Egyptian dust

To give or not to give

2007-03-07T06:38:00.000-08:00

First, apologies for light blogging....life ehy

This is for you the reader. Your views please and what you do when approached by a beggar in the street. Do you give or not and what is your reasoning or overwhelming emotion as the case may be! Now, all views are welcome but I am specifically interested in views from people who live in countries that do NOT have welfare systems in place like our beloved Egypt

'Do not judge'

2007-02-16T09:47:00.000-08:00

I've learnt this the hard way and it's basically because you don't know what environment that person was brought up in. You don't know the treatment that person by the people around them, the lost opportunities the abuse, the pain. If you weren't brought up in your happy middle class life but instead in a troubled home, it could be you turning to violence to stealing. God alone knows the whole situation of every person and therefore he alone can judge.

Everyone is capable of every sin. the bible says: there is no good in man. People say: I'm not capable of murder or adultery. That's what really bad people do. Except lots of 'good' people have found themselves saying that after doing those very same things. The fact of the matter is that each and everyone of us is capable of doing every sin if put in the wrong situations, with the wrong people, being subjected to injustice and pain. the fact that you are moral is not necessarily credit to you and God knows that. It could be that you were brought up in a moral home, brought up according to some kind of religion which instilled moral behaviour into you. Had you been brought up in a troubled home where you weren't taught right from wrong, and were not loved, would you be the same person? Let's not judge.

Let my people read!

2007-01-28T13:14:00.000-08:00

I do like 'cool bookshops' but not so much a fan of paying extra for the 'coolness'. Anyway, I found myself in front of 'Diwan' the other day so I thought I would check it out. I liked the atmosphere in there, you know the whole spot light thing going on, the wooden floors, the majorly helpful assistants- it's all good. Anyway, I had a good time browsing all the different sections etc etc and I came across an english religion section. I was surprised. hmmm i wonder what they have in the religion section? Would they by any remote chance have any good christian reads? cool bookshop, you never know. NO, but they have books about freakin mediums and new age! What?! I mean which is gonna mess people up more? Contacting the dead or learning about repentance and forgiveness. Go figure

Egypt gone wrong

2007-01-28T13:02:00.000-08:00

So a family member is renting this flat out to a company run by ex military guys:

Them: Yeah we want to rent this flat out because we don't like the current location

F: Why is that? Is the landlord giving you hassle or something?

Them: La2 ya madam, ehna kolena zobaat (No madam we're all from the military)

I believe because:

2007-01-28T01:15:00.000-08:00

I'm always interested in why people chose their religious beliefs:

it's what my parents taught me to believe and I don't want to upset them

It's what everyone does and I want to fit in

I can't be bothered looking into anything else, this is the most convenient path

it helps me get through life's problems

there are millions who believe the same thing so it must be right

because it's the truth and it has been verified

I wish truth was easier to find and accept.

Egyptian dust?

2007-01-26T14:51:00.000-08:00

It's obvious from the clues on here why i chose this name, but just to clarify:

Well Egyptian, because well er I'm Egyptian and actually proud of it.

Dust- comes from the various references to humans as dust in the bible. I am a christian first and foremost. I don't follow any man but God. I love this reference 'dust' because it reminds us of our mortality that things on this earth are passing and that at any time this show could end. This seems really heavy and it is but this is reality. It's also a humbling reminder that serves to show me that I am not my job, my education, my social status, I am just dust that will go back to the earth one day.

Tag time: Five things about Egyptian dust

2007-01-24T14:32:00.000-08:00

sharaft ya grey. thanks for dropping in

1) I wish God would drop in sometime in person.

2) Fool and egyptian white cheese (ol' style) with a bit of 3aish balady (traditional egyptian bread) beats the 'continental breakfast' hands down every time.

3) Most interesting conversation I had today was with a bona fide Nubian guy who told me beautiful tales of Egypt's history.

