Ephesus

Today we visited the ancient city of Ephesus and learned what it was like to be a Christian in this wealthy city. At first look this was just more ruins like we had seen the previous three days. What made this site extra special was sitting in the theater where Paul was brought in Act 19. His gospel message was not going over well with the businessmen and a riot ensued. Paul and his companions were saved when the non believing city clerk came to the theater, the power of the gospel at work. 40 years later the letter to the church at Ephesus is written (Rev 2:1-7). They were commended for their good deeds, discerning truth, perseverance and endurance.

However, they had left their first love and were not loving with their hearts. Jesus reminded them to repent and do the deeds they had done at first. This was a great reminder to all of us as we all have so much (if you make more than $35,000 per year you are in the top 1% in the world). God is not opposed to wealth - we just need to us it for eternal purposes.

As for the site and the city itself, the magnificence is somewhat other-worldly. Our bible comes to life here when we truly walk the streets where Paul walked. The roads are made of marble and lines with granite columns. To see where the merchants line the streets, tending to their shops and selling their goods to some 200,000 local citizens, we can only imagine the hustle and bustle during daily life. The bath houses, the agoras, the library, the theater, all tell a story that causes the imagination to run a little wild!
The homes we were able to tour are grand in scale, architecture and detail. They were multi-story structures with running water and a heating system! The engineering seems intricate and well ahead of its time!
Turkey is a beautiful county with every conceivable type of Terran!
Jagged mountain tops, forest and lush, fertile valleys with all kinds of fruits, nuts, vegetables and agricultural industry. I think many would agree, it reminds us of home!

We notice at each site we visited, there were lots of cats that did not seem to belong to anyone. Upon further research, there are hundreds of thousands of stray cats - neither feral or tame that live in Turkey. They roam around the ruins and most are very comfortable around humans. They appear to be well cared for. Muslims honor cats and consider them to be ritually clean animals in Islam. Muslims believe that cats seek out people that are praying.