Why Does God Love..........Marco Polo?

That's right, Marco Polo! God might love the swimming pool game, but I'm talking about the actual Venice-born-in-1254- traveler-writer Marco Polo. From 6 years old through 15, Polo had to stay at home with his Mom while his father and uncle took their first little trip to China. They were merchants, and established a good business relationship with the Mongol prince Kublai Khan. The Polo brothers so impressed Khan with their intelligence and world knowledge that he 'kept' them in China for several years, until finally, he sent them back to Europe on an errand.

After raising Marco to be a fine young man (“tough, loyal, observant, adventurous and eager to please”) his mother died young, so when the next journey to China was embarked upon, 17 year old Marco went along. That would make Marco 20 when he first arrived in the far east, for the rigorous journey through every terrain took about 3 years! Kublai Khan welcomed Marco's addition to the group for he was already fluent in the Mongol language, and remarkably observant.

For 16 years Marco and family served Khan by traveling all over China to investigate and report on any developments in the empire. It was Marco's detailed and insightful records which later became the basis for his famous travelogue. He finally found his way back to Venice in 1295, now a man of 41 years.

To serve his country, Marco Polo served in Venice's war with Genoa and was captured. He was treated well as a prisoner of war because he was a person of some fame in the region, and spent his time with a fellow prisoner, the writer Rusticiano. Combining his romantic writing style, and Marco's abundance of stories, the two produced the now famous collection of historical and cultural knowledge known simply as Marco Polo's Travels.

What QUALITIES OF GOD are evident in Marco Polo?

As a boy, apparently, Marco RECEIVED the training his parents, particularly his single-mother Mom, provided. The child who TRUSTS and OBEYS his parents is pleasing to the Lord. By the time he was 17, Polo ACCOMPANIED his Father and Uncle, making himself a DISCIPLE, as it were, of their extraordinary traveler’s tutelage. God loves when we walk with Him, and listen to Him.

SERVING Kublai Khan in whatever capacity he could, Polo became an invaluable MINISTER to the Prince. EAGER to learn and to UNDERSTAND every thing he encountered, Marco demonstrated an appreciation for God's creation, and for His greatest work: Mankind, in all of its beauty and variety. His perpetual record keeping and quality reporting reflects on God's call for us to REMEMBER and to PASS ON His work in our lives.

http://www.notablebiographies.com/Pe-Pu/Polo-Marco.html