His Cherry Blossom

As the sun rises across the Arabian Peninsula today, the people of these nations enter fasting mode. They will not allow food or water to touch their lips. In fact, they will not allow anything at all to enter their mouths during the daylight hours, including gum, toothpaste, mouthwash, smoking or anything of the sort. The only thing they are allowed to chew on is a stick from a certain tree known for its resin flavor. They will continue throughout the day attempting work and study, sleeping and abstaining from anything considered a distraction from the holy including listening to music, physical intimacy, and any sort of entertainment. Instead they are to read through their holy book and pray more frequently.  Why do all this? Because they are following in the footsteps of their leader and believe God requires every devout believer to observe this type of fast for an entire month each year based off of the waxing and waning of the crescent moon. I asked one of my local friends as ...

Imagine a tall slim figure standing erect poised to start a dance. Everything from the tip of her curved hand to the bend of her toes speaks of grace and control. Then, suddenly, a note hits the air and she's off spinning, leaping, and dancing as though the music lived inside her. What is it that keeps our eyes fastened on her? What is it that speaks of beauty and freedom and hope? It is the divine mix of grace and power poured into one human being. The strength of her muscles and the self-control of the mind that calls her body to be fully alert and yet appear to be effortlessly floating.  I see it in the palm trees too. As the wind whips around them, they bend and sway just like that dancing figure. They appear to be effortlessly teased around by the wind, but their trunk stays sunk firm in the ground and deep below the surface their roots grow stronger still. There is an invitation for us as created beings to dance in rhythm with the song of our Creator.  Now I realize that...

The last rays of the sun glanced off of the rock walls of the wadi where Stephen and I had parked our car. After checking our apps and taking one last swig of water, we embarked on, for me, the longest run yet - 10 miles. The beginning of the path consisted of rough stones beside a windy road with cars flying around the corners. After about a hundred meters, we turned off the road and headed along a flat concrete shoulder which took us to a dam. The smell of campfires and grilling drifted through the air as we ran past families huddled around fires to stay warm and cook their food.  The street lights twinkled off of the glistening water and the cool temperature invigorated my body. I love the exhilaration of first starting to run. Past the other side of the dam we came across some more families camped by the side of the path having picnics. The children ran around exploring the rocks and water while the adults sat sipping tea on mats or camp chairs. Everyone paused and took a seco...

  “The metro is open” “Is it real?” “Has the long awaited moment finally arrived?” The whispers floated around on that first of December. For over 15 years people had been waiting for this momentous occasion and yet after many false start dates, doubt and questions began to creep in - would it ever be finished? What would it actually be like?  I, too, was one of those people wondering if Dec. 1st was another false date. It wasn’t until I started to see the posts on Instagram and hear from my friends that I actually believed the time had finally come to ride the metro. Everyone was raving about how at last a new era was dawning. The videos popping up on social media showed beautiful stations and sleek train cars. Even better than that was the potential of there being less traffic on the roads as commuters began utilizing this modern, self-driving metro.  About  a week later after downloading the metro app and checking the routes, Stephen and I decided to go with some ...

  The adventure began the moment our Nissan Safari hit the red tinged sand dunes. The mountains of glistening golden orange almost shone in the sun until a gust of wind blew over, dancing with the dust in the air. Stephen circled the car around several clusters of standing quads and makeshift tents aiming for the natural runway. Finally, we were positioned and embarked our ascent up the imposing slope. If you're familiar with walking on sand at all you'll know that sometimes you find hard spots where your feet can stay on top of the sand and other times your feet simply disappear into the softness. Now multiply that by the weight of a several ton car and you can imagine it's no easy task to maneuver over the shifting sands - especially where on one side you have a drop off and on the other side quads and other cars driving up and down the slope!! Normally, a car needs to get a lot of momentum and speed to make it to the top, but with all the obstacles Stephen only made it a...

The driver creeped along the dusty desert road trying to find a way across the sand. The directions indicated that the house we wanted to find was somewhere on the other side of the desolate lot to our right. Finally, he found a dusty track to get us across and headed towards the friendly lights shining off the courtyard walls.  This was my first time going to tutor piano at this young lady’s home, or actually her parent’s home where she lived. I quickly sent her a text as the Uber dropped me off to ensure that I had landed in the right place. After all, addresses are often slightly inaccurate or the location pin could be incorrect. Tall palm trees surrounded the imposing villa with a well tended garden in front. Right behind me, a red SUV pulled up and a young lady stepped out of the passenger side in her regal robes. Waving her hand she dismissed her driver and approached. Her scarf half-draped gracefully over her hair was more like a decorative veil than a restrictive cover. She...