when in Rome...

As many of you know, I returned from my trip a week ago. I spent almost a week in Rome, a couple days in Venice then headed to Israel for a week. Over the next few blogs, I'll try to share my experiences in detail.

I've always dreamed of going to Italy...ever since I was a little girl. I was so fascinated by their culture. So when we landed, I actually teared up a little. I was so thankful that God had made this small dream of mine come true. Buon giorno, Italia!

We stayed literally two blocks from the Colosseum. It was so beautiful, especially lit up at night. The first night, a few of us visited Trevi fountain. Jill and I paused to take a picture and turned around and our group was gone. They had crossed a busy intersection without us and we couldn't get across. We watched as our group turned a corner and disappeared. We finally made it through the intersection and just took off in a run to catch up. We couldn't see them. We had no idea where the fountain was or where our group was, but we just kept running. Finally we caught up with them like a mile down the road, but I won't soon forget the fear I felt being lost my first night in Rome with Jill ha. The fountain was beautiful. Now what you are supposed to do at Trevi fountain is throw a coin in. There is a method though. You have your back to the fountain and use your right hand, throwing over your left shoulder. Throwing in one coin will grant you a return trip to Rome. Throwing in two coins promises adventure. Throwing in three coins is a guarantee that you'll find true love. So naturally, I did all three. Then just before I left I threw in three more...just in case.

The next morning we visited the Colosseum. Such an amazing structure. To put it into perspective...today's football stadiums are modeled after the Colosseum. Rows and rows of stadium seating. The more powerful and wealthy you were, the closer you're seat was...outside of women and slaves--they were all seated at the top.

 I know to many of you this may come as a shock, but I really get into the gladiator movies. I think they are fun to watch, but the one thing that few point out is that most of the lives that were lost in the Colosseum were those of Christians. It is horrifying to see the size of the Colosseum and know that it was once filled to capacity with bloodthirsty people shouting and begging to see graphic bloodshed. I heard a rumor that a man witnessed the gore of the games and shouted for it to stop. He yelled in the name of Jesus Christ, make this stop! The crowd turned on him and threw him into the center of the arena. The moment he was killed the crowd went quiet. The rumor is he was the last person to ever die in the Colosseum. The entertainment aspect was gone for them.

Many Christians lost their lives in the center of that arena. However, today, a cross stands at the middle point signifying who won in the end.

I'll share more throughout the next few blogs and try to share a few pictures here and there as well. This trip was amazing. I love history and I love the Bible. This trip made my Bible come to life and I hope to share that with you over the next few weeks.