May 29, 2000
CYBERCOLUMN:
Rome and God's love
___By John Duncan
___I'm sitting here under the old oak tree peering into the beauty of the blue sky and thinking of the soon-to-be summer--south winds, heat waves, cotton-white clouds and vacations. And I remember that once I traveled to Rome.
___Our family awoke on Friday, July 18, 1997, ready for Rome. Well, actually, we were getting ready for Rome: I showered and shaved and put on pants, long pants because the churches we were to enter required it. My three girls dressed, making sure their shoulders were covered and wearing skirts. Judy, my wife, began the day by plugging her curling iron into the wall plug, 220 amp plugs common to Europe and unlike what we're used to here in Texas. She fried her curling iron and subsequently fried her hair, hair coming out in clumps. She's kidded me about a bald spot in the back of my head for years, and she got one before I did. So much for the risks of foreign travel.
John Duncan
___We survived the morning--hair clumps, cold rolls, gross orange juice and the usual jockeying for position by our girls to sit on the bus. You know the routine: "I was there first! I wanted to sit there!"
___For me, this was the one place I could not wait to see. I purchased a Rome tour book, explaining the glory of Rome--the Vatican City, the Roman Forum, the Palatine Hill and the Circus Maximus, the Triumphal Arch of Constantine, the Colosseum, the Appian way (mentioned in the Bible) and the catacombs.
___When you tour Rome with a local guide, which the law requires, you get information overload. You learn interesting tidbits, like "barbarians" comes from "barbara," which means "bearded ones," which were the invaders in the Roman region in the fourth century.
___You learn history. The Roman emperor Constantine changed Rome forever. He conquered Maxentius at Milvian Bridge in Rome, saying he saw in the cloud a cross with the words, "Under this sign conquer." He divided his kingdom with Licinius in October of 312. He declared the edict of Milan in 313.He embraced Christianity, stopped religious persecution, forbade crucifixion and gladiatorial combats, and defended Rome against enemy attacks. You learn more history than you want, really.
___You learn unnecessary stuff. The River Tiber cuts through Rome and is the most written-about river in the world. Strangely enough, I've never read about the River Tiber except in weighty encyclopedias.
___You learn that nothing ever changes. The Romans gathered at the Circus Maximus to watch chariot races, and wagering was common lot for those who watched. Gambling still wreaks havoc on society today. The Roman Forum was a place of government with tall, white marble columns like those on government buildings in Washington. Does anything ever really change?
___You learn that things generally stay the same. The Romans loved sports, races, fights and athletic events. They gathered, some 50,000, in the Colosseum for gladiatorial events, gladiators fighting like boxers for the prize. It was Las Vegas and the boxing commission all over again. And if it rained? The Colosseum had a hole in the roof, Texas Stadium-style, but if it rained, the maintenance workers erected in one hour a silk canopy to cover the hole. Let's call it the Sky Dome (like the one in Toronto, Canada, with the retractable electric roof) in Rome.
___Legend records that Christians were thrown to the lions in the Colosseum. Georgio, our local guide, claimed it's all a myth. "It didn't happen," he said. I wonder if he thought Christ a myth too.
___I stood in the Colosseum, realizing how small I am in the scheme of things, a mere drop in the bucket, a drip in the ocean of life. And I looked through the hole in the Colosseum, awed by the glory of Rome. And I peered into the blue sky, awestruck by the glory of God, that he loves a small drip like me. For God so loved the world.
___And now as I sit and as the wind blows against my face, I know that he loves you too.
___ John Duncan is pastor of Lakeside Baptist Church in Granbury, Texas, and the writer of numerous articles in various journals and magazines
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