Trip to Europe (March 16 - 27, 2014)
Just recently I was blessed with the opportunity to go on a
trip to Europe, put together by my school for the Comparative Civilizations
course. It was truly by God’s grace that He allowed me to go and provided the
funding for my expensive journey around the ancient worlds. I would like to
thank all of you who went with me in prayer and in resource – for those who go
and those who stay behind shall share in the same reward!
The trip was very educational for me, both spiritually and
mentally. I learnt many interesting things, such as historical, monumental, and
cultural facts that I hadn’t known before. God also taught me many things that
I pray I’ll never forget.
One verse that seems to best sum up the trip for me,
especially on a social level is 2 Corinthians 12:9
But he said to me, “My grace
is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I
will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may
rest on me.
One of the themes we learned about on the trip was the
“Athenian pride”, also known as “hubris”. Every empire throughout the millennia
has carried this hubris, and it is often this pride that causes their downfall.
The Athenians grew very proud after their triumph over the Persian armies. They
thought they were the greatest in the world both in mind and in physical talent.
This caused disgust amongst the neighboring Greek cities, and they proceeded to
put ancient Greece into its rightful place of humility after only a brief
series of wars. One thing that history has taught us is that when pride
overtakes an empire, group, or individual, their fall is not far off.
I love being in social environments, I thrive off the
attentions of others. Whenever I meet new people, I always try to present
myself as best as I can. When first meeting my travelling companions, I was
very self conscious about how my hair was styled and how my shoes looked – I
wanted to present myself as best as I could appearance-wise.
The first night of the trip we spent on the bustling streets
of Athens, enjoying a nice dinner over-laden with garlic. From experience, I
knew bugs disliked the taste of garlic, and knew that by consuming lots of the
herb before bed, I would be able to peacefully endure a bug free night. I even
decided to take extra precaution and popped several garlic pills before bed. We
decided to leave the window open that night to let the cool and fresh air in as
we slept. I was exhausted, but I woke up in the middle of the night with an
itch on my lip. It wasn’t long before I realized a bug had landed on me and was
biting to its heart’s content. I brushed it off before falling instantly back
to sleep, only to wake up awhile later with a deep discomfort in my upper lip.
Touching it with my finger, I was shocked to realize it had lost all feeling.
All I could discern from at this hour was the deep throbbing pain around the
area where I’d been bit. Stumbling over to the bathroom mirror I realized to my
horror that my lip had swelled to the size of my thumb. It was HUGE.
So here I had been so obsessed with my image and presenting
myself to others; I took all the necessary precautions against bug bites, and
it almost seemed like God sent one specifically just to bite me on the lip. It
was 3am at the time, I was on my phone in the bathroom desperately texting my
family asking what to do with my big fat lip. After awhile though, I began to
realize that sooner or later everyone would see it. There was no avoiding it.
It was then that God spoke to me quite clearly, “Jesse, you’re focusing too
much on yourself and the things that don’t matter. I want you to be focusing on
Me.” Wow. That hit me pretty hard. I felt so weak and helpless as to my
cosmetics, but I suddenly realized I’d been looking in the wrong direction. I
then remembered that His power is made perfect in weakness.
I felt resigned. With my gaze fixed in a different
direction, I asked God to forgive me for looking too much at my outward
appearance, and asked Him to help me focus my eyes more on Him. I tried going
back to sleep with not much success, and ended up spending some time with the
teachers at around 6am. I also prayed to God that He would help heal my swollen
lip as soon as possible. All the teachers saw it, but by God’s grace by the
time the students started popping out of their rooms, the swelling in my lip
had gone down – and by noontime the affliction was completely healed.
Epidaurus
Praise the Lord though; He wasn’t finished with me yet!
