To-Do List

Back to "real life" after a long break..الاجازة طارت كالعادة..I also hate that feeling, suddenly your mood changes even physically:
حواجبك يضموا على بعض، السرحان يزيد، تبتدي تكلم نفسك و مش بعيد كام شعراية بيضة يزيدوا في راس سعادتك
and probably this starts happening on your last day of holiday..your grey brain cells wake up again..and you start planning your first day at the office (or even at home which needs a lot of work too!).

You all know your fist hour back to work..TAWAHAN..you are like اكلك منين يا بطة
Usually the most efficient trick is to write down your "TO-DO list", putting down all the activities/tasks/problems to solve and attack one by one..frankly, it hepls controlling this tawahan in the midst of the load of tasks to handle!

A lot of us, including myself, feel this mood of tawahan when it comes to prayer..what to pray, what to say, don't have much to pray about..I prayed my usual words..and that's it!. Inspired by the real life "to-do list", I found it extremely efficient to create my own "TO-PRAY list"..yes, it is list of topics and MORE importantly friends to pray for..we all are used to this sentence "pray for me..صليلي ..محتاج صلاوتك..اذكرني في صلاتك" and these "Prayer requests" are becoming more and more these days..i found out that I took them lightly and almost forget them all..though they are VERY IMPORTANT to the ones who asked them! Starting this list, i believe it made me feel connected to them, i see them in my mind and feel that when this person and myself unite together in prayer..we believe we make change happen! Yes Jesus said it:

وأقولُ لكُمْ أيضًا: إنِ اتَّفَقَ اثنانِ مِنكُمْ علَى الأرضِ في أيِّ شَيءٍ يَطلُبانِهِ فإنَّهُ يكونُ لهُما مِنْ قِبَلِ أبي الّذي في السماواتِ، لأنَّهُ حَيثُما اجتَمَعَ اثنانِ أو ثلاثَةٌ باسمي فهناكَ أكونُ في وسطِهِمْ». (مَتَّى 18:19, 20
Just try it..and please include me on your list! Thanks :)Have a blessed week!

Celebrity Sightings

Are you that type of person that jumps to take a photo with the celebrity dining next to you in a rstaurant or may be spread all over your wattsapp groups and FB status "Omar el Sherif (or Angeline Jolie) fel restaurant waraya..will die to go and talk to him" and probably the rest of the evening will be about him and how he eats, what beer he drinks, vegetarian walla men mo7eby el fillet..and surely about the ones around him on the table..guessing who they are.Then we continue talking about all the celebrities sighting (meeting) we had in our past life and who we still wish to meet.

Funny enough (and seriously enough too), we should also realize that each of us is a celebrity on his own, living under the spot light and the eyes of his own surrondings. You are very important as you are an Ambassador to who you follow, a disciple (تلميذ) to Jesus, We have the chance to give people a "True disciple sighting" by watching our life.
Jesus said clearly:

   15:8 بهذا يتمَجَّدُ أبي: أنْ تأتوا بثَمَرٍ كثيرٍ فتكونونَ تلاميذي. (يوحَنا 

When you bear (produce) much fruit, My Father is honored and glorified, and you show and prove yourselves to be true followers of Mine. (John 15:8 AMP)

And said as well:

فليُضِئْ نورُكُمْ هكذا قُدّامَ الناسِ، لكَيْ يَرَوْا أعمالكُمُ الحَسَنَةَ، ويُمَجِّدوا أباكُمُ الّذي في السماواتِ. (مَتَّى 5:16 AVDDV) إذًا نَسعَى كسُفَراءَ عن المَسيحِ (كورِنثوس الثّانيةُ 5:20

Let your light so shine before men that they may see your moral excellence and your praiseworthy, noble, and good deeds and recognize and honor and praise and glorify your Father Who is in heaven. (Matthew 5:16 AMP) and So we are Christ's ambassadors, God making His appeal as it were through us. (2 Corinthians 5:20 AMP)

And i am quoting here few lines from a devotional I read lately "God has chosen to make His love, mercy, grace, justice, righteousness, holiness, and every other aspect of His stunning character visible through you and me! God’s glory is His “wow factor,” because when it is experienced and visibly seen, it’s an awesome reality!"

So when was the last time you stunned your world by loving someone who is unlovable? By forgiving a deep offense? By choosing integrity over compromise? By serving others instead of serving yourself? By reaching out to the poor and oppressed? By extending grace to an needing soul?

Be a Celebrity my Friend! And Act it too!

The Garbage Bag

"Can you take the garbage bags out please?" That's a request 'order' i get quite often from Aline..well you can guess these are heavy bags full of....garbage and seems logic for a man to do...but i always didnt like it..probably because i am not that good in tying the knot and closing well these black plastic bags! 

