Been a while since I wrote about what we are up to in Sicily. I have page of notes that come close to boring me so not about to blah on for ever. I did write a newsletter today – if you don’t receive it then here is a link:
https://mailchi.mp/543da0e94eaf/january-2026-update
It will hopefully give a feel to date. We continue in Avola for this month.
Tag: Sicily
1998 – 2025
The map above shows the early Roman Empire and helpfully for this post is marked in red! Sicily is the football at the toe of Italy, the largest island in the Mediterranean, and pretty much in the middle. In history taking the island and colonising it became very strategic as from there so much could be controlled. It was the first colony of the republic of Rome (republic pre-dated empire but does not mean Rome did not act in Imperial ways).
I have been reflecting on a vision I had in 1998 of late, but first. Convictions and hopes / expectations. Convictions are deep, so John the Revelator saw Babylon collapse and the merchants weep at its collapse. I don’t know how John would have responded if we asked him – so when will this happen? Will it be in your life-time? Will it happen prior to the return of your Lord or when your Lord ‘appears’?
I don’t know what he would have said, and not sure he would know himself. Agnosticism of such things is awesome. He knew (and we are to know) that there is final outcome when the kingdoms of this world become the kingdom of our Lord and Christ. He knew to pray ‘let your kingdom come… on earth as in heaven’. I don’t think we will be judged on what happened in our life-time but what future we sowed into. In the academic world I believe there is some recovery of what I term the ‘Pauline gospel’ which in summary has to be rooted in Caesar in Rome is not lord of lords nor king of kings nor offers peace on earth, but the crucified Jewish Messiah who has been raised from the dead is all the above and hence there is an invitation to be ‘in Messiah’ where the divides of Jew and Greek, male and female, slave and free no longer count for anything. Paul with his logical language and John with his apocalyptic imagery (cartoons) are in agreement. Martin Luther King was in agreement – I have a dream… and thankfully many others have come in the same spirit. Paul, John, MLK all have a long term vision. Will it happen in your life-time. I think the response is ‘I don’t know but that is not my concern… my concern is whether I have sown in that direction’.
The future is not arrived at from today. Not in Scripture as I read it. 2026 will arrive in x-number of hours, but the future might or might not arrive then.
Back in the day coming from the fires of ‘Marsham Street’ I was motivated to ‘sow seeds for revival’ in as many places as would have me. The Welsh revival of 1904 was a motivating factor and I spent probably 6 months in Wales over the next few years. I had the privilege of being the speaker on the last anniversary in the 20th century in Moriah chapel, Loughor (Oct. 31) the place that is credited with the outbreak of ‘revival’. Prior to that I had a vision that I will outline, but have re-visited it since. Visions of the future meet us where we are and inevitably we interpret them from where we are. The visitation of Jesus did not easily fit with the expectation of the day but it was the fulfilment of the hopes that generations had carried.
In 1998 I had a major (for me) vision while in Wales. At the time I had a simple line to the future – something along the lines of a ‘Welsh revival’ would unfold. Today I hold to what I saw but ‘re-vision’ it. And in my life-time? I hope I remain agnostic but hope even deeper that I continue to be pushing for the future. What I saw was a wild-fire in Wales that could not be domesticated. It was not a fire in a fireplace that felt nice on a cold day, but a fire that was not safe, nor controllable. The fire just crossed the border to England but basically jumped England. It jumped and appeared in South Spain. It then went all around the northern Mediterranean until it came to Greece. There it stopped. When that stopped it then began in north Africa and went round the Southern part of the Med. When it came to roughly due south of Italy, the fire began to move again in Greece and move eastward as well as continuing in north Africa. Both then began to flow with a meeting point in the Middle East (and today I ask Gaza?????).
I did not connect it at all to the Roman Empire but when I saw the above map it was exactly as I saw it.
That radical uncontrollable wild fire can only be if Christendom is not a factor / dismantled / disempowered. True indigenous culture develops in the context of a multi-cultural setting, blah blah blah. I wrote recently that ‘Jesus-aligned-followers’ are vital – acting as leaven / catalysts for those who know how to release wild-fire.
