Tabitha and I are sunning ourselves on some rocks at the pretty little town of Vernazza in Cinque Terra. It has definitely lived up to it’s advance billing. The sights, atmosphere, food and hikes have been the best in Italy. This has been my favorite place so far. If you come to Italy you have to spend 2 days in Vernazza.

Yesterday we took a scenic hike on the coastline. All 5 towns are connected by a scenic and litter free hike. The hike between Vernazza and Monterosso is the hardest but by far the most beautiful. Between the rocky ocean views and the lush mountainside you will fall in love with the area.

The food is great too. Our favorite has been at the Pirata. Luca and Maximo, the owners are histerically funny and have unbelievable food. Their deserts and breakfasts are the best we have had here. If you want to find them go away from town behind the train station. They are on the right after the bank. I am posting a picture below They also have rooms to rent for pretty reasonable rates. If interested Email them at ilpiratarooms@libero.it

Also if you want a room closer in town you can get a private room with a bathroom like we did through a local resident. This was pretty cheap too. We paid 60 e a night. The room was simple but clean and comfortable. The lady who set it up was the very nice Monica Lecari. She speaks English so she connects people with local rooms We stayed at her sister’s Carmella’s room. Monica also owns and runs the Castello restaurant which has stunning views. Monica’s info is alcastellovernazza@yahoo.it

We have had so much fun here. I went cliff diving into the ocean yesterday near the castle. That was fun but I got scraped up trying to climb the rock by barnacles. It was so worth it.

The people are so nice here. It is sad that there are no evangelical Bible teaching churches here. I have some ideas about how to help here that are percolating in my brain. I will share them in the next post.

We are sad we are leaving Vernazza but we are excited to head down to Positano on the Almafi coast. We are taking an overnight train to Naples and then taking a boat to Positano. We have a sleeper car so we are going to get a great nights sleep while we travel. The only downer is it leaves at 1:30 AM.

Here are some pics of Vernazza. I can post some better ones from our camera when we get to a real computer. These are just from my iPhone. Thanks for commenting on how good they look Heather! We miss you Green Hills Church and our family and friends. Thanks for praying for us!

We are leaving Venice and headed to Cinque Terra, a quaint collection of fishing villages on the Mediterranian sea. We had a great time in Venice. Apparently I lost my last post in cyberspace. Cell coverage was really spotty in Venice.

Venice was very beautiful. We had a really picturesque room at the Casa D’ Arte, about 100 yards off of the Accademia bridge. It was quite the adventure getting to our pensions though. We were given the wrong directions and we to a hotel that was shut down. Amazingly someone answered our repeated buzzing of the bell and gave us a different address. We spent the next 30 minutes trying to find our way through the labyrinth they call Venice. We were hot, tired and frustated. We were absolutely miserable. We finally found our lodgings more through sheer luck than anything else. That was the most uncertain we have been about this trip to date. We didn’t know if we were going to find a place to sleep that night. God was really watching out for us.

We had a lot of fun in Venice. St. Mark’s square is very beautiful. The Basillica is very ornate and it looks like it was influenced by eastern architecture. The best part are the classical concerts that are performed nightly in front of the cafes. There dueling orchestras. It’s a surreal scene. I don’t recommend sitting at a cafe to listen. They charge a hefty cover to sit. You can hear just fine standing nearby. We made the mistake of sitting down. We paid 15 euro in top of our coffee for that dubious privilege.

That was one downer. The Venetians are masters of scamming tourists. They have been a tourist city for hundreds of years and are great at it.

Our highlights from Venice were St. Marks, watching the grand canal by the Rialto Bridge, exploring back streets at night and meeting up with a family friend called Mark Crooks.

Mark has been a missionary in Venice for 5 years. He started a church planting movement in Venezuela. He move to Venice after handing his church to guys he had trained in Venezuela.
He shared how hard it is to share the gospel in Venice. There are no evangelical churches on the Island. On the mainland the church he inherited had been around for 30 years and has under 20 people in it. There is a resistance to the gospel in Italy. This country needs more workers for the harvest.

Thanks for praying for us here. We are excited for our next stop in the trip. It is supposed to be really beautiful.

Quick update. We made it to Florence. This place is amazing. Even cooler than Rome. The Dwomo, a huge intricate Renaissance church, took our breath away. It was so huge and full of color. Tabitha actually stopped walking when she saw it.

We are in the Uffuzi museum right now about half way through but nned to take a break. Saw some Da Vinci’s and a ton of Michelangelo’s. We have been using Rick Steves’ audio tours courtesy of iTunes. It’s an amazing free resourse. We will see the David later on today at the Academia museum. Our hotel hooked us up with reservations. Another Rick Steves tip. If you want to know the best tool for this journey it was buying Rick’s book.

