Zzzz...Snooze...Zzzz

"Ttrrreenn...Snooze...zzzz..ttrreenn..snooze..zzzz..trrrnn...snooze..OH MY GOD I M VERY LATE!" I personally know this cycle of event quite well..been through it several times. Alarm clock (or the mobile nowadays)..most of us use this great invention coming niw with a great option called "Snooze"..where u can tell ur alaram litereally

"سيبني انام كمان خمس دقايق ابوس ايدك..و كمان خمسة...طب اخر خمسة"

I read lately an article about the first 5 emotional mistakes you do before 9am..and guess what "snoozing" was one of them. You just get the sign that it is time to wake up..but you just prefer a bit of laziness..silencing it..ignoring..deciding that you still have time..and you probably wake up late with some half guilt feeling, failing your fist task of the day, which is get out of bed at whatever time you set the alarm for. Snooze is nice..but dangerous if you get used to it!

Funny enough, our minds and hearts function the same when we get the Alarms of life, we just snooze knowing that there is another "5 minutes"..another tomorrow..and I experience so many alarms lately..yes, one of these is the moment of truth when you meet a school friend after long time..and you see how older he got..he is not that same energetic person..some wrinkles, grey hair..fatter..slower..and yes, only realizing that time goes so Fast..and , it is a reflection of YOU..you are growing as well!

How many things you want to do and you keep "snoozing" your mind and heart alarms, you want to start that sport, learn that cake, get a new language, do good to your community, get closer to Him and start knowing Him truly..but you always snooze ignoring so many signs..My fear is that some time, i snooze till i miss the meeting I should go to, I snooze until it is too late..the shocking thing is that in life, i dont know when "late" exactly is..no one knows the "meeting time" but Him.

Dont get lazy, delay your plans to start something new..something great..whatever it is, put it in His hands and..stop snoozing your life!

نَفسُ الكَسلانِ تشتَهي ولا شَيءَ لها، ونَفسُ المُجتَهِدينَ تسمَنُ. (أمثالٌ 13:4 AVDDV)

Dear Lord, I pray for the strength of your Holy spirit filling me to do what I can do TODAY, to know that the present is what you gave me to live and make the day the fullest. I pray for strength to start now! Amen.

Hola, hablo español

"Vamos a la playa...يلا نروح البلاج" was probably the most complex sentence I could say in spanish:-) and suddenly i had to move my life to Madrid where only with one sentence, I wont go anywhere (!ثم مدريد ما فيهاش بحر اساساً). I started studying Spanish..since we are not in Amsterdam anymore where 105% of the population speaks English..in Spain..it is Spanish..even in every single moment at work! Friends, i can confirm that statement..Language is Practicing! Learning the verbs, studying the vocab, listening to the radio/tv wont get you any where if you dont practice it and put it to action!

I want to share with you an observation, Leila and Farida after 3 years in Amsterdam school, they went out with almost zero dutch words..their entourage didnt require it..almost all kids were french! BUT here in a school where 90% of the kids are Spanish..they had to face the tough moments in their playground الفسحة when all their surrounding was only interacting and playing in Spanish..was very tough change...but they had a choice..either practice their languange, face their world and blend in..or decide to keep their spanish only for the classroom and get broken, hopeless facing their outside real world (being their playground). Thank God they decided to put their learning to action!

Same is our faith, we can not just decide to read about it, or know about it, have someone read it to us, keep it for church time only...if we want to live a strong faith and have flexy spiritual muscles..we have to train and train hard..accept the tests you go through as training field, go out and practice what you believe is your faith..and most of all, speak about it, live it, talk it, sing it...Bring it to life..Make it a Life!

St. Paul wrote it perfectly in his letter to Philippeans (فيلبي)..Even him with all the spiritual strength he owned..he knew what training meant for his faith..

ليس أنّي أقولُ مِنْ جِهَةِ احتياجٍ، فإنّي قد تعَلَّمتُ أنْ أكونَ مُكتَفيًا بما أنا فيهِ. أعرِفُ أنْ أتَّضِعَ وأعرِفُ أيضًا أنْ أستَفضِلَ. في كُلِّ شَيءٍ وفي جميعِ الأشياءِ قد تدَرَّبتُ أنْ أشبَعَ وأنْ أجوعَ، وأنْ أستَفضِلَ وأنْ أنقُصَ. (فيلِبّي 4:11, 12)

And guess what..these verses come just before the famous verse of "i can do all things through Christ who strengthen me"..so throughout our training..we do have a great Coach!

