An interesting Find-Epilougue

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Every day since his fathers death, Daniel regretted ignoring the daily phone calls from his dad. He was in his parents old house, digging through the items not scorched by the fire. He reached down in the ashes and pulled out a journal his father had kept. A few hours later Daniel stood shaking and weeping in the local church waiting to talk to somebody, anybody. The pastor finally came out. Daniel looked at the pastor, held up the journal and said, "I want faith like this. I want to see my father again someday." The pastor explained the same things to Daniel that were explained to his father by David. Daniel cried out to God for forgiveness. He repented and put his faith and trust in Jesus that day. When he went home to his wife she was ecstatic. She had come to Christ through talking with Daniel's dad but could not get her husband to budge. Finally he had seen the light and was born again. That was not the only good news that day. They were to have a son. They would name him Job.

It turns out the journal that had belonged to Daniel's father was a very interesting find. Maybe this story has been an interesting find for you. Perhaps it has encouraged you to persevere through a trial. We can't throw Jesus to the side during tough times, the Bible promises we will have them. We stick with Jesus because by His blood our names are written in the Book of Life. Maybe you will share the Gospel more freely than you would have before because you now realize the urgency of the message. It's super important to share our faith because people die at a rate of 150,000 every day. Some of these people are our friends and family who need to know the truth. Some are strangers who need Jesus and don't know why. They think Jesus is for people who need happiness not righteousness. Will you tell them about the Jesus in the Bible and not the worldly Jesus? You could be their interesting find. If you are unsaved and came across this, I hope you see the need for repentance and trust in Jesus because the story explained what sin actually is, transgression of God's Law. I thank you guys for sticking with the story. Job was completely surrendered to God. As you can see, many amazing things can happen through one surrendered life. Will you be that surrendered life today?

An Interesting Find-Entry 10

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Just left Emelia's funeral. Many people were there. Daniel didn't show up. Claimed he was mad at God. Last I had checked he did not believe in God. O well, at least he acknowledges His existence. I told her it was too late to go to the market. I wish she would have just stayed home that night. My friends all think I'm crazy that I still keep my faith in God and that I go to church. I told them when I repented and trusted in Jesus, I didn't do it for things to go right in my life. I did it because I saw my sins as exceedingly sinful and my conscience spurred my need for forgiveness. I told them that Jesus is the only way to Heaven and I wont trade that relationship because of some hard times. Like Job said,

"Naked I came from my mother's womb,
and naked I will depart.
The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away;
may the name of the LORD be praised."

My friends don't get it but I will keep praying for them. We don't have much time here and I always want to be ready to go when I die or when Jesus comes back. I am thankful for all the time that I have. I hope to use it wisely by sharing my faith and being obedient to the Lord. It is difficult to consider this trial pure joy but I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. I can't wait to see my wife again in Heaven one day. I need to call my son.

An Interesting Find-Entry 9

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Haven't had much time to write. Been out street witnessing and going to church with my wife Emelia now for several months. She is super excited about my salvation. It's opened doors to talk about Jesus with my son, Daniel who is now 20 years old. I've gotten to talk with his wife some too. She is seeming to understand. I hope he "gets it" one of these days. He's seen too many people claim to be Christians but have no fruit of salvation. At least I planted the seed with him like David did for me. Hopefully someone will water that seed like the sheriff in the airport did with me. I know God will make it grow. I've been growing in my walk with the Lord lately. I've read the whole Bible and I've read the book of Job several times since I've been saved. Job's story sure does seem to match up with the journal we found overseas. The University won't see it. The last thing they want is to admit that they found something that proves the Bible. Poor Eli. I think about him all the time. If only he knew what I know now. I need to make sure I keep telling people the truth about Jesus. He's not some life enhancing genie in the sky like I thought for all those years. He was God in flesh and He took the punishment for the sins of the world upon Himself as the perfect sacrifice. There could have been no other way. I know that it all worked out for Job in his book but the important part was the in between. That was the part where he praised and followed God even through the hard times. I know bad things can happen to me and my family. Jesus said that in this world we will have trouble. I do take heart that He has overcome the world. I hope I can always rely on Jesus and be like Job in those times when they come.

An Interesting Find-Entry 8

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Well there was nothing more to find out there. Headed home to the see family. Talked with a very nice ex-sheriff at the airport today when I landed in D.C. He had just got in from L.A. and was on his way to Baltimore. We talked for a bit. He reaffirmed what my friend Dave had told me. He told me that my sins separated me from God and that Jesus took my sins upon Himself on the cross. I at least knew what sins I had committed after talking with David so this guy made a lot of sense. It was different hearing this from someone besides a friend or family member. He said to start reading my bible. He says that with my being an Archaeologist, I will be amazed at how discoveries prove, not disprove the Bible. I can't believe that all this time I've been in a profession that consistently proves the Book I never believed in. He said it's the same with Scientists. Crazy. What's more crazy is that I was crying in the airport. My wife will never believe it. She will also never believe that I repented and put my faith and trust in Christ after talking with this stranger in passing. I don't even know how to tell her after all I've put her through as believing wife married to me, an unbelieving husband. I can't wait to talk to her! I should have called her about the journal we found anyway. At the time I didn't want to talk Bible with her. Now it's all I can think to talk with her about. She's been faithfully praying for me and trying to tell me all of these things for over 20 years.

