Traveling & Learning

Masterclass

Five Places That Will Change the Way You See the World — and Yourself

by Delbert Baker

A Black woman with curly hair, wearing a yellow shirt, points to a desk globe while sitting at a wooden table.

he had never left the country. Sixty-three years old, faithful in the same church, and quietly certain that the world’s great places were for other kinds of people. Then one evening her granddaughter pulled up a virtual tour of Jerusalem’s Old City and pressed play. Forty minutes later, she was weeping.

“I didn’t know,” she kept saying. “I didn’t know it was a real place.”

The world God made is staggeringly large, achingly beautiful, and full of things that expand the soul simply by being encountered. Most of us live inside a very small radius of what is actually available to us. Not because we are incurious, but because nobody ever sat down and said: the world is yours to explore, and you don’t even need a passport to begin.

“Curiosity about God’s creation is a form of worship. Every culture carries a facet of His image that no other culture carries in quite the same way.”

Proverbs 25:2 says, “It is the glory of God to conceal a matter; to search out a matter is the glory of kings.

Acts 17:26–27 tells us God placed every nation in its exact location “so that they would seek Him.” The diversity of this earth’s places and peoples is not accidental. It is an invitation. Every culture carries a facet of the image of God that no other culture carries in quite the same way. When we encounter them, we encounter a part of God’s creation.

If Not in Person, Visit Virtually
YouTube documentaries, Google Earth virtual tours, museum digital collections, and streaming series have made the world’s wonders accessible to anyone with a laptop or smartphone. A grandmother and her granddaughter are on a sofa. A small group around a television. A Sunday school class exploring a new continent each month. The world has never been more accessible.

Here are five places worth your attention, each one chosen not just for its beauty, but for what it teaches.

Lalibela, Ethiopia — Africa

In the 12th century, King Lalibela commissioned eleven churches carved entirely out of solid red volcanic rock, hewn downward into the earth, still active with robed priests and ancient liturgy today. For African-American believers, especially, this destination carries enormous weight: Christianity thrived in Africa centuries before it reached northern Europe.

Assisi, Italy — Europe

In the 13th century, a wealthy young Italian named Francis surrendered his inheritance, walked away from comfort, and spent his life among the poor and the lepers. He rebuilt broken churches, founded a movement, and wrote a canticle of praise for “Brother Sun” and “Sister Moon” that still resonates eight centuries later.

Jerusalem, Israel/Palestine — Middle East

No city on earth carries more biblical weight per square mile. Abraham climbed its slopes. David danced on the streets. Jesus wept over it, was tried within it, crucified outside it, and rose again in a garden beside it. Virtual tours of the Garden Tomb, the Western Wall, and the Sea of Galilee are among the most spiritually powerful experiences available online. Visit and make your faith become suddenly, irreversibly real.

Uluru, Australia — Oceania

Rising 1,142 feet from Australia’s red desert, Uluru is sacred to the Anangu Aboriginal people, who have maintained an unbroken connection to this land for thousands of years, one of the oldest continuous civilizations on earth. To sit with that number is to feel the smallness of our own moment in history and the largeness of God’s patience with His creation.

Antarctica, The Ice Continent — Antarctica

You did not expect this one. Antarctica is the coldest, driest, windiest, most remote continent on earth, a place where no human civilization has ever taken root, where the silence is so complete it has its own sound. BBC’s “Frozen Planet” brings it into stunning clarity. What Antarctica teaches is perhaps the most important lesson of all: that God’s creation is vastly larger and more magnificent than the radius of any human life.

Go somewhere new this year. Even from your living room. The world is waiting, and it has things to teach you that cannot be learned any other way.

Know This

Research shows that exposure to other cultures, even though media and virtual travel, measurably increases empathy, creativity, and perspective. The biblical witness is equally clear: Abraham was called to go. Ruth crossed cultural lines and changed history. Paul traveled 10,000 miles on three missionary journeys. Jesus said plainly, “The field is the world” (Matthew 13:38). Every people, every place God made carries something of Him that no other people or place carries.

White line art icon on a yellow background depicting a human foot wearing a sneaker ascending steps.

Try This

The Virtual Pilgrimage Plan, four steps from home.

Step 1:
Choose one of the five destinations that call to you.

Step 2:
Search its name on YouTube and find a virtual tour or documentary.

Step 3:
Read one short article about its history or spiritual significance.

Step 4:
Share what you discovered with someone, a grandchild, a friend, a small group. Optional: find a traditional recipe from that culture and cook it together.

Make it an experience, not just a screen. Then pick your next destination.

White line art icon on a gray background of a human figure kneeling with their head bowed and hands held to their face.

Pray This

“Lord, forgive me for living in such a small world when You made such a large one. Open my eyes to the breadth of Your creation, its people, its places, its ancient stones, and its communities of faith I have never encountered. Grow my compassion for those who live differently from me. Remind me that every culture and every face I encounter, virtually or in person, carries something of Your image I have not yet seen. In Jesus’ name, Amen.”

Delbert Baker, Ph.D., is an international educator, author, and certified executive leadership coach. He is a former President of Oakwood University and the Adventist University of Africa in Nairobi Kenya.

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