Now we are in Sicily, right in the centre of the map I put above; an old map of Europe that shows Europe like a queen has Sicily as an orb with the cross over the top. The orb is the symbol of the world and the cross the symbol (in that context) of christendom (in this sign you will conquer). Back a while ago we visited both the burial place of Franco that had the largest cross of its type erected above it and then visited his birth home to pray. The cross has been colonised by powers, but the cross dismantled the powers! Today we visited the famous valley of temples in Agrigento – magnificient temples raised to Zeus and a hundred other gods. How radical was the gospel of the crucified Jesus who demonstrated that the Living God did not live in temples made by hands. Paul’s gospel did not have a comfortable environment, and perhaps any recovery of that gospel will require a similar resistant environment, for any recovery of the Pauline gospel can only be a first step. The second has to be believers in that gospel!
I have much more to reflect on our journey thus far. It is a learning curve for the significantly-ignorant such as I, and perhaps the biggest changes that are necessary are in me. So hopefully we will sow something of the future into Sicily so that she is kicked into play (Gayle’s phrase) and something spreads in Europe for the sake of our world. In my life-time? I hope I continue to say ‘not a clue’. But between 98 and 2025 there have been huge shifts in me, but I continue to say – let the wild-fire come and let those who know how to spread it rise. We are hearing such voices and most of them are not within the four walls.
Last day in Palermo
The capital city with just under 700,000 people in the city and over 1.2 million in the metropolitan area. It feels like a capital city with a far greater diversity than we have seen before, life on the streets and back alleys. We have greatly enjoyed our time here and move on tomorrow.
It has been and continues to be the stronghold of the mafia (Cosa Nostra – ‘our thing’) with CNN reporting concerning Palermo,
According to Italian police, the Mafia not only engages in extortion there, but also has a large role in the town’s legal economy—with its involvement in business such as wholesale food supplies, online betting and gambling.
More on the mafia a little later.
We sense that Palermo lives with an open wound, so life is very visible abounding but it would be so much healthier with healing of that wound. It is easy to idealise the past and histories are often written with a bias (an aside: consider Scripture and the difference between Chronicles and the earlier book of the kings). When we spent a year seeking to close the wound in Spain of the horrendous expulsion of the Muslims (early 1600s) we were very aware of the term ‘convivencia’ that was used to describe the era of the Islamic rule in Spain – that Jews, Muslims and Christians were able to live together with significant harmony between them, until the change to the ‘Christian kings and queens’!!! 1492 the conquest of Granada and the expulsion of the Jews, and the ‘discovery’ (rape) of the new world. Quite a threesome in one year.
Maybe ‘convivencia’ is overstated but there were significant historical documents and stories to indicate that there was more than some truth in the description. Something similar was present in Sicily during the Arabic rule. That is deeply provocative and so it should be for any follower of Jesus whose birth was announced with ‘peace on earth’. Rome of course was announcing the same thing and ironically built her temple to Pax (goddess of peace) on Mars field – dedicated to the god of war. Ironic? Or very visible. Empire have always built their peace on the battlefield.
Palermo is the most multi-ethnic city we have been in while being in Sicily. Many current social and historical commentators proclaim Europe’s multi-culturalism as a failure and the way forward as necessitating white supremacy and ‘Christian’ domination. (I have used the term ‘white supremacy’ acknowledging that is my interpretation of what is being strongly proposed.) Yes that would be one way… but the ‘Jesus way’?
Back to the mafia. There is a ‘No Mafia Memorial’ museum on one of the main streets with displays of brutal photos and a video. We have been in and through it twice. The first time to learn but the reality is that the brutality makes it visible, and the museum is (by default) holding death in the place. Gayle had a pretty much sleepless night processing and praying. We visited the second time yesterday to pray – I don’t think the wound is closed but hopefully a contribution to that end. ‘Lest we forget’ is an understandable response to horrors of war and of murders, and we have to remember but memory can hold something ‘alive’ so that repetition becomes almost inevitable. God in Isaiah says ‘remember… and forget for I do a new thing’ (my paraphrase / summary of Isaiah 43). Remember and forget so that we can embrace what is to come. Don’t forget but don’t remember in a way that closes the future down.
Just down the road from the museum is an obelisk. Historically the obelisk was something the Egyptians erected to honour the sun god. At the feet of it were sacrificed prisoners of war that drew the power of the sun god into the obelisk and therefore ‘blessed’ the people making the sacrifices. (Is it any surprise that many war memorials are obelisks in the western world?)
