Time

Time is different here. Now, don't get me wrong, there are still twenty-four hours in a day, just like everywhere else. An hour is still and hour. A minute still consists of sixty seconds. Just like the rest of the world, time has a brillianly frustrating ability to pass quickly or slowly depending on the circumstances...

That is not how it is different...it is not that they use military time, nor that the days are shorter or longer, nor that there is no concept of time.

Time is ancient here.

I know that the earth is all the same age, that civilizations stretches back on all continents, but here, in Turkey, you can feel an oldness that you don't notice as much in the states. At least, not a feeling I get all the time. Now, when I go to the mountanis at home, I get this feeling. An oldness that rises from the craggy rocks, stretching into the sky, a testament to the Hand that formed them. Here in Turkey, the land feels ancient in much the same way. Not everywhere mind you.

A few weeks ago I spent some time in Ephesus, and that city is washed with the paint of time. Multiple ancient cities dot the now silted ancient bay. The busy streets that once housed one of if not the greatest city of Asia...

...that guarded the Temple of Artemis known as one of the wonders of the ancient world...

...that spread the word of the Way throughout the rest of that region...

...now lies empty except for tourists, cats, and sheep.

The streets lie in ruins.

The pillared ways have collapsed.

Once strong buildings are a shadow of their former selves.

And yet, it still remains. Time is different here.