Rick Beeman

I feel now that I’ve left the middle east that there really is nothing exotic going on in my life.   Yet, I am so content.   That is a great thing.   I just can’t convey it enough, that I really never thought I’d see any happiness again.   For someone as so Happy-go-lucky as I was that was a startling reality for me.   But not only did I make it through the rain (like Barry Manilow) I am happier, and more content than I’ve ever been.   I simply don’t worry about anything (most of the time).   I think that is why I like to talk about my struggles and victories so much on this blog.   Maybe if some of you readers are going through a similar circumstance you can look at my life and somehow become inspired by it.   The key really is Christ.   If you have Christ in your corner, is really like a no-lose insurance policy.   That is if you are living your life right.   If not, all bets are off.   Whenever we veer off-track, and...

It was a nice day today.   I am enjoying my career thus far at SAS.   To update you, Jennifer had planned on moving to Dubai to join me.   Then at a crucial moment I was waiting on a key decision from the people I was working for in Dubai.   That same day I got a job offer to come back to the US.   I don’t really think it was entirely my skill.   It was more like they were trying to keep my wife in the US.   Since the timing was so perfect, the day we were to make a decision, it was an easy choice to come back to the US.   I have found that as long as you are walking according to God’s plan the hardest decisions become the easiest to make.    It seems that God closes all the doors and keeps one open so you really don’t have much of a choice.   That’s why it confuses me when Christians spend so much time searching out God’s will.   I think as long as you are living your life right, every choice you make is according to God’s ...

I got a couple of really nice encouraging emails after I started up this blog again.   Im not sure If Im going to be able to write in it everyday like I did in the Middle East.   I am a pretty fast typist so that helps, but I had a whole lot of time on my hands.   That time is going to go away pretty quickly.   Jenny is due to deliver our baby Girl the first week in August.   I feel so incredibly blessed to have this opportunity again.   Many of you know that my relationship with my children has been essentially ripped from me.   I feel like this new wonderful gift of life is my second chance to relive all those memories.   Really my life so closely resembles the book of Job.   Only I was not entirely blameless and upright.   I probably should give all of you an update on my relationships and really try not to be bitter because I don’t think I am.   There are periods if I dwell on my losses, I start to feel my anger getting up, b...

I thought I was done writing in this blog. First it was An American in Bahrain, then an American in Dubai. I started out writing about cultural differences between the West and Middle East and somehow it meandered into a blog about the pain of divorce and then ultimately the rebirth of a life lived according to the precepts of the Bible. Once I moved back to the US, I went through a bit of an identity crisis. For five years (Give or take a few months stateside) I was an American living either in Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, or Dubai. I had many many incredible and noteworthy experiences and friendships. The blog has blessed a lot of people but also created a bit of havoc. The drama would usually elicit interest and empathy from readers. But now that I am back in the US, I reasoned who would want to read me now? That is what I thought anyways until I got an email tonight from a dear friend from Bahrain, Isa. I met Isa entirely through this blog. He stumbled across it somehow when I ...

Identity. Who are we really? How do we identify ourselves? Is the identity that we have of ourselves the same identity that other’s would bestow upon us? Probably not. I still feel like I have the physical identity of a skinny 20 year old, but my belly, Jennifer, and the mirror will tell me otherwise. We tend not to be honest with ourselves about our own identity. One of the hardest things to do in life is look in the figurative mirror, recognize your flaws and admit when you’ve made mistakes. Its so much easier to blame other people for your problems. That is safe. Once you’ve started down that road of averting blame its really difficult to turn back. “I made a mistake, I was wrong, do you forgive me” Those are probably the three hardest phrases for anyone to utter. But there is so much freedom when someone can come to that self-actualization. It’s the first step to having a genuine identity. Otherwise we are all playing different characters in the theate...

I made a mistake in a blog the purported broad characterizations which were inaccurate. I have since amended the offending blogs in order to rectify the situation. I was wrong plain and simple. I mentioned that my former employer and the hiring practices of Sunni and Shia employees. It has been brought to my attention that we did indeed hire many Shia employees as well as Sunnis. Not only that we had Muslims, Christians and Hindus as well. My former employers were actually very enlightened in that regard. As a visiting ex-pat, I just do not have the knowledge and experience yet to tell the difference between a Shia and Sunni Muslim. Apparently you can tell by their accent and some of the holidays that they observe. I am just not there yet. So if I offended or misrepresented my beliefs to anyone, I apologize. It is my objective to create a world of better understanding. When I contribute to the misunderstandings, I just defeat my own purposes.

