If you have the opportunity to travel, do so. Travel is a great “elective course” to take. It provides you with fun and challenge. You have opportunities for practical experience and exposure to how other cultures think and behave. Turkey offers both historical, magnificent architecture such as the Blue Mosque and Hagia Sophia and many other places, as well as outdoor museums. If you are fit, the trek of St. Paul’s Trails in Asia Minor is a must.
In June, 12 Arkansas teenagers followed the trail of the Apostle Paul in Turkey and Greece by vessel rather than on foot. Not so physically rigorous, but definitely thought-provoking and life changing.
Just think, roughly 1,950 years after the Apostle Paul stood on Mars Hill in Greece and spoke to the Athenians about their monument to the unknown god, a dozen Arkansan teens stood on the same hill and unfurled a banner reading “Footsteps of Faith: We’re All About Paul.” The students had made their banner with each student’s footprint marked in Day-Glo paint colors. How fun and creative.
The stop was part of a 10-day trip to Europe, particularly to visit sites associated with the New Testament in Turkey (Asia Minor) as part of a study project. As preparation for the trip, the six boys and six girls who were chosen had to submit written assignments monthly throughout the year. They wrote papers on different aspects of St. Paul’s writings. The students kept in touch with each other throughout the year by more immediate methods such as Facebook and MySpace. After a year of preparation, they got to see many of the places they had read about. What a wonderful experience and awesome way to study, learn and see for yourself.
One of the requirements in making the trip was to leave their iPods at home. Sometimes we think it would be impossible to live without something. If we stop and think about it: all of us have something in our life we think we can’t live without. The accompanying instructor thought she would get many complaints about this requirement. The instructor said, “Before we got on the plane, it was hard for them, but after that I didn’t hear another word about it,” she said. Travel is so fascinating that we learn there are things we can do without.
Paul’s various ship journeys to Athens, Corinth, Ephesus and Rome spanned more than a decade, traveling by foot and by boat. The Arkansas group sandwiched those spots into a whirlwind trip by ship.
After visiting Athens, the group flew to the island of Samos, which they used as a base for day trips. They also took a speedy hydrofoil boat to the smaller island of Patmos, the place where, according to church tradition, St. John spent his final days in exile.
The travelers also took a boat to Turkey, where they visited the ruins of ancient Ephesus. The group marveled at the acoustics of the coliseum. When an instructor dropped a coin at ground level, students who had climbed to the very top could hear it.
“We talked about how that was exactly where Paul walked in and people looked down to the stage to see him,” said Haley, one of the instructors. The Ephesus tour also included excavations of the homes of some wealthy Ephesians. Walking through a more modern part of Turkey, the group encountered the most aggressive vendors of the trip.
“It was a little bit nerve-wracking,” said Johnston, age 18. “There were a lot more people than we were used to, and everybody’s trying to sell you something.” Experiences like this can be overwhelming.
Traveling puts you on the spot. You have to learn to think and react. You have to make decisions. The instructors who accompanied the students on the trip commented: “It makes you feel good when you see kids looking out for other people instead of being me-oriented.”
Travel provides us with the opportunity to decide for ourselves.
I remember when I was a child there used to be an ad on television about travel. It said: “Travel and see the world! Go Navy!” There are many options nowadays for travel and study programs. If you have the chance, take it.
“Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one’s lifetime.”
“Innocents Abroad,” Mark Twain.
I would love to hear from Today’s Zaman readers about your travel experiences and how they impacted your life. Did you learn that there is something that you could live without?
Note: Keep your questions and observations coming: I want to ensure this column is a help to you, Today’s Zaman’s readers. Email: c.mcpherson@todayszaman.com
