I write this from an airport - headed home from Scotland with a smiling wife after 46 days of Euro adventure.

Summer travel always seems like such a good idea from the perspective of a comfy couch and a snuggly dog in January. The planning is a wonderful adventure in itself.

But as soon as a flight is cancelled, or the golf clubs are lost, or the luggage has disappeared on Mount Heathrow (London’s airport), you can’t help wondering, “What was I thinking and why am I here?”

Eventually, only the airplane home and thoughts of the dog waiting on a couch make you smile.

This 2022 adventure included Scotland, Ireland, France, Czech Republic, Germany and back to Scotland.

Highlights?

You would think they would be the places you visit, the sites you see, the history you watch. Like the 150th British Open at St. Andrews or the first ever Women’s Open at Muirfield.

Or Cologne’s amazing Dom- the cathedral from the 1100’s. Or Berlin, with an inspiring cathedral of its own. Plus, the Wall and WW2 history.

Or the palaces and history of Potsdam where Stalin, Churchill, and Truman met to divide Germany in 1945 and set the stage for the Cold War.

Or the breath-taking beauty (and awesome pizza) of Prague. Or the Neuschwanstein Castle on a Bavarian Mountain, which looks a Disney creation.

Or the overwhelming sadness of Dachau’s Concentration Camp memorial and museum. Or just getting blitzed on the autobahn while going 100 mph.

But the real highlight was the people we met along the way- I will write about them in the days to come- because People are what make life interesting, not really famous art museums or cathedrals or palaces or castles.

Names like Felicity, Willie, Hubertus, Juliya and her son Louie, Paubles, Barrie, Fadhli, an unnamed barber from Baghdad, and more.

But beyond the People, we will mostly remember the Passion Play in the tiny Bavarian village of Oberammergau, Germany. This event started in 1646 (that’s right) and happens only once a decade. We found last-minute tickets to watch history’s greatest Story- Jesus giving himself for all mankind on a cross and resurrected to give us life- all in German!

Five thousand people from all over the globe attend each performance which happens five times a week for twenty weeks. It is no small event- opening at 2:30pm with palm branches and Jesus on a donkey and ending at 10:30pm with an empty Tomb.

All with dinner at the Intermission. Every actor and musician lives in the village. And apparently they all have other jobs, since John the Apostle was our waiter at dinner!!

I found myself wondering, does this young actor portraying John know for himself the Word Made Flesh (John 1:14)? Does he know that God so loved the world that he gave His only begotten Son (John 3:16)?

Does anyone in Germany really know this Story?

My sad presumption is that the Greatest Story ever told is now just a tourist attraction- like the cathedrals - not a life-changing reality for the persons we faced across Europe. The continent seems so confused and lost- and of course our beloved USA is not far behind. So…

Let’s not forget the greatest Story ever told- and commit again to tell that Story!