Footsteps of Paul Trip
This spring Mike Lewis, Managing Director for the central states, and his wife went on a “Footsteps of Paul” tour, which featured places that the Apostle Paul traveled during his missionary journeys almost 2,000 years ago. Here are some of his thoughts and highlights from their trip.
At Destra, we talk about being a Pathfinder and being Rugged, and Paul provides an admirable example through his work and journeys. He and his traveling companions brought the good news from Asia to Europe and made a lot of connections along the way despite persecution, shipwrecks, and many hardships. Scholars think he walked over 10,000 miles, much of that along the Roman roads. Overall it was a wonderful experience visiting these famous sites, plus we had excellent company, food, drink and weather.
Places of Interest
Thessalonica
Thessalonica is a beautiful seaside city, and this picture is from the city walls looking down over the city and water.
You can see the travelers (my parents, my wife & me) with the ‘White Tower’ in the background.
Berea
In Berea we saw steps which, tradition says, Paul stood from and preached to locals (Acts 17).
We visited the ruins of Philippi where pieces of the Roman Road (via Egnatia) remain today, and the jail cells where Paul & Silas spent a night (Acts 16).
Corinth
The lovely town of Corinth where Paul developed a church and later wrote several letters to them.
Athens
We visited Athens and walked up to Mars Hill (aka Areopagus) where Paul gave a famous speech (Acts 17) to the people and philosophers of the town.
We hiked farther uphill to the Acropolis and the impressive Parthenon which was completed in 432 BC.
The night view of the Acropolis was taken from a hotel rooftop where my grandfather lived while stationed in Athens at the end of World War II.
Speaking of footsteps, our hotel was close to Athens’ Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, which is dedicated to Greek soldiers killed during war. Much like the American version, there is a lot of honor and reverence tied to the site, including an hourly guard change which is a bit different from ours.
Rome
Our trip concluded in Rome where Paul spent several years (Acts 28) and where he probably died.
We visited a lot of the major spots: various ruins, Trevi Fountain, the Colosseum, the Vatican, and St Peter’s Basilica.