Friday & Saturday

We are acclimating to Egypt.  Cairo stands in stark contrast to Amman with almost 20 million people versus 3.  We had prepared the group for the intense traffic, noise and congestion that we have experienced in the past, but what a difference to be here during Ramadan!  As we started our descent from the air, we could see that there were only a few cars on the roads!  It looked like a ghost town.  We are realizing how days and nights are exchanged during this fasting month.  Especially on Friday and Saturday, their weekend, we saw very few people out at all.  Since they stay out until the wee hours of the morning, they sleep as much as possible during the day when required to fast.  At night, even though people come out and begin feasting, they meet more often in homes for big family celebrations rather than going out as

we have seen in the past, so even at night, it isn't as crowded on the streets and in the central district as in other times.  It's actually a good time for a visitor to come, making travel easier.

Our hosts wanted us to experience the richness of Egypt while we are here, so we have been soaking in the history and culture before beginning our meeting times tomorrow.  We have had dinner along the Nile, accompanied by traditional music and dancing, as well as the "must sees" of the pyramids.  As we walked along stones of as much as 20 tons, it is surreal to think of how many people have walked this same path in the past 5,000 years!  As in Petra, you are struck by man's vain attempts to secure his eternal future, elaborate, painful attempts, at the expense of so many other people as well. It confirms the recognition of every person of life beyond this life, a yearning for it, that "God shaped vacuum" that exists in the heart of every person because He placed it there.

We had the opportunity to go to the Mukattam Cave Church, carved in the stone of this mountain range, where further down the range a huge rock slide occurred just yesterday, crushing a poor squatter's community, killing more than 20 people.  We didn't hear about this while we were at the caves, since it occurred a bit further away, and we don't see local news, but it grieves us to think of this loss.  The history behind this church is truly miraculous, as it was formed as a result of God's divine intervention on behalf of believers here centuries ago.  As they were challenged to prove that their God was real and His Word true, if faith as small as a mustard seed could move mountains, they were challenged to produce such a result.  As they prayed, an earthquake literally shook the mountain, sending a portion into the air and crashing down, thus becoming the Mukattam cave, meaning "broken in portions."  Through the years, poor people moved to the city to try to find work and became garbage collectors, gathering the city's trash beneath the Mukattam hills.  As one collector went into the believers' sector of Cairo, he shared with a pastor the needs of these poor people.  He eventually started a church in the area, and as the congregation grew, they eventually began carving out a huge meeting place directly into the mountain.  This initial meeting place holds 20,000 people!  It is a huge amphitheater, opening up to the sky, signifying the miraculous formation of this location.  There are now five churches carved into the caves, but what is stunning is the series of enormous carvings in the rock of passages of the scriptures, seen everywhere on the exterior as well as the interior of the caves.  Thirteen years ago, a Polish wood carver came to the caves, gave a wood carving to the pastor, and was challenged to create carvings in the stone.  He has now carved 57 scenes, with more than 300 characters, each with the Arabic and English translations of that portion of scripture.

We even saw the creator walking down the front path with his carving tools across his shoulder and noise blocking ear phones on, as he is now working on his 58th carving.  It's impossible to describe these scenes!  But what an impressive, powerful witness!  There were few people in the main church as we visited, but it was a joy for our group to pray and worship there, and wonderful to think of it being full every Thursday night.

Daily, as we meet with believers, walk among the people, begin to process more of what it means to live in this region, our desire to pray and encourage grows even deeper. We wish we could publish pictures of the people here and share more details of their testimonies, but for security reasons, we cannot. We will have to wait and share the details with you personally.  Tonight we will worship with our friends here in Cairo in one of the largest evangelical churches in the area where our host's father has long been pastor.  Tomorrow we will join one of our partners who ministers in a very poor slum area.  Pray with us that we will be extensions of His love and compassion as we spend time with them.