Destination Dubai: Trip Highlights from the Middle East

   So familiar, yet so incredibly different. That's how I describe my journey to the Middle East. Highways that replicate our American road systems with traffic signs I cannot even begin to interpret. Malls with stores like Sephora and Zara, Tiffany's and Gucci. A metropolitan paradise with luxury cars, a seven star hotel, and a desert oasis ushering in thousands of people from around the world.
My time in the UAE barely scraped the surface of the oil rich country, but I do have some highlights from my journey to the east.

5. Good Eatin'

    I'm a total foodie. Just follow my Instagram and it will become very apparent. When the perfect expression of love on Valentines Day is a food processor and a paleo cookbook there's really no room to question that fact.

    Food is a cultural expression. It tells so much about a place or person. What type of texture do they like, what takes the majority of the plate--meat, veggies, starches? Is quantity important or is the focus on three bites of a sensory explosion.

    Dubai, like any major city, offers a wide variety of experiences. The cuisine was a mix of Asian fusion, mediterranean, and western influence.

    I tried many eateries in several of the elaborate malls across the city and found, what I consider, the best eating experience in Dubai. The TWG tearoom. A friend recommended it to me and it surely did not disappoint. Every food item is infused with a different tea, and my smoked salmon eggs benedict is the type of breakfast you dream of. Combine insane food with a picturesque waterfall and gracious servers with a wealth of stories to share--worth ever durum.

   Every once in a while you also need to just pick a random metro stop, walk into a local Philippine restaurant, and tell the server you'll have what the man next to you is eating. I still have no idea what I ate, but it sure tasted good. 

  However, my favorite was no doubt the Lebanese food. Truly, I'm converted. The pita, the tabouli, the hummus...the goat. I'll never be able to eat chicken and rice happily again. It combined all my favorite mediterranean flavors and couldn't have been more authentic unless I had journeyed to Lebanon myself. 

                               

4. The Malls

    The word "mall" is not an accurate term for these arenas of cultural expression. With over 60 currently standing and several others in construction you could spend days walking through just one climate controlled complex. The Dubai mall with it's extravagance, 1 mile circumference, and fountains; the Mall of the Emirates with the famous ski center; Ibn Battuta being my favorite mall ever. Dubai knows how to turn shopping into an experience.

   And truly, anything with an aquarium wins points in my book.

3. Desert Safari

    There is nothing more freeing than running through a sand dune.   

   There is also no better tourist experience than a desert safari. I saw my life flash before my eyes on the jeep ride across the desert dunes. I also realized that a two minute camel ride was all I really needed to get the iconic desert picture. Any longer and I'm pretty sure the camel would have turned on me. Between henna, tanoura and belly dancers, and a buffet of amazing middle eastern barbeque, this tourist trap is one worth falling into.

 2. The Burj Khalifa

   I'm sure within my lifetime another colossus skyscraper will be erected, it's peak scraping the ozone layer, but I'm still staggered at having stepped out onto the viewing area of the Burj Khalifa and seen what a city looks like from the 124th floor. They say the best time to go is at sunset. I say any time is worth it. You don't want to regret checking off this bucket list item.

   

1. Sunsets

   I can't help it--I'm a sucker for that explosion of color across the horizon. You may always notice a sunset wherever you go, but there are some sunsets you just don't forget. 

   Truly, my favorite experience in Dubai was standing in the dunes, on the beach, in the mountains, or just in the city and watching the orange, desert sun melt into the ground.

 

That caps off my top five Dubai moments.

Don't forget to adventure today!

-Ray

    

Water You Waiting For?

   It's mid August here in Oklahoma, usually the time when the pretty farm land and waving wheat transform into Satan's sauna.
   However, something beautiful and mysterious happened in central America this summer.
   The weather has been...nice.
   Blissful even.
   I think this summer may be a fluke, but when I walk outside at noon in arguably the hottest time of the year and feel a cool breeze race up to hug me as I walk to my car, I don't question, just accept.

   This summer I've enjoyed not just being in the water but on the water. Chances are there's probably some nearby, and all you have to do these days is google water near where I live...or maybe something a little more specific like your state's travel website.

   Even those of us here in the land locked states can pretend to be coasters by whipping out the kayak, canoe, or even stand up paddle board. 

   If I can brave SUP'ing on the raging river of rank that is the Potomac (at the beloved Jack's Boathouse...is that place still going strong??) you can enjoy your chosen water sport in whatever agua suits your style. 

Back when I was a young'n interning in D.C.

