Arriving where you hope to be!

LATE SUNDAY, 12 JUNE.         Driving from Orvieto to Villa di Piazzano, we realized that technology should be tempered with common sense.  Our literature about Villa di Piazzano located it about 5 minutes from Cortona.  However, the GPS was sending us toward a town that would place us about 30 minutes from Cortona.  I checked what I thought was the villa’s address and it had us headed toward the town of Tuoro.  The GPS definitely picked up Villa Piazzano outside of Tuoro and so that is where we let it guide us.   The GPS announced “arriving at destination,” and there in front of us was a lovely villa. The problem was its name was nothing like Piazzano.  We drove in and were greeted by folks from England who told us they had rented the place for the entire week for a destination wedding and they had never heard of Piazzano!  Good thing for global cell phones because we reached our villa and they let us know that their business address was in Tuoro but they were indeed located in the countryside outside of  Cortona!  The map they provided us had clear driving instructions had we bothered to look at it.  I was reminded of a news report about 5 or 6 years ago when people were using their GPS to navigate through Stratford-on-Avon in England and the GPS did not know that the bridge was out over the Avon River.  More than a few motorists ended up in the Avon, crashing through warning barriers! 

We need to know the context.   We need to navigate life with the help of our experience and common sense.  I knew that Villa Piazzano was close to Cortona, but I just kept on driving solely relying on the GPS.  Our Anglican and Episcopal approach to faith and life encompasses scripture, tradition and reason.  It is a wise balance seeking to understand truth within its context with the help of a whole lot of experience handed down through scripture, tradition and our ever-unfolding discovery of this amazing creation in which we reside and care for.   Without this balance, we could end up in the wrong place from where we hoped we would be—and where God wants us to be. God’s divine presence and purpose are much larger than our limited perceptions and so we need all the tools available.  Focusing on any one thing tends to make that one thing take the place of God.   Incredible places and people and purpose are calling to us and pointing us to God and God’s service along this journey of life.  Part of the wonder of what we discover is the journey itself.  In Christ, forgiveness and resurrection allow us always to begin again after dead ends and misguided directions. 

Villa di Piazzano, da Cortona!

We arrived at Villa di Piazzano about an hour later than we had hoped.  It was everything we had been told it would be…a beautiful 14^th century villa located in a tranquil valley surrounded by rich farm land, streams, sheep and lovely people.  We got settled in for a week’s stay and went down to the dining room for a late dinner.   We were not disappointed.  After a wonderful meal, Gabriella, the chef, came out to greet us and energetically let us know how happy she was that we were there and that we were in her cooking classes.  We complimented her on the evening’s cuisine and she said we’d be cooking like that before the week was out.    Her warmth and enthusiasm and confidence (not to mention the excellent meal she had prepared for us!) assured us that we were where we needed to be, at least for the next week!    

Ciao for now.