In the Cross is Life

Prague, Czech Republic

"In the cross is salvation, in the cross is life."
-Thomas a' Kempis

Turkish Delight in Istanbul

I have so much to blog about...like, my trip to Turkey for Spring Break! I will have to do the trip in different posts over the course of the next few weeks. I have a lot going on with papers, projects, field trips, and weekend travel that I will have to blog when I can and in different installments. But, for now, here are some pictures from Istanbul. I met my mom there and we toured around for a few days before leaving for Ephesus. It is a very interesting city with a lot of history, culture, food, and of course, good shopping.


Yum...Turkish Delight! ;)



Lots of chefs and street vendors selling Turkish favorites...











The Spice Market















Topkapi Palace was the official and main residence in the city of the Ottoman Sultans for 400 years of their 600-year reign from 1465 to 1856.











Hagia Sophia ("Holy Wisdom") was built as a Christian church and then taken over by the Ottomen Empire and made into a mosque.



The scroll says, "I am the Light of the world, Peace be with you."





The Blue Mosque (Sultan Ahmet Camii) is a historical mosque and known as the Blue Mosque for the blue tiles on the walls of its interior.











Boat Ride on the Bosphorus River






Istanbul University



The Grand Bazaar











"Could I maybe have some more Turkish delight now?" -The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrode by C.S. Lewis

I Know Nothing...

...except Jesus Christ, and Him crucified.

Every church and museum has at least one portrait of Jesus on the Cross. Each is different, but all evoke emotion. It shows the emotion of Jesus and it causes the viewer to be reverent at the sight.









I recently listened to my college pastor who was going through a series, "The Bleeding Gospel." He challenged us by asking if the Gospel merits everything we do. Being merited by the Gospel means living every part of our lives in context to the Gospel - therefore, we would know nothing else - in a situation, relationship, decision, conversation - except Jesus and do everything in light of the Who He is and what He did for us.

During this season of Lent, I hope our desire is to know nothing in our lives apart from our Savior and what He did for us on the Cross.

"For I determined to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ, and Him crucified." 1 Corinthians 2:2

On a Rainbow Trail

Cinque Terre is a rugged portion of coast on the Italian Riviera. In English, the name means "Five Lands" in reference to the five towns: Monterosso al Mare, Vernazza, Corniglia, Manarola, and Riomaggiore. Paths, trains and boats connect the villages, and cars cannot reach it from the outside. After our week in Tuscany, a group of us headed to the coast to hike Italy's famous area known for its charming towns and colorful terrain.



On Friday morning, we hiked from Levanto to Monterosso. It was a pretty intense hike and took up all the morning and a part of the afternoon. The weather was perfect all weekend - sunny, blue skies with a cool breeze from the Lirgurian Sea.




View of Levanto from the trail








View of Monterosso from the trail


Me and Cinzia (Cinzia is our Program Facilitator - we all love her!)





We couldn't wait to get started Saturday morning, as we knew we had three more towns to explore! We took the train from Levanto to Riomaggiore. From there, we went on to the rest of our tour.


Riomaggiore






Trail through Manarola




Vernazza








Mary Hester, Lauren, Cinzia and me celebrating our weekend hiking accomplishments with gelato!


Levanto beach at night

On our way home, we stopped in Pisa for some photo ops with the Leaning Tower.







“Walk on a rainbow trail; walk on a trail of song, and all about you will be beauty. There is a way out of every dark mist, over a rainbow trail.”-Robert Motherwell