A Rainbow... in my sky!

Have you ever seen a rainbow in the sky? A few months ago I saw one for the first time so so clearly! and it was something! I ran in the house like a crazy person (I think I actually am a crazy person...) YEY A RAINBOW... yey yay hooray youpiiii *throws confetti all around* ... 

You know how you can never see where it started and where it ends? And then there are all these wonderful colours against the beautiful sky with the sun and the gentle rain... It is something! Noah, the promise, the goodness of the Lord, all sorts of wonderful range of ideas come to ones mind when one sees or thinks of a rainbow... 

Today I remembered that day when I saw that rainbow... 

Today is one of those days when my mind is overwhelmed with beautiful ideas... 

Today is one of those days when I feel that there is a rainbow you can in no way discover where it starts in my mind and where it ends in my heart... 

Today is one of those days where I can see this amazing range of colours painted all over my life, scattered all over my sky...

Today is one of those days where my eyes cry this gentle rain, these gentle tears of joy...

Today is one of those days where I stand before the Morning Star, the Sun of righteousness and ask Him, with David, "what can I return to you for all your goodness to me..." and I say, "I will call upon Your name" as long as I live because my eyes have seen your salvation... because I have tasted and seen how good you are to me... because I have been blessed with a friend that I will never ever deserve, because this very day a wonderful person was born because this very day twenty six years ago someone appeared that will set the standard too high for any human being to match in loveliness, purity, sweetness, generosity... and all the good qualities you can ever think of...

Today I throw confetti around, today my heart skips a beat, today I feel I won the jackpot... because no one on earth has a friend like the one I have! I am blessed beyond measure... Today I am joyful.

And today I pray to the giver of all gifts to send a friend like mine to every wandering soul on this earth... 

Ps. Happy Birthday S!... I think I am happier than you today for the only reason I can have you as a best friend but you can't have you hihi!

A Type Oh!

There is a strange habit of disliking typos among the smart or the  gifted with a sharp attention. I am neither smart nor sharp and therefore typos do not particularly bother me (and do please forgive me when I fall into one...)

It is something to have an opinion about a thing and to experience a thing (the latter not always the best option).

The other day I got a message asking me about a phrase I used. The phrase was "kit together". I explained with much enthusiasm that it comes from one psalm that was on my mind that day (and went in that loophole of explaining the explained explanation... poor people who fall into my hands). I, too, diligently, specified the psalm... only with a difference of ten! 149 instead of 139... I got a reply that I am maybe a little bit shifted to the right... I tried explaining that in Arabic it is the opposite direction hence my confusion (not really...but I did think of using that argument)

I was thinking if I wrote one hundred thyrti nine (am I the only one who finds thyrti aesthetic? anyway) the mistake would have been more of a comic inclination than of a trivial one unlike the difference between 129 and 149 (139!). Somehow a letter typo is much easier to excuse and understand than a number typo. A gift for 10000 usd is not the same as a one for 1000 usd (though both are really much). A gift for ten thousand dollars and one for ten thousands dollars is basically the same and that is quite an expensive one! I'll be happy with much less! (humble me)...

A moment of indignation! Oh the injustice towards the numbers! But when that moment passed, I was left with some realities. 

Mistakes, though the same, are not of the same effect! 

It is something to sin knowing the Lord, and another sinning while not knowing Him. As if one is like a number typo and the other like a letter one...

I was thinking that it is maybe true that the letter typo shows quickly and get that little zigzag line under it that points all attention to it (Oh the shame!)  while a number typo goes unnoticed, undetected...  but one can be as quickly corrected as noticed and swiped away and the other can ramp and damage and still hide unless one comes with an intention of attention! I do not want to sit idle there watching other people's red lines and letting small things corrupt my heart! I want to remove that hidden zero here and that extra apostrophe there! I decided to check my life with that intention to check for every type...oh! and to be gentle whenever I see a red zigzag out there in world, I might be sitting there with a shift of ten to the left! 