We are both a bit tired. We got up at 5:15 to grab a train to Florence. The Eurostar is so fast. The only problem we had was that all the train departure signs glitched out. So we wandered around the train station for 30 nerve wracking minutes until we found the right train. This has been such an adventure to figure things out as we go.

I will try to post pictures later if our hotel has wifi.

We hit the ground running our first day here. It was an adventure from the start. With no guide, no local contacts and no clue about how to speak Italian. My wife and I are having the adventure of a lifetime. We left Nashville with only a pair of backpacks, a camera and our mad survival skills. This is a rambling, running account of our adventure from my iPhone. I just hope I don’t get a cramp in it thumb. So I apologize for spelling errors on the front end.

When we got here we were surprised at be crazy lines to get through emmigration. There was no markings. Just a snarl of 1000 peope hoping they were in a line. Twice we thought we were in line only to find out cruelly 20 minutes later that we were not.

We had an adventure getting to the hotel. We are staying bear the Vatican so being savvy travelers we saved 40 dollars by taking the train to the train station from the airport and then hopping the metro. Getting around Rome is pretty easy apparently. The only funny thing was the one we had with some strangers that were hogging 3 extra seats by placing their luggage on them,on the train. They were upset when we asked to sit with them. So we opted to stand instead. No wonder we Americans get a bad rap.

The rest of the day has been on the go. We went to the Vatican museum and saw the Sistene Chapel. Truly amazing. I cannot fathom Michelangelo’s talent. Saint Peter’s Basilica was unbelievable too. I have never seen anything that huge or that beautiful. I am grateful it started the reformation. What a way to start out reform with a bang.
We will have pic’s and video up later. Didn’t take any with the phone. Sorry. Gonna crash now. We got about 3 hours sleep on the plane. Tab is out like a light. Hopefully we will check out the Spanish steps tonight! Peace!

I am blogging from a cafe 20 feet from the fountain in the Piazza Novona. The fountain the guy almost gets drowned in during ‘Angels and Demons’. The pizza here was amazing. Tab and I have had an amazing day. We went on a bus tour of Rome that allowed us to hop on and off at will. The bus was a red double decker with an open top. So touristy but awesome. With our Roma pass we had a big discount.

So we stopped and toured the Trevi fountain, the Colosseum, and the Pamtheon. We walked by the Palatine and the Roman forum but were too tired to spend and hour running around inside the complex.

The highlight so far was hanging out in the Colosseum. That was amazing. I love the Patheon too. That building is indescribable. It’s 2200 years old and huge.

Hopefully we will hit the Spanish steps again tonight. We went there for pizza last night and that was so fun. It’s a huge hangout. If you have any ideas of cool places to go let me know. Also if you want to say hi while we are here go ahead and leave us a comment.

Here are some pics I took with my phone. Better ones from the camera are forthcoming.

My wife and I are going to go on a whirlwind tour of Italy today!  We are so excited.  We have always wanted to do something like this and this opportunity dropped in our laps.  I will be posting some entries from there so stay tuned for pictures and a running commentary.  We will be visiting Rome, Florence, Venice, Cinque Terra, the Isle of Capri and Positano.  I am so excited!

Many people I know struggle with the story of Jonah being swallowed by a fish. They wonder if it is a fable or a true story. Recently I have been studying the book of Jonah with my small group. Many people have a tough time with this passage, and with good reason. I mean, usually people catch fish not the other way around! As a result of this passage as well as several others that detail the suspension of the laws of nature, some people struggle believing in the Bible. Others believe in the Bible but will take this story as a parable that didn’t happen.

I know I am in the minority, but I believe the story is true for 3 reasons.

First, the historical evidence. The book of Jonah was written shortly after this event happened. It was seen as something that really happened by its original audience. It is in vogue to criticize something that has happened in the past as being unlikely because it was something out of the ordinary. However, it is important to remember that although it is out of the ordinary for a man to be swallowed by a fish, the most probable interpretation is the one that is presented. It is far less probable that someone would lie and everyone else would cover it up. The book records it precisely because this event was out of the ordinary. It does not insinuate that this was a normal event.

