Preserving the Faith

Present Day

It was Wednesday, middle of the week, the sun was just cresting up over the Shenandoah Mountains and Conner McKenzie had just suffered through another sleepless night. The stress and anxiety from his past profession had wreaked havoc in his daily life that he had not encountered before. At least for the moment he had the comfort of a fresh pot of coffee just brewed by the automatic timer on the coffee pot. Hopefully, today would not bring forth the anxiety he was becoming accustomed to from 16 years of service in law enforcement. The years of street thugs, S.W.A.T. operations, investigations and agency politics had done their fair share to age his thirty-five-year-old body. Now it was time to start a new chapter in his life, one that would glorify God and make his wife and daughter proud.

After being forced into medical retirement due to his growing anxiety issues, Conner decided to take the time to finish a second Bachelor’s degree in history with a focus on Biblical Archeology in hopes of doing his part to glorify God and help prove certain stories of the Bible true. It was concerning to him that the current political, academic, and philosophical winds were removing God from everything and questioning, yet again, whether God even exist. After years of tactical, forensic and investigative work, he decided he would put those skills to good use. With a few extra classes added to his degree he began a quest to prove and promote the existence of God with the scientific and historical proof one would obtain from the practice of Archeology.

Not sure where to start his new endeavor, Conner simply promoted his interest on the internet as a form of private investigative business hoping to be able support his family a little better, since medical retirement didn’t even come close to paying for his daughters upcoming college expenses.

Out of his mountain home in the North East panhandle of West Virginia, encouraged by his wife to stay involved, “Biblical Investigations & Historical Antiquities Company” was conceived. It sounded ridiculous at first, an amateurish attempt to investigate and prove Biblical stories some 5,915 miles away from the “Holy Land”.

He actually just hoped to be able to do some scholarly research for college professors here and there just to pass some time and make some extra money on the side. The hits to his website were few and far between. Although, he actually helped a professor prepare some research materials about archeological sites in Jordan near Petra once for a college expedition, but he was not invited to go with the group.

On Tuesday night Conner’s luck changed, when an anonymous email popped in his inbox asking only: “are you familiar with the TEL DAN INSCRIPTION”. Intrigued by the anonymous sender, he simply typed in response, “The first historical proof of the existence of King David”. The anonymous sender’s reply he received was almost instantaneous: tomorrow 11:30 a.m. Christ Church Old Town Alexandria.