   Ah, I'm still basking in the glow of a sunset kayak ride around Summit Lake, courtesy of housesitting--but more recently, this week I spent my Tuesday night learning the art of patience.
   You may call it fishing.
   Oh, the perfectionist in me wants so badly to be so amazing at this sport of catch and release, but while I've mastered the cast I'm still waiting to be considered worthy of a bass bite.
   Look for an upcoming post on novice need-to-knows for fishing.

  Sometimes you need to spend some time and money out at your local state park...sometimes you just need a friend with a kayak.

   Don't forget to adventure today,

   -Ray

There's Something About Trees

In this place of green, limbs reaching in greeting,
Welcoming me back--why did you leave?
Stay a while with us,
Nudging each other out of the way,
Trying
To sneak a peak.
Like a grade school picture,
From a distance all order and peace.
Close up each a personality to be seen.
I want to know more

My heart flutters as we race by.
How you cling to such precarious places,
all balanced in the sky.
What have you suffered? 
What have you seen?
The wizened ones nod their heads.
So much has changed around you...
There's too much to be said

I could brush through their skirts,
Cling to their strength and never let go.
But as I breathe in their life,
Their scent,
They tell me...
We know

Why Everyone Should Visit the Middle East

Mosque on the road to the Mall of the Emirates 

No, I'm not trying to guilt you to hop on a plane and parachute into war-torn Syria to experience what life is like for the less fortunate. However, I would tell anyone before planning their next trip to London or Paris to consider visiting an area that will probably impact your life beyond your 4-5 day stay.

I have been fortunate to have travelled to friends up north (eh?), down south (thanks for ruining Taco Bell forever), the motherland (our humor is still not up to British par), that French country we love to hate (but secretly envy with every fiber of our being), and even a brief jaunt to the Swiss Alps (okay one Alp...and I'm not even sure if it was an Alp. Someone Google Mt. Pilatus for me.)

Nothing, absolutely nothing impacted my life more than venturing beyond the familiar green into the desert sands.

Desert Safari stop on the sand dunes

Why? Because as Americans we have prejudices we don't realize we have. What's even worse, as someone who professes to be a Christian, I had additional prejudices I didn't realize until walking outside into the blinding Dubai sun.

I'm not prejudice. I accept all cultures, religions, behaviors, etc 

You may say that but here in the loving embrace of the red, white, and blue it's easy to disassociate the culture from the person. We think everyone here, if not American already, wants to be a U.S. citizen, which means they are seeking something of the same values we are.

Stepping out my first day in Dubai was quite a shock to my western mindset. I mean, why would you force women to wear long black veils, let alone pants, when the heat index is 115? I found myself looking for my culture, being drawn to people who looked like me, and allowing everything else to fade into the background. It's pretty easy to do in Dubai. The western culture has pretty well saturated the coast and you can find anything from a Starbucks to an IHOP in the city.

Waterfall in the Dubai mall

But as my jet lagged body dragged through the Carrefour in the Mall of the Emirates and up to the register to check out groceries I stopped to smile at the red headed, freckled man with the name tag that read, "Mohamed."
We struggled through our language barrier (most of the barrier I claim since everyone there seems to know at least 4 languages, and I'm just chilling with my English), but he ended up telling myself and the friends I was with that he was a refuge from Syria, fleeing the destruction and constant bombings ripping up his nation. His family is still there, but he is working to send money back to them.

My heart breaks...and it's just the start.

I began opening my eyes, engaging, looking through the veils, past the culture and the religion to see the person. I heard stories. One worker from Egypt, another from Pakistan, this Indian man left home 17 years ago to provide for his family, the phone he carried his only connection back home. This Philippine woman stuck in a job, unable to leave the abusive working environment cultivated by her superior, an Emirate woman studying for her masters, her background on her computer showing her warmly embraced by the Sheik.

Egyptian musicians at the desert safari

I wouldn't tell you to go to the Middle East simply to go sight seeing. There are incredible structures, which destroy our concept of skyscrapers--but there are the men who clamored from around the world to be employed for the behemoths' construction.

Metro view of the Burj Khalifa

I wouldn't tell you to try all the delicacies of the Middle East without talking to the person behind the counter and hearing their life story.
And my final piece of advice would be to forgo the tourist traps and find a local that will unlock your explorer within by taking you up path less travelled so you can experience a world you've never seen before.

Desert mountains in Oman

I was told by one of the women I met to consider Dubai my second home.

I think I'll be back.

More stories to come.

