Adios, Already! Or The Ambroses Rock the Casbah! ;)

Dan & I are "stuck" in Madrid, yet again on a layover. Frankly we are very ready to move on to our next stop, Paris!

The past few days have been amazing, complely full of answered prayers! Friday we made the trek from Barcelona to Madrid where we spent a beautiful Sabbath wandering through the archeology museum (free on Saturday afternoons), rambling around Madrid's version of Central Park, watching street performers, eating ice cream, and praying together by a peaceful stream. God gave us a day of rest and we fully enjoyed it.

Sunday, as I've already posted about (I think...) we got stuck in Madrid, due to an over booked train, which ended up being a blessing. We were forced to change our schedule which actually gave us more time in Gibraltar and Tangiers.

Our time in southern Spain (Algeciras), Gibraltar, and Tangiers (Morocco) was undoubetedly one of the big highlights of our trip! I wrote about our visit in Gibraltar so I'll just remind you that we got to hold wild monkeys!!!

Yesterday (Tuesday), we caught an early ferry to Tangiers, where I had immense trepidation about going to, especially considering my sprained knee. Dan had brought up possibly doing another taxi tour, so I wouldn't be in so much pain, but mostly we were just going to wing it, like we have most places and pray extra hard for our Lord's protection.

Oh me of little faith! My Father had a plan for us that He obviously set in motion well before Dan or I ever stepped foot on African soil (which we took video of, by the way).

Stepping of the ship we were immediately greeted by a little old man in floor length, hooded, white robes and a white beanie. He looked like a cross between Obi-Wan Kenobi and Yoda. In a soft but clear voice he started asking Dan some questions, which Danny answered mostly to get him off our back since Dan thought he was trying to get us to use his hotel. It turned out he was a private tour guide who offered us a tour to a total of 80 Euros; taxi, admission to all attractions, camel ride and "everything you could want, I take care of, you come with me you are family!"

Somewhat wary but eager to fit as much in our limited time as possible, Dan decided we would do it.

It was the best decision he could have made! Ahakmed, our guide,and Abduel, our driver were wonderful! In fact, according to everyone we met--literally all of whom knew Ahakmed by name--he is the best guide in all of Tangiers. We were not disappointed! From the moment he picked us up by the dock until he watched us get back on the ferry at 22:00 that night he gave us the best service imaginable, and we really did feel like we were family!

In Europe, well to put it bluntly the customer service stinks (not everywhere, but most places), in Morocco it was just the opposite! He, and everyone else we interacted with couldn't do enough for us. It was wonderful, and humbling.

Ahakmed took us everywhere. We were with him for about 8 hours and we got a better taste of Tangiers than we have gotten of many places we have stayed a lot longer. We saw and explored Hercule's Cave (the cave was named after Dan, by the way ;), saw the king's palace, Saudi Arabia's many palaces, the coast of Morocco, the light house where you can see the Atlantic and Mediterranean simultaneously, the spice market, meat market, fresh market, got to go into an ancient bakery where they still bake the food in the same manner and same oven they did 1000 years ago, we were taken to a tiny Moroccan restaurant where they served us delicious authentic Moroccan food that Dan even loved, explored the ancient city of Medina, rocked and explored the Casbah (the ancient fortress), took a camel ride, I kissed a baby camel, and we were taken to so many other little places I can't even hope to mention them all, but needless to say it was wonderful!

All my worry and anxiety were once again unjustified. Why can't I learn to trust God and my Danny?

We were easily safer in Africa than we have been almost anywhere. God made sure of it. We were escorted the whole day by the most respected guide (he has been a guide since 1960, and fluently speaks 6 languages) in all of Tangiers, who took care of us like we were his family, and I don't exaggerate!

On the ferry back Dan brought up that if things had gone according to our plans we never would have gotten to have such a great time in Morocco. If we had made our original train, we would have had to combine Gibraltal and Morocco and never would have made the memories we did. If my knee hadn't been hurt we wouldn't have even considered a taxi or guided tour, and while I am sure we would have enjoyed ourselves it wouldn't have been anywhere near the experience God had in store for us. He really does move in mysterious and wonderful ways.

