Fridays are Special

Friday-Saturday is the official weekend in Dubai.  Stores are closed, the metro does not run, things slow down - at least for the morning on Friday.  Christians join many other religions and hold their church services on Friday.  So this morning we loaded up some of our friends, new and old, in the Expedition and headed for Redeemer Church of Dubai at the J.M. Marriott in Deira.  

It was a wonderful service...and a highlight of our week.  We love the music/worship.  The staff does a marvelous job putting together the service with all the pieces fitting together in harmony and reinforcing the theme for the service.  Today it was the sovereignty of God -- God is in control.  The sermon passage was Genesis 37 and the title was "Joseph and His God".  Dave Furman, the lead pastor, laid out the three scenes in the chapter, telling the story, and then made four observations, sharing the application.  It was excellent, providing much to ponder, apply, and share with others.

***God is doing more in your life than you can see and comprehend

***What goes around comes around 

***Envy will kill you

***We all try to cover our sin

Interested in more? You can go to their website and listen to the sermon at

www.redeemerdubai.com

After church the Marriott work crew immediately comes in to remove the chairs and prepare for other events, so the Fellowship lunch follows the service at the food court in the nearby Al Ghurair Centre.

So, that's where we enjoyed lunch - Andy and I had chicken salads from Charlie's and sat at a table with about 12-15 people.  Great conversation with more new friends and some we had met last year.

M treated us all with an ice cream from McDonalds.  They cost one dirham or 27 cents.  What a deal!

Friday is our Sabbath rest day, so Andy took a nap and I read for awhile.  We  ordered chicken, flatbread, humus and fresh green salad from Forsan Cafeteria delivered to the door.  I made Arabic rice to supplement the meal.  It is tasty, easy, and and a Friday night tradition!  Everyone, young and old, loves it.  If there is leftover flatbread I make chips with it on Saturday.  If you are in the area, give us a call and come by!

We enjoyed conversations with workers from Kenya, Afghanistan, and Georgia through the day.  Varied jobs, interesting backgrounds, wonderful stories.

I didn't think to take any pictures today, so here's one I just took...the flowers in our room when we arrived.  Such thoughtful friends.