dates from above, byzantine bottle opener, and a church on wheels
A title composed of three seemingly random and unrelated objects? Or a wonderful story just waiting to be explained?...
Probably the former.
On the beautiful shore of the Sea of Galilee, the green grass is lined with palm trees. It is really rather lovely. At the tops of most of these trees grow dates. Some people like to eat dates, although I myself have never eaten a date...perhaps I will someday. At any rate, I don't ever remember anyone ever having a problem with these date palm trees until this year. You see, sometimes dates fall from the trees. This year, these dates have so obviously targeted Jessica. I don't think they fall unless she's in the area, and it would seem they have conspired against her so that they plan on falling on her head whenever possible. I'm not sure how many she's gotten hit with, but it's been at least two or three. You won't believe me, but I'm pretty positive that the trees actually smile and laugh whenever she cries out in pain at the newest sore spot on her head. It's true--if you watch, you can see all the branches curve upwards which clearly gives the appearance of a grinning palm tree. I think there's a small furry palm tree creature that just sits in the trees and waits for her to get comfortable beneath them...and then...BAM! There goes the date! I wouldn't have thought it so necessary a story to share, except that I was just sitting outside about five minutes ago when beside me, from the sky flying as gracefully as any date thrown by a palm tree monster flies...I was nearly hit. At least I'm not Jessica or I might've been.
Next, the Byzantine bottle opener. My big cistern find (Cameron found gold, Kristina found a coin) was a rusted iron circle looking thing with a handle looking thing extended from it. It was clearly only part of a larger picture, but the piece was obviously (as suggested by Arny) a bottle opener. I absolutely agree. After all, if this church was indeed a woman's monastery (which is one of the theories) and if the room where Cistern D lies was indeed a holy room (which is quite probable) then it only stands to reason that one of the necessary items to keep in the room would be a device useful for opening any bottle containing a refreshing liquid. It must have been the room to entertain guests, and the cistern was right next to the styrofoam cooler.
Today we got to take a tour of the Northwest Church in Hippos which is being excavated by the Polish team. It is a very big, very beautiful church with lots and lots of mosaic floors (including three inscriptions) and several other features which made it very interesting to see. I loved the church. On the northern outside of the church, we could see all the stones used to build the wall. All lined up as the bottom row of the building were reused column drums used on their sides. The drums are huge...I think maybe 3 feet or so in diameter. So to see them all lined up, underneath the church like that...the first thought that came into my head was that the church looked like it was on wheels, and I could just imagine people trying to move the entire structure. Sure would change the meaning of house calls, I bet!
Anyways, just thought I'd share all that with you...I'm sure you're absolutely thrilled for having taken the time to read this post now.
Probably the former.
On the beautiful shore of the Sea of Galilee, the green grass is lined with palm trees. It is really rather lovely. At the tops of most of these trees grow dates. Some people like to eat dates, although I myself have never eaten a date...perhaps I will someday. At any rate, I don't ever remember anyone ever having a problem with these date palm trees until this year. You see, sometimes dates fall from the trees. This year, these dates have so obviously targeted Jessica. I don't think they fall unless she's in the area, and it would seem they have conspired against her so that they plan on falling on her head whenever possible. I'm not sure how many she's gotten hit with, but it's been at least two or three. You won't believe me, but I'm pretty positive that the trees actually smile and laugh whenever she cries out in pain at the newest sore spot on her head. It's true--if you watch, you can see all the branches curve upwards which clearly gives the appearance of a grinning palm tree. I think there's a small furry palm tree creature that just sits in the trees and waits for her to get comfortable beneath them...and then...BAM! There goes the date! I wouldn't have thought it so necessary a story to share, except that I was just sitting outside about five minutes ago when beside me, from the sky flying as gracefully as any date thrown by a palm tree monster flies...I was nearly hit. At least I'm not Jessica or I might've been.
Next, the Byzantine bottle opener. My big cistern find (Cameron found gold, Kristina found a coin) was a rusted iron circle looking thing with a handle looking thing extended from it. It was clearly only part of a larger picture, but the piece was obviously (as suggested by Arny) a bottle opener. I absolutely agree. After all, if this church was indeed a woman's monastery (which is one of the theories) and if the room where Cistern D lies was indeed a holy room (which is quite probable) then it only stands to reason that one of the necessary items to keep in the room would be a device useful for opening any bottle containing a refreshing liquid. It must have been the room to entertain guests, and the cistern was right next to the styrofoam cooler.
Today we got to take a tour of the Northwest Church in Hippos which is being excavated by the Polish team. It is a very big, very beautiful church with lots and lots of mosaic floors (including three inscriptions) and several other features which made it very interesting to see. I loved the church. On the northern outside of the church, we could see all the stones used to build the wall. All lined up as the bottom row of the building were reused column drums used on their sides. The drums are huge...I think maybe 3 feet or so in diameter. So to see them all lined up, underneath the church like that...the first thought that came into my head was that the church looked like it was on wheels, and I could just imagine people trying to move the entire structure. Sure would change the meaning of house calls, I bet!
Anyways, just thought I'd share all that with you...I'm sure you're absolutely thrilled for having taken the time to read this post now.
1 Comments:
At 8:04 PM, kathleen said…
After reading all these date comments the past week or so, I've been wondering if the story in Scripture about Jesus withering up the fig tree wasn't a mistranslation. Maybe Our Lord was just frustrated at some grinning date tree that kept hitting him with dates. Hum? Ask Dr. Schuler to get out the Greek and see.
Andrea, you don't know me, but I love your blog...tell everyone I love theirs, too. It's a great way to witness to your faith (and stamina)!
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