Waiting

My time in Italy allowed for multiple opportunities to make significant progress with my book pile. One book provided an in-depth look at the story of Jonah to expose the relentless pursuit of God for His rebellious children as well as the hearts of those rebellious children.

One chapter looked at Jonah’s anger at the repentance of the people of Nineveh. Towards the end of the chapter, the scope changed to look at how God works despite the motives and efforts of His people. The Bible reminds us over and over again of how God judges the heart while we focus on what’s outside. To be fully obedient to God our hearts need to be behind our actions. We can be physically obedient while having our hearts nowhere near God’s target. However, God’s power is still able to accomplish His purpose regardless. In Jonah’s case, God brought about repentance for an entire city even with Jonah’s reluctant and half-hearted efforts.

This spoke as a challenge to me because I am always aware of the motives behind my actions. I do not want to do anything for motives other than serving God and bringing Him glory (obviously easier said than done). However, sometimes I can be overly analytical about my own motives. I let them cripple me and my ability to move forward. Surprisingly this chapter had something to say about that too. It gave me a clear-cut response I had a hard time swallowing.

“If you’re waiting to make a decision or to step forward in obedience to God’s guidance because you want to make sure your motives are perfectly pure-you’ll be waiting until you die.”

The digesting began during the trip, and now the nutrients need to rush through my bones.

Italian Lessons

I am a big fan of reflection. After I experience something significant I always like to look back on what I may have learned from it. I did it with college, Zambia in ’07, my first year of teaching, and many other times before. While a mere two weeks is nothing compared to my other reflections, the propensity for lessons remains the same. Italy has taught me things about myself (serious and more light-hearted), this world, and our God.

1. No matter how hard I try, flying will never be for me. The seats are too crammed together for me to get comfortable. I can’t sleep more than 15 minutes at a time, and that just won’t cut it.

2. We (humans) spend a lot of money on ourselves. In no way am I using this to express guilt for my trip. I thoroughly enjoyed the people I was with as well as the places I was blessed to visit. However, keeping track of my expenses demonstrated how willing I am to spoil myself. In addition, I observed the many bags and goodies being bought by all sorts of people regardless of the cost. My lesson is really a challenge: how willing am I to spend (money, time, effort, energy, etc.) on the work of the gospel and loving others? (Matthew 16:25; 19:20; 25:35-36; Luke 9:23; 12:34)

3. Reverence is underrated. I perused nearly a dozen churches over the course of my two weeks. While I don’t necessarily agree with everything that goes on in them, I appreciated the spirit of reverence in them. God is bigger, holier, more glorious, more powerful, and grander than anything we can fathom! These immaculate buildings do an excellent job of reminding me just exactly who it is that I worship. Before I enter into His presence, I should be overwhelmed with a sense of awe and silence before opening my mouth, even if it’s to express my adoration Isaiah 8:13; Habakkuk 2:20; Zephaniah 1:7; Revelation 1:17).

4. I won’t be signing up for any road trips anytime soon. Going in, I knew how much I dislike driving. It’s boring and makes me feel antsy. Thankfully, Jack and Jordan took care of all the driving for our trip. I got to enjoy the backseat (by choice) and the front (by force) for the entire trip. I did enjoy the sights of the countryside as well as the naps and reading time. However, I could have done without the falling asleep of my legs and buttocks (sometimes at the same time). It’s like flying. I am forced to sit still for a length of time my body does not enjoy.

5. History is fun to read, but even better to visit. I actually began college as a secondary education major focusing on history. I quickly learned how much I would rather learn history on my own than try to teach it. Traveling through Italy was like sipping from an ice-cold fountain on a hot and humid summer day. Trekking the same streets and paths as my ancestors was a treat. Seeing building built thousands of years ago still standing was captivating. The best part was simply walking through the same places I had studied about from my years in school and seeing history really come alive!

6. I like to eat. Okay, this one isn’t as much of a lesson as it is an obvious statement. If it would have been safer to stay in the car or on the streets, I would have saved the money used for hotel rooms and spent it on more food. Italy has a lot of good food to be eaten. What we naturally think of as Italian is only the tip of the iceberg. I can honestly say I did not experience one meal I didn’t like. My pallet came anticipating an overflow of wonderful flavors from sweet to spicy, hot to cold. It left more than satisfied.

*Having said that, I must note that while the food was delicious my mother has done an excellent job of maintaining the Italian touch passed down to her from her mother and grandmother. Mom, your sauce is still my number one choice!

