If you’ve been reading my blog for a while, you know that I often put up various reflections after my summer vacation. Mostly these are lighthearted bits that offer me a chance to mull over what I have experienced while away from my usual routine. (And, yes, by the way, one of the reasons I was posting passages from my latest book was that it allowed me to have a break from blogging while I was on vacation.)
I recently returned from a trip to Europe. My wife and I hitchhiked on a cruise sponsored by Hugh Hewitt, a radio talk show host. In exchange for giving a lecture and being part of the cruise-hosting team, my wife and I were able to join this week-long trip from Athens to Monte Carlo. We’d never be able to afford such a trip on our own, so I’m grateful to Hugh for inviting me to come along. (Perhaps a little later I’ll share with you some of the content of my cruise lecture, which focused on the New Testament and Ephesus, a site visited by the cruise.)
Because I’m still jet-lagged, and therefore pretty groggy, I’m going to begin these European reflections with some literal reflections . . . pictures of water. Tomorrow, Lord willing, my mind will be in a place to generate some reasonable verbiage.

Sunrise over the Mediterranean Sea, just offshore from Monte Carlo, with Italy in the background.

A fountain in the Italian village of Tuscania

London: Big Ben and Parliament behind the Thames River

A pond in a park belonging to the University of Oxford, in England