Sabbath in Pisa Italy

Mark 2:27

King James Version (KJV)

²⁷ And he said unto them, The sabbath was made for man, and not man for the sabbath

[i]

My family stood on the Piazza dei Miracoli (the Square of Miracles) in Pisa, Italy. This Sabbath day was indeed a miracle with some white fleecy clouds in a deep blue sky. It had rained for days, and now it seemed that God smiled on us. We had visited the Cattedrale di Pisa, a magnificent church with an expensive marble façade. I love the great cathedrals of the world. I love their splendor, but even more I love the reverent silence gracing the old stone structures.

As we walked into this cathedral, our voices had automatically hushed to awed whispers. I touched my finger to the holy water and made the sign of the cross, not that I believed it had any redemptive effect. I was too far gone for that. But it seemed to be the thing to do. My family watched in silence with skeptical smiles on their faces. They made no attempt to do likewise.

Outside again we entered the famous Campanile and climbed up to the bells. The tower leans precariously away from the church, and climbing its stairs is almost like climbing a ladder of a ship in a storm. This tower was made famous when Galileo simultaneously dropped two spheres of the same diameter but different masses. The experiment demonstrated to the watching crowd that Aristotle’s claim that heavier objects fall faster than lighter ones, was false.

Dad owned the only camera in our family. I suggested he take a picture of the beauty of the church and bell tower. He adamantly declined to do so by saying, “It’s Sabbath, son.”

“But Dad, it’s the only time we’re ever going to see it!”

“Yes, but a picture of this tower is found in every physics textbook.” Dad had taught physics for years and had a masters degree in physics, although at this juncture he was actually the president of a university.

Dad had taken pictures before on Sabbath. He took pictures on Sabbaths afterwards. Sabbath was wonderful day of family togetherness. We walked beaches, climbed mountains, explored gardens and other places of beauty. However, to Dad the physicist, this tower represented work, and as such he distanced himself from it to the point that he wouldn’t even take a picture of it on Sabbath. Otherwise, Dad worked hard all the time, night and day. His good health lasted him past his hundredth birthday, and I attribute it at least partially to his celebrating every Sabbath by not working on it.

Thank You Lord for the Sabbath rest You made for us!

#California, #IE, #SABBATH, #PISA, #LEANINGTOWER, #GALILEO, #PHYSICIST, #WORK, #TENCOMMANDMENTS, #CATHEDRAL, #ITALY, #GRAVITY, #HOLYWATER, #FACADE, #PHOTOGRAPHY, #CENTENARIAN

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[i] http://www.darkroastedblend.com/2012/05/precariously-leaning-towers-of-world.html

Green Earth and Creation Stamps

Isaiah 45:18

GOD’S WORD Translation (GW)

¹⁸ The Lord created the heavens.
    God formed the earth and made it.
    He set it up.
    He did not create it to be empty
        but formed it to be inhabited.

This is what the Lord says:

I am the Lord, and there is no other.

 On July 24, 2016, I went down to the Quality Anaheim Sunday Stamp Show. Claude Abraham waved at me and said he had some things he thought I might be interested in. He knows more about stamps than anyone else I know, and I sat down at his booth to see what he had to offer this time. One of these was a stack of souvenir sheets.

This Palau sheet immediately caught my attention. Initially I decided I wouldn’t buy it. I don’t collect Palau, an tiny island east of the Philippines and north of Papua New Guinea. But I do collect some topics, like Mathematicians on Stamps, Giraffes on Stamps for Sylvia, Famous Writers, and so on. So I bought this one and have included a copy of it.

I wondered if Palau was peopled by Adventists who celebrate creation every Sabbath. Did they urge the country to issue a beautiful issue honoring the creation and its Creator? Looking on Wikipedia, I saw that Adventists constitute a mere 5.3% of the population, whereas other Christians constitute over 75%. This stamp issue is rather a part of the great green earth movement that encourages humans to treat our planet with respect.

A couple months ago Sylvia and I returned home from a road trip back east to North Carolina. During that trip, we drove through vast stretches of hot desert where we encountered some amazingly powerful rain and hail storms. Vast prairies contrasted with the might Rocky Mountains that were visible for miles. We crossed beautiful rivers, wide enough and deep enough to allow ocean going vessels on them. Wild donkeys, buffalo, prong horn antelope, coyotes, and big horn sheep, all seeking to live out their own lives, graced our travels. We became almost claustrophobic as we pushed through the seemingly endless eastern deciduous forest where our horizons were less than 100 feet (30m) on either side of us.

Such marvelous and varied scenery and views we experienced, each special in its own way! Throughout our journey, we were often conscious of the mighty Creator who prepared all this for us and all others to enjoy.

Thank you, Lord, for creating a beautiful planet and placing us on it to cultivate and preserve it. Thank you, Jesus, for becoming human and living on earth with us to guide and save us.

#CREATION, #CALIFORNIA, #IA, #SOUVENIRSHEETS,  #STAMPS,  #STAMPSHOWS, #GRATITUDE, #PALAU, #GREEN, #ADVENTISTS, #CHRISTIANS, #ANAHEIM