7. Vacations are not meant to be vacations from our God. I went into this trip thinking it would be a nice time to relax and prepare for the upcoming school year. I brought my Bible, books, and journal along to keep track of my readings, but did not expect too much refining and revealing (pretty arrogant and silly of me, right?). Well, God wanted this trip to do more for me than simply satisfy my appetite and allow me to catch up on my rest. He wanted to continue pursuing me (Psalm 139:7-12). Without exposing too much, God turned everything upside-down (literally). I will expound on the turning in a later post, but I am leaving with new path to follow. It isn’t anywhere I expected or asked for. It’s simply (though not simple) where I believe He wants me.

8. I like to travel and see all that God has created, whether directly or indirectly through the abilities of man. This world has a lot of things to stand in wonder of. All of them point to our God. The mountains, valleys, oceans, trees, stars, and every other aspect of nature “declare the glory of the Lord” (Psalm 19). The immaculate buildings and ancient artifacts scream out the goodness of God through His gifts to man (James 1:17). His image within us allows us to create all the “unnatural” things around us. We will never exhaust His glorious displays as long as we live.

Internet (though briefly)

My Genealogical Hometown

I visited the Sicilian city of Palermo for the better part of Saturday morning. We arrived via a Ferry from Naples to spend a few days in Sicily. Sicily was a large bull’s-eye on my list of places because it is the birthplace of my great grandmother, Josephine (Guiseppa) Ciaramitaro.

She was spent the first four years of her life here before finding her way to New York with her family. She lived to a ripe-old (literally) age of 105 before she got to “meet her Jesus.” Our family used to make trips to visit her whenever we could. We would go and listen to her many stories about life. She was also known for making hilarious comments and side notes to her great grandchildren (my brother especially) and nurses.

I still remember the day we found out of her passing quite well. My mom was talking on the phone when another call interrupted her conversation. She went upstairs for a certain period of time, and then came down to inform the rest of our family of great grandma’s passing. As soon as the words left my mom’s mouth, I remember her bursting into tears. Despite the hope of seeing her again, my mother was grieved by the loss of the wonderful memories and love she shared with her grandmother. To this day, I miss the days of paying her visits, but my brief time in her hometown brought back those wonderful days.

Unfortunately, my attempts to retrieve her birth certificate failed when I was forbidden access to the Palermo municipal building. However, I decided to do some people watching with my spare time. Quickly I felt like I was back at with my mother’s family once again. Familiar facial expressions, physical features, greetings, and mannerisms flooding the streets I was perusing. Obviously I had no idea what was being said, but I could not help but smile.

Along the way, I took some photos to try and capture what life might have been like for my great grandmother. Some were captured in her hometown, while others in Monreale. Monreale was the location of the archdiocese where her family would have traveled to at least for the major holidays, if not more.

Here is a cup of cappuccino from a café in her hometown. It was quite tasty.

A fruit stand on the way home from church.

I doubt I even saw anything my great grandmother knew, but I don’t really care. The simple fact of trekking through the place of her earliest years was enough excitement to last me a lifetime.

Day 4

Amalfi

Today was more of a travel day. We spent roughly 5 hours driving south to the Naples region. We plan on visiting Pompei all of Friday before ferrying down to Sicily for the weekend. Since we only had roughly an afternoon to do anything, we drove along the western coast of Italy towards the town of Amalfi. It is rather touristy and quite the vacation hot spot. Along the coast were large cruise ships and fancy yachts. Hotels came with beach-front property to offer their patrons. We did not go to any of the beaches. We simply rode along the coastline soaking in the view.

In Amalfi, we went a small restaurant away from all the hustle and bustle of the marinas. The food was excellent as well as the nice family running the cozy spot off a side street. The food was delicious, and it included many water traveling specimen giving the location of Amalfi.

First course (left to right): Jordan-marinated seafood, Derek-mussel soup, Jack-grilled vegetables


Main course: Jordan-grilled fish

Derek: Homemade pasta with mussels and clams


Dessert: Canoli (after I spotted them in a window on the walk up to our dinner spot)

Day 3

Today's mission: Wine tasting and Siena

To accomplish this task, we first went to the Chianti region of Tuscanny known for it's Chianti wine. While in the region, I took a stop by a butcher shop. In the basement of the shop a large collection of cheese was being stored. The place was cool and moist, which must be a good thing for the cheese. The one thing I do know was that it was one of the most delicious smelling basements I have ever been in.