An Interesting Find-Entry 7

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Very bad news today. I don't even know where to begin so I'll just say it. Eli was killed in a terrorist attack at our hotel. He was only in his late 20's. If what my friend David said is correct, Eli is not going to Heaven. I know he had never repented and put his trust in Jesus because we have been talking about things of that nature. Eli believed there was a God but belief is not enough. David made sense when he told me that belief in a parachute won't save you if you jumped from a plane. Only putting it on and using it will save you. All of this has really made me consider how short that life really is. It's like David said, "We need to make the most of the few and meaningless days that we pass through like a shadow while we are here." As angry as he made me a few days ago, I can't get this need for repentance and forgiveness out of my head. My conscience is really driving me crazy since we found out about Eli. We truly can't live like we want and then hope we have time to decide to live for God at the end. We never know when we are going to die.

An Interesting Find-Entry 6

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Waiting for Eli to show up from the hotel. Its a bit of a drive but I thought he would have been here by now. He's always late. Spoke with David today. David is a Christian and normally he is just like my mom with the "Jesus loves you" stuff. But today he kind of made me angry. He asked if I felt I was a good person and if I was familiar with the 10 Commandments. I told him I was a good person. I mean, I've never killed anyone. He told me that according to the Bible hate is like murder and that God will judge our thought life too. He also said that all liars will have their part in the lake of fire and that that thieves and adulterers will not inherit the Kingdom of God. I adamantly told him that I never cheated on my wife. He told me that Jesus considers a lustful look to be the same as adultery in the eyes of God. All this fear mongering and talk of Hell is not what I wanted to hear. Still, I am guilty of all those things. If what he says is true I could be in big trouble if I were to die today. At least the conversation ended good. Dave mentioned that it sounded like I had found Job's journal but he kind of laughed off the thought. I will have to look up Job in my Bible when I get home if I can find it. He also informed me that the word dinosaur wasn't invented until the 1800's. No wonder that exact word is not in Daves "Good Book" there. He prayed for me and told me he loved me and missed me. Speaking of missing someone, I had better call Eli.

An Interesting Find-Entry 5

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Eli is feeling better today. He's very leery of the hummus though. He's still not able to return to work. We did, however, manage to get a bit more of the journal translated from a helpful local who wandered by the site. From what he gathered the man in the journal was cursing the day he was born. There were also many pages of the man listening to his friends' advice. It was hard to tell because these pages were majorly damaged. The most interesting thing the local noted was the mention of a Leviathan. Wonder what that could be? A hippo? Elephant? Dinosaur?? If this is indeed something biblical that wouldn't fit, would it? I thought the Bible didn't mention dinosaurs. They would have been around millions of years prior to this guy for sure right? Still waiting for David to call me back. I can't wait to get to the bottom of some of these things.

An Interesting Find-Entry 4

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Haven't found much else at the site besides this journal. Work is slow on the translation since Eli got a hold of some bad falafel. He went back to the Shaharut Inn to get some rest. That gave me some time to call my mom. I asked her if she knew who this journal might belong to, if the story sounded familiar to her. She said it did but that dad always read the Bible more than she did. He had went home to be with the Lord, as she put it, 5 years ago. With her it's always either, "Jesus loves you" or "you're a sinner headed for Hell." Neither of those have ever really made sense to me. I will have to call my friend David tomorrow. I tried getting in touch with him. Apparently he was off to some crazy evangelism academy in Hollywood. That's weird. He's never shared his faith with people, not even me. Now his wife says he's spent the last 3 days on a box with a microphone. O well. Off to check on Eli.

An Interesting Find-Entry 2

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The lack of running water today seemed like a small issue after we learned some more of what it said in the journal we found. This guy who seemed to have everything really had a bad day according to Eli's translation here. Check this out, "These sores are all over my skin. Using this pottery to scrape them isn't helping. These are nothing compared to what happened yesterday. The wife and I lost everything. The kids, the servants, the animals, all of it! My wife says I should curse God and die. I told her that we have to accept trouble from Him as well as good. I will not sin by charging God with any wrongdoing." Wow, this guys faith is amazing. I had always heard that God had a wonderful plan for my life. If I had accepted this "wonderful plan" and something like this happened to me I doubt I would have been so faithful to God. If this message of a wonderful plan isn't the actual message, I wonder what is? What does this guy know that enables him to stay so faithful?