Deeper Than My View of Grace

(A golden lamp inside the Greek Orthodox Church in Coptic Cairo)

Your love is deep.

Your love is high.
Your love is long.

Your love is wide.

Your love is deeper than my view of grace...

Higher than this worldly place...

Longer than the road I've traveled...

Wider than the gap You fill...

(The view from inside a church in Coptic Cairo of the neighborhood)

I am so grateful that God has allowed me to live this life. The song by Jami Smith "Your Love is Deep" has been in my head the past few weeks as I've been basking in God's overwhelming love and grace.

Matt Chandler of The Village Church has some great sermons on the church's website. I just listened to "Ask How." It was wonderful.

(This is a statue of St. George stabbing the devil disguised as a snake on the exterior of the Greek Orthodox Church)

Lyrics I'm Humming:

Your Love is Deep

Dahab

After climbing Mt. Sinai, we treked down to Dahab to lay out on the beach and snorkel in the Red Sea. We stayed at a fabulously peaceful hotel called the Daniella.

Across the Red Sea was Saudi Arabia! Amazing how a body of water separates Egypt from Saudi.

While enjoying the sun and the beach, fleets/herds/caravans of camels would pass by. It was pretty funny! Sometimes it seemed like they were running loose without any direction...then you would see a man on a camel herding them from the back.

It was a great weekend of being outside at the Sinai Penninsula!

Lyrics I'm Humming:

"I Need Love" by Enter the Worship Circle

Following in Moses' Footsteps...maybe...

Exodus 34:2

Be ready in the morning,

and then come up on Mount Sinai.

Present yourself to me there

on top of the mountain.

We just got back from a fabulous three day adventure in the Sinai Peninsula! After crossing the Suez Canal, we traveled across the vast mountains and deserts of the Sinai until we got to Mt. Sinai. Biblical scholars think there may be three possible sights of Moses' Mt Sinai: the Mt Sinai in the Sinai Peninsula, a mountain in Saudi Arabia, and a mountain in Israel.

We arrived at Mt. Sinai about 8:30pm on Thursday evening. We began our climb at 9:00pm, and after 5 long hours of hiking, we arrived at the peak of the mountain at 2:00am. Only three hours of sleep until the sunrise! The hike was partially a winding dirt path and partially steep, rocky stairs. It was pretty difficult hiking in the pitch black! We shared the light of a few flashlights and made it to the top alive.


On the hike, we stopped at a Bedouin man's tea/coffee stand for some chai tea and a little break. There were lots of wonderful homes to stop at along the way. I loved seeing the Bedouin homes and people on our way up.

The top of the mountain was incredibly cold! We rented blankets from some of the Bedouins and snuggled together on top of the mountain. Brrrrr!!!

Around 5:00am the sun began to rise.

It was incredibly beautiful seeing the sunrise on top of Mt. Sinai.

God was in the moment.

Around 6:00 we headed down the moutain. It took us 2.5 hours to get to the bottom. It was crazy seeing everything that we had just hiked in the pitch black! Wow. We were definitely being looked after that night before!

The entire hike up and down we had an incredibly patient, kind Bedouin man guiding us through the winding path. He was a wonderful guide. He always stayed with the person in the back, and ended up carrying the backpack of one of the girls in our group. She was getting altitude sickness, so around the time that we hit the steep stairs, he physically helped her finish the climb. We gave him a tip at the top of the mountain and told him that we could get down on our own the next morning. He gratefully thanked us and parted.

Well, that next morning, he was there waiting to be our loyal guide. He patiently took us all the way back down the mountain. At the end, some of us wanted to tip him again, but he had disappeared. He clearly did not want any payment for helping us. It was very humbling to see him be so kind to our group.

I love Bedouin mountain people who reside on Mt. Sinai.

While hiking up and down the moutain, there were lots of Bedouin men with camels offering "comfortable camel transportation" up or down the mountain. I was terrified that I would fall of the camel on one of the steep steps! One of the girls in our group took a camel for the very end of the journey. She looked super cute and Egyptian!

After climbing the mountain, we all piled back into the van around 9:30am and headed to Dahab for a relaxing afternoon of laying out and snorkeling at the Red Sea!

