Just Call Me Enoch, Jr.

The day trip to Delphi felt for me as though I were taken up to heaven while still alive, like Enoch.

The best word to describe the day is “breathtaking”, as the only word that I could seem to utter was, “WOW!"

Our first stop was Hosios Loukas monastery build around 960 A.D. The main temple or cathedral of the monastery is still standing as tall today as it did when it was created, almost 1100 years ago.

The monastery is located among breathtaking

scenery, yet for me, what truly took my

dome and saw a portrait of God labeled, “the all

seeing God,” looking down at me from above, standing in the middle of this incredibly beautiful ancient holy place, I could not help but close my eyes, and thank God.breath away was stepping foot inside the holy place ofworship. Picturesque paintings of different points in Jesus’ life decorated the high, domed ceilings. When I looked up into the

Having the opportunity to stand alone in the middle of this silent monastery and pray is an experience that is hard to articulate accurately. To pray in the same holy place that others before me have prayed for over 1,000 years stirred my soul, as I felt that I was not only closer to God, but was a part of something much bigger than myself. Just thinking about my incredible experience makes me emotional. Being inside this monastery was one of the greatest experiences of my life because of how close I felt to my Lord and Savior, and made me feel as though I had received the same blessing as Enoch.

After leaving the monastery we made our way up to Delphi to see the Temple of Apollos, the Delphi Stadium, the Delphi auditorium, and the Temple of Athena. Here I saw ancient ruins with massive blocks and columns of marble. It is a tremendous climb up the hillside to get to the Temple of Apollos, the Delphi Stadium, and the Delphi auditorium. With such a steep incline, and such massive pieces of marble still existing on the sites, I asked our professor how they got such gargantuan pieces of marble up there. His response, “Exactly.” Regardless, it showed me how human beings have always fought to believe that there was more to life than just this, and their ability to build massive temples of marble shows how much they were willing to sacrifice to get closer to a higher being.

While the ruins were cool, what truly made me feel as though I were walking with God was when I turned around and surveyed the scenery of Delphi. Standing on the side of a mountain with adjacent majestic high mountain peaks, as we looked down into the valley below us, once again my breath was taken away. Sunlight gleamed over all creation and I found myself experiencing the same feeling of closeness to God that I felt inside the monastery, while standing on the side of a mountain.

For me, January 12, 2012 marks a day that will forever be burned into my memory. It was on this day that I experienced God both in a holy place of worship, and nature. In the Bible it states that Enoch was a righteous man, and God took him up to heaven before he died. Therefore Enoch joined God, before experiencing death. Today, I felt an experienced something like that. I felt God extremely near. Not all people can claim to have experienced God like I did today, for which I consider myself extremely thankful and blessed. Probably like Enoch did
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