Colle Val d'Elsa

Main Gate to the Castle

On Monday we decided to take a small day trip to one of the nearby cities. We had to do a little planning as there was no direct route to where we were going. Dennis had talked to our landlady about areas that we could go that we're away from the Tourist hot spots. This place is called "Colle Val d'Elsa." I did a small bit of Wikipedia before we went so that I would know a little bit about what was going on. The city, after repeated assaults from neighboring cities, built a wall around themselves. Located on top of a hill, it became a castle. We walked the narrow road that led up the hill to the city and over a small bridge that led us to the main gate of the castle. I was surprised, the entrance to the castle was more attractive than a normal castle. We started to discover that it was more of a community than what we usually think of when castles come to mind. I always think of a king in his castle, but I am unsure that this castle had a king.

 There were really no tourists there with us, and the locals that had shops and restaurants were vastly different than those who operate within popular touristic areas. We found a nice restaurant in the castle that was very beautiful. We enjoyed a glass of wine, and just admired the beauty in the history of the area. There were numerous small doors that led into private residences which from the street seemed only to go straight up. It looked to me that the average width of a home must have been about 10-15 feet, but looking up you could see the differing roof lines indicating different buildings. Thinking about them made me want to go inside, light a bunch of candles, and enjoying some wonderful stew cooked over the fireplace. Why do I love small places?

 We went back down the narrow road to the city, we ducked into a small cafe. The server was very happy to have us and seemed to enjoy attending to us. We had some lasagna for a late lunch and afterwards moved in the direction of the bus stop that would take us back to a town called "Poggibonsi" where we would get on a train that headed back towards Florence. While on the train we all ended up napping while waiting for the train to pull in.

 Last night we had our first gathering of our students and friends in the area. Dennis prepared a little piece about forgetfulness and how the bible tells us that forgetfulness is okay when it comes to remembering things of this world. Hebrews 12 says "let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us." Forget about the things that cause us to stumble; the things that take our eyes away from our creator, Unwholesome TV shows, video games, gossip... The things that ensnare us into focusing on things that are not pleasing to God. Speaking of forgetfulness, we tend to remember the things that we ought to forget, and forget the things we ought to remember. If you are familiar with Finding Nemo, we must appear to be like Dori to God. We hear things and forget them almost as fast as we heard them. We can listen to something in church, and have this desire to change the way we live. We desire to change, but when we walk out of the church, we completely forget that desire we had and slip right back into the things that apply only to this world. How sad that must be in God's eyes. It's like if I were to be in love with a certain girl and desire that she would simply look in my direction. One of her friends describes me to her, and she wants to look and see me, yet when she leaves her friend, she completely forgets about me, and instead looks at someone else leaving me there to watch her pursue someone else. The pain and jealousy that I would feel doesn't even scratch the surface of what God feels when we look the other direction. He is a jealous God, abounding in love. This is even in his 10 commandments! He says have no other God before me, but that is exactly what we do when we put something in our lives before him; when we forget his love and look in the other direction. How do I look in God's direction, and ignore the things that i love to pay attention to?