It was a really nice day. The closer I get to Thursday night the more excited I get. I can’t wait to see my kids. Hopefully they’ll want to see me.
We had such a wonderful positive living group tonight. There were six of us. I always provide dinner for the group. Its my thing as I try to be a servant…or a blessing. This time I went to the same place that my Muslim friend took me on Saturday. I was running a little bit late, so I had to hurry. This was downtown where there are a lot of cars parked every which way and traffic is going in all directions. Where I live in Juffair, near the navy base, it doesn’t feel like the Middle East. This downtown restaurant…certainly felt like the Middle East. There was no parking, so I drove my mini-suv up on the curb. Apparently that’s quite acceptable here. So I dodged traffic crossing the street and got Lamb Tikka, and Chicken Tikka, a Bahraini specialty. The little stands resemble the stands of a Taco stand, only its indoors. There is an open charcoal grill that is fanned by an electric fan. The cook the meat right there on the grill. It’s absolutely delicious and very cheap too. I heartily fed the seven of us for seven Bahraini Dinars which equates to $18. This place would fail most health standards checks…like a lot of these types of cafeteria type of places would…but the food still is delicious.
The message for the group was…not letting the enemy steal your joy. Don’t let the little things get you down. I would say I’ve been trying to make that my life for the last three years. I openly talk about my divorce…not to be vindictive but to illustrate that positive living really works. With all the heartache and pain I have endured I have every reason to be bitter and resentful about life. But I make a conscious effort to look at the good things. Don’t focus on what you don’t have…focus on what you have. If I look at it that way, I have three very healthy children that love their dad. I know our relationship will be restored someday soon to the place where it should be. I have so much to be happy for. The knock on Osteen is that he paints too “pollyannish” of a picture of Christianity glossing over the troubles that we have in life. I think that is why Im so upfront about my own life. I think Im the perfect example that this positive way of believing really does work. So its not just a man Im supporting…but its his message. We had a bright new guy come to the group. He’s from Oklahoma, so it was nice to connect with another Sooner. He was talking that Joel’s message today was almost the same exact message that he had earlier with a friend. I told him any time that God wants to tell you something important he’ll repeat through 2-3 ways to make sure that you get it. It’s nice to see that the group is benefitting someone more than just myself.
It was Moody’s birthday today (he’s one of the regulars of my group). So I ran down and had the security guard go buy me a cake for him. I have him some dinars to do it and he was glad to help. I always order too much food for our positive living groups because I always want to have too much rather than not enough. So I always fix the guard a plate of food. I figure he probably doesn’t get to eat this type of food too often. Some of the workers here get paid so little. They mainly eat briyani, which is a chicken flavored rice dish seven days a week. They are perfectly fine with that food. I don’t know how I’d survive on eating just that. I am a spoiled American in every sense of the word.
Im actually looking forward to the 17 hour flight non-stop from Dubai to Houston. If that isn’t looking at the glass half full…im not really sure what is.
No comments:
Post a Comment