Day 09 - Olive Oil Farm, Corinth

Today is the last day of our adventure through Turkey and Greece. The time has flown by! What a blessing to see and explore to explore the early churches and the challenges they faced.

Our first stop this morning was an olive oil manufacturing facility of totally organic olive oil products. We sampled the various types of oil and learned how they are characterized by time and when the olives were harvested.

Next stop was the city of Corinth, the city where the apostle Paul heard in a vision from God to go and preach the word. In Acts 18:9-10 he writes, "One night the Lord spoke to Paul in a vision and told him, ‘Don’t be afraid! Speak out! Don’t be silent! For I am with you, and no one will attack and harm you, for many people in this city belong to me.’ " So he did exactly as the Lord had asked and went to Corinth.

In Corinth we saw signs of how the people there were seeking God and how others were worshiping pagan gods. Engraved on a pillar was a menorah and the word synagogue validating there were Jews in Corinth also.

In speaking with the people, Paul always made sure that everyone knew that God sees them and loves them as His children. Paul wanted them to realize that in God’s eyes, everyone is equal. No matter their social status or position in life, he shared words to challenge them to believe all things are from God and all things are for God. Paul told even if they were a slave, they are all equal in the eyes of the Heavenly Father.

Paul was challenging them to understand that how man sees them and how God sees them is vastly different. God paid a very high price for their salvation and they must not forget that.

Launa reminded us that even today, we face many of the same challenges in our churches and communities. Distractions, stressors, and disagreements can keep our attention elsewhere. We can lose focus from all the noise. But we must remember stay on task- kingdom tasks. Loving like Jesus, caring like Jesus, sharing the gospel, helping like Jesus, serving others like Jesus is the mission. We are all challenged to become more spiritually mature as our journey continues. The most important thing I have discovered for myself, and maybe some of you can relate, is that I want to God to use me and maybe together we can pray for each other to enhance our focus on kingdom tasks.

What an honor to spend these last 10 days or so we you all- as Launa reminded us today we all are loved, chosen, and have spiritual gifts to share with those around us or wherever God calls us to go just as Paul did.

- Jenny B