I decided to go to my Editor...I thought that whatever my type was, no matter what the typo was...there is one same forgiving restoring Lord waiting to edit and correct with grace and mercy!

Day of Atonement

Yesterday evening I had one of these experiences that make one stop, wonder and stand in awe before the Maker of the Universe, before the Living God.

I discovered Thursday that there is something called Yom Kippur (Kippour) in the Jewish calendar and that this year it coincides with Aid Al Adha (first time since 33 years...). I thought oh cool! that is something! 

Of course, sadly, I had no idea what this Kippur feast is about...blame the course of history! And no one around me knew for that matter... And so I searched and I discovered!

Yom Kippur is apparently the holiest day of the year for the Jewish people (and that is saying something!! Them being the People of God and all...). I learned that it means the day of great mercy, the day of atonement...

This is day when Moses and Joshua heard a strange noise coming from the camp "It is not the sound of victory, it is not the sound of defeat; it is the sound of singing that I hear." said Moses It was the day the people of the Great I AM, built a calf and sang and danced for it! That day when the wrath of God could have consumed them. to. aches. but because of the plea of Moses, He did not! Then the Lord relented and did not bring on his people the disaster he had threatened. He had great, great mercy! The day of Great mercy.

I decided for that evening, (Friday evening that is), the eve of the day, to watch a Schindler's List. I cried a lot. It was not the first time I watch it or the first time I get moved by the atrocity of the Shoha (or any war and genocide for that matter) but that night something happened in my heart. I felt the weight of the world falling on me and a call to fall on my knees and ask for God mercy over me and over all the earth for every calf we erected, for every other god we worshiped, for all sins... I am not Moses, not near that at all but as I fell on my knees and closed my eyes, one Man I could see, one Man that saves, one Man that delivers. The One. The One that will deliver not like Moses did! The One that will take the sin of the world upon Him! The One that will atone, will do it once and for all. The Perfect sacrifice. It was a moment of crystal clarity where the truth shines so much that my eyes could not but flow rivers. Jesus Christ. His name is healing. His name is mercy. Wow! What a God we have! The Redeemer.. Not with blood of lamb but with the most precious Blood of The Lamb! It pierced my heart...

I woke up today with the word Mercy on my mind (yeah surprisingly!) and I even shared about this day discovery with a couple of people (I think they got bored of me mentioning "Oh did you know today is Yom Kippur?!"... sorry for that) but as the day passed I had one phrase coming back to my mind "The Lord is good to all"... The Lord is so good. People (by people I mean me!) He is so good. This is truth! Kippur day is not one day of the year for those who are in Christ. Kippur is right now. Kippur is right there a the feet of the cross. Come taste the goodness of the Lord. It is true. I know it seems too beautiful to believe but try it. He is good (with a stress on the is)...There is no limit to His bounty. No limit to His mercy. Because it is in Him who is Eternal. In Him, in Christ Jesus, the Alfa and Omega. Opener and Sealer. Beginning and End.

Shiny, Smooth Legs...

If you are a guy reading this, please don't quit before the end, I promise there is a point. 

After this post, I bet I will get offers for beauty magazines and such... or not! 

I have to say, I really love the feeling of silky legs. 

Yes, I was thinking about hair removal today... Blame the scotch-tape for the simulation and the reminder... It was pretty scientific actually. When did women start to remove their body hair? How did we evolve from sugar waxing to shaving? Actually how on earth! did someone think to put hot wax or burned sugar on their legs.. (I will believe it was by accident, just like how by accident we discovered that we can eat the inside a watermelon and the outside an apple... totally random mistake that lead to a discovery. yes.). anyway! It was not the first time that I go into the anthropology of hair removal in my mind, but today I had to prepare coffee three times and so I had plenty of time to philosophise. 