We also came away from Morocco with our first and only souvenier, a hand crafted, wool, cashmere, & silk oriental rug in the most beautiful design I have ever seen. We still can't believe we got it, but it is amazing and we both look at it as a momento that will become a family heirloom! Dan is now carrying both backpacks while I cart the 28 pound rug around on a cart. We have effectively increased our baggage by 50%! Oh well, it is the stuff like this that makes memories!

Thank you all for your prayers, my knee is bruised but the swelling is going down. I think it will heal nicely!

Love to all.

Rainbow of Promise—Eye Contact with God

Daily I am aware of God’s listening ear. I have faith and assurance that when I speak, He can and does hear me. My prayers, while not always audibly answered are at least allowed to approach the throne of Grace—and are, scripture says, like sweet incense to my Heavenly Father. This is a source of comfort and confidence in my daily walk.

God, omniscient and omnipotent, sees and is aware of everything going on in His creation; even when He in His wisdom allows human nature to flourish and destroy.

I have faith in all these things, but it wasn’t until this Feast that I ever even considered making eye contact with my Creator.

Friday (September 27th) the brethren keeping the Feast in Perugia Italy, the capital of the region of Umbria, were traveling home from an amazing visit to Florence (which I hope to write about in another post). As we drove back to the hotel rehashing the days experiences and discussing among other things the rather dreary weather my attention was drawn to the window by the audible gasps across the aisle.

At once the entire group was “ohhing” and “ahhhing” at the spectacular and awe-inspiring sight we beheld. A vividly bright rainbow with the clearest delineation of color I have ever seen shone before us in a perfect arc, brightened further by the much fainter but still beautiful second rainbow hallowing the first.

For some time each of us clamored to get the best look possible, and endeavored to capture the sight on camera. Never before have I seen such vibrant colors in a rainbow, the orange glowed, the red burned, and for the first time in my life I saw the difference between blue and violet a rainbow. Breathtaking. Art.

After each of us had gotten, or at least attempted our pictures, the discussion turned to the significance of rainbows. The story of Noah came to mind almost instantly for all of us, and of the promise God made to mankind represented by the rainbow.

God’s faithfulness and fidelity is shown through the symbol of a rainbow. He has declared He will never again destroy the earth, and mankind, through a flood. He is true to His word.

Shelia, a lovely sister in Christ that I met this trip brought up that rainbows are especially significant to her, because of her reading of the flood story and God’s promise in Genesis 9.

Genesis 9:11-17 (emphasis mine)
11And I will establish my covenant with you; neither shall all flesh be cut off any more by the waters of a flood; neither shall there any more be a flood to destroy the earth. 12 And God said, This is the token of the covenant which I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you, for perpetual generations: 13 I do set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a token of a covenant between me and the earth. 14 And it shall come to pass, when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the bow shall be seen in the cloud: 15 And I will remember my covenant, which is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh; and the waters shall no more become a flood to destroy all flesh. 16 And the bow shall be in the cloud; and I will look upon it, that I may remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is upon the earth. 17 And God said unto Noah, This is the token of the covenant, which I have established between me and all flesh that is upon the earth.

Some translations of verse 16 say that God will look into the rainbow and remember His promise. Every time He sets a rainbow in the sky, He looks down into it. Shelia called our attention to the fact that God was looking down into the rainbow above us right at that very moment, at the same time we were looking up into the very same rainbow.

I never realized it before, but gazing into a rainbow is the closest human experience to making eye contact with our Lord.

Though there is no proof, my heart tells me that God gave our group the gift of that amazing rainbow on Friday to remind us that He is gazing on us, watching us, looking out for us. His presence, and the presence of His blessed Holy Spirit was felt the entire Feast, by all of us, and I don’t think it is a far stretch to believe that God gave us a special reminder that He was with us, tabernacleing among us, if you will.

Rainbows are always beautiful; always a pleasure to see, but now they will have special significance to me, as a means of a different and deep connection with my Father.