First of all, I would like to take this time to say that I should have
pictures up in a few days. I'm just waiting on a way to transfer them to
my computer.
Also, I would like to let everyone know that on this big break of mine, I
have now consumed duck liver, live oysters, escargot, and...Boar's head.
Yeah that last one's a doosie. Feel free to ask me about it. Okay,
moving on.
This is part three of my three part Big Break blog series. That sounded
really cool. So, my last stop on my journey was Paris
France.
The city of love and romance...and Kelly Chippindale was in Athens Ohio.
Luckily, I had my good friend Smiles with me, so I was completely
devastated.
Speaking of Smiles, I have not mentioned him once in any of these
posts. Smiles is my trusty side-kick that accompanies me on all of my
adventures in Europe. He is the little
stuffed smiley face that has been appearing in my pictures. I did take
him to the Pyrenees, but I only had pictures
of him on my camera, so unfortunately, they were lost...but he had a lot of
fun. He was given to me by my good friend Katie Pagenstecher who wants
Smiles to see the world, which is why he is with me. And that's the story
of smiles.
Now back to the actual story. So far, we have been to Bordeaux
and Stirling, and I have been shown the
beautiful never-changing love of God, and the beauty that is revealed to us
when we put our trust in Him. In Paris,
I experienced something a bit different. In the city of love, God showed
me a beautiful challenge that will remain with me for the rest of my time on
this earth.
Upon arrival to the airport, my dear friend Pierre-Antoine (or PA for short)
was supposed to meet me at the gate. When I got off the plane; however,
he was no where to be seen. Immediately, my trust in the Lord was
gone. "The trip is ruined." "Nothing has worked out
this whole time!" About five minutes later, PA was leading me to the
train that would take us to his brother's apartment...I'm an idiot.
Now before I go any further, I would like to say that if anyone is ever
planning on going to Paris for vacation or whatever reason, I will give you
PA's number because he is the best Paris tour guide in all of France. In
the course of about 1 1/2 days, I saw the Eiffel Tower, Notre Dame, Invalide,
Arc de Triumphe, Concorde, Town Hall, Church Magdeline, Champs Elysee (a really
big shopping street), and the Louvre where I saw, among many other beautiful
things, the Mona Lisa, Venice de Milo, and an actual mummy. It was
incredible. Everything was worth stopping for. I had to take a
picture just about every 5 minutes. Even the streets were lined with
perfectly planted green trees. I cannot fathom what it must have taken to
build the cathedrals I saw there, and I finally get to say that I have seen the
Eiffel Tower. That's just so cool to me.
But where there was beauty, pain was close by. Homeless lined the
streets just as the trees did. And inside these magnificently huge cathedrals,
I found machines where I could turn my two euro coin into a Holy two euro coin
with just another two euros and the crank of a handle, candles I could light
for prayer (2 euros for a small one, 10 for a big one). At the front
door, there was a big scary man sternly telling people to be quite, for it was
a Holy place, and we all know that God cannot work in noisy environments.
I felt like running around with a whip and turning over the machines and
tables...WWJD right?
And thus, the challenge was presented to me. Where there is beauty,
there will be disgust; where there is joy, there will be despair; where
there is good, there will be evil. And for the rest of my life, I
must dedicate my entire self to spreading the former of the two. So there
it is. The challenge for, not only me, but for anyone else willing to
accept it.
It may be hard for me to believe right now, buy my life will not always
consist of spending countless hours with good friends in Athens Ohio.
I will have some serious challenges in my life, and I am convinced that being
here in Europe has been a little taste of what
that will be like.
Three times, in three very different ways, God showed me something
beautiful. The love of Bordeaux, the trust
of Stirling, and the challenge of Paris
are all experiences that I will thank God for, for the every day of the rest of
my life. I pray that my message has been clear to all of those reading,
and that God has spoken through me.
And that was my Big Break.
