Last Friday was my dad’s 75th birthday and we planned a BIG surprise for him. On the morning of his birthday, my mom got him up, told him he was going somewhere and he needed to be ready to go with his coat and shoes on. Surprise! We were the ones who picked him up. Where were we going? We didn’t tell him, but he got an idea when he saw we were headed toward Milwaukee. Yes! We took him to the public museum to see the Dead Sea Scrolls exhibit. He was so excited! And it was a great exhibit. In the first section, they gave a historical background to the scrolls, complete with a Roman’s soldier’s pay stub, perfume bottles like Mary Magdelene used to anoint Jesus, and a stone box holding the bones of the son of Simon of Cyrene. Gave me shivers. Another area went over how the scrolls were found and pieced together. In another section they had a replica of the only complete scroll they found – the book of Isaiah. They couldn’t transport that scroll, but the replica is so good it’s difficult to tell the difference from the real scroll. Then we got to see the real pieces of the scrolls. Very cool – Genesis, Deuteronomy, Song of Solomon, etc. My dad tried but couldn’t read the ancient handwriting. Then there were some newer manuscripts, not part of the scrolls, and my dad could read those better. It is remarkable how God has preserved his word, in tact, down through the centuries. Not a word has been lost. What a great God we serve! Finally there was a room with all kinds of Bibles, including a page from the Guttenburg Bible, finishing up with a hand illuminated Bible a group in St. Paul is expecting to finish next year. It was stunning. We had a wonderful day. My dad said it was one of his best birthdays. He’s had a few, so that was saying something. We were so pleased we were able to surprise him and give him a memorable birthday.