Dr. James Strange of our Department of Religion is in the third week of working with students on an archeological dig in Israel. His latest message to friends included this update:

“The group is doing meticulous archaeology.  As I stated last week, the more we dig this building, the more questions we have about it.  Floors and walls that we find in one square defy our expectations by not appearing in the neighboring square.  Each square seems to hold its own mysteries.  We’ve satisfied ourselves that the building is earlier than we thought last week, but this week we’ll find out for sure when we section through a piece of plaster floor to learn when it was laid.  We will have to wait patiently for the rest to reveal itself to us.  So the archaeology will teach us more than the data that it will yield to hoe and trowel.  It is also teaching us the limits of what we can learn in a single season, and it is forcing us to learn patience because we must delay until future seasons what we would like to know now.  I should say it is God who is teaching these things.  Funny how often we have to learn them.  That, I suppose, is another lesson from God.”

The world is better because a Samford education helps students understand that there are important lessons in every season of life.