Egypt - Part 7 “THE WEEK I LEARNED TO WALK SLOWLY!”
May 15th 2009 -
I haven’t written for two days now. My fingers (the pen) had run dry. I could not, nor can I now put into words what the last two days have meant. For those that know me well, I might seem different. Only time will tell if it is for the better.
Yesterday, I was in a cab on the way back to our hotel and the cab we were in broke down. The cab drive flagged down another cab and told us to get in. We assumed the man knew where to take us. We drove for about 10 minutes and the cab stopped and said, “You here.” We looked at each other and realized that we were in a cab with a nice man that spoke little English and he had no idea where we wanted to go. We eventually made it back to our hotel. My favorite mode of transportation here in Cairo is by far – WALKING. Everything else is stressful.
You will see pictures below from the past few days. One picture is of a church in the most impoverished areas of the city (57,000 people live in this area). The church is cut into the limestone – yes, it is actually a cave that seats over 15,000 people. We had the chance to sit down with the Christian who started this church and here the story first hand. It was an honor to meet and spend over an hour with this wonderful man who loves Our Heavenly Father. I spent most of the time holding back tears and the rest of the time crying. I was crying for my city and it’s hurting people. So much of what I was hearing him say was what I desire for Baltimore.
We then left and had a meal in the home of a family new to Egypt. They had to flee another Middle Eastern country because they were about to be killed. The wife was born and raised in Iraq and the husband was from another Arab country (sorry, I forget which one at the moment). I asked her to tell me her story. After only a few minutes, I again could not contain myself – the tears came again. Hearing her personal story of salvation and prayers for her people and specifically the belief of her family moved me. (I cannot write any more on this now)
One thing is for sure; God lives and breathes in Egypt. I have seen him here. When 1 John in the Bible talks about God being brought into full expression in our love – IT IS TRUE!!!!! I have seen it.
As I close my writings for Egypt I will tell you about how we cross the CRAZY streets. As a group you stand in a line – one person on the end looks to see if the first step is safe – if that person decides it is time to go – everyone steps out slowly together - crossing traffic that is 4-6 lanes wide – no cross walk – no stop light – as the cars come (and they do come) – no one makes eye contact with the driver – all you do is walk together – slowly – until you get to the other side. That is what I have learned about leadership and community this week. I have learned to walk slowly.