Dear God, I thank you that you asked us to go out to the world and live our faith, thank you for being our strength and for the Holy Spirit that guides us daily..to put a faith in action. Amen.

Friends, may i ask you to pray for my aunt who is, in this moment, going through a critical operation..she as well as us are thrown in the training field. Your Cheers "prayers" will help us through it.

An Autumn Lesson

Orange and Halloween! This color correlation reminds me of the orange, brown, and yellow leaves that we see falling and filling the streets in Autumn..those who went living in Canada those days (and they are a lot) know how magnificent and pituresque the colouring of trees in autumn is...a delight to the eyes of photographers!

Looking closer at these leaves, you realize that this beauty is just a dead cover, a beautiful life-less clothing, which the tree has to let go to receive soon its new magnificent filling green shiny cover of young full of life leaves. Amazing how the winds just blow when the trees are the weakest, to make sure they can shake off the useless. Thank God mr. and mrs. Tree are not selfish enough to keep holding strong to these dead leaves..they hand in willingly what they have, to receive what's more alive..even if it means waiting few months!

The letting-go of the trees reminded me of this innocent young boy "the hero of the day" in the famous miracle of 5 loaves of bread and 2 fishes. He was there in the right place, at the right moment, but I guess he had to willingly accept letting go what he had when Andew saw him in the midst of the crowd (5000 men at least). If he calculated it correctly, he surely would be running away holding tight to his bread and fish..and you all know that it is so easy for a young kid to escape وسط الزحمة! But he knew in Whose Hands he was putting his food..and though the Book doesnt mention it, but I believe this boy after beeing greeted by all around him, went back home woth Loads of bread and Fish worth a monthly value of shopping!

«هنا غُلامٌ معهُ خَمسَةُ أرغِفَةِ شَعيرٍ وسمَكَتانِ، ولكن ما هذا لمِثلِ هؤُلاءِ؟». (يوحَنا 6:9 AVDDV)
“Here is a boy with five loaves of barley bread and two little fish. But that is not enough for so many people.” (John 6:9 ERV)

Dear God, I pray today asking you to open the eyes of my faith to the blessings of letting go..letting go all in your hands, not looking back to what I have lost, be it dead leaves or the very valuable bread, but willingly accept it in your hands, knowing that You only bless back beyond what I think or imagine...You know it is hard to let go for me, but Revive in me that tree, that young boy that wont think it over but happily trust your abundance! Amen.

God bless Egypt today!

مش قادر أسيب الموضوع دة...

الغطاء الذي يكسو الطرقات في الخريف ، الاوراق البنية و الصفراء ، ثم هذا المشهد الرائع المبدع للأشجار البرتقالية ، متعة للعيون التي تهوى التصوير .

ولكن إقترب أكثر فتلاحظ أن هذة الاوراق ، ما هي إلا غطاء مائت ، رداء خال من الحياة ، أوراق يجب على الأشجار أن "تتخلى" عنها و تتركها للرياح لكيما تمتلئ حياة جديدة عن قريب تكسوها بغطاء لامع نضر من الأوراق الخضراء !
عجيب كيف تهب الرياح ، عندما تكون الأشجار ضعيفة ، كأنما لتتأكد إنها ستنتزع الأوراق الجافة بسرعة و كفاءة !
وكأنما الأشجار بكرم و إخلاء ، بلا أنانية أو ذات ، تستسلم للرياح و تترك الأوراق الجافة بلا تمسك .
تتركها برغبة كاملة و إرادة حرة ، لتستقبل ما هو أكثر حياة و نضارة .. حتى و إن إستدعى الامر بعض الإنتظار لشهور قادمة أخرى بلا أوراق .

