A WORD FOR TODAY, March 19, 2026
Peggy Hoppes
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Blessings. Peg
A WORD FOR TODAY, March 19, 2026
“Now while Paul waited for them at Athens, his spirit was provoked within him as he saw the city full of idols. So he reasoned in the synagogue with the Jews and the devout persons, and in the marketplace every day with those who met him. Some of the Epicurean and Stoic philosophers also were conversing with him. Some said, ‘What does this babbler want to say?’ Others said, ‘He seems to be advocating foreign deities,’ because he preached Jesus and the resurrection. They took hold of him and brought him to the Areopagus, saying, ‘May we know what this new teaching is, which you are speaking about? For you bring certain strange things to our ears. We want to know therefore what these things mean.’ Now all the Athenians and the strangers living there spent their time in nothing else, but either to tell or to hear some new thing. Paul stood in the middle of the Areopagus and said, ‘You men of Athens, I perceive that you are very religious in all things. For as I passed along and observed the objects of your worship, I also found an altar with this inscription: “TO AN UNKNOWN GOD.” What therefore you worship in ignorance, I announce to you. The God who made the world and all things in it, he, being Lord of heaven and earth, doesn’t dwell in temples made with hands. He isn’t served by men’s hands, as though he needed anything, seeing he himself gives to all life and breath and all things. He made from one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the surface of the earth, having determined appointed seasons and the boundaries of their dwellings, that they should seek the Lord, if perhaps they might reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us. “For in him we live, move, and have our being.” As some of your own poets have said, “For we are also his offspring.” Being then the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Divine Nature is like gold, or silver, or stone, engraved by art and design of man. The times of ignorance therefore God overlooked. But now he commands that all people everywhere should repent, because he has appointed a day in which he will judge the world in righteousness by the man whom he has ordained; of which he has given assurance to all men, in that he has raised him from the dead.’ Now when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some mocked; but others said, “We want to hear you again concerning this.” Thus Paul went out from among them. But certain men joined with him and believed, including Dionysius the Areopagite, and a woman named Damaris, and others with them.’” Acts 17:16-34, WEB
We took a cruise for our vacation. It was our first and probably won’t be our last, although I have to admit that we’ll never become part of the cruising culture. We have too many experiences on our bucket list to plan the same kind of trips multiple times a year. I wasn’t sure about taking a cruise because I tend to get motion sick, but I used several remedies and found the motion of the ship to be pleasant. I don’t know how I would have felt if the water was rougher, but the ship does have stabilizers that help with that. I actually noticed the movement of the ship on the calmest day more than when it was being tossed by the waves.
Anybody who has thought about a cruise knows that the big thing is the food. You can eat all day long. This was a struggle because I was trying to moderate my consumption, but the food was delicious. There are multiple soft ice cream machines, a favorite of mine, so avoiding the sweet treat was difficult. I didn’t gain fifteen pounds, so I call that a win. I am sure the number of steps we walked and the stairs we climbed helped!
There is plenty to do on board. We were traveling with a large group, and we have times when we gathered together for Bible study, fellowship, crafts, and games. We also ate the evening meal together. We found one another throughout the day for meals and conversation, but we also got to know a few of the other passengers. We didn’t stay on the ship the whole cruise. We went shopping in Cozumel and we took an excursion from Progreso.
The excursion was fascinating. Since we were in Mexico (Yucatan), we wanted to visit a Mesoamerican historical site. We had several choices, including Chichen Itza which is a World Heritage Site and one of the most popular Mayan ruin sites. We chose another trip because it is another World Heritage Site, but is less known and less crowder. Uxmal (pronounced Oo-sh-mal) Mayan Ruins is the best example of a Puuc Region city. There were less crowds, and fewer vendors than Chichen Itza, which was obvious from the tour groups as we left the ship.
It is interesting to note that Chichen Itza and Uxmal were competing cities in the height of their history. Chichen Itza was not the greater city a thousand years ago but became the focus of modern-day developers that wanted to offer tours out of Cancun. As other coastal towns like Progreso continue to develop a tourist trade, Uxmal’s popularity will probably grow.
We visit historical sites because they teach us about the people who came before us. The culture was so different than what we know today in modern America, both the United States and other countries in the Americas. Uxmal is just one of thousands of ruins found across Mexico and Central America, many of which are just reflections on lidar sensing technology that can see human construction through dense tropical forests. The excavation of these sites has only just begun, with tens of thousands of buildings still hidden beneath lush greenery.
There is still work to do at Uxmal. A few areas had so recently opened at the site that they weren’t even part of the tour we took. There is never enough time to see everything at these sites! Our guide was knowledgeable about the Mayan culture and the architecture, explaining the symbolism of the art and the buildings we could see. There are many questions about the Mayans that have not yet been answered because they disappeared hundreds of years ago. Tomorrow I will write in more detail about the city, people, and customs of the Puuc people in Uxmal, as well as the fall of that great city.
For today we are reminded that we are called to respect cultures that differ from us. Paul did not attack the people of Athens with threats or violence. He simply took their own beliefs and showed them how the Creator God and our Lord Jesus Christ fit into their ideas about religion and faith. Unfortunately, Christians have not always been like Paul, often destroying whole civilizations because their faith was different and misunderstood. Some blame can be placed on the Spanish conquerors for the fall of the Mayan civilization, but as we’ll see tomorrow, that was not the only factor. As a matter of fact, Uxmal was barely a city by the time the Spanish arrived in the Yucatan.
Do you have neighbors who believe differently than you do? Do you try to understand their faith. You might be amazed at how you can shine Jesus’ light by showing them how He fits into their understanding. As we’ve seen this week with the life of St. Patrick and Elijah and the valley of dry bones, God can do amazing things with the people He calls to share the Gospel with others. We just have to be open to share. There are still Mayans in the Americas today, possibly millions, and a majority of them practice Christianity, though often blended with their indigenous spiritual traditions. While we might question the syncretism of these cultures, for now, God calls us to be like Paul, sharing Jesus with others so that they will learn to love and trust Him for their salvation. God can do miraculous things with one simple human voice in a world that needs His grace.
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