When we moved to amsterdam, we got our fitst culture shock! Garabage collection happens only TWICE a week, bet2oulou eih ya wlad..twice a week! Not only that, you have to get out the garbage yourself (no matter rain, snow, storm, -15c.) to a specific designated spot (بلاطة محددة على الرصيف..ده بجد) few meters away from home on Tusday and Friday morning between 7:00 and 7:45 in a black well sealed plastic bag!! يا حلاوة!!What if i miss the garbage truck? Hard luck, youll keep your trash with you until the next collection day! And you can imagine what does it mean to keep some garbage for a week..happened once..and i can tell..only once was enough to make me not miss it again! At that moment, i missed back home عم ابراهيم البواب the porter who passed by everymorning at our doorstep to collect the garbage daily..what a great option and a great sensation!

This made me think, are we doing it the dutch way when it comes to cleaning out our heart and pouring out all our Garbage "in prayer" at His feet? Are we keeping these plastic bags inside until it starts stinking..and becomes painful and only then we decide to clean it out? Do people around me notice this smell of not taking my garbage out..as probably it shows..sooner or later? We have the option to do it DAILY EVERY MORNING EVERY MINUTE...not on a specific balata or sealed bag..but are we using it? Are making use of some breaks/days off to do that cleaning or we r just piling up more and more?

Dear God, I thank you that you are a God abundance, a God of daily presence, reaching out to us and asking us to come and pour our hearts at your feet..i thank that you said clearly

أَنَا أُحِبُّ ٱلَّذِينَ يُحِبُّونَنِي، وَٱلَّذِينَ يُبَكِّرُونَ إِلَيَّ يَجِدُونَنِي. لِأَنَّهُ مَنْ يَجِدُنِي يَجِدُ ٱلْحَيَاةَ، وَيَنَالُ رِضًى مِنَ ٱلرَّبِّ، (أَمْثَالٌ 8:17, 35)

And you told us to come to you

تعالَوْا إلَيَّ يا جميعَ المُتعَبينَ والثَّقيلي الأحمالِ، وأنا أُريحُكُمْ. (مَتَّى 11:28

I want to come to you every morning and ask you to give me a clean heart like David prayed to you..i want it to be a Daily Option!

Thank you!

Bring your garbage out daily..and He ll bring you a new House daily!

Scary Night Watch

Playground! الفسحة! Who doesn't smile like me when he recalls his playground at school...it meant everything fun for us..it meant freedom, energy, breaking loose, football, basket, (سجاير في الحمامات for some people), it meant all that fun until that specific moment!
Once during those scout camps at school (معسكرات الكشافة) i had the duty of night watch (حراسة ليلية) at 3:00 am..the darkest hour..we just simply had to guard our camping site who was just in the heart of our playground (sounds silly i know..but it was THE peak of our adventurous camping..an honour to go through)! Suddenly this joyful place i knew each inch of it by heart, became, in this darkness, the scariest doom..the horror site of walking trees, shadows appearing on the walls, sounds of steps running afar, and ابو رجل مسلوخة waiting to eat his next terrified scout boy! And as you guessed it..i am still alive, not eaten yet, as it was all in my head, the playground was the same during night and day, it was darkness that stripped away my joy and replaced it with doubts and fear!

Isn't our Life a bigger playground, where we can walk through with a big smile on our face or with a fearing doubting heart...we can walk with faith knowing what awaits out there, or walk with worry and anxiousness questioning how we will survive all this! I believe, as in the playground, LIGHT is the changing factor..and yes, I thank God we know who said these powerful mighty words:

ثُمَّ كَلَّمَهُمْ يَسُوعُ أَيْضًا قَائِلًا: «أَنَا هُوَ نُورُ ٱلْعَالَمِ. مَنْ يَتْبَعْنِي فَلَا يَمْشِي فِي ٱلظُّلْمَةِ بَلْ يَكُونُ لَهُ نُورُ ٱلْحَيَاةِ». (يُوحَنَّا 8:12

Once more Jesus addressed the crowd. He said, I am the Light of the world. He who follows Me will not be walking in the dark, but will have the Light which is Life. (John 8:12 AMP)
Dear God, I come at your feet today, opening my heart for your light to shine in the darkest places .God,i really want to walk in your light.., i want you to open the eyes of my heart Lord like you did open the eyes of the blind men..chasing away fear and darkness..knowing that even in the darkest hours, your light will keep shining..in me and through me!

Darkness is a state of faith, my friends!
Note: funny enough, i lately checked our official class graduation pic taken near one of the school gates, saw the statue of Jesus Christ being the center of the pic..and guess what, three words were engraved under it, this same verseانا نور العالم ..if i only just read it carefully on that night...كان ابو رجل مسلوخة خاف مني اليوم دة :-)