Day 15: REST DAY: Treats, Tranquility, or Tattoos

For those of you following along at home or even future classes thinking about going on the trip… you may be thinking one of two things right now: This is one heck of a pace or another rest day?  By day 15, your mind is blown by the sights, experiences, and challenges.  Input overload, and while I may have originally shuddered at the idea of a rest day, we gladly welcome it.  The trip is accompanied by this blog and a student packet of reflections for all the major sites we have visited.  Being encouraged to reflect on the experiences for 21 days is becoming a habit I will continue.

“When I saw, I reflected upon it; I looked, and received instruction.” - Proverbs 24:32

There are echoes in the halls and on the buses about the trip’s impact.  The history of Athens, the majesty of Meteora, and the relaxing vibe of life on Poros Island.  Each of us has the options today of resting at the Bible College, doing laundry, shopping, or Tattoos.  Many of us will be getting tattoos for this trip to memorialize the adventure.  For some of us, this will be our first tattoo.  If you didn’t know, about 26% of the world’s population has tattoos. The most popular tattoos are butterflies, a rose, a dragon, a flower, or a snake.  There are a few flower designs amongst the team.  No Snakes or Dragons, but about half of the group will become part of the 26%. 

I have found the tattoo process very much like life. 

  • Depending on the person, the design of life, and the time within our lives, it can be scary, exciting, painful, or beautiful.   
  • We start with an outline and blueprint for our lives.  The master of that blueprint can have other ideas and changes that make it more beautiful, exciting, or painful. 
  • As we experience our lives, it gets filled with color and shading that makes it one of a kind for each of us, and we can choose to share or keep that experience to ourselves.




The palette of Greece has colored and provided new shades or perspectives for all of us to use and create the mosaic of our lives.  We use these experiences for ourselves, but most importantly for this counseling cohort, we can use them for others.  All the experiences in life, desired or not, God walks with us. “Who comforts us in all our affliction so that we will be able to comfort those who are in any affliction with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God." (2 Corinthians 1:4). What a blessing and gift that we will be able to share with others many times over.

While we talk a lot about the trips and travels, it is the people that we travel with that I am most grateful for.  "Travel gives you a new perspective...and lets you meet some great people along the way" ~ Richard Tinkler. I am excited to see how this trip's color enhances this cohort's lives and the clients they will comfort.

~ Pete Persson

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