Summer 2009 Feature: On the Threshold of Heaven and Earth

We awoke in the middle of the night to the sound of steel wheels squealing on iron railroad tracks.  We were halfway to Istanbul on our overnight train from Thessalonica.  As I peered out the window, I could see the border post of the Turkish government through the falling snow.  A short time later, as we sat in the customs room on the border of Greece and Turkey awaiting our visas, I could not help but marvel at the adventure of following Christ and of following the footsteps of the man who teaches us so much about Him, especially in this Pauline year.  Indeed, at that point we had already been chasing St. Paul through Greece for 5 days, and we would spend the next 6 days with him in Turkey.
            If there was ever a man who knew adventure, it was Paul.  He describes just some of these adventures with exasperation to his beloved community at Corinth: “Once I was stoned, three times I was ship-wrecked, I passed a night and day on the deep; on frequent journeys, in dangers from rivers, dangers from robbers, dangers from my own race, dangers from Gentiles, dangers in the city, dangers in the wilderness, dangers at sea, dangers among false brothers; in toil and hardship, through many sleepless nights, through hunger and thirst, through frequent fastings, through cold and exposure…” (2 Cor. 11:25-27).  For me, this Pauline pilgrimage was an opportunity to learn who this dogged, titanic figure of Christianity really was.     
            We were trekking Greece, and as we explored the ancient ruins, both the world in which Paul lived emerged as well as the way he presented himself to that world.  As we read his address to the Athenians amidst the ruins of Athens—at the Areopagus itself—and perused the ancient remains of Corinth, Delphi, Philippi, and Thessalonica, I could only imagine the former splendor of these great cities. 

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