In joy and frustration...

By request and necessity, it is time to update. As much as this blog is for all my friends and family, I cannot help but enjoy posting as time I am taking for myself to express and remember all that has occurred. There is so much, sometimes it is easy to forget. It is quite lethargic documenting life. This first blog should have been posted two weeks ago. So please keep that in mind when reading because when I write them I try to rewind back to the place I was in during that period of time.

Activities, stories, and personal memoirs:
*weekend in Alexandria- I spent a Friday afternoon walking the Mediterranean coast with some MESPers and Egyptians we met at our service project. Nancy and her brother Mokhles are Coptic Christians who live in Alexandria who were kind enough to show us around all day. We visited the citadel and watched the wave’s crash against the rocks, but sadly the infamous library closed right as we arrived. We had really interesting conversations about Egyptian culture, what it is like being Christians in a Muslim nation, the difference between the US and the ME, Obama vs. McCain, etc. Nancy and Mokhles were kind enough to invite us into their home to share a meal with their parents. That was the first evening I was able to truly experience Egyptian hospitality at its finest.
*Another fantastic day was spent with Coptic Christians. The Coptic Church makes 10% of the population here in Egypt. One of the local Coptic youth groups joined our team for a day of chatting, yummy food, worship, and games. They follow a very liturgical tradition stemming from the Eastern Orthodox Church. Imagine being a part of a Church that traces their roots back to Saint Mark, the apostle who brought the gospel to Egypt in the first century. In America, we are so post-modern we cannot even trace some of our evangelical denominations more than a few decades. I made some really good friends that day. It is such a beautiful thing to embrace differences in traditions and unite in one faith and belief in Jesus Christ.
* You will also be happy to know that I still remain very human during my travel overseas. I remember one day a few weeks back sitting in complete disdain for Egyptian culture. Coupled with the remnants of a bad cultural experience, I spent the day picking out every annoying, frustrating, and distasteful quality about the men, the corruption, the cheating, and even the traffic. By the next day they faded and I have since had several good experiences to redeem these frustrating qualities. If not redeem, at least override.
*So on a more spiritual note, I want to include you on the BIG question our team was presented with at the beginning of the program. Our director Dave along with two influential speakers has presented this question with the expectation that our answer will evolve throughout our time here. Before travel component we have to turn in a paper giving our opinions and beliefs. With that in mind, I will give you an excerpt of the question from our syllabus:
“Jim Wright and Paul Gordon Chandler, among others, discuss frameworks that believers often use to decide salvation boundaries—Who does and does not get into heaven? When confronting other cultural systems, peoples, and religions as a believer, it is natural to ask, ‘How is my God and my moral universe different from theirs?’”
I have been pondering this question almost on a daily basis during my stay here. Prior to MESP I think I would, and you would, answer this question very differently than now, considering that I interact with Muslims in one way or another every single day. When trying to answer the question of who gets into heaven, I automatically consider my new friends around me who live according to a different moral compass. Can I now look my Muslim friend in the eye and tell him or her she is condemned to hell because she does not call herself a Christian? How is it that a punk teenager who walks down the isle of a church one Sunday and “prays the prayer” but never stands to live out his faith has more guarantee of spending eternity in heaven than a devout Muslim who prays 5 times a day, lives for peace and justice, and loves those around them, but does not believe and confess Jesus is the Son of God? So really in essence my main struggle comes from figuring out what I believe about Jesus as a man, as the Messiah, and as His role in eternal salvation. These are really big questions and I am simply presenting the tip of the iceberg. So to you, all my friends and family, ask yourself these same questions and figure out if you are willing to accept the consequences of your answers.
I also would like you to know that in this time of my own personal jihad (inner struggle) that the Lord has remained faithful to reveal Himself to me in clarity and Truth. His word really is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path!