I thought that hair removal methods basically gather under three categories: 

1- Shave, Cream,...: it includes all methods that do not dare to go deeper than skin level. This method consists of applying a cream or shaving tools on the surface of your body and by some type of movement the hair falls. It is pretty painless, causes basically no harm unless you get a scar by accident. Silky smooth effect will last for two days more or less.

2- Pluck it from the roots: it includes most of the tortuous ways from waxing to electrical epliation. This method consists of plucking the hair from the very roots of its existence only to leave the bulb down there living and toiling for a new hair in a week time or so depending on how much vitamin you take. The amount of pain is atrocious. No matter how you try it, it's just going to hurt big time and get red and just ouch!

3- Radiation: it includes all sorts of weirdly conceived laser machines and such. This method is basically very serious, leave no root, leave no liveable trace. It goes deep to the bulb and kills it right there (wow, it suddenly got violent here... excuse me). No hair forever. Nip it in the bud. Bam. Done.

All this got me thinking about how deep are some habits I have, deep as the hair bulb and it got me thinking about how do I approach sin in my life, smooth shaving effect, two, three days, a little more serious work, plucking the hair right at its roots or going seriously down there into the very core of my heart and dealing there with all ill, radically. I pray I go with the third. 

I know the idea is not new, we do know that we have to go there in where the roots are but it was new to me to think about it when thinking about smooth shiny nice legs... It will take a while to dissociate that image. 

So! Whenever you cross a sexy lady (or me of course), try to guess what method she used... or not!

ps. yey for a golden font for those shiny legs ^^

Twenty Six Years...

I remember for my twenty second birthday I wrote an email to most of my friends back then titled "On My Birthday, On His Faithfulness"

Today I want to witness of twenty-two years of faithfulness, love and wonderfulness of my God.

I want to witness of joys and of sorrows, of rest and of pain, of ups and downs, but more essentially of a God who carried me through it all.

I want to witness of a God who fearfully and wonderfully made me and did not stop (and will not stop) working in me, shaping me and pruning me to become more of His son.

And I can say with confidence that the Lord dressed me like the lilies of the fields or even more beautifully and took care of my needs like birds of air and perhaps even better...

Today I can say with confidence that I am a sinner redeemed!

I had life, the fullness of it, in Christ Jesus my Saviour.

Today, four years later, I sit here and look back and think, wow, He is truly unchangeable. Every word true then is true now! Every thought true then is true now... He started a work in me ( and trust me I am one hard project!) and He will bring it to completion! I thought, wow, again and again I would say the same exact thing, perhaps with more assurance, perhaps with more examples, perhaps with more conviction, but I can sit here and repeat every word... Only because He is FAITHFUL!

He is faithful to His promises. He is faithful in every aspect of who He is and because of that very faithfulness, I exist. 

Today I know if I lived four more years, one more year, one more day, or just another minute, I am convinced that I can repeat with the same deep belief every word yet again. He is the same yesterday today and forever. 

I can't wait for the day when I will be eternally in the presence of the Timeless!

I have deep joy filling my heart today. 

ps. People born on the twenty fifth of September (excluding me because there should be an exception to every rule) are just wonderful. If you have not met one (besides me, obviously) let me know because there are a few in a thousand (mille) and they are so worth getting to know them! Jinks to them all! 

He aha te waiata Maori Ako ahau

Or "What the Maori Chant Taught me", if we trust Google translate, which obviously sometimes I do...

Yesterday I was looking for the source of the quote Turn your face toward the sun and the shadows will fall behind you and all I found was that it was a Maori proverb. Moving on to other things, I forgot all about it until today I had the strong urge to search for some Maori traditional chanting videos. 

I have to admit, I have a deep fascination, passion, love, whatever you want to name it, for sounds and languages. I try to listen at least once a week to a foreign (to me) language interview. There is so much beauty in that "chaos". I am always thinking about what if there is a universal language, or what if one day I will suddenly start understanding Armenian or Russian or Japanese or or...(I do have a pentecostal spirit no!?). I think the mind has the ability to process what he is receiving and even if it does not make any sense, it sure does make an impact of some sort... that is a conviction I have. I might not be able to prove it but you can try it and let me know.

