In the airport we encountered other small stumbling blocks of misplaced tickets, and items that had fallen out through the security check points. Yet through it all again there was a presence of presence of peace covering and filling us. Our one hour flight to Adana proved to be a gift of the Holy Spirit and a letting in of the Light.
All of us found our seats and were looking forward to continuing our morning fellowship aboard the short flight to Adana, but Kathy ended up on the other side of the aisle from Dr. W, Fr., and I. She was at first disappointed, but what a gift was to come. Before the flight took off, two Young Turkish women sat down in the seat next to her. I was glad to see that she wasn't going to be alone, but I hoped they would be able to speak English.
After the flight was underway, I looked over to see the most amazing sight. She had here bible open and was talking excitedly to them both. Then she asked Fr. and Dr. W. about a reference to St. Paul in Tarsus. And we all began praying. And there was a letting in of the Light. As I watched her looking for the reference in the Acts of the Apostles, the young woman sitting next to her actually found it first and began pointing to it on the page. What a beautiful witness took place and her eyes were opened. She couldn't believe that the home town of her father, Tarsus, which was also the home town of St. Paul, was actually there in the bible. The conversation delightfully unfolded and we knew that the hand of the Lord was guiding us, and the Holy Spirit was with us.
When she told us about the story, she was overcome with emotion. This was another intention for all of us to lift in prayer today. We were being called to prayer by the Lord, just as if it was prayer time near a mosque, the melodious voice of the Lord rang out in the Light of the day.
We continued on our way to the site of ancient Antioch, currently Hatay, and onto the site of St. Peter's Grotto. Along the way it was drawing us more deeply into prayer. We all felt it, there was a buzz of energy in the air, then we saw them the prayer caves of the monks upon the side of the hill. What a blessed time for us in this holy place. Kathy even managed to make her way into one of the prayer caves. What a powerful presence of God we felt there, as the Light streamed in from the window and door covering us, drawing us, filling us.
Later in an added side trip to a House Church in Antioch not far from the Cave of St. Peter's, we listened to Word of God from the Acts of the Apostles and again the Light of the Holy Spirit touched us all so deeply. On the road to Damascus, "a light from the sky suddenly flashed around him," Acts of the Apostles 9: 1-20. There on the road to persecute more Christians, he met Jesus. We too had the experience of seeing Jesus in the Light, in our fellowship, in our prayer and worship, in the breaking of the bread at the table, in the Light filling us in the cave, and as one young women whose eyes were opened met Him there in the witnessing of the Word, Jesus himself the Light of the World, touched us all .
"We are a pilgrim people, we are the church of God." - One Spirit One Church
