I just got back from spending some time down South with Amy in New Orleans. Each day was filled with unique experiences, sight and smells! I have some thoughts to ponder through my next post on the clash of spirituality in New Orleans, but for this blog post I just wanted to relive the unique world of ‘Nawlins" and see where your favorite place is in the world.

Okay, where to begin…The architecture in the French quarter was stunningly beautiful…The city is slowly coming back to life after Hurricane Katrina, and while many buildings are still empty or in desperate need of repair, many were saved from severe damage, and others have been repaired. We saw wild above ground cemeteries reminiscent of Europe, rode the street cars, walked the Mississippi waterfront area, ate Beignets at Cafe’ Dumonde at 1:00 am, and listened to some incredible Blues. Lingered in historic Jackson Square…the St. Louis Cathedral which still holds
Mass daily at 7:30 am (just in case you had a long night on Bourbon
Street and needed to do some confessing!)was beautiful, and we toured the Upper and Lower 9th Ward, where the breech in the levee destroyed
everything. Still, 3 years later, 50% of the people have not returned.

Here is a quick visual tour of the unique culture of New Orleans…then after you look comment back at your favorite place in the world and why you love it!

MC

This Place caught my eye…what a great place to watch people from!

A Bar called Monty’s! Couldn’t pass that up 🙂

Incredible Blues…This is Marva Wright, the "The Blues Queen of New Orleans" Wow…here she was at the Jazz Emporium on Bourbon Street.

St. Louis Cathedral in Jackson Square

The House of Blues…

Classic New Orleans corner restaurant

Nightlife in the quarter…

Very cool courtyard…

Ahhh,,,Beignet’s at Cafe Du Monde

The Courtyard at Pat O’Briens…a must see!

Romantic Carriage Rides…we loved that!!

Okay…so where was YOUR favorite place on the planet…and why did it impact you!!

Monty

Well…out of the city of Moscow, a couple flights, a train ride and a bus ride has placed me in the middle of a scene from Heidi. Amy and I are staring wide eyed at the Swiss Alps from a little village called Adelboden…surreal comes to mind…beauty saturates my eyes.

It is almost such a dichotomist reality I have lived the last week, my mind wonders if it is true. Moscow…wow, where to begin, while it has changed dramatically over the last 15 years as the nation has moved into a post Soviet reality…many things have not changed.

I am a watcher of people, and riding around under the city with millions of other riders gave me ample opportunities to watch people…up close…very close. Man, the trains were just packed as they rocked along, station after station.

I watched, and looked, and prayed, and wondered, and prayed some more. The eyes are a window to the soul, as they say…I believe the eyes are the pathway to the heart…you see in a persons eyes the state of their heart very clearly…most of the eyes I looked into were very dim, hazy, and downcast…they seemed to match the gray which enshrouds the city.

Imagine a nation and a people rich with life, history, and faith…and then a revolution which eliminates all of that, and all of the things that make you, well, you. Then imagine another change where those things are allowed again…you might wonder what truth is, what is real, when will the next change happen…will this change last…how do I live in the present in light of the past…is it really okay for me to step out an be noticed in a land where that was previously frowned upon, and prohibited, and could give you an all expense paid pass to Siberia…

I thought about such a rich history as Amy and I walked through and meditated upon the beauty I found in the churches inside the Kremlin. There are seven beautiful churches inside the Kremlin, one housed the remains of the Tzar’s and the royals, others houses ancient works of art that made your jaw drop.

I pondered how could all the politicians who worked in the government buildings inside the Kremlin for so many years, walk by these churches that silently spoke of the God that the nation once had central to their way of life…Day after day, walking around a spiritual symbol while trying to eliminate religion from the heart and conscious of a nation…I really can’t fathom that.

Perhaps that is they way we apprehend God in the church though…He becomes so familiar that the beauty that stands before becomes nothing more than wood, paint, and windows to another world. So much beauty…so much Godly tradition…

One of the crypts I was looking at entombed an early prince who had came to Moscow to claim his throne, the year was about 1246ish…As the nation was a meld of Asiatic tribes and Slavic area tribes there were some rituals the Asiatic rulers asked the prince to perform some rituals that went against his Christian beliefs so he refused and was murdered for his Christian faith.