The obelisk is in honour of the martyrs of 1866 (Post-Garibaldi’s conquest of 1860). In that year there was a significant uprising as a result of widespread disappointment in the unification (and coinciding with a major outbreak of cholera in the city that claimed many lives). The result was 40,000 government troops were sent to put the rebellion down. Widespread killing and arrests resulted as ‘order'(!) was restored.
As part of the Second World War the entrance to Italy was via Sicily and in Palermo 40% of the housing was destroyed with huge loss of life of civilians. (This advance through Sicily also strengthened the position of the mafia.)
Palermo… a city with an open wound, where blood (and blood pollutes the land) has been spilled repeatedly is described as ‘the most culturally diverse city in Italy’. It had a past that I am sure was far from perfect that manifested some measure of ‘convivencia’ (could we say ‘partial-shalom’?).
The three monotheistic (and Abrahamic) faiths of Christianity, Judaism and Islam have been and are at loggerheads with each other. This is so deep in our European (and now global) history. Into the mix of those faiths we have to see a presence of Jesus-aligned-followers as yeast that leavens everything. In the ‘war book’ of Revelation we ‘know’ we will win as the ‘lion’ has overcome… but John sees a Lamb, and after that there are no more mentions of the Lion, but the Lamb comes 28 times – and John loves his numbers, he records 28 cargoes travelling to Rome on the ships. The Lamb for all, the cargoes (including human lives) for the empire.
A wound. Trauma. Palestine and Israel – two open wounds and great trauma. The imperial answer is to crush difference and impose one culture, suppressing all difference. The Jesus answer is in the totally different direction.
Could Sicily / Italy / Europe find a way to ‘partial-shalom’? That has always been the challenge for those who claim to be followers of Jesus for to them has been given the service of reconciliation.
Ever hopeful.
West to east to north!
Been a little while since I have blogged about our time here in Sicily. So an update is maybe due.
We left Marsala a week ago and travelled east right across the middle of the island to Catania via Enna en route. Enna is some 900 metres (3000 ft) above sea level and was the meeting point of the three divisions laid down in the time when Sicily was under Arabic rule.
A little impregnable!
The past week has been in Catania the second biggest city in Sicily. It boasts the oldest university (1434) being established almost 400 years prior to the university in the capital (Palermo). For me the stand out part in the history is that of the Fasci Siciliani dei Lavoratori (Sicilian workers league – fasci not to be confused with fascist – it is Italian for ‘bundle’) that had its origin in the city.
Between 1888-90 there were a series of failed harvests and thus famine in Sicily. After the unification of Italy wealth was removed from Sicily and the Italian government compounded the hardship through not giving any help in response to the famine. What has been termed as ‘the first and most influential modern social movement’ (by historian Eric Hobsbawn) was formed by necessity – beginning in Catania (May 1891) of the Fasci Siciliani dei Lavoratori. The movement spread throughout Sicily in the next few years. Totally eclectic but had a significant influence in forming the Italian Socialist party the following year in Genoa (1892).
In the movement there was a strong presence and influence of women – a journalist based in Rome who began to cover the movement commented that ‘girls as young as 15 years old were on the frontlines of the movement’.
Here is a quote from Mackay in The Invention of Sicily:
Arguably, the most radical manifestation of the Fasci took root in the Piana degli Albanesi just outside of Palermo, where those involved set up a series of agricultural cooperatives and worked them collectively, sharing all profits evenly among the community. This action was more that just a protest: it represented a new model of economic production that was entirely at odds with Italy’s modern capitalism… ultimately the Fasci faltered not because of their internal weaknesses, but because the Italian state recognised the danger they represented to the ‘normal’ functioning of the economy.
By the end of 1893 the Fasci had 300,000 members. By the beginning of 1894 central government sent in armed forces resulting in multiple killings and arrests. A year after the central committee was put on trial and condemned with prison sentences. The result was ‘victory for democracy and public order’ – so said the then prime minister of Italy!!!
The response to this movement also strengthened the Mafia who defended the landowners and thus found greater space to express themselves.
We left Catania this morning. Not been easy to get a handle on the place but I think this is because some of its ‘first-gifting’ and the artistic side has been suppressed. In our travels we are seeking to build a picture of ‘who are you, Sicily’ so as we can pray and call for her place in what we are looking for with the renewal of Europe in the context of so many parts of culture (including the demise of christendom) that are falling away.
