From the Heart to the Navel

Hello friends and family! Heidi and I have returned from our explorations of the great Greek lands. Our travels took us from here in the heart of Europe down South to the place in Delphi where the ancient Greeks believed the navel of the world rested. In between there was quite a bit to see and experience as I am sure you can imagine.

The Greeks are a lovely people who are always interested in hearing your story and sharing some of theirs with you. It seemed that everywhere we went people young and old walking past us on the sidewalk or serving us a gyro would stop and ask who we were, why we were in their city, and where we were from. And in exchange, they would recommend somewhere we just had to go to or something we needed to try in order to have the full Greek experience. The land they live in is painted with the most vibrant colors. Even the soil of the earth takes on rich shades of brown that are as beautiful in their own right as the brilliant greens of the crops around them and the touchable blue of the sky. It is simply stunning. And the history of the place… as the birthplace of Europe, it seemed that every time we meandered down a different street we stumbled upon ruins from the 11th century or a basilica from the 14th. And the Greeks are so proud of their past. They are proud of who they are as a people and gladly take up the great responsibilities that such a position in the world brings.

One of the things I learned about them, though, is that the Greeks do not define themselves by their ancestry. Just as many of the cities are built directly upon or alongside the ruins of the past so too the Greek people recognize the foundation upon which they find themselves, but they go on to build their own homes and markets and places of worship. It is hard to explain but it is as if they recognize their heritage but don’t end with it. It does not define them. Their present is today and their future tomorrow; not somewhere in by gone days. Yet, no one would blame them for focusing on the past in an attempt to call it the present if they wanted to. But they seem to have discovered that your past is only one element which helps to mold you into the person or people who you are growing to be. The truly important thing is that you grow which is exactly what those three weeks gave me the chance to do.

At the time, I was reading through the book of Acts in the Bible. In the mornings, I would read about places and people, and in the afternoons, I would see them. The Bible is real. It is alive. It all happened and it is.

I read about the riot of the shrine makers in Ephesus and then that afternoon, in the National Archeological Museum there was a statue, an idol, of the goddess Artemis sitting upon a stand from that same city. And I read about how Paul was shipwrecked off the coast of Crete where we had just been, and also about Paul preaching in the synagogue in Thessalonica and in the ancient agora (the marketplace) and the Areopagus (a place of debating and discussion) in Athens. And this was his message to the ancestors of the people I met:

"Men of Athens! I see that in every way you are very religious. 23For as I walked around and looked carefully at your objects of worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: TO AN UNKNOWN GOD. Now what you worship as something unknown I am going to proclaim to you.
24"The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by hands. 25And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything, because he himself gives all men life and breath and everything else. 26From one man he made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live. 27God did this so that men would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us.” (Acts 17: 22-27)

The message has not changed. He who is the Creator became something created in order that His grace and glory could be made manifest and reconcile all of us sinners to Himself. Praise be to God!