Those who deny Christ do not Love, Honor or Know God

For the sake of forthright, honest, biblically faithful, Christ-exalting, trust-preserving dialogue, and for the sake of truth-based, durable peace. Jesus said, “The Father judges no one, but has given all judgment to the Son, that all may honor the Son, just as they honor the Father. Whoever does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent him” (John 5:22-23). When Jesus says, “Honor the Son who sent him, he means honor the Son for who he really is as the divine, eternal Son of God who laid down his life for the sheep and took it up again in three days. The person who does not honor him in this way, Jesus says, does not honor God. -John Piper

For obvious reasons of where we live, I think it would be in everyones best interest to let John Piper explain the flaws behind the Yale written document, "A Common Word", that states a shared love for God, between two religions.

http://ow.ly/EGvB

This weekend is the muslim holiday, Eid Al-Adha. ("The Feast of the Sacrifice") commemorates Abraham's willingness and obedience to sacrifice his son Ishmael to God (and God's mercy in substituting a lamb for Ishmael). The day begins with the sacrifice of an animal (in their front yard or the street, or our back porch ). One-third of the meat is given to the poor, and the remainder shared with neighbors and family members. SOOO we will be celebrating thanksgiving with a group from the church, at the Red Sea. We will be praying for all of you as you gather and celebrate with your families. I hope you have sweet, sweet moments worshiping Christ together. We wish we could be there. Happy Thanksgiving :)

SL

You thought Cowboy fans are rowdy

Saturday night Egypt needed to beat Algeria by two points to tie them in the overall standings to qualify for the 2010 World Cup. They did, 2-0. This gave them the opportunity to play Wednesday night to decide who would go to the World Cup. The pictures below show you how our somewhat quiet community turned into a crazy scene of passionate Egyptians showing their support for the national soccer team. People chanting, cars squealing, and fire projecting, this put any pep rally or tailgating party I've ever been to, to shame. BL

You would think with cars pealing out, people climbing on top of cars, and then fire thrown into the equation, which consisted of lighters and aerosol cans, someone was bound to be injured. But that didn't stop the 60 year old women or the 7 year old boy from joining the festivities.

When Sarah and I walked up to this circle down the street from our flat there was probably 30 to 40 people. Once the game officially ended 5 minutes later, that 30 to 40 people turned into 300 to 400.

Seeing the daily routine of this culture for 3 months now, I've seen faces of hardship and frustration. Not that everyone walks around depressed, but that the day to day living for most is an all out effort to provide food for their loved ones. Saturday night put all this aside as you could see a community as a whole chanting and cheering over the victory of their soccer team. But for these Egyptians it was more than a soccer game, it was a victory for their country, and they proudly let everyone know.

Update

I want to first thank you all for your constant prayers and support. It is such an encouragement to hear about people praying for this place. MCC is has jumped right back on their feet, and now are just hoping for God to stir up affections for their needs in everyone again. I talked to my mother-in-law, Cindy, for a good bit today about African Hope and their needs. The Lord is working through us to do something for their long term, and short term needs. He has spoon fed me a way into these children lives, I am just not sure why. His will is what I am after, and He is faithful.

On a lighter note, I wanted to share with you some of the fun fun fun times we have had with the youth, when we see them. If you are not sure what we are doing with the youth, we are too. If you are not sure why we are in Egypt, we are too. I like to call her my mentor/role model/sister/most amazing person i've ever met/Amy, is the youth and children's pastor at MCC, kind of threw us right in to leadership roles with this international group of youth. We both never thought in a million years we would be working with youth, let alone in Egypt, but we are. God has a sense of humor doesn't He? Anyway, we love being able to walk with this group through all the hardships living overseas brings, as well as having a blast following Christ. We were fortunate enough to have gone with them on a retreat out in Sakara.

Ben and I may or may not have provided the youth will an amazing show on talent show night, at retreat.

Gustapo.

Gustapo team that hid while the youth tried to find us. The game is pretty well known at church camp, but I was not a church camp kid, so it was all new to me! The kids tried to find me, and if they did, I traded them their "passport" for a "secret document". But, if Ben or Tara jumped out with a flashlight and called "Gustapo", you had to go to jail. It was awesome.

This has nothing to do with anything, except for the sole reason that our zipploc baggies have arab family's on them. Gosh, I love Egypt.