On to Palermo this morning – a 3 hour drive, and this is an island! We are staying right by the main train station so it should be nice and earthy!! (Trains and earth???)
This morning I picked up this YouTube video that follows the Agnelli family. They own or control Ferrari, Fiat, Jeep, Chrysler, Maserati, and Juventus football team, as well as owning Italy’s largest newspaper and manage $200 billion in assets.
Their power base is in the north – Turin (of shroud fame), a city that has a strong link to Jupiter (Zeus for the Greeks), and certainly one that I was informed some 30 years ago is seen as the occult centre. What I find interesting is that Turin has been described as the political and intellectual centre for the Risorgimento (Garibaldi’s movement) and was the first capital of the new kingdom of Italy post Garibaldi’s conquest of the two Sicilies. The Garibaldi connection again – it seems to be truly a turning point in Italy – obviously as unification resulted – but also a turning point for Sicily.
Loads more to say… but hopefully we are beginning to see the layers. If not at least we are occupied!
Moving on
We have a few more hours here in Marsala and then move to the east side of the island to the Catania region tomorrow morning. We think that (east side) will be the major focus for a while but will return this side to Agrigento and also Aragona before too long. So a little update on our time here.
This marker has been our main focus while in Marsala. It marks the most westerly point in Sicily, marking the entrance of Garibaldi and also the first Punic War between Rome and Carthage which was fought at sea just off the coast here. There were three Punic wars and when they ended it meant that Rome ruled the Mediterranean.
Garibaldi coming from the north with his ‘1000’ is the prime mover in the unification of independent states to form Italy. Did he liberate Sicily or sow towards its subjugation?
So a little summary… and I will use language that might not be exact but hopefully communicate what has gone on. We came to Marsala working out that it was the appropriate place to start as we had been given a ‘word’ by someone with a good credible background that the South West was where we had to spend time, and that there would be a ‘book’ that we would receive…
After a couple of nights here in a dream an angel came with a book, a big heavy book supported at three corners, one in the stomach and two in the hands fully stretched. At the final scene in the dream the angel placed it on a lectern where it could be read. Dream ended. We have worked with the one corner in the stomach of the angel being this place here – the extreme west; the other two points being the extreme south east and the north east. A simple ‘google’ search will show that not only is Sicily a triangle but it is marked by the three points. While here we have very much thought the early pages of the book have been written and the final pages are for us to ‘write’. Bring the past to a conclusion and from a clean place to sow into an ‘inception’ for the future.
We have found that there are strange experiences that we don’t have to make ‘literal’ (in some scientific sense) even though they are real. And a few nights after the dream, in a moment between wakefulness and sleep Garibaldi (more on him below) came and said ‘You cannot undo what I have done’. I am not interested in exploring what ‘really’ took place but in understanding what we should do in the light of this. For days we had been praying into the arrival of Garibaldi in Marsala resulting in the beginning of the unification of Italy (there was no Italy prior to this, Sicily was key in what was known as ‘the kingdom of the Two Sicilies’).
And at one level we cannot undo what has been done… But we can change the ongoing effect of the past. Same as an individual so with a geography. History shapes an individual and a geography but neither a geography nor an individual are subject to the history on an ongoing basis… but the past has to be finished.
We leave here in a few hours to the next geography though we think it will take more time particularly as we will cover a larger area geographically.
Life is an adventure! And each of us need to find the track that we are to be on. So yesterday I spent a couple of hours a few doors away – with a tattoo artist, someone who is of the land. With tattoos on either side of her head(!!!) and arms and fingers and who knows where else. But an hour of conversation – her Italian and my Spanish – with a few hand signs thrown in I explained about our interest in history in order to draw a line on the past and open up a possible different future. Her take on Garibaldi was mine totally – that the result was that of colonisation and oppression (Garibaldi : 1860 here and between 1901 – 13 25% of the population had to leave the island due to poverty… although prior to that the ‘Two Sicilies’ had more gold reserve than the northern states that were to become part of the united Italy).
And the conversation… sparked by a design I sent to the ‘Freedom Tattoos’ of Marsala with a rising sun and some composite koine Greek that I drew from Rev. 21 and 1 Cor. 5. ‘Is this a name?’ she asked. My reply – let me tell you a story, which will also explain why we are here!
Now we have to continue to live that out. We all need a dream – thank you Martin Luther King. But deeper – thank you John the Seer for your words ‘I saw a new heaven and a new earth’ and for Paul who said that our whole vision is different if we are in Christ for there is a new creation.
