Our travel back to the States from Venice, following our Greek Island Travel Devotional Tour, was largely uneventful, except for the stress of trying to make a tight connecting flight in Frankfurt, Germany. We’ve been back for a week. It’s time for an Epilogue.
A first for a GSB tour
If you followed, you know this travel devotional tour was unusual in that it was our first with family and the first where I was on the DL for a few days.
It truly is the grace of God that with all the extended overseas vacations we had been on I had never been sick. So, when I did get sick it was hard to complain.
With illnesses that start on a level that can only be seen by a microscope or the watching eye of the Lord, it’s easy to attribute the same to the sovereignty of God. Being able to lean into His sovereignty was helpful when I was holed up in my cabin while the rest of the team was exploring Athens and Santorini.
Family as the best destination
Even with being sick, the other unique part of this tour more than made up for what I missed. Spending the time I did have with my brother and sister-in-law, niece and nephew, when I was no longer contagious is something I will always remember fondly and for which I am grateful.
Then there day when I was sick in my cabin and my brother brought me Baklava to cheer me up or the last day in Venice when he bought me some red Italian leather driving gloves to match my car back in the States.
Sometimes family is the best destination of all.
Navigating the disappointments
I suspect over time I will remember the trip for such moments instead of what I missed at Athens, Santorini, and Split. Still life is a marble rye of disappointments interspersed with pockets of joy.
The Stoics taught their students how to accept disappointment. The Apostle Paul debated with such Stoics in the Agora in Athens. See Acts 17:16-21. Stoics, though, could only help people to endure pain and disappointment; they could not give purpose to them. We can as Christians.
“And not only this, but we also exult in our tribulations, knowing that tribulation brings about perseverance; and perseverance, proven character . . .”
Romans 5:3-4a.
Of course, my “trial” was a first world trial — disappointment on a vacation. Big deal, right? Still, Paul doesn’t qualify his statement above based on the size of the trial.
Trials, whether they be the first world type or life-threatening, have the potential for making us more like Jesus. Knowing this makes trials not just something to be endured Stoically but embraced for the divine purpose God sovereignly orchestrates when He allowing trials to invade our lives.
Adding social media to the tour
This tour was also unique for being the first where I was posting daily social media videos from each destination. At least I was doing so until I got sick. Still, I enjoyed the challenge of mining the Christian history out of a place, finding the applicable lesson for today, and then condensing all that into a 1-2 minute video. It’s not my preferred mode of communication, but I recognize the times and that people would rather watch a video than read a blog.
In the end, this tour was memorable and we accomplished the work of producing a travel devotional for the GSB readers, videos for our social media followers, and in the process hopefully became a little more like Jesus.
Saying goodbye to Venice. . . but planning to return some day
Until our next tour. GS