Somehow a Russian Reporter found me on Facebook. She was interviewing me for a piece for her magazine. I took out her name to protect her identity. But I thought you might interested in our discourse. ---------- February 18 at 6:06pm Report Mr. Beeman, My name is ---------, I work for the Ukrainian weekly magazine Focus. We plan to write an article about foreigners who stay in those Arab countries where during the last weeks people have been protesting. What I want - to show some life stories of those Americans, Europeans who can tell me why they do not flee, why they stay and experience those events along with Muslim people. What I ask - just your views on that, I know that you live in Dubai, but still you can share your opinion with us. Or, may be, can help to contact some friends of yours who live in either Egypt, Bahrain or Yemen etc. Appreciate your help in advance! All the best, ----------- Foreign Desk Editor Focus magazine www.focus.ua Rick Bee...

This situation in Bahrain is getting worse. Since I am now living away from Bahrain, I feel like I can objectively review the situation from afar. I am keeping close tabs on the proceedings from my many facebook friends especially John. (Somehow a reporter from a Russian Magazine got a hold of me to get my viewpoint of the events from Bahrain. It was flattering.) The violence that is happening in Bahrain now is very real and getting more and more treacherous. I still receive emails from the US Embassy in Bahrain warning of the threats and demonstrations. They are advising all Americans to stay in their homes until further notice. Objectively speaking the Royal Family and the military seem to be really making matters worse. Common sense tells you, you don’t quell an uprising by attacking unarmed protestors. With the use of force there are bound to be accidental deaths and that is only going to inflame the situation and further entrench the opposition. Instead of d...

It is an amazing, disheartening, and surreal scene happening in Bahrain now. The stage of empowerment was set in Egypt and now the impetus for change has spread throughout the Middle East to the tiny country of Bahrain (1.2 million) which I called home for nearly two years. I wonder if Mark Zuckerberg had any idea how much his creation would actually change the world in just under 10 years. It has nothing to do with facebook really. Facebook just gives people a forum to which they can communicate. Most every paper in the Middle East and other Communist countries are state-run. So they are filled with propaganda. I was blessed to grow up in a country with what was a free press. The press in the states acted as the fourth branch of the government able to keep politicians and the judicial system in line by way of informing the public of the truth. I often wondered if someone growing up in a controlled media environment actually trusted their own country’s media. When I...

What a train wreck Lindsey Lohan’s life has become. I think it is a cautionary tale not only for child actor’s life but all children of privilege when not enough discipline is meted out. We have seen the out of control stories over and over again in the world especially in athletics. A kid from poverty has millions bestowed upon him, gets the entourage with “yes” people and no one around to tell him no. Without discipline he pisses the money away, hello MC Hammer. Tiger Woods didn’t fall apart until after he lost his father and thus the discipline that he brought to hold Tiger in check even as an adult. It even happened to Elvis. Elvis is a distant relative of mine (like 14 th or 15 th cousins) not enough to get royalties from his empire but enough to mention as a conversation piece at parties. I was able to work on two Elvis biographies early in my career. Elvis was just a poor country kid who had fame and fortune thrown upon him at an early age. His opulent lifes...

I haven’t been writing in this blog that much lately. After the top ten list, everything that is happening in 2011 seems a little bit anti-climactic. But that doesn’t mean that there is nothing going on. I don’t want this blog to continually focus on the past as I have bemoaned it plenty of times. I do feel led to talk about it periodically as I know that it has benefitted some of you readers out there of which Im grateful. If I can be a blessing or if someone can learn from my hardships it sure makes it a little easier for me. But I have such a wonderful life to look forward to, especially finally living like a regular family with Jennifer and the addition of the little one. I know she is going to be a wonderful mother. One of my greatest joys in life is being a father. So I get to experience that once again. Jennifer is chronicling her pregnancy so if you haven’t read it, I’d encourage you to do so. jenni-sloan.blogspot.com/ Another huge reason I am not writing in the bl...