Here then is the design…not a name, but in the light of the ‘Name’ a dream that we wish to live out. Europe – post-Christian, getting closer to the context in which John and Paul spoke of their vision. A challenge… can we consistently see (I chose the past tense ‘I saw’) a new heaven and a new earth, though I chose to shorten that.
In all its glory(?):
Dreams and nights
I have been blogging for over 25 years and it began when someone in Germany said to me that I should ‘blog’. My response was – I am not interested in what others are pontificating over so am not about to add my pontificates to theirs. Then I began to read what others were writing and thought if I can keep it away from the pontifications and lean into ‘these are personal perspectives’ it might help me to process where I have been and where I think I am headed… and maybe be a help to someone else to journey with authenticity. I am far from convinced that there is one response that all followers of Jesus should make, after all Jesus in response to Peter’s moan was that how John would respond to God’s leading had nothing to do with him. Of course there are issues that we are to watch out for but outside of that the leading of God is very personal. So in reading my posts they are ‘personal perspectives’, and one of the challenges is that no-one is right on everything, our problem being that we have no idea where we are wrong! Here then follows something as much for my benefit as for anyone else, reflecting on our departure from Oliva just over 3 weeks ago and how we set ourselves for the coming week.
Another week… Days, weeks, months (lunar or calendar?) and maybe even years are wonderful dividers for us. Take a day at a time is one of the wisest approaches we can take – in that sense I only have today. A good friend who sadly passed away in 2001, Johnny Barr, was asked to pray for a woman who had been diagnosed with 4 months to live… He said to her I can’t possibly pray for you on the basis of that prognosis. She asked him – so how long do I have? His response was – today. Scripture consistently says ‘today’. If you choose to live today I can pray for you.
I don’t know if the week begins on Sunday (‘first day of the week’) or Monday but we tend to take each week from Monday, so here we are. Dreams and nights are important for us. Gayle has maybe 5-6 dreams per month that we need to take note of; I, maybe 5-6 per year that are ‘pay attention’ dreams. We have been directed to geographic places in dreams, but also note patterns. Since arriving in Marsala dreams have increased but not so many have ‘landed’ – an indication of activity but contention. Then add to that how disturbed sleep can be – and when it is somewhat disturbed indicates a level of opposition. Land loves to respond to care and prayer for release from bondage (Rom. 8), but there is a process involved for (whatever is meant by spiritual powers) are rooted in geography and so do not simply shift in an instant.
We are now hitting the stage of… time to move on. Not the voice of heaven! The stage of – so how serious are you? That is the voice of heaven.
Time to dig in.
We are encouraged that across Italy there is a move that is continuing to hold a protest position against the inhumane situation in Gaza and concerning economy that profits from war. We observed this in Spain earlier in the year and our hope has been that this would spread across Europe. What has that to do with the gospel? Well if narrowed down to ‘hands up and sinner’s prayer’ we might give one response… but if we look at the bigger picture of what I term ‘the Pauline gospel’ we might give another response and a shift on the bigger picture removes a measure of the blindness that ‘the Satan’ brings over people.
Colonisation is coming right into view. There is no value in over-judging the past. If we were to do that we would judge many of the ‘saints’ of Scripture – everything fits the era it was in. Garibaldi and the conquest of Sicily? At one level irrelevant but a sign of something fresh that can be released. Hence something here to continue to pray so that fuel comes to a humanitarian push across this continent that is line with the image of God is in humanity, thus declaring all war as ‘civil war’.
Musings for the day… and maybe fuel for us as we go to the marker point of the most westerly point on the island. From the West… the western hegemony is coming to an end (ends of that nature die slowly) but out of the ashes something has to come from the west. The angel who brought the book in the dream (that we have not been able to read – yet) was struggling to hold the book due to its weight and size, but it was held at three points – to in the arms extended to the extreme and the other on the stomach. I think symbolically the three marker points on this triangular island.
A missing element so often is patience – not something passive but deeply active – for it is through faith and patience that heaven comes. Another week.
From the west
We have been interested in how the history fit together as history (for a person and a geography – hence Scripture relates to geographies as it does to people with over 1200 references to land… heaven and earth is a constant theme which has been replaced by ‘heaven and hell’ as if they are the constant contrasts) reveals what is located in a place or explains what is present now. Marsala did not arrive here this morning, nor did arrive here in 1860 but that era has caught our attention.
