Sick in Sardis

I didn’t sleep well last night.  I was awake at 2:30am, at first thinking this was a jet lag thing.  But as the night wore on I could tell there was something else going on.

Despite the big breakfast spread I had two eggs and an orange, not my usual bulk. I didn’t feel like eating and was not feeling all that great.  It felt like something was going against me.

First stop of the day was the acropolis at Sardis.  As we stood there, listening to the teaching, I suddenly began to feel very warm.  I shed my outer shirt and almost collapsed when doing so.  I stumbled into the grass a few yards from the group, fell on the ground, and dry-heaved for a while.  One of the tour guys noticed my plight and escorted me to a restroom, fortunately only about a hundred yards away.  I camped out in the restroom while the rest of the group took in this particular site.

The acropolis at Sardis looked impenetrable.  Even from the brief time I was vertical, I could see it perched on the cliffs, looking impossible to reach.  There was a crack, a way up, that was discovered and used while the city slept to attack and take it over.  One of Jesus’ warnings to the church of Sardis was to wake up, strengthen what remains, and repent.

We would miss the significance and the connection, 2000 years later, but the church of that time would certainly understand the warnings.

I rejoined the group when they came back and we walked to the nearby ruins of the marketplace and the Jewish synagogue, the largest outside of Jerusalem and one of the best preserved.  With space for several hundred people it raised the question of why there were so many Jews living in this Roman city. I don’t remember the answer to that one as I was only operating at about 20% at the time.

Someone asked if the steel beams and the tarp-like stuff stretched over it was original.  This was put on only recently to preserve the space from the weather.  The original roof was made with timbers.

Also at this site is a Roman gymnasium. The word gymnasium originates from ancient Greek meaning ​to exercise naked​. And apparently that’s what they did.  Physical exercise in the buff.  The space is absolutely enormous, covering several acres, and behind it sits a Roman bath.  The whole field in front of this structure is part of the gymnasium.

A short distance from this is the Temple of Artemis, another colossal structure.  Right next to it is a tiny third century church.  Only two pillars remain from the temple out of hundreds but the church is a well-preserved structure.  No one knows but perhaps the church at Sardis took their warnings seriously and established a church in the shadow of this temple to reach those who desperately needed the gospel.

After this we had some traveling to do, so about two hours on the bus with a pit stop at a gas station and convenience store.  43 people coming all out at once and buying pop and snacks made for some long lines for a while.

Lunch was at an outdoor restaurant located right next to a waterfall.  So we had the roar of the water accompanying our lunch the entire time.  The meatballs looked good, but I only ate two bites of the pita bread and a few pieces of fruit.  I didn’t want to upset the fragile gut with heavy foods.  People have come to these waters for centuries for healing

I sat the next one out.  This was an unexcavated tell at Colossae.  It involved some steep hiking and I was pretty weak by this point.  So I’ll let Deb tell the story:

At the top, Jerrell, our GTI guide said that too often we do not hear the New Testament letters the way the original audience heard them.  We preach on it in pieces and don’t read it aloud to ourselves all at once.  So Jerrell, with passion, recited the entire letter of Colossians from memory.  Wow!  Christ is supreme and must be where my mind and heart are.  He is all in all.  It was the highlight of the trip for me thus far.

Last stop of the day was the Doga Hotel in Karahayit.  Quite a fancy place.  A big feature here is several pools, one of them hot and fed from a natural hot spring.  We’ll have to take a dip later.

We took a walk through the village for a while, arriving back in time for the biggest dinner spread of the trip yet.  The desserts alone filled an entire wall.

An amazing array of different foods.  Sure wish I could have enjoyed it.  I had four pieces of watermelon and two orange slices. Perhaps tomorrow I can return to normal quantities again.

After dinner we took a dip in the hot pool.  At 106 degrees it took a bit to get used to.  And then we took a dip in the cold pool.  Kind of a shock to the system at first but it felt mighty fine once we got used to it.