Rome Was Not Built in a Day

According to wiktionary.org, this idiomatic expression means "It takes a long time to create something complicated or impressive." And after spending just three days in Rome, I must say I have a new appreciation for the truth of this expression. It is absolutely mind-boggling to see the sheer volume of incredible arches and architecture within a few square miles. We walked through the Coliseum, the first domed stadium, which would seat 55,000 spectators. It took just eight years to build starting in 72 A.D. (Having a lot of Jewish slave labor sped things along it seems.) Still 2000 years later parts of the original structure stand as a testimony to Roman ingenuity.

We wandered up Palantine Hill where the rulers of Rome built palaces that now lie in ruins. We strolled the Forum across the same paving stones where Julius Cesar walked. We studied the Rostrum, ten feet high and 80 feet long, where debaters debated and rising politicians and purveyors of ideas preached and persuaded. We saw the Borghese Gallery and Gardens and it's treasures of art and sculpture and horticulture. We made our way through the Vatican museum and drank in Michelangelo's paintings in the Sistine Chapel. We saw Michelangelo's Pieta in St. Peter's Basillica and marveled at the sheer grandeur of Bernini's seven-story high altar canopy. We experienced the Pantheon and watched the sunlight stream through the giant oculus at the top of the dome. We climbed up the Spanish Steps and took a night hike to the Trevi Fountain (tossing in our coins and making our wishes). And, after all this and more - it is strikingly obvious - Rome wasn't built in a day. No, rather, Rome is an amazing maze of immensely complex art and architecture and street designs and cathedrals and aqueducts and engineering! Can you tell I am impressed? I have seen in these three days many of the greatest symbols of civilization.

So tonight we will have dinner in a restaurant recommended by our friends, David and Debbie Scobey. It's our last night on our journey. Then we'll pack up and be ready to head to the airport tomorrow morning for the trip home. I am glad we're ending our trip here in Rome. As I look around I am awed at the accomplishments of mankind. Rome has given the world many of its greatest man-made treasures. And, yet I am also struck by the reality of just how much we still need. There are just too many important things we can't do for ourselves. We need God's presence to satisfy our loneliness. We need h

is comfort to ease our pain and fear. We need his purpose to fill our lives with meaning. We need his grace to mend our irreparable brokenness. And, we need his love to calm us in our helplessness. It took hundreds

 of years to build Rome to it's glorious grandeur (and a few hundred years for men to destroy most of it). And Rome gave many gifts to mankind. But, perhaps the best thing Rome gave us was a Roman-built cross, for on it the Father gave us all we really needed - a messiah who died in our place.

We came to Italy. We laughed! We Sang! We head home filled by the multitude of experiences we've had. And we find our hope still ---

Because of that cross!