JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. (BP) – Davis Bigelow considers archeology a possible career choice. He didn’t consider a trip to Israel in late February with a group from Carson-Newman University as something that would put him in demand for news interviews.
“It’s not my focus right now, my life plan,” he told Baptist Press of archeology. “But I definitely wanted to go to a dig to see how I felt about it. And personally, I really enjoyed it.”
There’s a lot to juxtapose within that statement. Not many digs are cut short because of a missile attack. Few include over 40 trips to a bomb shelter three stories underground in a 48-hour span. They don’t typically bring a bus ride of escape through the Sinai.
And this was Bigelow’s introduction. Talk about a first impression.
Marshall King, C-N assistant professor of Biblical Studies, led the trip and wrote about the experience. On Thursday, Feb. 26, the group was at Hyrcania, a fortress near the Dead Sea that Herod enlarged. John the Baptist may have been held prisoner there. Herod’s son was executed there. It eventually became a monastery for Christian pilgrims.
Per Israeli custom, there would be no digging on Friday or Saturday, so those are days for sightseeing. On Friday the group visited the Qumran cliffs, location of the Dead Sea scrolls, and floated in the Dead Sea. On Saturday, they were minutes from arriving at the Sea of Galilee when alarms blared simultaneously on their phones.
The U.S. and Israel had launched missiles toward Iran. An anticipated response commanded they seek shelter.
Saturday and Sunday would be spent going back-and-forth between their rooms and a bomb shelter room labeled “Jericho.” Despite the inherent danger of the situation, Bigelow felt “pretty safe” considering he was there with Dr. King, C-N Board chair and pastor Bill Hild, and even his mom, who wanted to go on the trip. Not a bad group to ride out a situation like that.
“Dr. King and Pastor Hild are very experienced,” said Bigelow. “They’ve been to Israel many times and gone through situations like this. So, they were straightforward and talked to us honestly, like adults. They did a really good job of keeping us at ease.”
Israel is a popular place to visit, and the group was hardly the only one looking for a flight home.
“Once we got to the Egyptian border, we have to get off the bus and go through customs on foot,” Bigelow said. “There’s a massive line to get our passports handled and about halfway through, Dr. King keeps looking back behind us. There’s an older gentleman standing there. Dr. King eventually goes up to him and says that he looks very familiar.”
It was former SBC President Ed Litton, there with another group.
“We got to talk to him for a while. He was super-friendly, and it was nice to see a familiar face,” Bigelow said.
The group’s return to Tennessee prompted an outpouring of thanks.
“We are thrilled to have this incredible group back home in East Tennessee,” said Carson-Newman President Charles Fowler. “These students exhibited an unbelievable level of maturity. We are grateful, as well, for the leadership that helped navigate, via bus, van and five airports, getting them home safely. So many people, both friends of Carson-Newman and some who had never heard of our school, had a hand in assisting in their return. We are also grateful for the many prayers and support we have received in the last several days.”
Although the trip’s plans collapsed from the first missile launch, it led to a lot of deep conversations in the bomb shelter, on the bus and while floating in the Dead Sea while waiting to pass into Egypt. King’s commentary used archeology as a metaphor for growing in faith, pointing out that the best material was beneath the collapse.
“We kind of had to go through these other things – the missiles and getting out of the country. But once we got through that, we got to know each other better. We saw some sites in Egypt like the Great Pyramids,” said Bigelow. “Really invaluable things.”
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