From Crawling to Sprinting!

Just watching some old clips of my kids made me feel "nostalgic" to their first couple of years..when they had their two two front teeth phase, with exploding cheeks.."ya khwaty 3awzeen yetaklo" as said by all the "tante(s)" we met when they squeezed these cheeks in their hands. This other phase of talking so funny words...some of them linger to this day.."Ya banat esmo super market..mesh super martek"...not mentioning the ongoing fight to convince them that when they talk to me they should say "enta" mesh "enti". those with kids understand these phases, love them, cherich each of them, and know that this process of growing is a journey with its beauty on every step of the way..

However, when it comes to our faith, and commitement..we do sometimes forget these phases...we suddenly want to jump from crawling to sprint..from not knowing to mastering..we want to get there..being the "perfect christian" we want to be..without accepting the phases we should go through! Imagine if Leila realized that she didnt speak well at the age of 2 and decided to let go because speaking is not her thing..she is not made for that..imagine if farida decided that walking is made for someone else not her, just because she fell every time she started her walking experience..imagine what they would have missed..or imagine my pain as a father seeing them letting go..ans I know and i Told them they CAN walk..and they CAN talk..I thank God they believed my words..and went patiently through their growth phase!

Friends, do not let go of the gifts, promises our Father prepared and made for us..just accept your phases of faith..just accept your crwaling moments..above all accept the moment of falling, but get up and try again..dont stay down there..you will soon be walking..you will soon be running..and guess what...people around you will hold your cheeks, wil lift you up..will hold your hand..until they see you sprinting in the path of faith..they will love seeing you grow..and seeing you INSPIRING! Francis chan wrote it well "I don't want to keep crawling, when I have the ability to fly".

Come on, lets start this journey together!

Define the Relationship

All you need is a Decision! I wanna take you further in this thought..i am just imagining on the 8th of July 2004, standing in el batrakhana, i decided in front of everyone to marry Aline..it was our wedding day, we both took the decidion and here we start a relationship...imagine if after our wedding ceremony and the party and el kosha wel buffet, wel ma3azim..i go back home with my parents and she does the same and continue our lives normally the following days..did we decide? YES..but do we live iur marriage..do we live the commitement? NO..simply NO. Decision needs COMMITMENT to be a reality!

I am reading an amazing book now, i will share some thoughts with you, it talks about the DTR (defining the relationship..zat moment lamma el bent to2olak..ehna mawkefna eih fel mougtam3). It is the official talk that takes place at some point of time in a romantic relationship to define the level of commitement!

It is the same with Him..are we just fans (mo3gabeen) of Christ or real committed followers? I quote here from the book "The biggest threat to the church today is fans who call themselves Christians but arent actually interested in following Christ. They want to be close enough to Jesus to get all the benefits, but not so close that it requires anything from them."

Are you a fan or a follower?

Through Their Eyes...

Sabah el kheir ya gama3a..salute to the ones who could watch the tennis final last night and made it to the morning moment fresh start..to his or her morning minutes of silence and prayer! by the way, Isn't amazing that God created the day and the night, so we can start fresh Everyday..start a new beginning, a new hope, a new You..giving us this chance everyday!

Sometimes i do an exercise to get a new perspective of parenthood, i put myself in the shoes of my kids, looking from their eyes, thinking through their smaller view! one day doin this exercise, i got hit with this simple incident..on that day, seeing through their eyes i looked at us as parents and realized that the kids must be saying now out loud in their mind "you are cruel parents...you do not love us..why do you do this to us..dont you see the pain we are going through!? Dad, it is painful, cant you stop it please?" You know what, i even saw these expressions in their eyes filled with tears, in their screams filled with pain..we were so much in pain, our hearts aching as well seeing them going through this..but they HAVE to live this experience..they will pass through..they have to take their vaccines (el tat3eem)!!!

Can you imagine how hard for the kids to understand what they went through if they didnt come and ask us why? If they didnt have the full blinded trust in their Father, in their Mother..the trust that all they are going through is for their good? That in the middle of this fear and pain, we were there watching with love..telling them to trust us giving them a healthy future life...

Do we trust our Father that much, do we trust the one that said:

"Don’t be afraid. I saved you. I named you. You are mine. When you have troubles, I am with you. When you cross rivers, you will not be hurt. When you walk through fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not hurt you. That’s because I, the Lord, am your God. (Ashe3ya Isaiah 43:1-3 ERV)" and said “Can a woman forget her baby? Can she forget the child who came from her body? Even if she can forget her children, I cannot forget you. I drew a picture of you on my hand. You are always before my eyes. (Ashe3ya Isaiah 49:15, 16 ERV)". 

Just come and speak with Him like a father and He ll surely let you know His love.

Mondays

Monday, first day of the week, at least here..i know first day after the weekend has a heavy weight on our hearts..we just feel like "is it Monday already?! Le7e2na? Da lessa bn2oul ya Hady!" With Mondays, comes back the heavy weight of problems at work, week days mashaweer, school and studying, tests, difficulties...lots of things we dont wanna go through...
This brings me to think about God and his way of dealing with us..it makes us wonder where is He in the midst of the roaring sea we go through? Meanwhile, we pray in our daily prayers, for Him to look into us, clean, reshape and mold us in the creation He made us for! Bythw way...do we Really Really mean what we pray.."Beware what you wish for" (mesh faker men ay film el gomla dih..Aladin?)
This reminds of a very nice eye opener event I went through, but you knwo what..I will keep it for later for another morning...and this time, i wont talk much, though i feel i did already  I will leave you with this video..a bit longer than usual..but watch it till the last minute and pray it, act it, live it!

Just remember these verses "A new heart will I give you and a new spirit will I put within you, and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you shall heed My ordinances and do them. (حزقيال Ezekiel 36:26, 27 AMP)"

Enjoy your blessings today, all the day!