Unfortunately, at times we all stumble and fall back into the very same traps
God previously pulled us out from. While in Greece, we got a chance to go to
the great amphitheater of Epidaurus. This magnificent spectacle was where
thousands of famous plays had been preformed over the past few millennia, and
it is still in use today where hundreds upon thousands of Grecians and
foreigners alike flock to see the ancient plays of old. I lack self-confidence
in areas previously mentioned – such as appearance – but one thing I am very
confident in is my voice.
I have been singing since very young, and making melodies
with my voice is definitely one of my passions. You can ask any of the group members;
whenever I wasn’t talking I was either singing or humming some random tune.
While at the Great Epidaurus, our group got the chance to sing center stage in
front of all the other foreigners and tourists present. I was overjoyed to be
given such a rare and honorable opportunity. When getting my camera ready to
film however, I missed the chance to go up with everyone else, and before I had
set my phone up to video they were already singing. I sat there, somewhat
distant, extremely dismayed. I would probably never make it out here again,
never mind get a chance to sing center stage on the Great Epidaurus.
Walking out of that theater awhile later, God once more
spoke to me very clearly: “Jesse, you care to much for your voice and
performance. Your heart is not in the right place.” I was shocked. I had been
so proud of my voice and singing skills, and it cut deeply that I hadn’t been
able to sing in front of the great crowd. But once more, my eyes were looking
in the wrong direction. I’d been so infatuated with my “stage time” that I’d
completely lost sight of the Author and Perfecter of my faith (Hebrews 12:1-2).
Once more in my brokenness, I felt God’s true desires for my heart come to my
attention.
Catacombs (San
Callisto)
Another historic destination we had a chance to go to was
the catacombs of St. Callixtus in Rome. Looking back at my past two experiences
in Greece, I was very wary of pride by this point. I knew of its destructive
traits and how it removes our gaze from the Lord and onto other, more worldly
things. Before going down into the catacombs, I spoke with one of the students
about how the iconography associated with this place and the way the locals
seemingly “worshiped” the dead kind of bothered my conscience. After concluding
however that we should respect those who have gone before us rather than
worship these martyrs, I put the topic to rest.
I was unable to shake the feeling though as I walked deep
under ground amongst the ancient catacombs – these tombs were a source of pride
to the Christians. I listened skeptically as the tour guide boasted of the five
hundred thousand “Christians” that had been buried in these deep underground
cut out graves that lined the rocky walls on either side of the many
subterranean corridors. At times the sense of pride for the dead became pretty
overwhelming to me.
After exiting the tombs, our group from Canada (consisting
of eighteen students and three teachers) all sat together on the grass in a
circle, and took some time to share our hearts and thoughts about the
experience. I was listening to the others, contemplating on this whole issue of
pride and its prevalent dangers when all of a sudden, the Lord spoke to me loud
and clear. His words shot like a knife through my heart. He said. “Jesse, I am
proud of you.” I nearly broke down right then and there. I had dubbed the word
“pride” as something evil and not to be touched or used, yet here the Maker of
the universe was… proud of me? I struggled not to break into tears as I shared
my catacomb experience with the other students along with what God had spoken
to me. It is something that still touches my heart even today as I write this.
He is proud of each and every one of you, no matter how you may feel about
yourself.
Fountains
We managed to make it to the Trevi fountains in Rome one
evening, an amazing scene that my mom had dubbed “great for taking pictures
by”. And that was exactly what we did. That night we were all lining up for
group pictures by gender. The girls all went first, and I thought I’d just poke
a little fun at one of my friends. I knew this one girl in particular very
well, and had the knowledge that she would not be offended by my joke. Before I
knew it my mouth was open, and a bunch of the guys and girls were restraining
their chuckles of laughter. But at that moment, the teacher taking the pictures
turned around to me, correcting and lecturing me in front of all the other students.
It was extremely embarrassing; all the guys nearby were even blushing for me.
After the correction I had received, everyone was silent. I sort of hung my
head in shame for the rest of the evening.
