only yesterday that we were celebrating the new millennium. Anyway ... it's been so long since I made a post that it seems like I've been on a Sabbatical -ha! I'll try not to neglect this post again for so long again. Actually, I just returned from Israel, going there on an archaeological expedition the day after Christmas. In the next few posts (or on my website) I will post some pictures and videos of this trip I made with archaeologist Dr. Scott Stripling (an elder in our church), which involved sifting through the archaeological debris from the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. During the couple weeks we also got to visit Caesarea, Capernaeum and the Sea of Galilee, Megiddo, Masada, Jericho, Q'umram and other Biblical sites. I have video of it all (ha), narrated by Scott, who, as an historian, biblical archaeologist, and tour guide there many times before around Israel, gave a detailed historical and Biblical narrative to it all which made these places "come alive." You will find these videos very informative. I met with an old Bible school buddy who pastors there on Mt. Zion in Jerusalem, and stayed with another friend, who was a past President Ariel Sharon's body guard, before he converted to Christianity and became a pastor. Look for more to be added about this eventful trip in the next week or two (as I have time to edit the video). Thanks for checking in! (Tennis fans: Notice my widget of the Australian Open in the right column.)

GRATEFULNESS

2008-09-28T01:18:00.012-05:00

The Bible is very clear through multitudinous Scriptures to the fact that God requires GRATEFULNESS. We are to give thanks in all things---good and bad---if we believe that God is sovereign and working through them all (Rom. 8:28). The failure to do that is one of the characteristics of those who have fallen from the working of the grace of God in their lives, and is noted in Romans 1: "For although they knew God, they neither glorified Him as God NOR GAVE THANKS to Him, but their thinking became futile, and their foolish hearts were darkened." (Rom. 1:21)

Mark Twain said, "You can take in a stray dog, feed him and cause him to prosper, and he will not bite you. This is the fundamental difference between men and dogs."

April Fools Day - "No Foolin' Around"

2008-04-01T23:49:00.005-05:00

I was going to post some quotes on the power (and value) of words. But before that ... since this is "April Fools Day," I thought I would give a few quotes about FOOLS from the wisest man that ever lived ... plus a few other Scriptures. This should cause all "gainsayers" to re-evaluate the essence of their spoken (and written) words, which have the "power of life and death." You can view them at www.lifeway.org/special/mouth_of_fools.htm AND http://www.lifeway.org/special/slander.htm.

Supplemental Scritures: "Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God" (Mt. 4:4) AND "Holding fast the faithful word as he hath been taught, that he may be able by sound doctrine both to exhort and to convince the gainsayers" (Tit. 1:9)