Footsteps of Paul

I apologize for the gap between entries--it will be explained in today's update.

As I mentioned in the last entry, Saturday was a study day. The students got their group presentations ready on 1 and 2 Thessalonians and Philippians. They could use any extra time for last day visits of things in Thessaloniki. That evening (at 5:30), we gathered at the "Upper Room" in Sofi's where they gave their presentations before we had dinner at 7. These involved studies on the background and meaning of those three letters.

The next morning, we were all up bright and early to board the bus for our trip to Meteora and Delphi. Everyone was ready to go and the bus was loaded and we were ready to pull out at 8, as scheduled. Our first stop was Meteora, which is a location of a number of Greek Orthodox monasteries. What is unique about these monasteries is that they are built on the top of sheer rock formations 1300 feet or so above the valley floor.  This picture is of the monastery next to the one we visited.  The perspective is better on this one.

We arrived at Delphi about 8 that evening, and had our dinner. At that point, I was not able to give an update. A couple of guys tried to get the football scores, but no luck that night. We did not hear the sad news about the Colts until the next morning L.

We arose on Monday and began with several student presentations on Delphi and its significance for Paul and the early church. At this point, it was raining, but we worked our way down to the Delphi museum where we had an inside tour. As we wrapped up our tour of the museum, we noticed the rain slacking off, so we commenced our tour of the site. By the time we were about ¼ way into it, the clouds were breaking up and we had sun the rest of the day.  Here is a picture of the group at the theater near the top of the site.

 After lunch in a hotel overlooking the valley, we got on the bus and headed for Athens (see picture of the view).

This morning we toured the Acropolis where we learned of the role this hill and its temples played in the life of Athens and the Greeks. From there we walked the short distance to the Areopagos (Mars Hill) where Paul preached to the philosophers of Athens. Here we were given student presentations on the philosophies of Stoicism and Epicurianism, two schools that Paul addressed (see Acts 17:18). We then read through Paul's sermon and David talked to us about how this gives a model for presenting the gospel sensitively.

Tomorrow, a number of us are going on a one day cruise to three islands--Aegina, Porus, and Hydra. We'll let you know later how it went.