It was then that I realized I had two choices. I could
either allow a barrier to come between this teacher and me, or I could push to
have that original relationship back. I had made a very bad impression to this
man, and as much as I didn’t want to hang out with him or be near him after the
“verbal beating”, I knew the last thing God would want me to do is to let offense
come in between this relationship. So, as awkward as it was at first, I hung
out with him. I walked with him, talked with him; I had apologized earlier, he
knew I was sorry. But instead of ignoring him and avoiding him like I very
easily could have (and felt like I rightfully should have), I made a point of
actively seeking out a friendship with this teacher. It was difficult at first
to get past my own pride, but before long him and I were talking again like
best friends.
It’s amazing though how many friendships are jeopardized by
someone’s pride being stepped on. Simple offences like the one I experienced at
the Trevi Fountains could have usurped my whole relationship for the duration
of the trip with this teacher. But when we choose to forgo our offenses and die
to ourselves, God will reward us with much greater than what we had previous to
the offense. The teacher even called me a “sweetheart” with all sincerity in
Venice. It took time though, and I was glad I had taken the effort despite my
“manly” (human) wishes.
Eiffel Tower
Fast-forwarding my trip to the very last night in Paris, we
were all in one of the underground trains on the way to the Eiffel tower. It
was also the last day of our 12-day trip, and I was both physically and
socially exhausted. I realized later that I was quite emotionally exhausted as
well. Generally I was with a group of students chatting up a storm, or singing
a-cappella with one of my friends. At the very least I was sitting by somebody
I knew, having the comfort that someone I was familiar with was stationed
nearby. But on the train to the Eiffel tower, I realized I had none of these
things.
A group of my friends were off talking amongst each other,
everyone else was in their own little clicks, and I suddenly realized I had no
one. Even the teachers felt distanced from me as I sat beside my empty seat on
the subway. I felt so, totally, completely, utterly alone on that train, a
feeling that I had never experienced before in my life. Walking from the subway
station to the Eiffel tower (which was a good distance), I had myself convinced
that my popularity among the other students was plummeting downwards fast. I
didn’t know what I had done, or what I DIDN’T do, but I suddenly had no more
attention. It was as if the “drug” I had been taking for that entire trip had
suddenly been cut off, and I had lost my ecstasy and was going on sudden
withdrawals. I began to get desperate and tried doing everything I could to
save my self from this spiraling plummet. But nothing worked.
We had all split into groups earlier that day when touring
the Louvre, and each group had to prepare a speech to share with the rest of
the students under the Eiffel tower about what struck them in this famous Paris
Art Gallery. I was a mental wreck, and in no state to talk to any audience
about anything. But while sitting ‘alone’ on a bench beneath the Eiffel tower,
staring at the brick ground beneath my feet, it was almost like God put a
finger on my chin and allowed me to see things from a different perspective.
The last lecture given to us by Mr. Vanee ended with this: “The great lie is
that we don’t matter and need to prove ourselves; but don’t change. Be the promise [God has called you to
be].” I had been dwelling on these words after the lecture, and they’d come
back to me at this very moment. I felt so distraught. So broken. My fuel, my “ecstasy”,
my attention, all of it was gone. Yet right then and there, God had allowed me
to see things from a totally different perspective.
I had been trying so hard for the duration of the trip to be
whatever it was to get people to like me, that I was becoming something I was
not. I was tailoring my character into something that is socially “acceptable”
by my peers, and steering away form what I truly was at heart. I thought back
to the first night of the trip with my swollen lip, and I wanted more than
anything to be that “swollen lipped Jesse”, broken before both God and man.
That night I shared a bit about what I had gone through, and a great peace came
into my spirit. I ended up tagging along with the teachers for the rest of the
Eiffel tour. I’ll never forget that moment – at the very pinnacle of the Eiffel
tower, all alone with no one I knew or recognized. And yet I had a joy within
me that I had never felt before during that trip, a supernatural joy that told
me I didn’t need to base my worth on how others looked at me. What matters is
the Lord’s view, and when He is pleased with us, how can we have any reason not
to be?
