As this New Year approaches I am preparing for an incredible opportunity and I am reflecting on a past opportunity that I most certainly did not see as an opportunity at the time. In 2005 I served as an infantry Marine in the Al Anbar Province of Iraq. 2005 proved to be a life changing year for me and after my battalion suffered the loss of 48 Marines and Navy Corpsman I was forever changed. What I failed to recognize at the time was ancient beauty that surrounded me. Whenever we set ourselves into a defensive posture along the Euphrates I always felt drawn to the ancient ruins along the river banks taking scenic pictures like the one above. In 2012 I resigned from my job and began taking classes in seminary. This endeavor was a calling back to the military but as I began my education I found the depth of the rabbits hole quite daunting. I began with my study of Hebrew and then the Old Testament. During my studies I became fascinated with how the most horrible year of my life opened my heart and mind to the Christian texts. This year I registered to take part in a travel seminar to Israel. When I completed my fall semester this past month I finally had a chance to take in the opportunity before me. Not only was I about to take the opportunity of a lifetime and see the Holy Land but I had already been to a land that was a very deep part of the story. Although there is still great debate many scholars believe that Iraq is the location where the garden of Eden existed. Most scholars believe that the location was in the vicinity of Mesopotamia or Arabia. Now, I am not bold enough to say that I walked in the garden. Certainly that wouldn't be theologically accurate because the angel guarding the garden would never have let me into the gate. I would say that I have had the opportunity to take in the type of landscape that the writer of Genesis referred to as well as the desolation east of the garden. Even if one is to argue that Iraq is not the location of Eden it is the land from which Abraham originated and traveled. This list goes on, but Iraq is significant as a starting place for the story.
It was only this past month that I finally realized that I would have a rare life experience. I will have been given the rare opportunity to see the land of the beginning and the land where the story within our texts ends. The cradle of civilization, the Temple of Solomon, and the grave of Jesus Christ. I am excited, overwhelmed, and overjoyed. Not only do I get the opportunity to see these lands but I get the opportunity to see it's people. The dialogue between Muslim, Christian, and Jew have been a recurring issues that has fascinated me since before I began my studies at seminary.
As I begin my travels I plan to study the texts and exegete what they communicate to me in the lands I travel and the people I with whom I will interact. I will do my best to reflect honestly and openly with the intention to not only share my own thoughts and insights but invite other's as well.
Grace and Peace as Christmas comes to a close and we enter into the Epiphany Season!
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