Crete

July 27 - Earlier this week we flew to Crete.  We spent the first day at the Heracleon Museum, and the second touring the ruins at Knossos.  This was the center of the ancient Minoan civilization, which was at its apex between the time of Abraham and Moses.  Some of the early Cretans settled the south coast of Israel, and we know them today as Philistines (See Amos 9:7, also Genesis 21:34, 26:1).  The Philistine palace that Goliath took down must have had much same architecture that we saw at Knossos.

We then spent three glorious days feeding on the a bread of Life!  Jesus said the mark of his disciples was the love they manifested one to another, and this we experienced in spades.  The instant kinship we felt with our Greek brother and sisters is the greatest of miracles.  Our spirit reached out to their spirit and recognized that we have the same Father.  It was like the United Nations, with those of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation, yet we were One in Christ.

Paul, at the beginning of his letter to Titus, quotes a famous Greek philosopher who seems to promulgate a common stereotype about Cretans.  But it helps to read Titus 1:10-14 as a single unit.  Paul was battling the false apostles, those who were telling Gentiles they had to keep Torah, and apparently one of them was from Crete.  He was employing any means at his disposal as they were "subverting entire families and churches."

Tomorrow we fly to Athens, pick up our extra luggage stored at the airport, and fly to Samos to see our home for the next 12 months.

The Difficulties at Delphi

July 21 - Yesterday we left Meteora and headed for the convention grounds near Athens.  At Lamia, we decided to take the inland highway rather than follow the coastal road.  Big mistake!  After about 15 miles, we saw a sign at Bolio, ignored it, and went on our merry way.  The road narrowed, but we were passing through mountainous terrain so we didn't think anything about it.  Soon the map and the road were not matching.  We finally saw a sign that said "Delphi, 25 Kms".  We saw then that we had taken the wrong way.  

We passed through Delphi, and the ruins lie along the road on the uphill side.  It was 3:00 PM, we were hot, tired, and stressed, and we put it to a vote.  We all agreed to stay.  So we toured the ruins of the Oracle of Delphi.  We rented a hotel for 40 Euro, and E-mailed Doyle to tell him of the mix-up.

The Marvels of Meteora

July 19 - Yesterday we drove from Athens north into central Greece. Most of the country is pretty hilly, but we passed through a large flat agriculture valley, known as the plains of Thessaly, which reminded me of the area around Nysa and Ontario. At the far edge is a cluster of rock spires which, in the 14th century, Orthodox monks built monasteries on. The first one we visited, the Holy Trinity, appears to be about 2 acres at the top and 500 feet or so above the valley floor. Very picturesque. Most of the other six are visible to the north.

I found it very sad that men lived out their lives in these cramped quarters, absolutely convinced they were doing the will of God. Jesus sent the twelve and seventy out to the entire world to preach the good news of the kingdom of God. They lived in the homes of believers, helping them to grow and mature in Christian virtues. The wisdom of man has led them in exactly the opposite direction, separating and isolating themselves in their service to God.

The device for hauling goods up from the valley floor

The wine storage at the Holy Trinity Monastery contained 12,000 kilos

Introduction

While I was attending the University of Oregon in the mid-1970's, one of my best buddies was at Princeton. For some odd reason, he ended up rooming with the football team.  After graduation, he kept in touch with his old roommates and, a couple of years ago, one of them passed away.  On the night before the funeral, they all got together and one of them made the comment:  “You know, guys, as far as life is concerned, the game is now in the fourth quarter.”

It also hit me that I am in the fourth quarter of life, and it might be time to move on to new challenges.  An opportunity came up for Denita and I to move to the Greek island of Samos for a year.  So we rented a three story house in Samos town which has a fantastic view across the harbor from the covered rooftop. Samos lies on the eastern side of the Aegean Sea, less than a mile from Turkey at one point.  It is about 27 miles long and 8 miles wide.  Samos has two mountains that stretch up to 4,500’, trapping moisture and making it one of the greenest of the Greek isles.