What’s in it for me?

So why, if I’m not making any money from accompanying these tours, do I do them?

I have to admit that, during the 24 to 48 hours before I leave on such trips, I’m almost always asking myself why on earth I do it.  I have so many other things on my plate!  I’ve had to try to write several columns before this departure, for instance, knowing that I’ll have very little opportunity or energy to do so when I’m fully underway.  Even so, this time, I’m going to need to write several more while we’re on the road.  And I’ve only just now managed — minutes ago — to submit my last class grades for the semester just completed.  And there are a thousand other things that will be difficult if not impossible to attend to while traveling abroad.

Moreover, these trips can be exhausting.  The weather will be increasingly hot as the Middle Eastern days go by.  And I often joke that my tours to Israel are a bit like the Bataan death march.  There’s so much to see that the days start early and end late, and they’re quite full in between.  Not that they’re not fascinating and enjoyable, but, I sometimes say, people will need a vacation after this vacation.

So, again, why do I do it?

I do it because places like Egypt and Israel are inexhaustibly interesting.  There’s scarcely a square foot anywhere that isnt crammed full of fascinating history.  And they’re of inestimable value, spiritually speaking.

People on our tours have heard about these places all their lives, and, in many cases, have probably seen pictures of them for decades.  These are not uncommonly places that play enormous roles in the scriptures, and, thus, in the stories that mean the very most to our groups.

I say that I’m usually wondering, just before a trip, why I do this.  When I get there, though, I thoroughly enjoy introducing our groups to places that have intrigued me since I was old enough to hear about them, places that I’ve read about and thought about and taught about all my adult life.

For a teacher, there can be no better teaching tool, no better object for “Show and Tell,” than, say, the Great Pyramid of Giza, or the cliff at Caesarea Philippi, or the Dome of the Rock, or the Holy Sepulcher, or the Garden of Gethsemane, or the Garden Tomb.

That’s why I do it.  In hastily answered form, anyway.

And now it’s time to board.