Pilgrims seldom complain

Back online!  While we missed the opportunity to post and share with you the adventures of the past few days, we did not miss the opportunity to capture anything!  The text for Saturday was Philippians 2:12-18, and from that our theme of seldom complaining emerges.  The lesson is to acknowledge and address the things that go wrong and for whatever reason burden us; the key is to reflect upon and then grow from that discomfort so that we can process and move forward spiritually.

Speaking of moving forward, we bid a fond farewell to Turkey and the amazing experiences we had there as we boarded a cruise ship to head for open waters and...Greece!  We only had to cruise (and, of course...eat) for a few hours before we landed on the island of Patmos and immediately set out for an excursion to the Cave of the Apocalypse. It was here that John received his visions used to write the book of Revelation in about 95 AD.  The cave has been well preserved and now is associated with a monastery that was built in 1088.  The hike to the cave was well worth the effort (lots of steps/stairs and quite an incline,  impressive that John was able to traverse that terrain!) to see the place used as a table/bookstand for recording the visions, the handhold that John used to pull himself up and the place referred to as the 'pillow' - an indentation in the rock where John would rest his head when he was tired.

Patmos proved to be a beautiful and satisfying experience for the pilgrims, all of whom agreed that this was indeed a revered and peaceful place.  The tender ride back to the ship had everyone reflecting on the amazing experiences that we have had thus far and how our burdens of today are NOTHING compared to those experienced by those who have gone before us!

After a successful day at sea, the pilgrims enjoyed dinner, some entertainment and a restful night of sleep, with little pitching or rolling and lots of gentle rocking on the ship...we've got another full day planned for tomorrow!

Check out our cool shots of the day HERE...you won't be disappointed...we certainly weren't!