Waiting and Celebrating in Ports of Paul

Last week Janet and I celebrated our 40^th. Like almost all of the 39 previous celebrations, we celebrated far from the place we were married. The journey away from Oregon and our closest friends/family began on our honeymoon and has never really stopped.  Every year since we’ve been married we have celebrated our anniversary in a new and different country, state, or island, never twice in the same place. This year it was Turkey.  For the first several years this was not a deliberate choice, but when we discovered that we had happened to be in a new place on our anniversaries, we decided to continue the practice for as long as possible.  It has been a long and wonderful 40-year journey together, and whether or not we keep up the tradition for another 10 years, we look to the future with joy, planning to continue on until our bodies persuade our minds and dreams to slow down.

We began our week together in Antalya mentioned in Acts 14:24-25 (called Attalia in the first century) as the port from which Paul and Barnabas embarked on their voyage back to Antioch at the end of their first missionary journey. Today Antalya is a thriving resort city of over a million residents, not counting the thousands of northern Europeans who come to Antalya’s resorts for their annual sunburn. Janet and I spent a rare relaxing Saturday exploring the old city and ancient harbor, then participated in a church service on Sunday morning at the appropriately named St. Paul Union Church (www.SPCCturkey.com).

On Sunday afternoon we boarded the little public dolmus (van) to Finike in a rainstorm, and settled into SailingActs. We had planned to spend a day in Finike, then sail up the coast and drop anchor for a few days in Kekova Roads, our favorite bay. But the storm front lingered on with a persistent drizzle between thunderstorms. Janet and I enjoyed the cozy warm cabin on SailingActs, reading, talking, reminiscing and dreaming. And then, on the fourth day, the sun broke out and we had a fabulous two days at sea, and another sunny day exploring the ruins of the Lycian port city of Lymra.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Then this last Sunday, it was back on the dolmus to Antalya, overnight, then an early morning trip to the airport for Janet to fly to Istanbul, then on to Washington D.C. We had been watching the progress of Sandy, and so it came as no great surprise when Janet arrived in Istanbul on Monday morning, to discover that all flights into Dulles had been cancelled. In the meantime, I had returned to Finike. Janet would have to wait alone for the next available flight home to the USA.

Alone again on SailingActs, I’ve been thinking of how travel in the twenty-first century, as in the first century, is a time when one is not in control, when the immediate future is not predictable, when the traveler must wait for others to decide when to leave. When traveling, waiting alone, long delays, disrupted plans, and disappointments go right along with the celebration and anticipation. Apart from a much higher level of comfort and the relatively short time spent waiting in airports, the airport of the twenty-first century is the seaport of the first century.

For Paul, traveling was way of life. Paul learned to celebrate as he spent time in seaports waiting for the wind to change directions, or in prisons waiting for officials to change their minds. No matter where he was, Paul could celebrate his identification and relationship to Jesus, and anticipate with joy the journey ahead, even though he did not know for sure when and where he was going. Paul’s life was not anchored to a particular time and place. It was anchored in Jesus, who waited with Paul in prison and seaports. Paul was always home.

The anchor aboard SailingActs makes it possible for Janet and me to be at home on the voyage. The anchor makes home portable for it travels with the sailor. The anchor makes it possible to be at home anywhere in the world.  For Janet and me, dropping the anchor is always a time of celebration after a long day of sailing. And the anchor never binds us down or keeps us captive.

Like Paul, we can always be at home if we have anchors like friends, family, spouses, and  traveling companions, and most importantly, the Anchor.

 

Inspecting the ancient anchor discovered recently in the old harbor area of Finike.

Symbol of Jesus, the Anchor used by early Christians.

May we all, like Paul, learn to celebrate on the voyage of life, even when waiting.