March 19, 2007/Monday
Day One
Well, I am sitting in the Atlanta Airport waiting to board.
March 20, 2007/Tuesday
5:52am CST/11:52am EET
We are approaching Cairo. Yesterday, we flew from Atlanta to Frankfurt, Germany. We are flying Lufthansa Airlines. I have flown them before. I had forgotten how much I liked them. Everything is free, even the wine. They are incredibly friendly.
We should be getting into Cairo, Egypt shortly. We are now being issued our declaration papers. This is where we declare what we are bringing into the country.
It is cool to travel across time zones. Today is my birthday. Don’t worry, just because I am not there doesn’t mean you can’t treat me with gifts and meals when I return. I wouldn’t deprive you of that pleasure. Anyway, I got to reach my birthday earlier. We caught up with the 20th.
I have to tell you about my experience with the person who sat across the aisle from me. Dave is sitting in the window seat next to me, on both flights. From Atlanta to Frankfurt, there was this drop-dead gorgeous girl. She was a blonde. She boarded late. She plopped down in the seat just across the aisle from me. It took fifteen minutes for her to start talking to me.
When she pulled out a Bible I thought, “This is really shaping up.” Then I noticed a saturation of alcohol on her breath. I let it go at first. I don’t care about someone having a drink or two, especially if she is as attractive as this girl was. So, I let it go. She continued to talk and ask questions. She got all excited when I told her that I could translate Greek and some Hebrew. She then began to ask me questions about the book of Genesis. The questions were very interesting. They were kind of weird. Dave was sitting next to me. He couldn’t hear all of the conversation because of the plane noise. He missed a real blessing let me tell you.
The conversation began to turn into a bit of a debate. I would not concede that the “woman” created in Genesis was an offspring of Adam and Eve. She was very certain of that. Being that she was obviously “’plowed,” I realized that I was not going to win. You can’t argue with stupid, as Jeff Foxworthy says. I still gave it a shot. After fifteen minutes, I realized that this was going to be the longest eight-hour flight of my life. I was growing increasingly concerned. I had visions of this girl getting irate with me. I would then I have to control her. Next thing you know we would be making an emergency landing where she and I would be escorted off the plane. I am happy to say that it didn’t come to that.
As the conversation continued, she was becoming angry with me. I looked away once and she said, “Don’t look away from me!” She also asked if I thought she was crazy. I replied by saying, “No, I think that you’re drunk.” She didn’t like that too much.
I escaped long enough from the drunk girl to talk to a stewardess in the back. I told her that I thought it would be wise not to give her anything else to drink unless she thought that we could get her so drunk that she passed out. This way, she would pose no more threat.
The scariest part of this whole debacle occurred when I got up to go to the restroom. As soon as I got up, she popped up and followed me. When we reached the restroom she looked at me and offered for me to join her. I will leave the rest for your imagination. I entered the restroom by myself. Honestly she was good looking.
I returned to my seat. This girl eventually passed out. I was finally free.
We landed in Frankfurt. We deplaned. We all gathered just outside the jet-way. When our group of thirty-six finally arrived we found ourselves locked out of the terminal. We had forty minutes to make our connecting flight. In the nick of time a stewardess, attractive, rescued us. She escorted us to our next flight.
Lufthansa Airlines is incredible. They are incredibly friendly. They also don’t charge folks for wine or headphones. These are my kind of people.
As I said earlier, we are approaching Cairo. We should be landing soon. I’ll get to see the Pyramids for the first time. This should be cool. Stay tuned! I have heard that Cairo is insane. I am sure to have new stories to bring.
10:54pm EET
We just got back to the Hotel. We went on a dinner cruise on the Nile River. It was fun. We had a buffet meal that was really good. There was a belly dancer, a couple of Egyptian folks sang. The guy actually sang “Hotel California” by the Eagles, sort of. I think he needs to leave that to the Eagles.
When it was time to hit the buffet, this group of Japanese hit it like a war had broken out. Dave body checked one of them at the fish pan.
I can certainly say that my 35th birthday is one that I may not top. The band played and sang “Happy Birthday” to me as I was brought a cake topped with sparklers. I was dragged up on stage no less than three times. I didn’t know what to do so I simply pulled my shirt up, exposing my belly and did my own version of a belly dance. It was attractive I can assure you.
Tonight was unforgettable for sure. We celebrated my birthday like real Egyptians. It was tons of fun.
I am going to upload some pictures soon. We are sorting through some right now. Tomorrow we tour the Pyramids. I want to wait so that I can add those.
Today I am just getting to know some of these people. Bear with me as I write the blogs. I’ll try to let you know how things are going for all of us. Also be patient if you are looking for me to write about Jesus stuff all the time. The way I look at things, I believe that Jesus is in everything around us, the good, the bad and the ugly. Jesus can be found if you simply open your eyes and look around. All things are for His glory and pleasure.
If you expect my blogs to be a institutional sermon, you will be disappointed. If you aren’t prepared to take a journey with me as I write, stop reading here. If you can’t receive my honesty about the way I experience life and enjoy God, I don’t know what to tell you.
If you want to walk with me, us, through the pages of the life of Christ as we fumble around as weak and helpless humans, then my friend, this may be a great experience for you. Don’t expect a Sunday School lesson. Don’t try to hold me to a rigid set of norms set by people; I can assure you that I won’t conform. It would be a waste of good energy for you. Just relax. Attempt to see things as you never have before.
All in all, I am not concerned about what people think. It is only God who matters. I have decided to live life fully, enjoy all of it. I hope you will come with me as I travel through from the Egypt to the Promised Land.
