Holy Lands visit

We are back from the second Holy Land visit for Springfield Baptist Church since 1974. The past two weeks we traveled through Greece, the Greek isles and Turkey. During the trip we got to visit Corinth, Ephesus, Thessaloniki, Crete, Patmos, Delphi, Meteora, Philippi and other locations. The people were outstanding, the food was delicious and the experience was beyond words. We are exhausted but inspired.

People visit sites to enhance their Bible reading. Once you see the locations, you will not read your Bible the same any longer. Many of us know the propositional truths proclaimed in the Bible, but few of us know the when, where and why such truths were proclaimed. When you visit sites you get a better understanding of the (1) culture that they engaged, (2) the distances for which they traveled, and (3) reasons why certain situations occurred during their life. For example, this group of Pilgrims to Greece (2025) will always understand when Paul talks about shipwrecks. For the brief time that we were there, the winds next to the water were strong, thus making the water very difficult to navigate. The Greek isles are full of large islands and small uninhabitable islands. I can only imagine a ship without proper technology would run up on rock just below the surface of the water regularly.

On this particular trip, the pilgrims experienced the Greek culture spoken about in Scripture, the cities that Paul and others visited, the cave where John wrote Revelation, the weather that hindered Biblical travelers, the food that is prevalent in Greek culture, the hospitality of people that were happy to see tourists, the beauty of the land and water that pictures cannot do justice, and ultimately our Creator as we navigated through Scripture along the way. Experiences galore. We are changed, thus our church will be changed.