It’s been an interesting week. We only had 3 days of class last week and on Wednesday morning I woke up to hear that a car bomb had gone off in Madrid. The ETA, a Basque separatist group, set it off in a shopping center downtown. No one was killed but there was a lot of building damage. We all were kinda on edge for most of the day. The ETA wants Northern Spain to become their own independent nation.
We left for Barcelona on Thursday morning and that night we went downtown to the Ramblas. It’s a long line of shops, restaurants and sidewalk stands. Friday we took a tour bus and saw the Olympic stadium, the Sagrada Familia, which is a modern cathedral which was started by Gaudi back around 1909 and it still isn’t completed. We also saw la Castillo Montjuic. It’s a 17th century castle that overlooks the Mediterranean and all of Barcelona. Saturday we went to the beach and that night we went to the Magic fountain. They set the water to lights and music. It was really cool. Sunday, Justin and I wandered around and ended up on some back streets and then at the old Gothic cathedral. They were having some kind of festival with music and folk dancing.
Every time we go to the beach it seems like there are a lot of naked women around. It also seems like every time we go to the beach I find myself running. I think I know how Joesph felt when he ran from Potiphars’s wife. I told everybody I was going for a walk and I found my way down along the seawall. I walked for probably a mile and found a secluded spot among the rocks and sat down. I just sat and listened to the waves crash. I sat and watched the water wash over the rocks time and time again. God just revealed something to me. Our way of thinking is that it would take thousands of years for that rock to be worn down by the waves but for God that is only days.
But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day. The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.
I then started thinking that when things that we really want in our lives seem to be taking forever, God’s just waiting for the right SECOND to bring about these things in our life. I got bored on the train and figured out how long a year is to God. Taking literally that a 1000 yrs are like a day then a year is like 2 minutes to God. I know this isn’t literal but it just shows how God is ever-faithful and ever-mindful of his promises and of our lives.
On the train ride to Barcelona I started thinking about all the ruins that are around Spain. The Romans were here and so were the Muslims. The Egyptians gave Madrid a temple back in 1972. So I’ve seen the temple and was thinking about that and the Roman aqueducts and theaters that are still standing. If you think about it, that’s all that is left of those empires. Giant documentation of their once great empire. The Egyptians once ruled the known world and enslaved the Hebrews. God brought out the children of Israel and Egypt eventually fell from its lofty height. Take Rome. Its empire spanned from Spain to Asia to Africa. Rome was a giant in the eyes of the world. The new Christians were tortured and persecuted. The Romans wanted to exterminate the Christians. What happened was the opposite. The Roman empire collapsed and the cause of Christ grew by leaps and bounds.
But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. He chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things–and the things that are not–to nullify the things that are, so that no one may boast before him.
Well that’s all I’ve got for now, also I’m about to run out of time on my computer. Talk to you later.