In 1860 Giuseppe Garibaldi arrived with his expedition of 1000 from mainland Italy (though it was not ‘Italy’ then) and landed at Marsala – on the westernmost point of the island of Sicily. From there he conquered Sicily as the first part of his vision for a united Italy. This phase finished at the border where Gayle and I stopped and prayed some 2 weeks ago – the northern border of the ‘kingdom of the two Sicilies’. We simply went with our ‘gut’ that we should make that stopping point on our journey and likewise when we entered Sicily in the north east we had a decision to make – go south or west. In our days when roughly planning the trip we thought we would go south but as we got off the ferry, we followed our ‘gut’ and went west to the furthest west on the island, here in Marsala. We did not know o Garibaldi’s landing here, the beginning of the unification of Italy.
The monument above is of two ships and I think we will visit it repeatedly to pray. Been there once, did not sense great traction – but who knows?
What difference does this make? That’s what makes me buzz. Not a clue!!! Doing what believe should do is the key, and yes a theology of land, history and city might indeed suggest that a difference takes place, but the wonderful part of seeking to follow God is never knowing totally what difference our words and activities make.
Sicily – the first place outside of Italia colonised by the republic (pre-Imperial Rome… though there will always be a pull for Republics to become Empires, and often Empires hide behind the term republic).
Patience is needed. I like things to happen instantly, but often it is repetition that makes the difference. Throw the nets in one more time… but we have fished all night, was the reply. We will go again and again, and walk the city and I think slowly insights and revelation will come.
Sicily sits in the middle of middle earth. It has been a crossroads for trade and imperial conflicts. Marsala has a history way before 1860 and we probably will need to go there, but for now praying for something to begin that might make a mark in years to come. Not the unification of Italy through military conquest, but a unifying across Europe. Let’s see… I think ‘my friend’ (as I like to call him!) Paul had such a vision.
Into Marsala
Today around mid-day we move into the city of Marsala. We have taken an apartment for the next 32 days. With ‘booking.com’ so have not been able to see it but confident we can make it work. Street view below, and the entry door for us is the first on the left. (Parking of van…?????)
We are ready to enter the city after being on the edge for 5 days. We a) feel at home in the city and b) sense its significance for the next weeks. It is on the extreme west of the island – some 4 hours drive from where we landed.
Sicily is a triangle in shape and is marked at the three corners – the west point is here in Marsala and certainly feels the place to start. Walking the city, finding key points and let’s see.
The city is close on 3000 years from its initial beginnings and has been a ‘first’ in a number of ways. I have mentioned in a previous post that one natural reading of the unification of Italy is that it began here with Garibaldi landing with his ‘1000’ and from here eventually conquering all the way to Naples / the border of the ancient ‘kingdom of the two Sicilies’. This was not in our sight those days back when we were at that border but now seems to make sense. It was also where the first Punic War began (wars between Carthage and Rome 3rdC BCE lasting over 23 years) – the battle for supremacy in the Western Mediterranean. Finally in 241BCE the city was given to the Romans and soon became one of the most important cities in the Sicily.
History always gives some clues as to what is in the land, as in the same way that personal history shapes an individual. Sometimes of course the history covers over the reality… let’s see.
A few nights ago I had a dream that has stuck with me. First some background. (And if you wish to tone down the language that is OK – the substance / reality is always what counts…) someone said that the place to start would be like a portal for sight on Europe and that there was a ‘book’ there that we would receive giving details and strategy. So the dream. A few nights ago I was in a large space – either a large room or perhaps outside with some walls surrounding. I was not focused on that nor on whoever else was present, because an angel (don’t ask how one ‘knows’ what one knows in a dream – no wings to give away, but I simply knew this was not a human figure, but had come from a non-earthly location) had come carrying a book. The angel was small – maybe 5’5 (165cms) tall. And the book was large, heavy and very awkward to carry. I was aware that the book had come a long way so was deeply impressed that the angel had persisted and thought that I probably would not have persisted. To hold the book the angel had to bend somewhat as the book was too large to carry ‘normally’ or under an arm. The arms were to stretched to the furthest extent. I did not say anything, but the angel said – I will bring it, I have come thus far and not about to give up. Then with great effort the angel lifted the book on to a lectern, ready to be opened and read. End of dream. Of course it could just be a dream that rose from my sub-conscious, but…
So off to the city and whatever concludes about the book I think if we persist then we will leave here with something of significance.
