Day 04 - St. John's Basilica, Turkish Rug Center, Temple of Artemis

Today, we started with a sweet devotion from Deborah, encouraging us to be salt & light in this world, and to do this by giving ourselves permission to simply be the image-bearer God created, and allowing Jesus to work through our weaknesses.  A beautiful thing!

We visited the site of St John’s Basilica built in honor of the disciple whom Jesus loved; a fitting end to the completion of the trade route circuit from Smyrna (Izmir) through Pergamum (Bergama), Thyatira, Sardis (Sardes), Philadelphia, Laodicea, having now arrived in Ephesus. Reading the beginning of Revelation and the heart of Acts takes on new meaning when you’ve actually “been there”.

It’s wonderful to contemplate the surroundings in which John wrote his gospel and letters to several churches… and look across the waters of the Aegean, knowing the island of Patmos is out there, where God took him in order to reveal what is yet to come.

Our next adventure was to the Turkish rug center where the artistic talents of the women weaving was on display in wools, cottons, and silks. We got a lesson in what Job really meant when he said his days passed more swiftly than a weaver’s shuttle, and I personally considered what effort it really took to weave Samson’s locks into the threads of a loom, especially if double knots were used.  

We witnessed the marvel of extracting the silk from the cocoons of the creatures who had given their lives for such a luxury.  We felt the threads in each stage of their process to completion, understanding why God describes us the way He does as we move to maturity, and we walked barefoot on the finished products, soaking in the patterns and colors.

It takes months to complete one of these beauties… and easily compares with the years it takes the Lord to weave into and through us all of the glories of the tapestry He has planned for our lives as a part of the body of Christ.

As my sister Melonia would say, “I’m so glad Papa wove us close enough together that I could see His work in you.”

We got back early to our hotel and went various ways to enjoy the beach, shopping, and the Turkish baths (the details of which must be shared by the partakers… as some of us only had bare feet today… wink wink).

On an extra side note, there was a time of spontaneous joy at the gas station stop, where my sister captured a video of the action “inside” when she experienced something I had not seen in over 20 years. This is a bit of an “inside” joke, and a test to see how many of our traveling companions are really reading this blog themselves.  

Wrapped in His glory,

Marla