Bound for the Promised Land

Today I'm scheduled to leave for the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, going throughChicago and on from there to Amman. Feel free to pray for me. FYI, the State Department has issued no travel warnings for Jordan.

I'm going over for the second time at  the invitation of the Jordan Tourism Board. This time our group of journalists who write for the  Catholic and Protestant press consists of a small group of ten. Perfect.

I have a profile interview to do with the provost of a seminary there who went to DTS and is a native-born Jordanian. Also I need to take some photos for my day job. I have some other writing to do for the Tapestry blog, and lots of on-site research ahead for my research and publishing life. 

We start out in Amman. About the city: After the destruction of Sodom andGomorrah, Lot's two daughters--seeing no eligible men--got their father drunk,and went on to birth a son each. One was named Moab and the otherBen-Ammi (father of the Ammonites). Their descendants inhabited parts ofpresent-day Jordan. Ruth was from Moab. And it shouldn't be difficult to figureout where the name "Amman" comes from. At one time the city of Ammanwas the city of Philadelphia, not to be confused with the one mentioned in theBook of Revelation (1:11; 3:7) or the one in Pennsylvania. Ha! 
I've pre-writtenmy blog posts for the next nine days in case I have spotty internet access. Bear in mind that I'm eight hours ahead of you. Tomorrow I'll post nothing, as I'll be en route. And I'll get on and post as I'm able. But you'll still have my itinerary flashing up every afternoon. That way youcan follow the plan, at least, and hopefully remember to pray for me--and my familyback home who will, no doubt, eat more pizza and ice cream than the FDA recommends.
On my last trip, I got sick and missed Petra. So I look forward to that. Also, this time the coordinators have also included some Women of the Bible sites and focuses on women, which I requested. So come along and enjoy vicariously.

Disclosure: The Jordan Tourism Board covered most of the expenses for this trip, though it exercises no influence over what we say/write/blog about it.

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Where Jesus Walked

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Jesus Had a Wife and Other Myths