Last Tuesday morning Joshua and I woke up at 4:00am to drive to Luton airport. From there we boarded the plane for Rome! We had been looking forward to this trip for years, not thinking we would ever actually see the "eternal city". After spending sometime getting our bearings in Termini, the central station of Rome, we took the subway to the Colosseum. We ascended the stairs, walked outside the Metro station, and behold, the Colosseum! What a magnificent structure. We waited a longtime, about an hour and a half, to get in but it really was grand. In a strange way, the ecstasy of seeing the Colosseum is both dampened and intensified by the thought that Christians were (or might have been) martyred here for the sake of Jesus Christ.
In the picture below Joshua is standing in the Colosseum with the Arch of Constantine in the background. It was Constantine who in 313AD issued the Edict of Milan which specifically guaranteed religious freedom to Christians throughout the Roman Empire.
A good part of the blistering hot day was spent in the Roman Forum, the religious, political, and economic centre of Ancient Rome. We also visited the Pantheon and the site of the Circus Maximus.
Following a tiring day we took the bus, subway, and train north of the city to meet our gracious hosts. Renato and Cheri Giuliani took wonderful care of us for the three nights we were in Rome. Renato is Roman born and he and Cheri have been in Rome for 11 years seeking to establish a Reformed Church.
In the picture below Joshua is standing in the Colosseum with the Arch of Constantine in the background. It was Constantine who in 313AD issued the Edict of Milan which specifically guaranteed religious freedom to Christians throughout the Roman Empire.
A good part of the blistering hot day was spent in the Roman Forum, the religious, political, and economic centre of Ancient Rome. We also visited the Pantheon and the site of the Circus Maximus.
Following a tiring day we took the bus, subway, and train north of the city to meet our gracious hosts. Renato and Cheri Giuliani took wonderful care of us for the three nights we were in Rome. Renato is Roman born and he and Cheri have been in Rome for 11 years seeking to establish a Reformed Church.
2 comments:
Alright; now we're having to deal with temptations toward envy! What a great opportunity.
I'm so glad that you got to Rome. I can see why it would be a bitter/sweet time to be there and be at the place where so many of our brothers and sisters were martyred.
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