One of the pitfalls of interpreting this story, is bringing our 21^st century perspective to the narrative. Many of us unconsciously overlay our other experiences on top of this story and that trips us up. If you are like me, when you read this story you may have a mental picture of Geppetto from Pinocchio reading a book inside the whale. Of course that mental image is preposterous. I am sure that the situation inside the fish was quite different. I am not sure if Jonah was even alive when he was inside the fish. Scholars debate whether this event is a miracle of preservation or resurrection. The poetic language in Jonah 2 gives strong support for a view that Jonah may have died and then been resurrected. Ironically, people seem to feel more comfortable with the notion that Jonah may be been resurrected instead of being preserved. As if being raised from the dead is a easier feat than being preserved somehow.

The best historical evidence I can offer however is that Jesus believed that this event happened. In Matt 12:39 when he is facing the unbelief of the Pharisee’s he tells them that the only sign he will give them is the “sign of Jonah.” Jesus believed that this event happened and he made the inference that he would be in the grave 3 days like Jonah was in the belly of the fish. By saying this Jesus showed a greater purpose to the story of Jonah. It was a foreshadowing of Jesus’ ministry, death and resurrection. Even in Jonah’s disobedience, God was showing his nature to the world. I have a rule of thumb. It’s not super intelligent but here it is. If Jesus was good with something, I am going to side with him.

Another reason I believe this is an actual account is that I don’t have a bias against the supernatural. Because we live in an age of science, we have a predisposition to believe that the supernatural doesn’t exist. We are trained from an early age to believe in a physical world that has firm rules that are causal in nature. This is reinforced by our every day existence where most of our experiences are secular in nature and the spiritual has vanished in the majority of every day life. As a result, most of us doubt that there can be supernatural and spiritual intervention. However, just because we don’t see the supernatural trump the physical nature of our experience that doesn’t mean that miracles don’t happen. Even in the Bible, miracles did not happen as often as it may appear at first glance. There are many supernatural events that are recorded in scripture but what we often miss is the amount of time that takes place between miraculous events. Often, years, decades, and even generations pass between miraculous events. A pattern that emerges is long years of silence in miraculous activity, followed by a flurry of activity. A great example of this is the 400 year gap between the New Testament and the Old Testament. In those 400 years there was a silence in miracles and in Biblical revelation. Then Jesus appeared on the scene and many miracles took place.

The third reason I believe in the story Jonah and the fish is that I belive in God. The real discussion is not about miracles but whether you believe God exists or not. The hidden presupposition behind not believing in miracles is the belief that there is not a God that can do miracles. The question then is whether we believe in God or not. If you believe in God, a being who is above nature and created nature, then that renders the argument of the miraculous moot. God can certainly intervene and suspend the rules of nature as he sees fit. The reason science doesn’t have the ability to define miracles is because it does not have tools to measure or control the infinite.

I think it is very interesting how many people believe in God but then struggle with whether or not he can do something amazing. I encourage you if you are struggling with the miraculous to have faith and to trust that the God who created the universe and mankind can also suspend the rules that he has instituted.

For those of you who came to Green Hills Church this Sunday you know that Josh played an amazing song after the Sermon.  Josh is a really talented song writer as well as being a stud worship leader.  Anyway, the song is called wake up.  If you like Howie Day, or Ben Folds Five, you will love this song.  Check it out here at  http://www.myspace.com/joshbronleewe  Let me know if you like the tune!

If you are interested in what we talked about on Sunday, Brad Dunlap, taught a great message about living a life in God’s light.  I think it is the best message I have heard him teach.  You can check out the podcast here.  

Just click the link to listen: http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?id=274809927

Ok, something random happens at my house.  My dog throws temper tantrums when he feels like he isn’t getting what he wants.  Usually its over not getting walked if it is nice outside, or if he feels like he should get more food.  Today he did it because, even though we feed him regularly and he is kind of chubby, he doomed to a life of eternal hunger.  

He hardly ever has his tantrums when we are home but when we are at work or head out for an errand, he goes and does his work to let us know he isn’t happy.  He goes through a 3 step process.  First, he goes into the bathroom trash can and pulls a piece of paper or other random object out.  Next, he proceeds to drag it into the hall outside of the bathroom.  He then shreds it into little pieces.  Its absolutely hysterical.    

Interestingly when we come home he pretends that he had nothing to do with it.  He will walk right by it as if  he didn’t know how all that trash got there.   The funniest thing is when we call him over to look at his handiwork.  Conviction sets in right away.  He will crawl over to you in the most pitiful way and then roll over as if you are going to beat him.  The worst part is that even though he seems truly penitent, he has no desire to change at all.  If we leave the bathroom door open tomorrow and it is sunny outside, he will do it again.  Its little stuff like this that makes you love your dog!

Here is a picture of bailey.  Its a pic that a friend took for a magazine ad.   He is a rockstar.

As promised, here are pictures from our picnic and baptisms!  What a special day.