tre fontane

 once again I'm starting this post by saying, "its been a long time since I've been on here!" I wanted to make sure that I record these thoughts though. 

earlier this summer, we visited Rome, Italy to see my new little niece and Jane's baby cousin. while we were there, I wanted to make sure that we saw some special sites in the old city. 

of course I saw the colliseum. we saw the Roman Forum where the Caesars lived. I saw the Arch of Titus that had the fall of Jerusalem carved into it from 70ad.
 I saw the Pantheon which was jaw dropping. We ate pasta at a little spot outdoors.

we saw the trevi fountain 

but I knew, that if I was going to Rome, that I was not leaving Rome without seeing this one site; and its this little building called the mamertine prison. 

this building is on top of a prison. or really a dungeon. 

this is where both the apostle Peter and the Apostle Paul stayed before they were executed for their faith.The Roman emperor Nero wanted to crush the Christian Church,so he arrested all of the Christian leaders and executed them with the hope that it would destroy the church. 2 of those leaders were Peter and Paul.
this is where they waited to die. 
the mamertine prison is dark, and small dirty and wet.
there is only one way in and one way out, through a hole in the ceiling 

this post is where Peter was chained and beaten before he was thrown in. 

this hole is where Paul and his companions ripped up the floor. water filled the hole, and Paul baptized people who were coming to faith in Jesus while Paul was waiting to die.

This grate covers a stone. in latin its says this is where Peter rested his head. 

but a Roman soldier said to Peter- do you want to be like Jesus? then you should have a bloody forehead just like Jesus did.
and he smashed Peter's face against this wall and this stone-
and on the last smash, the stone became like clay and preserved the image of Peter's face and then it became stone again. This is the impression of Peter's face.

my friend helped me to get a private tour of this place and a few other places-
 and my tour was led by a professor of archeology named Paul. 

when Paul showed me everything in the Mamertine prison, I just said, can I sit in here by myself for a few minutes? and I did. to be honest, its was emotional and overwhelming. 

then Paul took Deanna and I to a place far outside of Rome called Tre Fontaine, or in Italian, 3 fountains. 

because the apostle Paul was a Roman citizen, he could not be executed for his faith. So the Romans took him far outside of the city to a hill. and killed him there. they wanted it to look like he was killed by robbers. this is where Paul was chained before he was killed. 

the executioner beheaded Paul at the top of a hill. his head fell down the hill and bounced 3 times. at each bounce, a spring of water burst out of the ground.

the Christians build a church on this site and put 3 fountains over the springs and the springs still flow to this day. 

when you walk into this quiet little room, you can hear the water trickling, you can smell the scent of water. again my tour guide told me all about this site, and then he gave me a little time by myself in this room. I brought a little bible with me all the way from San Jose and I opened it to 2 Timothy 4:6.

these were the words of Paul to Timothy before he died:
" ⁶ For I am already being poured out like a drink offering, and the time for my departure is near. ⁷ I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. ⁸ Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day—and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing."

again, this was a pretty special moment for me- one that I will never forget. 

Paul took us to see the Apostle Paul's remains at an amazing place called Paul Outside the Walls. He showed us where Paul was kept when he was under house arrest and where he wrote many of the letters in the New Testament. 

I don't know if my tour guide Paul knew that I was a Christian or a pastor, but he was showing me a church called Peter in chains. he showed me these chains under a glass and he told me that these were the chains that the Apostle Peter was wearing on the day that he died.

and my tour guide Paul said, "why did the church keep these chains? why didn't they just throw them away? why did they build a whole church on top of these chains?"
I felt like I was in Sunday school all over again- what was the right answer? he said, "the church leaders wanted us to know that all of this is real. It really happened. Peter and Paul were real. Jesus is real. the stories in the Bible are real. Our faith isn't build on made up stories. all of this is real."

again- this was pretty cool- to have someone show me how that my faith and that the Bible is reliable and trustworthy. 

If you ever get the chance to go out to Italy, I highly recommend. If you need a tour guide, hit me up, I know of a good one.

God is love.
-rev-rob