The Airplanes…
For some reason, before heading on my trip to Europe, I had
asked God that for all the long haul flights He would give me strangers to sit
next to, so that He may display His love, through me, to them. For the first
two planes He did just that, giving me an elderly man with a broken wrist to
take care of during the nine-hour flight to Amsterdam. Throughout the trip,
there were several students who had opted to do devotional messages for the
entire group. During the last night of the trip, Steven spoke a message on
outreach that really stirred up my spirit to try harder in this area.
So the trip was coming to an end, we were all getting ready
to leave. We knew time with one another was short, and the last thing we wanted
was to be is separated from one another. I go to my seat on the first airplane,
and sure enough – there sitting next to me was a stranger. Him and I talked for
a while, and it turns out that this man was the head of operations for the
entire first mars rover landing project. He had been there with Neil Armstrong,
Arnold Schwarzenegger and a host of other famous movie actors and astronauts
watching the first rover to be guided down onto the red planet’s surface. It
was a neat experience, hearing about all his many stories.
Near the end of the flight I felt very convicted to inquire
something of him. It was a question I had learned in Malaysia earlier in the
year. After praying that God would give me the strength and this man the
receptiveness, I spoke out: “Is it okay if I ask you a question?”
He kind of chuckled and replied with a, “Sure, why not?”
“If you cold have one wish, from God for you today, what
would it be?”
He was taken off guard and asked me to repeat the question
again.
“If you cold have one wish, from God for you today, what
would it be?”
This caused him to stop and think for a minute. He’d been caught
off guard by the question, but went on to answer it with a jovial spirit. His
answer was health. I then asked him:
“Is it okay if I pray a one sentence prayer for you
concerning your wish?”
He was once more surprised by my question, but smiled and
replied with “Sure!”
God had given me the opportunity to bless a complete
stranger with this simple question as to what they would wish from God. We left
on great terms, and the man’s spirits were truly lifted in comparison to the
beginning of the flight.
So we all exit the airplane and board our second flight from
Minneapolis to Vancouver. My friends tried everything they could to be in the
seat beside me, but the stranger to my right wouldn’t budge. I sighed under my
breath... “Okay Lord, you’re answering my prayer… I’ll accept your way…”. Him
and I went through the entire 2 ½ hour flight in total silence. We had begun
our descent into Vancouver; I could see Canadian soil from the airplane’s window.
A quiet yet stern voice spoke to my heart very clearly, saying, “If you don’t
do it now, you will miss your chance.” I looked over to the big, tall man
sitting next to me fitted with many piercings. I was nervous, to say the least.
I turned to him, and out from my mouth came, “Is it okay if
I ask you a question?”
This was the first dialog spoken between us for the entire
flight.
“Sure, why not.”
I was praying under my breath. “If you could have one wish
from God for you today, what would it be?”
He took some time to think about it, and then began
explaining to me that him and his family had just moved to Vancouver from
Perth. His kids were very young, and were getting ready to attend the public
schools. Him and his family would have to adjust to a whole new lifestyle in
Canada. So I asked him,
“Is it okay if I pray a one sentence prayer for you and your
family?”
“Why not.”
I was amazed. God had allowed me to display His love to two
different strangers on the flights back home from Europe. I felt touched and
probably equally blessed as these two men did after our descent. The
interesting thing was, had I just chickened out there at the end when we were
landing, I would have completely missed that last opportunity to share Christ’s
love.
I learned many things on this trip and had many amazing
experiences that I’ll never forget. These are just a few of the adventures that
happened to me while I was visiting Europe. Me and my entourage of school
friends and teachers managed to squeeze in over ten different cities in six
different countries over the course of those twelve days. It was exhausting in
every way imaginable, but I am so glad I got to go. Praise the Lord, and thank
you for all of your prayers and support!!
-Jesse
But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for
you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the
more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.
2 Corinthians 12:9
