MONDAY, AUGUST 28
Today began with high hopes. I packed easily and was able to stow my extra luggage, what I will need for Albania but do not want to carry around on my bicycle for a month, in the hotel lockers. Then I had a nice lunch and headed out to the airport. I was impresssed with the cycling signage and found the airport easily. After a short wait my compatriot Brian appeared at the arrival point and our journey began...However not only our journey began but the rain did as well. But unstoppable we set off, spirits high...
The first several miles went fine. We followed excellent signage for cycles, the kind the Swiss are renowned for. But then a sign was missing, and the intersection was complicated and we found oursevles completely lost. For several hours we wandered, accosting passersby that tried to be helpful but had never heard of the places we were looking for, despite their clear presence on the map I had. We spoke to people who knew little English, some who knew much English, and I had one complete conversation in Spanish. Each person tried to be helpful, but the best they could do was point back where we had come from--no matter where we had been or where we were.
In the end, as it grew late and the rain grew stronger and we had absolutely no idea where we were, we stumbled across a very small train station. One of the signs noted that a train was due momentarily and the schedule noted that it was to stop at one of the towns on our map, one we were trying to get to but had no idea where it was. So, putting all pretenses of pride aside, we purchased two tickets and got on the train. It only went a few miles, making three or four other stops, before the voice on the intercom said our town was next. We had, in other words, not been that far from our route, but that was of no consolation in our state of confusio. We alit, found a hotel and settled down for the night--hoping the next day would be better, but at least knôwing where we were...Not a very productive day, and hopefully not a typical day, but certainly an adventurous one to remember.
And an obvious lesson in the day...I have been having an extensive email conversation with a friend who used to be part of Calvin. His point seems to be a strong objection against the idea of absolute truth. Instead, he seems to say that truth is in the eye of the beholder, and in a sense we each define truth for outselves. However, I have been trying to say that there are times when we are lost, and when our sense of what is right--where we are, where we are going--is simply so confused that we can not trust it. And there are other times when we are certain we are right, but we are actually very wrong...In either case we need an outside absolute, an authority. We need a sign that says for all time and all people and all places--to get from here to there this is the way. And it may actually be the only way. My contention is that our human condition, and the confusion that is part of our fallen nature, makes it imperative that we have an absolute word from the outside that sets us straight. And I believe that we have that word in the Word of God--lived out in Jesus Christ and written out in the Scriptures...All we have to do is admit we are lost and look up at the sign that tells us how to get back on track...
In His Adventures, Will