Meteora and some other thoughts....

10/4/09
Welp, it’s been a while since I posted on here…partially because I am getting lazy, partially because I have had a crazy week, and partially because internet is getting pretty unreliable at good ol Dragoumi street. However, there is so much going on here that I had to post.
To start, we added one more person to our apartment. A Frenchman named Ludo…it will definitely be a new element as we learn to live with someone from outside the US. That happened early in the week, and we’ve not been around to hang with him a ton because we took an awesome trip further inland to a place called Meteora.
There are simply no words to describe this place. The only way I can sum it up is this. When I think about what heaven would look like, this place exceeds those mental images (minus the whole streets of gold thing). But no joke, Meteora was absolutely stunning. Basically, what it is, is a grouping of rocks about as high as the Grand Canyon sticking up out of a valley in the middle of Greece. On top of these rocks are monasteries basically built on the edge of thousand-plus-foot cliffs. These monasteries were pretty impressive too…it as cool to think that 15th century monks climbed these insane cliffs, built monasteries up there, and monks and nuns are still living there today. They were probably some of the oldest churches/monasteries still intact around here, and both beautiful and powerful to see at the same time. There aren’t any pictures up on facebook of inside the monasteries because you aren’t allowed to take photos, but trust me…they were very cool. Definitely thought-provoking to say the least. We had to drive about 5 or 6 hours, but I would have driven twice that far to see what we saw. There was also a very cool town situated in the shadows of the rocks that we took advantage of at night….Our group stayed at a nice hotel that had a sick view from the rooftop pool of the rocks. It certainly was something that most college kids would never have the experience of enjoying, so that was awesome. I really do hope to get back to Meteora again. If you’re ever in Greece, make the trip. It’s well worth it. Check out the photos on my facebook too, even though they don’t do a justice.
We were all pretty tired when we got back from the trip, but a bunch of us went out at night looking for a cool place to eat/hang out and we somehow wound up at Mars Hill (where Paul preached) in the middle of the night. It was pretty aggravating because we were lost, but man, the view at night was sick.
This morning I went to church at International Christian Fellowship of Athens. It’s kind of in a sketchy area of town and it’s in an insanely run-down building, but the congregation is made up of a very interesting group. It’s about 1/3 American, 1/3 Ghana-natives, and 1/3 Philippino. Definitely different than white-bread Medford, but I enjoyed it. We showed up late last week so we didn’t get to experience the entire service, but this week we arrived on time and although it was dramatically different than my home church, there was a lot that I appreciated from the service. The pastor did a good job and basically spoke to me when he said that God put me in Athens for a reason other than to just have a good time. It was definitely a challenge that I needed and it was really refreshing. After church I went with some people and we hung out in the main square in Athens…it was a great time and was good to talk about God with some people….it felt a little like home.
I have to go to the grocery store soon, but I’ll wrap up with something that has really been on my mind lately. God is huge. When I was at the top of thousand-foot cliffs in Meteora, I couldn’t help but think about how great God is and how his creativity, power, and size is simply unfathomable. I was speechless as I looked out and saw things that seemed impossible to process, much less think about how they were created. It was really mind-blowing. Adding to this whole thought process was the fact that I was in a church service surrounded by people of different nationalities, races, and backgrounds worshipping the same God who reigns over the whole world, not just our comfortable American suburbia. It has been awesome to see how huge God is and how he reaches people that we don’t think about.
Alright, I’m out of milk and toothpaste…I should really stop putting off getting those essentials.
-Ryan