My favorite story that I’ve written this year. I came to Greece to see refugees, and instead I met the people who will disciple Europe. Here’s an excerpt—you can read the full feature on Nations Media.
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“On my first day in Athens, I climbed to the Acropolis with Easton, a photographer. On our way up the hill we stopped at a rocky outcrop overlooking the city. The outcrop sat in the shadow of the Acropolis and offered a panoramic view of Athens. Turning slow circles, Easton and I took in the cyprus trees, the flat sea of downtown, and the ruins interspersed between cafes and markets.
As we stood on the rock, we debated where Areopagus Hill—also called Mars Hill—stood. Areopagus is the hill where Paul preached his Acts 17 sermon to the Athenians. There he spoke about resurrection of the dead, liberation in Jesus, and a God who knew people intimately, a God not bound by temples made by human hands. Easton and I wanted to see it, having been told it was an essential stop in Athens. So with that very hill under our feet, we scanned the city, wondering if we could see Areopagus from our vantage point. No kidding. Standing on the rock itself, we were looking at the wrong thing.
Only after we returned from the Acropolis, sat down with €4 wine, and consulted Google Maps did we realize that we had stood where Paul stood two millennia before. Areopagus Hill was under our feet the whole time and we didn’t know it. We told each other we would go back later in the week, and that this time we’d know what we were looking at.
This is a story about what you see when you look again.”