I’ve never gone on a trip that went so smoothly and well. Yes a couple of folks had their problems but nothing major and it has all been such a rich learning and spiritual experience. I can’t thank God enough for the honor of being able to be here.

As we ready for this early departure today I ask Gods Holy Spirit to help me keep in mind all He wants me to walk away holding onto. It’s easy to get home and quickly move beyond the experience. I want to bring this experience back into my daily living being a stronger and more committed follower of Jesus Christ due to this trip.

Today will end the trek through the 7 churches of Revelation and the cities of Paul’s journeys. We end this with Corinth this am. The rest of the day will be in Athens. What a marvelous time it has been.

Throughout this time I keep looking at then and now. Man just doesn’t stay strong as a society. Individuals remain strong but the community of man keeps slipping into the flesh of man’s desires. I sure want to be an individual who remains faithful to my Savior and Lord Jesus Christ.

Today and tomorrow and then head home. Wow, what a fabulous trip this has been. There is a sacredness as we enter into parts of this trip. Gods presence is felt and I pray the people here know this presence as Jesus Christ himself.

It’s going to take a while to process through all we’ve experienced here. I never want this trip to be just for seeing new sights. God has a much deeper purpose I know. How fortunate to be able to find Him freely in our country. How we need to stand up and protect this freedom.

We have begun our final days of this trip now being in Greece. Turkey has done a great deal to improve and modernize their country but it is still nice to be in the culture of Greece. Here we are visiting the areas of Philippi, Thessaloniki and more. It is just amazing to take this journey and see over and over how much man hasn’t changed and why God in His mercy needed to redeem us with His sacrifice of Christ Jesus. Scriptures come to life when you are here and read them. We look just like they did and we need the same warnings and guidance.

God never changes. This is shown best by the Grace and Mercy He offers us today just as He did thousands of years ago.

I can’t get over how much the messages in Revelation resemble our world today. John wrote very specifically what was said to him to the seven churches. We got to visit all of them. How ugly our flesh is. We seem to want to worship ourselves and have others do so too. This trip throws the truth of that in one’s face and you just have to repent.

Today we will cross into Greece for the remainder of the trip. God has been so gracious and I’ve loved every minute of this. Our pastor does a remarkable job bringing the relevance of back then to us today.

Today is my oldest granddaughters birthday. She is in her senior year of college and prepping to be a teacher which makes grandpa proud! Happy birthday Faith!

Today we head to Greece for the remainder of our trip. We drive s long distance with a few stops. I have loved this portion in Turkey.

As I read John I see a uniqueness in him like no other disciple. He understood love from God and he seemed to receive its fullness. I’m sure he must have struggled with it, but I marvel at his delivery of love and the ease in which he’s able to offer it to others just as God wants us to also do. The Holy Spirit wants to help us with this too. I never felt worthy of it until much more recently in my life for it is totally about who God is and never about who we are. Just receive it with sheer thanks.

Today we take a boat ride to Patmos. I was impressed with the way God used John’s prison time. John was brought here as a prisoner but God used the time to give him the revelations to write in our Bibles last book. Isn’t it amazing how God uses what man does to destroy for His Kingdom’s Glory! It made me realize once again that even though I thought I was a prisoner to my past (and I was) God uses it today as a tool to help set others free. God is so amazing!

Yesterday was such an incredible day with seeing so many of the 7 churches addressed in the book of Revelation. Today we see Ephesus which is the most restored of all of them. I have been here before 28 years ago but there is much work which has been done in this time. This is a remarkable country. We have driven so much in bus so we get to see much of the daily living of the people. I really appreciate this.

What keeps hitting me over and over is the way our society looks today in comparison to the society 2000 years ago. We lust for pleasure in so many formats. I hate seeing this yet you can’t close your eyes to the truth of it. I ask God to shows me what to focus myself on and He keeps reminding me that the church isn’t the ruined structures but the people who dwelt in them. To help the church today stay focused on helping the people of today find Christ and stay focused on Him.

Yesterday we began to see the actual ruins of the biblical time in Philadelphia and two others. The massive size is one thing and the depth of sin they represent is another. When one realizes how little man has changed on our sinfulness, one sees the control flesh has on mankind. Putting all of that together with Christ’s work on the Cross just makes it all more amazing. Those sins were forgiven then as they are today when we simply accept Christ for ourselves and begin to believe.

The Power of Christ’s Holy Spirit within us is incredible and how little I rely on Him. This is a huge area of growth I need. The conquest of the flesh is never won from our efforts—only from our surrender.

A great day yesterday in Istanbul. This am we fly to Ismer where we will stay and visit several ancient sites by bus. These will be Ephesus and Corinth and more.

As I was having my devotional time yesterday early morning a gentleman from our trip came down and asked to join me. Once he was done with his devotions we talked about our backgrounds and jobs. It led to me sharing my own story and my book. He then said he’d had a tragic event in his past that has always troubled him. He’d only told his wife and a group of men in a mens fellowship one time. He said he’d never experienced someone opening up about this topic. He said he really wanted to talk more and get my book. He doesn’t live too far from me back home so I said we’d connect when we return to Idaho.

I’m always amazed what God does even in very unexpected places. He is always at work. I love getting to be part of this too!