Good morning & happy Monday!
“The secret to happiness is freedom. The secret to freedom is courage.”
– Thucydides, ancient Greek historian (5th century BC)
I had the rich blessing to take the trip of a lifetime over the last few weeks. Today is my first day back in the office after this transformative journey.
I had the life-changing privilege of visiting Israel with a church group and walking in the same streets, towns, and villages that Jesus walked in. The Bible came to life as I sailed the Sea of Gallie, sang Christmas songs in Bethlehem, and walked the streets of Jerusalem.
The tour took us to a 2-day side journey to Jordan where I was able to lay my eyes on the incredible sight of Petra and float in the Dead Sea.
The final leg of the itinerary was in Egypt where I was able to explore 6,000-year-old pyramids, visit ancient Egyptian temples, and cruise down the Nile River.
This was truly a dream come true for me and I am still overwhelmed by the entire experience.
Today I would like to share something that I just can’t shake from my mind from my time in Egypt.
We had a couple of different guides in Egypt and whenever I travel, I try to really understand what life is like for the people where I travel. I ask about their religion, family, and way of life. As someone who follows politics fairly closely, I like to understand how their governmental structure works and I ask lots of questions about their politics. I greatly enjoy learning about such things (kinda drives my wife crazy 😊).
The conversation with one of the guides in Egypt was fascinating and from my vantage point, concerning. He told me to ask any questions and told me he would be an open book. I love conversations like that!
The dialogue at one point went something along the lines of:
Me: Are the people here generally pleased with their government?
Egyptian guide: We don’t really have opinions about our government because it doesn’t really matter.
Me: What do you mean, “It doesn’t really matter?”
Egyptian guide: Any opinions we have we keep to ourselves; otherwise not good things happen.
Me: Wait! What? What do you mean, “Not good things happen?” What would happen if you felt something was not going well and you wanted to express you dissatisfaction about it to the government?
Egyptian guide: We would never do that.
Me: What would happen if you did?
Egyptian guide: We would disappear.
Me: Hold on! Disappear? Like they would arrest you for simply speaking up?
Egyptian guide: Definitely. You don’t speak out on issues here.
Me: What about your freedom to speak, your freedom to have your voice heard with the powers that be, your personal rights???
The Egyptian guide laughs: You are such an American. Those are your things; those are not our things. We have no such rights here.
My heart just broke!
I changed topics with my guide. I didn’t want to go any deeper into the topic. It was abundantly clear that it was a day and night difference between our worlds, and I didn’t want to have it come across that I was bragging about my freedoms.
How unbelievably blessed are we to be Americans!!!
I do a lot of complaining about our government and our elected leaders. I can’t imagine not being able to do so.
This experience has caused me to value and cherish the freedoms I have as an American so much more. We are in such a unique and amazing position to be alive here and now!
As the political season heats up, I know many of us a really turned off by the bickering, fighting, lying, smearing, and grown adults acting like 2-year-olds… but I think I have such a higher level of appreciation for it with this additional perspective I learned from this trip.
Thanks for allowing me to share.
Let’s live grateful, thankful, freedom-filled lives!
It is such an incredible honor to partner with you! Make it a great week ahead!