Day 22 - Dubai
I rolled out of bed this morning, still feeling some of the aches of being in the car for 10 hours yesterday. As I stretched my hands upward I felt a sharp pain in my left shoulder. Apparently I slept on my side for too long last night, and my shoulder was carrying more weight through the night than it should have. I fought through the pain, got dressed and had breakfast. Today is Friday, the "off" day in the Gulf. Offices are closed, stores open later and families take time with each other. For us, Friday means that we're going to church as Sunday is a normal work day around here.
Like I said yesterday, I was looking forward to going to church. When we first came here 25 years ago, the only churches in Dubai were house churches. Soon after our arrival a house was rented in Jumeirah, converted into a church and shared by several congregations. Over the years the church continued to grow, to the point that it was no longer reasonable to have hundreds of people converge on a residential neighborhood on the one morning of the week when people slept in. That, and the fact that it was directly across the street from an Iranian school prompted officials to look for a long-term solution.
(To be sure, there is freedom of religion here in the UAE. While open proselytizing/evangelism is frowned upon and punishable by deportation from the country, the government allows the freedom to worship. Personal conversations can be had, but one's words need to be chosen carefully.)
Dubai is a progressive place, and so it shouldn't have been a surprise for me to hear that the ruling family of Dubai donated land for the construction of a church facility. Ground was broken and a beautiful complex was built in Jebel Ali with room to support multiple congregations. To get a quick fix on the geography, Jumeirah is about 20 minutes southwest of the airport and Jebel Ali is another 10 minutes past that. So it was a bit tough to have the church move further out of the city, but the blessing is that the land was donated by the government for the specific purpose of building a facility for the evangelical congregations that worship here in Dubai. I say congregations because there are several groups that meet. There is of course, a multi-national English-speaking congregation, an Arabic-speaking congregation, a Chinese-speaking congregation and several others.
The worship band was as well-prepared and focused as any I'd ever heard, and they truly led worship. The pastor gave a beautiful message from Psalm 103, emphasizing the importance of a personal relationship with God through Jesus. He was direct and loving, and his message was a great encouragement to me.
After church we drove back to Festival City, yet another sprawling, sparkling new shopping super-complex with all the fancy stores and fancier eateries. There we ate lunch at Zaatar W Zeit, a Lebanese restaurant specializing in rolled sandwiches of all kinds of which we sampled several. A short walk around the mall to "settle" things a bit and then we went back to the house to get our swimsuits. It was fun to watch my brother play with his daughter in the pool. After having been the new daddy myself many moons ago, I can tell you it's a lot of fun to watch him enjoy that part of his life.
The rest of the evening was pretty quiet. We came home, watched the Olympics, ate Indian takeaway (carry-out), watched more Olympics and called it a night. I've got a lot of pictures, and I'll post them Sunday when I get back to Kuwait.
Like I said yesterday, I was looking forward to going to church. When we first came here 25 years ago, the only churches in Dubai were house churches. Soon after our arrival a house was rented in Jumeirah, converted into a church and shared by several congregations. Over the years the church continued to grow, to the point that it was no longer reasonable to have hundreds of people converge on a residential neighborhood on the one morning of the week when people slept in. That, and the fact that it was directly across the street from an Iranian school prompted officials to look for a long-term solution.
(To be sure, there is freedom of religion here in the UAE. While open proselytizing/evangelism is frowned upon and punishable by deportation from the country, the government allows the freedom to worship. Personal conversations can be had, but one's words need to be chosen carefully.)
Dubai is a progressive place, and so it shouldn't have been a surprise for me to hear that the ruling family of Dubai donated land for the construction of a church facility. Ground was broken and a beautiful complex was built in Jebel Ali with room to support multiple congregations. To get a quick fix on the geography, Jumeirah is about 20 minutes southwest of the airport and Jebel Ali is another 10 minutes past that. So it was a bit tough to have the church move further out of the city, but the blessing is that the land was donated by the government for the specific purpose of building a facility for the evangelical congregations that worship here in Dubai. I say congregations because there are several groups that meet. There is of course, a multi-national English-speaking congregation, an Arabic-speaking congregation, a Chinese-speaking congregation and several others.
The worship band was as well-prepared and focused as any I'd ever heard, and they truly led worship. The pastor gave a beautiful message from Psalm 103, emphasizing the importance of a personal relationship with God through Jesus. He was direct and loving, and his message was a great encouragement to me.
After church we drove back to Festival City, yet another sprawling, sparkling new shopping super-complex with all the fancy stores and fancier eateries. There we ate lunch at Zaatar W Zeit, a Lebanese restaurant specializing in rolled sandwiches of all kinds of which we sampled several. A short walk around the mall to "settle" things a bit and then we went back to the house to get our swimsuits. It was fun to watch my brother play with his daughter in the pool. After having been the new daddy myself many moons ago, I can tell you it's a lot of fun to watch him enjoy that part of his life.
The rest of the evening was pretty quiet. We came home, watched the Olympics, ate Indian takeaway (carry-out), watched more Olympics and called it a night. I've got a lot of pictures, and I'll post them Sunday when I get back to Kuwait.
