ISTANBUL--Like a sleeping giant, buried within a tremendous treasure chest under the accumulated centuries of debris and desolation, the nation of Turkey is rousing itself, brushing off the ponderous dust of antiquity and igniting a colossal torch to reveal its gleaming fortune of resplendent spiritual gifts.
Indeed, Turkey stands on the threshold of unveiling to a largely unsuspecting world the seemingly inexhaustible abundance of divine riches contained in its ageless, sparkling, timeless vault.
When most people imagine the Holy Land, they immediately think of Israel and Jordan-- perhaps Egypt and Greece--but usually not Turkey, a land brimming with both sacred and secular history, bequeathed by 13 successive civilizations, from the Hittites to the Ottomans.
Yet Turkey, like the Biblical "Pearl of Great Price," nurtures immeasurable saintly wealth within its momentous borders, stretching like a vast, heaven-blessed celestial canopy, venerably molding the northern rim of the Holy Land, or as my dear-departed, God-fearing mother would say, "caps the stack."
The irony is that many people know a great deal about the fertile past of Turkey--they just don't know it happened here.
Any Bible student, for example, knows that Saul, whose "road to Damascus" experience converted him into Paul--the greatest missionary of all time, author of more books in the New Testament than anyone else, 14 of 27--was "Saul of Tarsus," but don't know Tarsus is in Turkey.
Likewise, many know that the esteemed patriarch Abraham--revered by Christians, Jews and Muslims alike--lived in the "land of Ur" (Genesis 11:28). Far fewer, however, could tell you that is actually the Turkish town of "Sanliurfa," commonly called Urfa, which makes it easier to see the Bible-based "Ur."