Amazing that early on, the rulers were willing to die for Christianity, and later they would outlaw the same. After we left the Kremlin we were able to meet the president of the ECMU (Evangelical Christian and Missionary Union) and his team in Mosc ow. They have a plan to launch 12 church plants that become 144 church plants at key locations in the city. They have a great vision, but are not yet sure how they will get there, and that is where our missionaries are coming alongside to help equip, train, and mentor.

As Amy and I entered the church building to meet this team, we were met (for the first time) with smiles of hope…that spoke volumes to me. There is only one thing that can transform that which is hopeless and downcast into brightness that radiates out of the eyes, and that is a person, Jesus Christ. What can change Moscow? A sharp team with a ready plan? or a mountain of missionaries? No…only Jesus alive inside the heart of believers across the city will change the hearts that desperately need Him, but that is the passion that I see in the faces of these men with a heart for Moscow…okay enough for this entry for tonight , I’ll try to find a live wi-fi corner tomorrow!

Illuminate Deo
Monty

 

Well…out of the city of Moscow, a couple flights, a train ride and a bus ride has placed me in the middle of a scene from Heidi. Amy and I are staring wide eyed at the Swiss Alps from a little village called Adelboden…surreal comes to mind…beauty saturates my eyes.

It is almost such a dichotomist reality I have lived the last week, my mind wonders if it is true. Moscow…wow, where to begin, while it has changed dramatically over the last 15 years as the nation has moved into a post Soviet reality…many things have not changed.

I am a watcher of people, and riding around under the city with millions of other riders gave me ample opportunities to watch people…up close…very close. Man, the trains were just packed as they rocked along, station after station.

I watched, and looked, and prayed, and wondered, and prayed some more. The eyes are a window to the soul, as they say…I believe the eyes are the pathway to the heart…you see in a persons eyes the state of their heart very clearly…most of the eyes I looked into were very dim, hazy, and downcast…they seemed to match the gray which enshrouds the city.

Imagine a nation and a people rich with life, history, and faith…and then a revolution which eliminates all of that, and all of the things that make you, well, you. Then imagine another change where those things are allowed again…you might wonder what truth is, what is real, when will the next change happen…will this change last…how do I live in the present in light of the past…is it really okay for me to step out an be noticed in a land where that was previously frowned upon, and prohibited, and could give you an all expense paid pass to Siberia…

I thought about such a rich history as Amy and I walked through and meditated upon the beauty I found in the churches inside the Kremlin. There are seven beautiful churches inside the Kremlin, one housed the remains of the Tzar’s and the royals, others houses ancient works of art that made your jaw drop.

I pondered how could all the politicians who worked in the government buildings inside the Kremlin for so many years, walk by these churches that silently spoke of the God that the nation once had central to their way of life…Day after day, walking around a spiritual symbol while trying to eliminate religion from the heart and conscious of a nation…I really can’t fathom that.

Perhaps that is they way we apprehend God in the church though…He becomes so familiar that the beauty that stands before becomes nothing more than wood, paint, and windows to another world. So much beauty…so much Godly tradition…

One of the crypts I was looking at entombed an early prince who had came to Moscow to claim his throne, the year was about 1246ish…As the nation was a meld of Asiatic tribes and Slavic area tribes there were some rituals the Asiatic rulers asked the prince to perform some rituals that went against his Christian beliefs so he refused and was murdered for his Christian faith.

Amazing that early on, the rulers were willing to die for Christianity, and later they would outlaw the same. After we left the Kremlin we were able to meet the president of the ECMU (Evangelical Christian and Missionary Union) and his team in Mosc ow. They have a plan to launch 12 church plants that become 144 church plants at key locations in the city. They have a great vision, but are not yet sure how they will get there, and that is where our missionaries are coming alongside to help equip, train, and mentor.

As Amy and I entered the church building to meet this team, we were met (for the first time) with smiles of hope…that spoke volumes to me. There is only one thing that can transform that which is hopeless and downcast into brightness that radiates out of the eyes, and that is a person, Jesus Christ. What can change Moscow? A sharp team with a ready plan? or a mountain of missionaries? No…only Jesus alive inside the heart of believers across the city will change the hearts that desperately need Him, but that is the passion that I see in the faces of these men with a heart for Moscow…okay enough for this entry for tonight , I’ll try to find a live wi-fi corner tomorrow!

Illuminate Deo
Monty