On Thursday, March 2, 2000, we had a normal day of classes. Dinner was in the miklat, but I didn’t have much to eat, so I went ahead and opened up the kauppa. After I finished packing, I closed up the email room and headed to the reception area to wait for our bus.

Excitement was in the air. Our bus arrived around 7:30pm Thursday, and we all piled onboard and headed to Tel Aviv. We waited there a while, then rode some more until we arrived at the Egyptian border. There, we had to disembark the bus to go through customs and immigration. This took about three hours in the middle of the night.

Our journey followed the same basic path that Jesus and his family took long ago. “And Joseph arose and took the child and his mother by night and departed to Egypt and remained there until the death of Herod. This was to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet, ‘Out of Egypt I called my son'” (Matthew 2:14-15).

Early Friday morning, March 3, 2000, our team of five arrived in Cairo. We were advised to use Misr Travel at the Sheraton Hotel as our travel agent to purchase our return bus tickets back into Israel. The travel agent wouldn’t be open for a while still, so after getting some Egyptian pounds from the money changer, we headed to the railway station to book the next leg of our journey.

At the train station, we requested train tickets to Luxor. Unfortunately, they said none were available. Eventually, we learned that we could buy tickets to Aswan, so we all agreed to do that and just reverse our itinerary. We would visit the same sites as planned, but would travel down to Aswan first, then stop at Luxor on our way back. Once this was taken care of, we headed back to Misr Travel at the Sheraton. On our way, we picked up some honey danish for breakfast.

With train and bus tickets in hand, we were finally free to do some exploring. First, we walked east toward Tahrir Square. We rested in the Hilton Mall, waiting for restaurants to open. After some food at KFC, we bumped into Kevin and Kris’ team, who had arranged a ride to see the pyramids for only 1 pound each. They allowed us to tag along.

By around 2pm, we were heading toward to the pyramids. I caught my first glimpse as we rode down the streets of Cairo. Several miles before we reached Giza, they appeared quite suddenly, towering over other buildings. Seeing them in contrast to the city gave me a better perspective. They are an awesome sight and really are as big as you imagine them.

Before we visited the pyramids, our driver took us to a papyrus museum. Several team members bought stuff. They had a nice display and it was all very interesting, but I couldn’t help feeling like this was a tourist trap.

On to the pyramids! We stopped just outside the park. Before we knew what was happening, we were whisked away to the top floor of an old building. It seemed we were snookered into buying some sort of “special” package plan, which had some nice features but used up a lot of our team money that we had budgeted for the week.

After a nice view and some group photos, we headed back downstairs and mounted horses and camels. I had a nice horse on the way out to the pyramids, then rode a camel on the way back afterwards.

We rode for a short time, then stopped at the Sphinx. It’s one of those places that you see in pictures and feels surreal to view in real life. The Sphinx was cut out of a single piece of bedrock at the same time the pyramids were constructed. Instead of quarrying this particular chunk of limestone, they decided to carve it into a Sphinx (lion body with probably the face of Pharaoh Chephren.) The Sphinx was covered by sand for generations and rediscovered in 1926.

Next we visited one of the great pyramids of Giza. These pyramids date back to the Fourth Dynasty (1575-2465 BC) and have remained largely unchanged for 4,000 years. The Eerdman’s Bible Dictionary says that “Under the Fourth Dynasty, Egypt’s architectural achievements reached their zenith, producing the Great Pyramid of Khufu (Cheops) at Gizeh and those of Khafre… and Mycerinus.” It’s amazing to think Joseph and Moses once admired these same structures.

Mycerinus is the pyramid we were able to enter. It’s only half the size of Cheops or Khafre, but still almost 220 feet high. The inside was not a pleasant experience. Steep, simple, sweltering, and smelly. Too many tourists in too small of a space. We didn’t stay more than a couple minutes, and there wasn’t much to see, but it was still incredible to be inside one of the great pyramids. Before leaving, we added our own human pyramid to the sands of Cairo.

