final thoughts for a month... :)

Dearest Persons,

Today is my second to last day in Egypt before leaving to travel around the Middle East. The plan is to fly into Istanbul, Turkey on Friday and spend some time there. Then we will go to Damascus in Syria and hang out in the city for a while... take some Turkish baths... I hear these are utterly delightful! After Syria, we will go through Jordan and one of the girls in our group, Iman, is Jordanian and we are all very excited to see her come alive in her "home country" that she has never before been to. :) Then we will end our trip if all is well in Israel for two weeks. Inshaallah (God willing) we will be there for Passover and for Easter and just have a lot of time in Jerusalem and in and around Israel. I am so very excited... and I am so close to learning more about what it means to be a Jew! Yeah!! (Before Tomorrow boys... I MISS YOU!!! And the song you wrote for me... I will be singing it so much in these next few weeks!! I love you guys!)

Our travel will bring us to Cairo again at the end of April, we will spend two weeks here in the city writing papers and saying goodbye and then I will fly into Columbus, Ohio on the 26th of April. Time is FLYING!! Because I will be traveling I will be away from all internet access for the next month. Therefore, this blog will not be updated until I return to Cairo at the end of April (mumkin the 16th?). I would love it if you would pray for me, and continue to leave me comments... I love to hear your thoughts and hear about your life and will respond as soon as I am able. :)

Before we leave though, I'd like to wrap up this blog for a while with some of the amazing quotes and thoughts that have flooded my head in these past two months. May they bless you, encourage you, and cause you to think.

I'd also like to end this blogging for a month by encouraging you to TRUST JESUS! I have learned this semester in an incredible way what it means to trust in Jesus and in his plans rather than my own, and I can say with confidence just like Gramma Burkey always did, "Tis SO sweet to trust in Jesus, just to take him at his word, just to rest on his promise, Tis sooo sweet.... How I've proved him over and over!" May you learn to trust Jesus more and more every day and may your theme for this year also be that when you fall you get back on the horse... "Some trust in chariots, some trust in horses but WE TRUST IN THE NAME OF THE LORD OUR GOD!" May you just trust him... it is SO sweet. The song lyrics to the right of this post are a story of my journey and I encourage you to read through them, and mumkin listen to the song "I Need You" by the Swift... and may you need God and be overwhelmed by him like I have been... and MAY YOU TRUST HIM!!!!!!!!!

I love you with ALL of my heart! I will miss you and be thinking on you and praying for you in these next weeks.

Trusting in His Mighty Grip,
Your Kara Joy
:)

(Disclaimer... None of these quotes are mine but from various speakers of varying degrees of influence in the Middle East. They will not however be named to obviously protect the content of their remarks. But know that every single quote belongs to a face that is not my own!)

*I am called to sharply confront what I believe, how I believe it and why I believe it. Jesus said, "Do not be afraid. Those for me are greater than those against me."


*Live Largely... Every Day is a Cross-Cultural joy, rush, privilege
*Live Courageously... We come out of a horror-movie loving, rich, safe society... Why would an Egyptian ever watch a horror movie? All they have to do is walk across the street! (Traffic here is insane!)
*Live Boldly...Always have an open mind, but make sure it isn't open at both ends
*Live Teachably... 3 years is long term missions? Whatever! Ministry BEGINS after 3 years, not ends. If you think about coming back, think long term.
*Live Locally... Live as an insider, not an outsider: rich, exotic and foreign
*Live Sustainably... What do you need today? What do you not need today?
*Live in Community... The Bible is not a Western document, but an Eastern one and if we let the culture help us we will taste it more.
*Live Coherently... Living holistically means making sacrifices within community in order to foster and build relationships.
*Live in Christ!... May the platform of your life be the platform of Christ!

*If you want to know about the sea, don't ask a fish... If I want to know about America why in the world would I ask an American?

*We're all missionaries... we're all in the mission field. International Relations is hard work, but people to people bridge building is absolutely the most important thing.

*There will always be people to stay, but not to go out.

*Islam is my heritage. Christ is my inheritance.

*Jesus is of THEIR culture, not mine.

*I was ready to go to hell with Jesus but not heaven with Mohammed.

*It's not about religion, it's about having a heart of love.

*Jesus is a big problem. If you are alive and see Jesus how can you look/walk away from him? You can't!

*Egyptians cannot change their identity to Christianity.

*How can we be the most effective witness for Christ? Bottom Line: be ready to learn, come with a humble heart, see mistakes and weaknesses with an eye of love

*If Hitler invaded hell I'd have something good to say about the devil.

*Always fear when an idealist has power... God save us from good people like Bryce! :)

*You don't have to know the answers to all these questions, in fact you won't ever know the answers! But you better know the right questions to ask.

*Camels rest better in Mecca than anywhere in the world.

*What does God want from me different than from the herd I am running with?

*Politics mean violence... we didn't have ours until we went through civil war... there is blood all over our hands in order to preserve the free world and Christians are ok with this... if I was like them would I do what they do and kill like they do? Yes? Sobering.

*People don't disagree with you because of your beliefs but because they don't have enough information to buy.

*Every person has a shallow end. Every culture has a shallow end.

*Your starting place determines your ending place.

*God is closer than your jugular vein.

*If you take an eye for an eye the whole world would be blind.

*Your bias determines what you think.

*I hate writing but I love haven written.

*We are all worms. But I believe I am a glow worm. -Winston Churchill (He's dead, I can quote him... haa!)

*The first thing a principle does is kill someone.

*Even if I can't prove what I have faith in, hold confidence. What am I putting my faith in, why and have convictions about them. Live my life in faith with confidence, not hesitant or embarrassed to stand up for things.

*Go back and continue to read and work on your faith. Expand your knowledge and what you believe. Have faith. Be confident. Don't just forget about the Middle East and lose your faith or both.