In Marsala
How do we pronounce that word? Apparently try Mar (easy bit) and then add the name of a current famous Liverpool player. Spent last night in Balestrate: here is our van parked and we stayed around the corner:
Nothing too hostile but an interesting place. The ‘host’ for our B&B was a throw back from the 60s (hippy era) and we entered our room to him and his ‘friends’ in a very heated discussion(!!!???) that indicated a certain amount of alcohol and whatever else had been present in the previous hours! The street I photograph is typical of many historic towns in Italy and also Spain. A very intense evening for us with not a lot of sleep involved but prayer and processing. We left Balestrate this morning but with our host opening his arms and ‘Sicily welcomes you’. We take that.
A colleague who has helped us a lot – Michael Schiffmann – had contacted us about a month ago with ‘the South-West holds the keys and you need to go there early on to discover revelation for the island. There is no South West as the island is a triangle. That showed that MS was not looking at a map or doing some google research (all valid) but giving what he had received. So we have been holding and seeking to process that and the South West (without there being a south west) puts us on the coast from Agrigento up. We settled on Marsala as the starting point and have secured for our next 6 days an apartment here. It will give us time to settle (been on the road for 11 days). Marsala was where Garibaldi began his campaign that ended in Italy being united. He landed in Marsala, from there conquered the island and then worked north on the mainland, thus before long ended the ‘two Sicilies kingdom’ as the border (the one we prayed on a few days ago) went and Italy soon united to become what we have today. A place of entry to that movement that interestingly had at its heart politicians, journalists, economists and ‘states-people’.
We know this is the next place for us – unfinished business for sure in Balestrate – but here we will sow something into the ground . Interestingly there is a ‘new gate’ into the city – probably where Garibaldi entered. (Map below… Marsala off to the left, Balestrate is just to the west of Palermo.
Sad to leave the high mountains (and Etna) behind but this is now the right place.
The time has arrived
Very dramatic title… and not as significant as similar statements from John the Baptiser and on the lips of Jesus, but somewhat significant for us. Well we were so sure we would be going on Friday, so maybe this is the first plan of ours not to be exactly as we envisioned it? (Cut us some slack even Paul twice tried to move in a direction and the Holy Spirit had to resist him… oh and least he had a dream of a ‘man’ in Macedonia so followed the dream and met a… woman.)
We were not ready on Friday but today has arrived. And I also had ordered a package on Oct. 15th that I was unaware was sourced in China. It was due Friday, but they could not deliver it on Friday. Apparently a traffic issue; digging a little deeper the ‘last mile’ of the company is delivered by electric scooters – I think the traffic issue was the battery needed recharging. Anyway after multiple contacts with the company it arrived yesterday.
Anyway we are now an hour or so away from going ‘por la mañana’. That last phrase is definite – ‘in the morning’, but we (in good Spanish custom) when asked about when we are going could always reply (until today) with ‘mañana’. We think that might mean ‘tomorrow’, and it kinda does but also means ‘not today’. In English we have all kinds of ways to express uncertainty, but the (joke) in Spanish is they have nothing as definite as those phrases, they do have that word ‘mañana’ but it is certainly not as definite as ‘maybe’, ‘one day sometime’ etc. Anyway ‘mañana por la mañana’ has come and we will be gone – as soon as cup of coffee is drunk, floors are washed.
Tonight France, Sunday Germany to be with Yannick and Jenny in Freiberg, then head south through Switzerland (I bought a year long permit yesterday to drive through Switzerland – runs out in January, so a little peeved that we will only use the permit for a few hours), to Italy… not sure how many stops en route (my schoolboy French, along with the word ‘le weekend’) and down to the ferry.
And then? Well we have nowhere scheduled, do not have a place to stay (come on AirBnB sort out your prices), and have no fixed plan. Old capital of Syracuse, cities of Messina, Catania and Palermo (where or nearby where we think we will settle) will certainly be visited… and definitely Agrigento: try this to get an idea of one of the 7 preserved temples there:
An adventure for sure but like us all we take a small step / short drive to make a contribution to the recovery of the Pauline gospel…that good news that we can ‘see’ a new creation and be heralds of and witnesses to that future.