-Ray

What's in a Name: Defining Purity in My Life

Rachel Allison Morse

   

   My first memory of realizing the meaning behind my name goes back several years to when I was around 6 or 7. We were in our first duplex in Tyler, and I remember talking to my mom about all the different meanings of names. I remember her saying my sister's name, Amy, means Beloved. My mother's name, Cathy, means pure--and my name, Rachel, means innocent, or little lamb.
   Ever since then, I have loved my name (although I did go through a phase where I though my middle name, Allison, would suit me better). There is something about being called a lamb, which makes my heart erupt in joy . . . although for the longest time I really couldn't tell you why.
   Then, about a year ago, I became obsessed with names.
   I had came across a book called "The Names of God," and as I explored the unending facets of my heavenly Father, I realized how each name He was given relayed a message to me of who He is. Abba Father, Jehovah Jirah, Jehovah Rapha, Lord Adonai, Yeshua, I AM, on and on, continuous, never ending. He is the God of names, who knows the importance of the intrinsic name. Did He not change Abram's name after making the covenant of a chosen nation? (Gen. 17) Abraham: the father of a multitude of nations. There was a deeper identity within Abram that God spoke out and named.
   Jesus was named so to convey a message as well. An angel spoke to Mary the name which the world would soon resound: Jesus, Jehovah saves (Luke 1:31-32).
   So where does little, innocent lamb come in? Am I putting intrinsic value in something my mother simply thought was pretty and my father liked because it spelled out his school mascot?
(Quick back-story, my dad went to the Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland, and their mascot was the ram. Rachel Allison Morse . . . R.A.M. . . . RAM)
   As I have begun the process of stripping off worldly identity, my Father has begun identifying the things I  am not defined by: I am not defined by my attitude, I am not defined by my past, I am not defined by my parents, money, background, talent, beauty, abilities, personality, job, organization, friends, a boy--and as these things were stripped off, my true identity began to be made known.
   Rachel, you are my precious one, the one I am enamored with. I see the way I crafted you, and though the world may not see, I AM does. How beautiful is the heart I gave you--how tender I made it. I see what beauty drapes you and I am in awe of my creation. What a beautiful facet of myself you are--you reflect a piece of my glory.
   Just to sit and know the God of the universe thinks this about me is a little intoxicating--I dare you to sit and let Him spill out His love over you.
    So what role does purity play in all this? Pretty much my whole life people have perceived me differently then I perceived myself (isn't that true for everyone?) When then world looked at me and sneered, "naive, pure, too innocent, ignorant, you have never known pain or suffering," I looked and said, "defiled, hurting, ugly, weak, lost, worthless, devalued, unloved." I had the world's defiled purity stamp on my forehead, while inside all I saw was trash.
   But as Jesus drew me deeper into His heart and His love, I couldn't resist shedding the coat of insecurities and drawing on the robe of purity. I am embraced my name--innocent lamb--and let it fuel the fire inside of me. I claim that identity. I claim that no matter what I have done, thought, said, or contemplated, the blood of The Lamb has washed me clean and made me just as innocent before the Father's eyes. That is the purity that I cling to:
   Purity that doesn't make me afraid of what's dirty, but Purity that reminds me that I am already clean.
   That's my identity--my name. Rachel . . . one like the Lamb.

A New Year Knocking

 
   I don't know about most of this cynical society, but I used to view New Year resolutions as another list to add to my continual supply of "to-dos." It may seem a bit odd--and I confess that I am--but I find a sense of delight in creating goals, tactics, lists, and plans written on post-its, note cards, my planner, and now iphone.
   For new years I would simply treat this list as any other--except for the fact that the deadline was a year away . . . so I had a bit of a grace period.
   However, one concept, which always appeared on my goal list, never seemed to deserve that check mark of finality come Dick Clark's Rockin' New Year's Eve. Without fail I would always write down:

"A Closer Relationship with God"

   Can having a closer relationship with God be something you put as your New Year's resolution? I seemed to think so. Yet the funny thing was, this one resolution was never accomplished during the era of "life by checklist." I continued in the static, shallow, greeting card acquaintance with God I had begun at, "Jesus come into my heart." What is relational about that? Nothing. What is religious about that? Everything.

   See, I had a crisis of faith in high school--and for good reason, because it seemed I had none. Since that crisis, I asked God to reveal Himself to me and to convince me of His reality. 

   Ever heard of be careful what you wish for? Or pray for? Well, He showed up--which is surprisingly a scripture based phenomenon:

"So I say to you: Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you."

    The door was knocked aside, I have been running after Jesus ever since, and I have never looked back. Well . . . maybe a couple times.