From the glorious cheese room, we made our way to the winery. This particular place was pretty awesome. You paid a certain amount (Euros) to a credit-card-type device. Throughout the entire establishment there were bottles of wine to be tasted. To do so simply slide the card in the slot and select the wine of choice. The cost (ranging from 0.50-5 Euro) would be withdrawn from the card and out of a nozzle the wine would flow. I likened it to a soda fountain at any fast food restaurant. Because of the system, I got to try wines I would never dream of tasting anywhere else because of the outlandish price for the entire bottle. Here is a glimpse of the device.

After a few tastes, we grabbed a couple of snacks made available at the winery. They were nothing more than cheese, bread, and select meats, but they were tasty.

After tasting the fruit of the earth, we made the short (but very windy) trek to Siena. It is a similar city to Florence in regards to its style and architecture. The buildings look close to one another, but the streets are much tighter in Siena. Plus, the scene is much less busy with fewer people. The streets are less linear and more maze-like. There must have been at least three side streets jetting out from each other. Before leaving we went to a pizzeria for a quick bite to eat. While this pizza may look like the one I had in Pisa, it is drastically different. First, this pizza had fresh sausage on it. It was different than the sausage in the states. I can't really put my finger on it, but I liked the subtle difference. The other change is the cheese itself. If you guessed mozzarella, you would be correct. However, the truly correct answer would be mozzarella a la buffalo. Funny thing is how my brother and I were just talking about how the best mozzarella cheese is said to come from buffalo milk, not cow. After tasting this delicious pizza, I would concur. Again, I don't know exactly what the difference is, but it was something fantastic. Hopefully your mouth waters as you gaze upon this beauty.

*I hope this post pleases those of you requesting more food pictures. It's really hard to restrain myself enough to take a picture given my nature around food. It is no malice of my own as much as my lack of self control. Also, the three statues were of Leonardo (da Vinci), Michaelangelo, and Donatelli. The names couldn't be seen in the pictures, but I was hoping someone could identify the missing fourth. (A little bit of audience participation)

Beautiful

This really has nothing to do with my trip here in Italy, but it has everything to do with life. I read it this morning. I was captivated once again with the truth and beauty of the gospel. It is a welcomed reminder of who it is that we worship. It also encourages us to keep moving forward with full assurance that our Father will be right there with us every step of the way.

And as for your birth, on the day you were born your cord was not cut, nor were you washed with water to cleanse you, nor rubbed with salt, nor wrapped in swaddling cloths. No eye pitied you, to do any of these things to you out of compassion for you, but you were cast out on the open field, for you were abhorred, on the day that you were born.

And when I passed by you and saw you wallowing in your blood, I said to you in your blood, 'Live!' I said to you in your blood, 'Live!' I made you flourish like a plant of the field. And you grew up and became tall and arrived at full adornment...

When I passed by you again and saw you, behold, you were at the age for love, and I spread the corner of my garment over you and covered your nakedness. I made my vow to you and entered into a covenant with you, declares the Lord God, and you became mine. Then I bathed you with water and washed off your blood from you and anointed you with oil.

I clothed you also with embroidered cloth...I wrapped you in fine linen...And I adorned you with ornaments...for it was perfect through the splendor that I had bestowed on you, declares the Lord God.

~Ezekiel 16:1-14

Day 2

Today's place of interest was Florence. Going in I knew very little about the city. Sadly enough the only thing I could remember was that is was Sandra Bullock's character's dream to travel there in the film While You Were Sleeping (I do like that movie). Now having been here, I can see why she was so fond of it. It is very beautiful with its classic architecture and Renaissance style. The outside of this famous cathedral is carved with church and Italian history all over. The inside is massive with a beautiful dome (ala the Sistine Chapel) depicting different biblical images.

What I also found out is the the famous statue of naked David made by Michaelangelo also resides in the city. Jordan and I attempted to enter the museum where the sculpture is housed, but the line would have had us waiting all day instead of enjoying the sights. While seeing the piece would have been awesome, the view from the river was a good replacement.

The city is filled with plenty of other statues worth noting. This group of gentlemen stood outside the famous Uffizzi museum (also too long a line to wait through) along with some other famous Italians. I chose these three for a particular purpose. Unfortunately, the group is incomplete. The fourth member is missing, and I was unable to locate his whereabouts.