Lyrics I'm Humming:
Over the Mountains and the Seas...Your River Runs with Love for Me

Coptic Cairo

Maggie, one of Ally's Egyptian friends, gave us a tour yesterday of Coptic Cairo. Coptic Christians in Cairo have an interesting history, and Maggie (a Coptic) showed us around the neighborhood with churches and winding streets.

Coptic Christians have had a history of persecution, living as a religious minority. I loved seeing the hidden passageways and rooms in the Coptic churches. When persecutors would come to the church doors, the priest and the people would hide in secret chambers within the church.

I liked being in the Hanging Church, and thinking about all of the Christian believers who worshipped God in the building. The Hanging Church is dedicated to Jesus' mother, Mary. I loved the beautiful icons and images in the church. There is so much meaning in every decoration in that wall. Even the detailed ebony, ivory, and cedarwood carved walls have symbolism. The ten points of a repeated star represent the Ten Commandments. Each icon in the church was thougtfully and purposefully placed and is a way to worship God.

It is beautiful to me to think of all the different people groups and cultural traditions that praise the name of the same God. Every person views worship differently, and I love seeing the various ways men and women seek to praise and honor Him.

After we explored the streets of Coptic Cairo, we went to the British Cemetary and sat underneath a mayflower tree and talked. It was the first time in Cairo that I sat in lush grass, which was a treat. The peaceful cementary was a calming oasis from the bustle of Cairo. We talked about life, families, dreams, struggles, and joys. It's been nice getting to know Ally's friends, Rachael (American) and Maggie (Egyptian) here.

Lyrics I'm Humming:

"Claire du Lune" by Debu

Doin' the Tourist Thing

The Day in the Life of a Tourist in Cairo!

Today we went to Giza to see the Great Pyramids and the Sphinx. It was such a fabulous morning! One thing I've loved about Cairo is that the journey to our destination is often equally as adventurous (if not more) as visiting the actual destination.

Here's an example: We left Maadi (the neighborhood where Ally is staying right now) around 8:30am. The trip to Giza is about an hour long. Well, we took a taxi from Al's flat to the Metro...rode the Metro to the Giza stop...on the Metro, the women on our car were terrified that we were carrying the swine flu. So, when we get on, some of them take our tissues to cover their faces and quickly move away from the obviously infected foreigners. Haha. Then we took a microbus to the pyramids...well... tried to take a microbus to the pyramids. On the microbus, a shady "tour guide" told the driver to take us to his "tour guide business." We ended up in this narrow alley...clearly not the entrance to the pyramids. Ally, in her fabulous Arabic, got furious with the driver, and after a fabulous argument in Arabic, Al won and the driver drove us up to the pyramids. Oh my! Traveling in and around Cairo has been quite interesting!

At the pyramids, we rode camels, climbed down into the tomb of one of the pyramids, took funny pictures with the Sphinx, hiked up the side of one of the pyramids, and wandered around enjoying the fabulous antiquity. Pretty much rocked the tourist persona.

After the pyramids visit, we went to KFC, of course. Haha. I haven't been to a KFC in years! Random.

The tourist trek continued....we headed out to the Egyptian Museum, in downtown Cairo. Wow. The artifacts and historical pieces were almost overwhelming. The museum was so densely packed with reminders of Ancient Egypt. I loved being among the jewelrey, tombs, coffins, statues, and even wigs of the Ancients.

We then explored the American University in Cairo as well as spaced out for a while at a coffee shop. We all needed a second wind.

Then, we ventured to Arzak for cosheri, a tradionally Coptic meal. Cosheri is a mix of pasta, rice, fried onions, chickpeas, lentils, tomato sauce, chili sauce, and lemon juice. Coptic Christians fast for 45 days before Christmas, and cosheri is a meal that they can eat during the fast. The meal was created for Coptics to be able to have protein and fiber in their diets during their fasting period. I like cosheri. It's pretty delicious!

After cosheri, we went to the Nile River for a lovely felucca (sailboat) ride and watched the sunset. Lovely.

After a tightly packed day of excursions and traveling, I am well past being exhausted. Tomorrow, we're going to work at the sewing center and then explore Old Cairo and Coptic Cairo in the afternoon. And, I need to find a BNP Paribas bank, pack for Mt Sinai/Red Sea/Dahab, and make a copy of my passport.

Masalama (Peace Be With You!)

Lyrics I'm Humming:

"Tooti Fruiti" by Little Richie (A taxi driver was playing it for us tonight on the way to the felucca! Hilarious!