I remember it like it was yesterday. I was in Rome, Italy. January 20, 1977. The day Jimmy Carter was inaugurated President. I was a 2o year old college student studying abroad. That may sound a bit Ivy League, but it really wasn’t all that. I signed up for a Jan-Term archaeology course at Samford University that included a three week trip to Israel and Italy. “Studying abroad” just sounds cooler.
Our class spent two weeks in Israel seeing the sights and visiting archaeological digs .(Basically, we visited what other people had dug. Interesting, but not really National Geographic material. We were, however, housed in the cold attic of a three hundred year old church. That was cool.) I enjoyed the trip very much. Just being in the land that Abraham claimed, that David ruled, and that Jesus walked was inspiring enough. But we got to visit places that regular tourists couldn’t even see. It was an exhilarating adventure. I thought about Jesus every single day. It was quite a spiritual romp for a twenty year old.
One day in Jerusalem was especially memorable. We were strolling through the Valley of Hinnom, on the southeastern side of Jerusalem, just outside the ancient wall. It is a beautiful municipal park now, but in the time of Jesus it was Jerusalem’s garbage dump. No kidding. In Jesus’ day it was called Gehenna, where there was always garbage burning and dead animals smouldering and swelling in the hot sun. Imagine the stench!
