Road Trip: Part 3
RTT
After our exciting introduction to border crossings we made it to Dubai where we were fortunate enough to have a free place to stay. It was the house of Bill and Cordilia. Bill works in Doha during the week while Cordilia stays in Dubai with their beautiful four year old daughter Moray.
The next day we went to the RTT (Regional Training Time) which is a three day conference on how to work in churches in the Middle East. It was very different to me because it was geared towards the leadership of the church but I showed up anyways. Zach and I missed the first day because of work but the next two were pretty interesting. The speakers talked a lot about leadership and putting the right people in the right place. From the two days that I was there, that is all I can really remember. But it was still interesting I promise.
I’m Healed
There was also a message on healing. It was really interesting in a “take you out of your comfort zone” kind of way. There was this one guy who called a woman out of the crowd who had back pain and he said that her legs were not the same length. So they had her in a chair and the camera was fixed on her feet on the big screen. Then all of a sudden they were the same length. At least that’s what he said. Now I do not doubt this can happen but I watched those two feet like a hawk and I would be lying if I said that I saw anything happen, so I won’t. Several people around me said they saw it but I didn’t share their same experience.
In ninth grade I read a book about an aboriginal medicine man and how he was able to pull a snake out of his mouth. All the people in the village swore by it. So this anthropologist wanted to see the medicine man do his thing. He asked the guy to pull the snake out of his mouth. To the disappointment of the anthropologist the medicine man pulled a line of saliva out of his mouth instead. At the same time the other villagers saw the snake pop out. What does this have to do with our healing lesson? Maybe nothing because there were a lot of real life testimonies from these people that were healed but I’m just saying I didn’t see any snakes.
No Really I’m Healed
Well after the first demonstration for healing people were invited to go to the front to be prayed for. I decided that despite my cynicism that I would go up and ask for prayer about some stressful struggles I was having. Kara went up at the same time and asked for some ladies from our church to pray for her neck that was still sporting a soft brace from the car accident. Well I had a feeling that true healing was happening that I couldn’t describe. At the same time the pain in Kara’s neck completely went away. She took off her neck brace and has not needed to put it on since then.
When telling this story I have felt like I needed to explain each time that I’m a rational human being and that this is out of my comfort zone. Almost like an apology for telling them this story because it may make them feel uncomfortable. It might make them feel like they have to acknowledge or agree with something that they think is crazy. The logical side of me does this but luckily my faith is larger then anything the left hemisphere of my gray matter can throw at me.
New Friends
At this meeting we also met some cool “Brews” (friends) from South Africa. We also learned a couple of new slang words like “Dodgy” (Shady, low class or poor quality) and “Tuning” (To tease or mess with). These guys were about our age and doing the expat thing in the UAE. They showed us the souques (markets) in Dubai and were pretty cool to hang out with.
One thing about living over here is you meet a lot of people with a lot of different backgrounds. Everyone has a different story and it all adds to your perspective of the world and your own little circle. My paradigm on how life works has changed countless times since my time here and I hope that is one thing that continues. Some people say ignorance is bliss, but I’d rather know what is going on around me.
After our exciting introduction to border crossings we made it to Dubai where we were fortunate enough to have a free place to stay. It was the house of Bill and Cordilia. Bill works in Doha during the week while Cordilia stays in Dubai with their beautiful four year old daughter Moray.
The next day we went to the RTT (Regional Training Time) which is a three day conference on how to work in churches in the Middle East. It was very different to me because it was geared towards the leadership of the church but I showed up anyways. Zach and I missed the first day because of work but the next two were pretty interesting. The speakers talked a lot about leadership and putting the right people in the right place. From the two days that I was there, that is all I can really remember. But it was still interesting I promise.
I’m Healed
There was also a message on healing. It was really interesting in a “take you out of your comfort zone” kind of way. There was this one guy who called a woman out of the crowd who had back pain and he said that her legs were not the same length. So they had her in a chair and the camera was fixed on her feet on the big screen. Then all of a sudden they were the same length. At least that’s what he said. Now I do not doubt this can happen but I watched those two feet like a hawk and I would be lying if I said that I saw anything happen, so I won’t. Several people around me said they saw it but I didn’t share their same experience.
In ninth grade I read a book about an aboriginal medicine man and how he was able to pull a snake out of his mouth. All the people in the village swore by it. So this anthropologist wanted to see the medicine man do his thing. He asked the guy to pull the snake out of his mouth. To the disappointment of the anthropologist the medicine man pulled a line of saliva out of his mouth instead. At the same time the other villagers saw the snake pop out. What does this have to do with our healing lesson? Maybe nothing because there were a lot of real life testimonies from these people that were healed but I’m just saying I didn’t see any snakes.
No Really I’m Healed
Well after the first demonstration for healing people were invited to go to the front to be prayed for. I decided that despite my cynicism that I would go up and ask for prayer about some stressful struggles I was having. Kara went up at the same time and asked for some ladies from our church to pray for her neck that was still sporting a soft brace from the car accident. Well I had a feeling that true healing was happening that I couldn’t describe. At the same time the pain in Kara’s neck completely went away. She took off her neck brace and has not needed to put it on since then.
When telling this story I have felt like I needed to explain each time that I’m a rational human being and that this is out of my comfort zone. Almost like an apology for telling them this story because it may make them feel uncomfortable. It might make them feel like they have to acknowledge or agree with something that they think is crazy. The logical side of me does this but luckily my faith is larger then anything the left hemisphere of my gray matter can throw at me.
New Friends
At this meeting we also met some cool “Brews” (friends) from South Africa. We also learned a couple of new slang words like “Dodgy” (Shady, low class or poor quality) and “Tuning” (To tease or mess with). These guys were about our age and doing the expat thing in the UAE. They showed us the souques (markets) in Dubai and were pretty cool to hang out with.
One thing about living over here is you meet a lot of people with a lot of different backgrounds. Everyone has a different story and it all adds to your perspective of the world and your own little circle. My paradigm on how life works has changed countless times since my time here and I hope that is one thing that continues. Some people say ignorance is bliss, but I’d rather know what is going on around me.
posted by Russell at
10:05 AM
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