و هذا " التنازل " الذي تمارسة الأشجار كل خريف ، يذكرني بهذا الولد الصغير " بطل اليوم " في المعجزة الشهيرة "الخمس خبزات و السمكتين " .
كان هناك ، في الوقت المناسب و المكان المناسب و لكنني أعتقد أن كان عليه طواعية و بكل إرادته أن يتنازل عن تلك الخبزات الخمس و السمكتين ، كل ما يملكه في هذه اللحظة ، يتركهما لأندراوس الذي ذهب اليه بين الخمسة ألاف رجل( على أقل تقدير ) المجتمعين في هذا اليوم حين طلبهما ليسلمهما للرب يسوع .

لو كان الولد الصغير حسبها بعقله الصغير " أيضا" لإحتضن خبزاته و سمكاته و جرى بعيداً مستكفياً بما عنده ،
وكان سهلاً عليه أن يختفي وسط الزحام !
و لكنه .. و عجباً أنه كان يعلم بين يدي من يترك كل ما يملك !
إنها يد الرب يسوع !
وأظن ، و إن لم يكن مذكوراً في الانجيل ، و بعدما تلقى كل الشكر و التحيات من الجموع ، أنه عاد الى بيته محملاً بكميات من الخبز و السمك ما يكفيه شهراً :) .

هنا غُلامٌ معهُ خَمسَةُ أرغِفَةِ شَعيرٍ وسمَكَتانِ، ولكن ما هذا لمِثلِ هؤُلاءِ؟». (يوحَنا 6:9 AVDDV)

إلهي الحبيب ،

أصلي اليوم طالباً أن تجعلني أرى بعين الايمان بركات التنازل ، التخلي عن كل شئ بين يديك ، دون أن أنظر للخلف متحسراً على ما تركت أو فقدت، أكان أوراقاً جافة أو قليل من الخبز والسمك ، بل واثقاً في إن بركاتك تفوق تصوري أو خيالي !
أنت تعلم أنه صعب علي أن أترك و أن أتخلى و أن أتنازل ، ولكن تظل تلك الاشجار حية أمام عيني ، وذلك الولد يحيا في داخلي ، لا يفكر في الامر مرتين ، بل بكل سعادة يثق في خيراتك !
آمين .

خلينا منورين!

The "Black" Cloud

If I am not mistaken, these days we should be welcoming in Cairo our famous "Black Cloud" as known as السحابة السودة. I think the cause (and solution) of this heavy black smoke is and will remain one of the great mysteries of Egypt, next to لعنة الفراعنة and why we "never" make it to the world cup!?

Talking about clouds, It reminded me of the very special time I spend with Leila and Farida, lying on our back on the ground, in the open air, looking up to the blue sky and Playing the never-boring game of "What shape is this cloud?"...Dabdoub, Batta, Dora, La vache qui rit :-) My kids always amaze me with their imagination, they can see things much better than my already-shaped realistic closed mind..the excitment of the game is so high because they jump around to show me quickly what they see in this cloud above them..before it is gone..before it disappears! Will never forget when they asked me how amazingly such big fluffy cotton-like clouds disappear and leave the sky without any traces, and the sky is clearly blue even after the thoughest foggy or stormy days (specially in Amsterdam)!

Suddenly I got a totally new perspective of what Isaiah wrote about clouds:

قد مَحَوْتُ كغَيمٍ ذُنوبَكَ وكسَحابَةٍ خطاياكَ. اِرجِعْ إلَيَّ لأنّي فدَيتُكَ». (إشَعياءَ 44:22

Your sins were like a big cloud, but I wiped them all away. Your sins are gone, like a cloud that disappeared into thin air. I rescued and protected you, so come back to me.” (Isaiah 44:22 ERV)
What a strong description he wrote through the Holy spirit, declaring the love of our Heavenly Father who calls us to come back to Him. Not only He is going to give us the "Running Hug" like we talked about in the last post..but He confirms that our sins and transgressions are erased like clouds disappear from the sky...with no traces..Just Gone away from His sight..because He took it all away..He redeemed us..no matter how big the cloud is! Wow..not only a running hug, but a clear Sky..all new..all Blue!

Heavenly Father, I thank you with tears in my eyes, that you are calling me back in your arms to take away my sins, my skies from black clouds, without a mark in your sight, no mater how big or small my sin can be, you just erased it..I pray that I never forget this promise..and i live believing it..always running back to You..knowing You cleared it all! Amen.