As we headed back to the stables, we had an argument with our “guides” who began demanding more baksheesh. We refused to give more than 5 pounds extra. We realized how easy it was to be taken advantage of, and what we could expect to experience the rest of the week. A good, but painful, costly lesson.

Dinner that night was at Pizza Hut. We weren’t taking any chances with local food that might make us sick.

The food was good, plus we had a beautiful sunset view of the pyramids and caught a glimpse of a laser show they project onto the pyramids at night.

After dinner, we took a local bus back to the Sheraton hotel. We washed up, walked across the Nile again, and took a taxi to Ramses Station — this time for only 4 pounds. We boarded our train and slept much of the night. Overall, it was a comfortable ride.

Next stop, Aswan — 540 miles south along the Nile.

25 years ago, I had the privilege of traveling to Israel and Egypt for a semester through the Master’s College IBEX program. To celebrate the 25th anniversary, I’m sharing highlights from my journal, emails, and photos. Feel free to share your own IBEX memories here as well!

March 1, 2000. A hearty “Shalom” from Eretz Israel! I’ve been pretty busy these last few days wrapping up some assignments and studying for two tests: Jewish Thought & Culture, and Land & the Bible. Maybe you’re asking what’s next on our agenda. Well, tomorrow, I’m on my way to Egypt for six days!

Thursday night begins our travel/study break, and at least twenty students are spending our free week in Egypt. We’re splitting up into small groups, and mine will have a total of five people — Deanna Wisner, Rachel Wahl, Lisa Tefft, Bryan Vaughn, and myself. I’ve got a good group, and I’m looking forward to some serious cross-culture adventure. We got together earlier tonight to discuss final logistics and pray together. I’m very thankful we took this time to “set the tone.”

We plan to take the night bus to Cairo tomorrow, then ride the train to Luxor on Friday night. We’ll spend a couple days in Luxor, visiting all the temples and museums, before continuing further south to Aswan on Monday. From there, we’ll take a train all the way back up to Cairo, spend a day there, then a bus back to Jerusalem. It should be an intense (and very tiring) week of touring, so please pray for our safety, discretion, patience, and unity.

We’ve had two orientation meetings with Todd Bolen and were handed a field guide to help get the most out of the trip. We also went over several instructions, since we won’t have any teachers or tour guides with us. We were advised…

• Don’t drink the water
• Don’t swim in the Nile
• Travel light and dress modestly
• Stay together – but have girls stand in line for tickets
• Don’t take your group for granted. Groups need good leaders. Try hard to accommodate one another’s needs.
• Be careful. There are dangerous people around. Keep a low profile and don’t take unnecessary risks.
• Make a money pool to share expenses.
• Spend a few extra pounds. Eat well. Don’t skip a good site because of money. It may not be worth fighting about to negotiate. Take extra money with you.
• Don’t steal!!!

We’ll all be dog tired, since we only have 2-3 nights the whole week where we are in a hotel and not travelling. The hotels themselves probably won’t be too pleasant. What’s more, we hear that Egyptian travelers often get sick from the food, and anything but bottled water is off-limits altogether. Hey, it sounds like I’ll be in the Philippines again! All these inconveniences aside, I’m sure it will be a fun trip.

Well, I must be going now. Congratulations to everyone who has been willing to read my adventures this far. You have the endurance of an IBEXer climbing Tel Maon! ~Because of Him, Stephen

25 years ago, I had the privilege of traveling to Israel for a semester through the Master’s College IBEX program. To celebrate the 25th anniversary, I’m sharing highlights from my journal, emails, and photos. Feel free to share your own IBEX memories here as well!

February 27, 2000. On Sunday, IBEX went on a day-long archaeological dig that was awesome!