Day One
Well, I am sitting in the Atlanta Airport waiting to board.
March 20, 2007/Tuesday
5:52am CST/11:52am EET
We are approaching Cairo. Yesterday, we flew from Atlanta to Frankfurt, Germany. We are flying Lufthansa Airlines. I have flown them before. I had forgotten how much I liked them. Everything is free, even the wine. They are incredibly friendly.
We should be getting into Cairo, Egypt shortly. We are now being issued our declaration papers. This is where we declare what we are bringing into the country.
It is cool to travel across time zones. Today is my birthday. Don’t worry, just because I am not there doesn’t mean you can’t treat me with gifts and meals when I return. I wouldn’t deprive you of that pleasure. Anyway, I got to reach my birthday earlier. We caught up with the 20th.
I have to tell you about my experience with the person who sat across the aisle from me. Dave is sitting in the window seat next to me, on both flights. From Atlanta to Frankfurt, there was this drop-dead gorgeous girl. She was a blonde. She boarded late. She plopped down in the seat just across the aisle from me. It took fifteen minutes for her to start talking to me.
When she pulled out a Bible I thought, “This is really shaping up.” Then I noticed a saturation of alcohol on her breath. I let it go at first. I don’t care about someone having a drink or two, especially if she is as attractive as this girl was. So, I let it go. She continued to talk and ask questions. She got all excited when I told her that I could translate Greek and some Hebrew. She then began to ask me questions about the book of Genesis. The questions were very interesting. They were kind of weird. Dave was sitting next to me. He couldn’t hear all of the conversation because of the plane noise. He missed a real blessing let me tell you.
The conversation began to turn into a bit of a debate. I would not concede that the “woman” created in Genesis was an offspring of Adam and Eve. She was very certain of that. Being that she was obviously “’plowed,” I realized that I was not going to win. You can’t argue with stupid, as Jeff Foxworthy says. I still gave it a shot. After fifteen minutes, I realized that this was going to be the longest eight-hour flight of my life. I was growing increasingly concerned. I had visions of this girl getting irate with me. I would then I have to control her. Next thing you know we would be making an emergency landing where she and I would be escorted off the plane. I am happy to say that it didn’t come to that.
As the conversation continued, she was becoming angry with me. I looked away once and she said, “Don’t look away from me!” She also asked if I thought she was crazy. I replied by saying, “No, I think that you’re drunk.” She didn’t like that too much.
I escaped long enough from the drunk girl to talk to a stewardess in the back. I told her that I thought it would be wise not to give her anything else to drink unless she thought that we could get her so drunk that she passed out. This way, she would pose no more threat.
The scariest part of this whole debacle occurred when I got up to go to the restroom. As soon as I got up, she popped up and followed me. When we reached the restroom she looked at me and offered for me to join her. I will leave the rest for your imagination. I entered the restroom by myself. Honestly she was good looking.
I returned to my seat. This girl eventually passed out. I was finally free.
We landed in Frankfurt. We deplaned. We all gathered just outside the jet-way. When our group of thirty-six finally arrived we found ourselves locked out of the terminal. We had forty minutes to make our connecting flight. In the nick of time a stewardess, attractive, rescued us. She escorted us to our next flight.
Lufthansa Airlines is incredible. They are incredibly friendly. They also don’t charge folks for wine or headphones. These are my kind of people.
As I said earlier, we are approaching Cairo. We should be landing soon. I’ll get to see the Pyramids for the first time. This should be cool. Stay tuned! I have heard that Cairo is insane. I am sure to have new stories to bring.
10:54pm EET
We just got back to the Hotel. We went on a dinner cruise on the Nile River. It was fun. We had a buffet meal that was really good. There was a belly dancer, a couple of Egyptian folks sang. The guy actually sang “Hotel California” by the Eagles, sort of. I think he needs to leave that to the Eagles.
When it was time to hit the buffet, this group of Japanese hit it like a war had broken out. Dave body checked one of them at the fish pan.
I can certainly say that my 35th birthday is one that I may not top. The band played and sang “Happy Birthday” to me as I was brought a cake topped with sparklers. I was dragged up on stage no less than three times. I didn’t know what to do so I simply pulled my shirt up, exposing my belly and did my own version of a belly dance. It was attractive I can assure you.
Tonight was unforgettable for sure. We celebrated my birthday like real Egyptians. It was tons of fun.
I am going to upload some pictures soon. We are sorting through some right now. Tomorrow we tour the Pyramids. I want to wait so that I can add those.
Today I am just getting to know some of these people. Bear with me as I write the blogs. I’ll try to let you know how things are going for all of us. Also be patient if you are looking for me to write about Jesus stuff all the time. The way I look at things, I believe that Jesus is in everything around us, the good, the bad and the ugly. Jesus can be found if you simply open your eyes and look around. All things are for His glory and pleasure.
If you expect my blogs to be a institutional sermon, you will be disappointed. If you aren’t prepared to take a journey with me as I write, stop reading here. If you can’t receive my honesty about the way I experience life and enjoy God, I don’t know what to tell you.
If you want to walk with me, us, through the pages of the life of Christ as we fumble around as weak and helpless humans, then my friend, this may be a great experience for you. Don’t expect a Sunday School lesson. Don’t try to hold me to a rigid set of norms set by people; I can assure you that I won’t conform. It would be a waste of good energy for you. Just relax. Attempt to see things as you never have before.
All in all, I am not concerned about what people think. It is only God who matters. I have decided to live life fully, enjoy all of it. I hope you will come with me as I travel through from the Egypt to the Promised Land.
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