everyday life.....

Life in Cairo has become normal life for me. Here are a few pictures of why normal life here is a little exceptional. These were taken at the African Hope Learning Center Primary school. These are the students I get to see and serve on a daily basis. I can't walk through the halls without hearing them call out "teacher" and coming to shake my hand. They are always smiling and are some of the most well behaved students I've ever worked with. They want so badly to learn. They teach me about joy and perseverance and life abundant. I teach them the ABC's. I hope that somewhere it works out to be an even trade off.

Photo by Annie Snodgrass

Photo by Annie Snodgrass

I'm so in love with all of this.

in the neighborhood.....

Photo by Annie Snodgrass

A lot has happened in my neighborhood this last few weeks. First the Palestinians broke through the wall separating them from everyone else because they were out of food, gas and cigarettes. Israel wasn’t happy, Egypt didn’t want the Palestinians to get hungry but after some neighbors and friends got mad figured they should round them up and make them go home. Not too far from there someone killed a terrorist mastermind and Hezbollah decided to declare open war on Israel again for another round of “who can retaliate last”.

Then down south rebels in Chad attacked their government and lost while next door in Sudan the government attacked some “rebels” and won. This made more Sudanese seek refuge in Chad while Chad blamed the Sudanese refugees for their rebels because they both hang out on the East side. Chad said the refugees had to go home. Sudan thinks the people in Chad are instigating rebellion also. The UN was there too trying to peer mediate.

Two weeks ago closer to home two rival gangs of Sudanese refugees clashed in Hadayek El Maadi. Somehow some Egyptians got involved and the polive just started throwing people in prison. Four students at the Refugee school where I teach were in the wrong place at the wrong time and ended up being thrown in prison where they wait to find out if they will be deported or not. One of them was badly cut from the fight. His name is Tony and he’s the head of the student council at the school and is part of a music and drama program that the students run independently. He and the other guys in the program have the goal of showing the people around them that not all the youth are joining gangs and beating people. But if you’re black the police don’t assume that you could be very studious or intelligent. Instead they send you back to Sudan.

I also found out recently that one of my students hasn’t been able to make it to school because her mother died and she has to take care of her baby sister. This place is rough. There are places in the world that are rougher and some that are a little easier but anywhere you go life is hard.

This past weekend I went to the desert to go camping with my intern team for three days. Three days for us to get a break from the pain we see daily, from the traffic, from the stray cats, and from the constant weight of this place. Three days running on sand dunes and sleeping under stars. On our return to Cairo we entered the same traffic, dirt, and weight we had left for three days. An hour weaving through honking cars is enough to make you forget any recent vacation. We all agreed that we wish we could have stayed in the desert, in the open, quiet, bright, clean desert.

It confirmed a fact to me that I have continued to realize in my time here. Rest is only found in Christ. He is always peace and light. He is always calm and still. He is our only refuge from this life no matter what weight bears down on us.

He said in Matthew 11:30 “My yoke is easy and my burden is light.” Ever since I made the decision to come to Cairo to serve Christ here I have not felt an easy yoke or a light burden. It doesn’t seem that anyone in the Bible from Abraham to the prophets to the apostles knew this easy yoke. I’ve been trying to get my head around this idea and I think the answer is in the fact that the easy yoke and light burden are not in serving Christ. The opposite is often guaranteed. The easy yoke and light burden are in Christ himself along with peace, life, breath, and hope. God is not obvious and simple. He must be pursued. In the same way all that dwells with Him, hope, peace, life, must be pursued. Life is not the avoidance of pain from circumstance but the pursuit of peace, faith, hope, and love in the midst of the guaranteed suffering of this world. Life is in the pursuit. All we can do is keep chasing it. Whether we are running or crawling. As long as we are moving forward we are living.