"The Road is not Long to the House of a Friend"

Several years ago I cross-stitched the old saying (above) for a dear friend, when yet again, she or I was moving away. I embellished it with a quaint little house at the end of a winding path. Then there's another old saying which we all know, "All roads lead to Rome"! Here we are in the middle of this metroplis Rome, in a tiny apartment in a forest of buildings and many windy hilly streets... and this summer quite a few people have been finding their way to our home to stay a while! We've been blest with a steady stream of houseguests and dinner guests throughout the summer. It's been delightful to share in the journey with visitors along their way. To eat, to love, to pray, to explore and experience together life in this place, if just for a while. Yves-Pascal and Jude from Belgium, Kate from Cleveland, Jim, Cindy and family from Avon Lake, John from Cinci, Brandon and sisters from Germany, and our own Philip have all graced us. And others have joined us in table fellowship around our living room (coffee table =a dinner table) or in our kitchen.

What's more, our precious friends from Brussels, Daniel and Latifa, came to vacation in Italy (see Brian's post), and it was our turn to find them in our newly adopted country, across the mountains to the sea. The road we took is one of the most ancient - literally one of the very "roads that lead to Rome" according to the adage.

Ahh, but sometimes we needn't go far to find a friend; sometimes God puts them right under our noses!

Brian and I had heard about a couple of Gospel workers coming to Rome early this Spring. Their newsletter was passed to us and we prayed for them "wherever God placed them" in a city of 4 million inhabitants. One day I came out of the metro, and a couple walking along the street caught my eye: was it because she is blonde, a rarity in Rome? No, there was a glimmer of deja-vu in my mind. A sense of the familiar - but how? As I walked, the image crossed my thoughts: the prayer letter - I've seen them there! I came home and told Brian, and we prayerfully pondered that possibility. We combed through our e-mail basket, searching. Bingo! We searched for their address in Rome, then looked at the large map of the city and lo and behold - found their street is facing our building. In fact their apartment looks down on ours! Brian marched over to ring their bell, and can you imagine their surprise? The Lord has led us to the same neighborhood to make the Gospel known - isn't that a wonder?? Pray for us to discern His will in this divine coincidence. In the meantime we are overjoyed to "find" each other and fellowship as neighbors.