So today I looked up one traditional Maori song and ow... These chants deeply moved me.

I will try to describe it a little bit without slaughtering it. 

There is one lead person who shouts some lines and rhythmically people repeat after him or answer him (I assume). There is as well beautiful clapping and percussions of some sort going on very very precisely. You can feel the discipline of such a tribe. You can feel their unity. You can sense it in your heart, every beat, every word, every sound being taken so seriously... and this marked me...

One little side note: I had the other day a wonderful talk with a beautiful amazing lady about community.

Hearing the Maori people sing could not but remind me of the blessing of community. It made me realise in a way I cannot explain in words that God did indeed create people to live in communities (and hearing me saying this, is one huge miracle!). There is so much harmony in their chanting that you cannot help think that the world was created to be like this, a group of people functioning together to bring beauty, to bring Beauty (copying Augustine, Oh Beauty ancient oh Beauty so new!)

Pardon me if I ramble a little bit still... There is something else striking in this community of chanters... They follow perfectly their leader... There is perfect obedience to rhythm of the group... No one goes starting a new song alone or shouts above the others. Now, I am not a partisan of silly flock following but there is something striking in humble obedience... I am sure these people where free and confident and at some point they may have requested this or that song, but while the song was going on, they all followed, they all united. 

I am sure I will be thinking about these beautiful Maori people for quite some time still... but for now, I will thank God for my little (beyond) lovely community and I will obey my elders... and perhaps to the world around us, we can bring a song from above, a beautiful witness to the ever old, ever new Beauty!

ps. I wish there was a gold font colour...

Jasmine Tea...

Oh how I love Tea! 

Oh how I love Thee! 

Let it be known that every time a blogpost is published, a cup of tea was consumed. Not any type of tea! Jasmine green tea! Imagine it like this: Jasmine green tea is the tea saint and all other teas are striving to sainthood! (not that I do not drink or like other teas but you know in life there is always the good and the best... sort of how everyone I know is good but I am the best... (okay maybe not!))

It is really so beautiful how I can feel every sip going down in me. There is nothing like a cup of hot tea really... from waiting for the water to boil till the moment you realise suddenly oh! where's my tea!! Goodness did I really finish it! and I start the mourning process... (okay maybe not!)

Today I have been thinking about how regular green tea becomes jasmine green tea... It a normal green tea scented with aroma from jasmine blossoms... "Tea leaves are harvested in the early spring and stored until the late summer when fresh jasmine flowers are in bloom. Jasmine flowers are picked early in the day when the small petals are tightly closed. The flowers are kept cool until nightfall. During the night jasmine flowers open, and release their fragrance, and this is when the tea scenting takes place. " (thank you google) That is one seriously cool process! And I have been thinking about it all day... It is fascinating really, just being with the blossom the tea gets so enriched and become saint of all teas and I was thinking what if I am sorted with a lot of jasmine and gardenia, will I become scented and lovely? (I mean of course more than I am now... which is quite a high aim!) But really I was thinking about all this natural and nice process and then I remembered how we actually know that staying in the presence of God infuse us with His aroma and how we are his perfume in this world, the more we stay close, the more we fill the room we enter in... And I thought I really! want to be a God scented tea...

But then another idea came to my mind. One very sweet thought 

♥

... The blessing of friends... How God picks all the loveliest blooms and put them in my life... I remembered how they have changed how I taste, have transformed me from a normal regular tea to a jasmine one... I remembered their sweet scent and how it covered my filthiness, how their love covered my mistakes. I remembered how they changed my sadness to joy... I remembered how patient they are, how like the jasmine just waits patiently for the tea to be scented, they wait patiently, bear with me lovingly, encourage me...  I have been blended with the prettiest flowers and I cannot but thank God everyday for this immense gift! ♥