    Bu in this new year--2012, the year we thought we'd never make it to--I am feeling a bit nostalgic. I am thinking back over those New Year's lists, over the struggles that I never could overcome, my frustrations at myself, and the boulders that kept me shuffling along, too stubborn and proud to ask for help. *Sigh* I look at that beaten down little girl and smile. Those times make where I am today such a beautiful contrast.

   Why must we go through those times though? In a book I read recently (1000 Gifts by Ann Voskamp) a the author described times of "shadows" in her life like a cloud covering the sun. But the sun never leaves. And doesn't a cloud bring the rain, which sustains the earth below? Maybe we are looking at the trials in our lives the wrong way. Maybe a good New Year resolution to make would be:

"A New Encounter with God Every Day"

   He has such heights he wants to takes us to. Such depths of His love he wants to plunge us into. He wants us to seek Him for answers to the questions that plague us at night. He has them. I know in my life, every time I have asked God to show up He does. Maybe not in the way I expect, but what kind of God do I want to worship: predictable or the Great I AM. 

   My New Year Resolution:

Love the Lord My God with ALL My Heart Soul and Mind

(Matt. 22:37)

. . . and see where it takes me.

It Blows Away in Light of Him

New Post. New Design. New Revelation.

As it is the first day of fall, I feel it necessary to use some imagery and metaphors to describe where I am in my life right now. So get ready.
First of all, Autumn is my absolute favorite season. There is something about the transition from warm to cold, that in between, that I just love. I love the smell of fall. It makes me reminisce of burning piles of leaves, roasting pumpkin seeds, jumping into piles of leaves, and watching a harvest moon on the horizon. Seriously, this season was made for me. 
But as I think on the season I can absolutely compare it to where I am in my life right now.
See, it's the 1st semester of my junior year. I am pushing through and pressing in. Trying to run hard after the Lord but balancing my need to strive after all things. Basically, I am in this awkward stage of transition--trying to shake of the dead weight of burdens the Lord has released me from, but focused on transitioning into a new season of life, yet still holding on the the trappings of my old season of life. Like a tree shaking off its dead leaves to transition into winter.

What am I trying to shake off you may ask? Well, let me get a little vulnerable (Rev. 12:11)
Judgement. Ouch. Yeah, that clouded vision toward others, distorting their true identity in Christ and keeping me from calling out in others who they are in Christ. Let's get that sucker off!

Striving. The definition of my testimony. If you asked me what my life would be like without Jesus I would tell you that I would be the anxiety-bound, hunched over perfectionist, keeping others at bay, shoving everything inside, and spread so thin that she needs to escape through movies, books, and continuous hours alone--in isolation. Doesn't that sound horrible. Well, I think I would rather not live a life like that. So I am shaking off that striving leaf, watching it float to the ground with delight.

Comparison/Jealousy. The two seem to alternate with me. I either compare myself to what I don't have or sit and stew about what others do. Thank Jesus for freedom! This little booger of a demon sat in my chest making physical knots so that I literally felt like my heart was being wrapped into a little bow--not cool. Then by the grace of God, something broke through. I stopped listening to the lies and looked at the abundance that I had before me! Praise Jesus. Get the heck off my tree!

Insecurity. Funny how a little bit of this is gnawing at me know as I reveal this portion of the deadweight. Nobody likes to seem vulnerable, imperfect, or (God forbid) insecure. It's like the statement of doom. "I am insecure." People's whole perception of you changes when this is admitted. You can become even more insecure worrying about the fact that you are insecure. Now that's a vicious circle. But then I stopped and listened to the soft whisper of my Creator. "You are not insecure. I made you. What have you to feel awkward or incomplete about? There is a cloud around your head telling you that who I made you to be is not worthy of the world. But your worth is found in me, not in the world. For you are in the world, but not of it. Shake away that cloud. You know you are a daughter of the King." So long insecurity.
 
I probably could go on and on and call out every struggle I have ever gone through in my life and how God has freed me but that would take a really long time, and would totally kill the memoir I plan on busting out in about 20 years (stay tuned for that!).

But take a look back at the freedom, the release. How, as Shane and Shane sang, it all blows away in light of Him. When we focus our perspective on God and our purpose aligns, we begin to see a shift of the chains that once held us. They loosen. And soon you no longer call them chains, you see them as burdens. They lighten. And then you can look and your situation and see that you know longer have burdens, but an atmosphere of fog around your head. You walk through it. And finally you come to the place where with the delight of the new season God has brought you to, you can then shake of the dead leaves of old demons that once held you.

And with delight, observe the beauty of the freedom. The past trials falling away in a beautiful symphony of transition, like leaves from a tree.