Most digs require slow, methodical, gentle digging techniques that take months, even years to complete. However, we took part in a project that was much less painstaking. Rather than excavating a tel, or something like that, we were actually underground, in a cave system along the Shephelah (lowlands) which dates back to the Hasmonean period (second century BC). There are literally thousands of caves throughout this region.

Our job was simply to clear out debris: lots of rocks, dirt, and a plethora of pottery. These caves were originally dug beneath local homes, like basements, to contain cisterns, baths, pigeon columbariums (where they raised pigeons for sacrificial purposes), and other interesting things. After the second Jewish revolt, however, the underground systems were filled in with whatever junk the locals could get their hands on. So now, it’s basically a treasure hunt to excavate these caves; they’re chock-full of interesting finds.

I personally found a whole jug handle and a pottery rim, while another girl found a bronze bracelet, and someone else found an ancient mug/cup almost completely intact! Other caves in the area average twenty feet high, but we were in a largely unexcavated cave, so the ceiling was still only 4-5 feet overhead. Even as the day progressed, more tunnels and storage rooms became apparent below us.

After our work was done, some of us curiously crawled through one of the side-tunnels, to see what was beyond. Surprisingly, it led to a staircase that took us to a room below. This far down, there was no dirt or rock to contend with, so we were free to look around. What I saw was simply incredible: a large vault with several connecting tunnels, and in the middle, a millstone and olive press dating back 2000 years!

No longer was I Stephen Jones, but Indiana Jones. I took one step toward the olive press to examine it closer, only to realize the floor was unfinished. Next thing I knew, I was plummeting downward into a dark pit! I reached my arm out to grasp a protruding rock, but it, too, gave way by the sheer force of my momentum. Seconds later (though it seemed like an eternity), I slammed against the floor of the cave, pausing a moment to regain my senses. As I peered up out of the abyss, I could only faintly see the rays of my friends’ flashlights overhead. It looked like I was at least 20 feet below the rest of my group! I mustered enough strength to yell out, but suddenly felt something slither across my hand…

Okay. I admit. That last paragraph was completely made up. Everything I said up to the olive press and millstone was true, but I got a little carried away at that point. Don’t worry! Everything’s fine! I didn’t fall, nor was I bitten by that imaginary snake! Really, no embellishment is necessary to communicate how cool this underground vault was.

Unfortunately, it was time for lunch, and the group was calling us back out, so we weren’t able to go any further into the adjoining tunnels. I heard that some others went, though, and that it took nearly an hour to navigate all of them!

After lunch, the whole group was taken through some fully excavated caves that contained vaults, baths, staircases and a millstone similar to what we saw.

25 years ago, I had the privilege of traveling to Israel for a semester through the Master’s College IBEX program. To celebrate the 25th anniversary, I’m sharing highlights from my journal, emails, and photos. Feel free to share your own IBEX memories here as well!

Over the last month, I’ve been meeting with some friends and going through Christianity Explored. It’s an evangelistic Bible study that takes the reader through the Gospel of Mark to examine the claims of Jesus.

Tonight, we came to the topic of the cross. Mark 10:45 says that Jesus gave his life as a “ransom” for many. We discussed what this means, and how Christ was our substitute, taking God’s punishment on himself for our sin. I asked if they now believe this, and they said yes!

One of them testified “Jesus must be on the cross to show his power.” The other said with amazement, “It is so beautiful.” I explained there are several reasons God chose the cross as the place of sacrifice. First, it was a painful way to die, which illustrated the horror of suffering for sin. Second, it was a public way to die, which made it impossible to deny he had been executed. It was the talk of the town, and everyone knew what had happened (Luke 24:18; Acts 26:26). Third, the Jews considered it a curse to hang on a tree, and this was fitting for the one who would be our curse-bearer (Deuteronomy 21:23; Galatians 3:13).

This family has been devouring the Bible over the last several weeks. One of them has already finished reading the entire Bible and is now going back through to review it again! They are living testimony to the words of Jesus, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied” (Matthew 5:6)