4) Today I bought 5 lemons from a guy who was feigning parkinson's disease symptoms.

5) I think egyptian taxi drivers are the best, where else can you get a mix of humour, politics, religion and fatalism while being driven from a to b?

'Stop pretending to be white'

2007-01-23T02:49:00.000-08:00

Hadeel's insightful and witty spin on things Egyptiana

Enjoy

Here is love vast as the ocean

2007-01-18T07:40:00.000-08:00

Here is love vast as the ocean
Loving kindness as the flood
When the Prince of life, our ransom
Shed for us His precious blood
Who His love will not remember?
Who can cease to sing His praise?
He can never be forgotten
Throughout Heaven's eternal days

On the Mount of Crucifixion
Fountains opened deep and wide
Through the floodgates of God's mercy
Flowed a vast and gracious tide
Grace and love, like mighty rivers
Poured incessant from above
And Heaven's peace and perfect justice
Kissed a guilty world in love

Let us all His love accepting
Love Him ever all our days
Let us seek His Kingdom only
And our lives be to His praise
He alone shall be our glory
Nothing in the world we see
He has cleansed and sanctified us
He Himself has set us free

In His truth He does direct me
By His Spirit through His Word
And His grace my need is meeting
As I trust in Him, my Lord
All His fullness He is pouring
In His love and power in me
Without measureFull and boundless
As I yield myself to Thee

this lovely hymn was penned by William Rees in the 1800s...timeless though

Truth vs. Arab mentality

2007-01-17T14:36:00.000-08:00

We egyptians /arabs don't want to know truth half the time. We are brought up all our lives to believe that what has been believed by generations past and what is socially acceptable is truth. Try to show anyone the light in correcting false views and you get the 'di 3a2la ta3baan' (not thinking straight) deal from them. The right thing to do is what has always been done and to do differently would mean that you are unegyptian, metamraka (americanised), unchristian, unmuslim etc. Being anyone of those is certainly not a good thing as it is within your own that you find acceptance and without your own you're pretty much on your own. Many a person has found himself without family and friends for embracing truths contrary to popular belief. I think this is what condemns our society to never improving because noone seeks truth. IF you don't know truth, then how will you know what is right and what is wrong? Let's bury our head in the sand and go into denial or let's believe rumours instead or intentionally make up things. Truth is not a priority but rather a hindrance that should be disposed of.

Wrestling with God (Genesis 32)

2007-01-15T06:17:00.000-08:00

I have to wrestle with God. why? why can't life just be easy, why can't my heart love first and hate second?I pray that your spirit would be within me, that i would find forgiveness easy, that i would accept forgiveness for my own sins. I am weary fighting with the old nature. At one point I used to prevail and now the old nature prevails, it's too hard to wrestle, it's too hard to persevere till the end. But focus must always be kept on God. Everytime I look within, I despair. IF only I could be free from the shackles of sin which bind me down. IF only you would change my heart in an instant. Like Paul I say that the good that i want to do I don't and the bad that i don't want to do, I do....oh wretched man that I am. Look above to Jesus Christ, our saviour, our great I am, the one who conquered sin. He is sufficient in any and every temptation. I pray that I would live for you again like you once helped me to. Your love surrounds me day by day, I am here today and breathing and alive because you chose to have mercy on me, mercy i did not deserve. I turned my back on you and walked away glancing back briefly to see if you would call me back. But you said: "child, i have given you all you need to trust me, if you do not trust me then you are not worthy to know me." You are faithful even when we are faithless and everything you do is righteous and just. Help me to love you like I love myself. Why is my heart so stone cold towards you? Why do I struggle to love the God who gave his life for me, who became sin so that i might become righteousness. Why do I look at the cross and not respond as I should? Why do the small acts of kindness done toward me by man instill a deep gratitude yet the most loving act ever done leaves me standing still instead of running into your arms. I pray that you wouldn't wrestle with me for too long or too hard and give me your blessing of achanged heart.