JeremyLaDuke.com

OMG, is it hot here! Sweltering. It is a bit shocking. Egypt times 10. Th good news is my hotel, though relatively expensive, is very nice…..relatively. I have A/C and Cable TV and a normal toilet. Those are the best material things life can give you.

I spent my first day catching up on missed sleep. I literally slept all day. Most of today has been building up my confidence in order to make the journey outside, alone! Just the view from my room is intimitdating. It is literally indescribable. The hotel owner tells me I can hire a cabn for 650 Rupees ($15) for the whole day and see the city in one day. Then I can take a day trip to Agra and see the Taj Mahal.

I started my trip entering the Dehli airport at 3am. Not the best time to be haggling with taxi drivers or the touts trying to scam me. I “slept” in customs till day light. Then I was kicked out. I found an ATM and with drew the maximum. 4000 Rupees ($95). After the ATM I hit up the Dehli Police’s Pre-Paid Taxi service. Surprisingly right next to their quiet booth were two booths with people yelling “Yes, hello! Pre-paid taxi service? Taxi? Hotel?” Had I not stopped at the ATM and woken up a bit, I might not have noticed they were not the same booth or that they were not pre-paid taxi services. I kindly ignored them as I walked straight to the pre-paid taxi service provided by the police. THANK YOU INTERNET! Without that info–about the pre-paid police-run taxi service–I could have been screwed.

It cost me 225 Rupees (~$5) for a ride I was prepared to pay 450-500 Rupees for, no thanks to worthless India travel forums that had few suggestions, one being 20 Rupees per kilometer. That might be a nice rule of thumb but for 650 I can have the taxi for the whole day.

My taxi driver nearly killed us about 100 times. Once was when we quickly came upon a traffic jam caused by an Ox using the middle of the road as a urinal. Well thats all to report for now. It is way to hot to be on the internet all day in a non-airconditioned lobby.

Wow! I just got off the best flight ever! I was in economy class on my flight from Istanbul to Dubai. But I’ll tell you, economy class on Emirates Airlines was better than Business Class on El Al!!! The only exception being the seats….partly–they aren’t as wide or pillowy.

But! Each seat has a video screen embedded with a controller. Not unlike a video game/remote control. It has interactive games on it, movie selections, tv, radio, views from two cameras mounted on the plane, and more!

Each seat also comes with a foot rest, not terribly unlike the one found in business class. They serve you first with a hot towel, like in business class! Then drinks. Then comes a HUGE gourmet meal! Tons of excellent food! And free booze! I swear the guy next to me had like 5 mini bottles of wine and one beer! The crew were amazingly attentive.

The coolest part was watching the landing from the camera mounted on the front of the plane.

I give 5 stars to Emirates. Hell, I’ll give ‘em 6 stars! Well done!

Now the airport is just amazing. It’s got everything, including two mosques. You can buy the latest technology, books, etc. Americans are everywhere and English seems to be the primary language here. Strange!

I have a 22 hour layover here and I arrived at 12am so I journied over to the quiet lounge where I sat in a nice recliner seat and slept for a bit. Unfortunately some folks didn’t recognize the sign that said “Quiet Lounge” and decided that getting a group together to talk loud enough to penetrate my ear plugs was a great idea. The recliner chairs, though more comfortable than the bevy of non-reclining leather seats, were no match for lying horizontally. I moved to the carpeted floor near the moving walk way where I passed out untill 7 am–when my bladder told me it was time to wake!

After the morning ritual, I headed to the shopping center for an hour or so of coveting. Suddenly I had an overwhelming erge to seek out a phone and call Danielle. I realized it was 8am and that meant it was 9pm in Arizona. Perfect! Just in time to catch her before she goes to bed, with talk time to spare!

Begin wild goose chase–At this point I grabbed my calling card. It uses local access numbers to give me access to my account where I can dial out. Unfortunately, Dubai isn’t on my list and in order to get the number I have to logon to their website to find it. “No problem, I’ll go to the business center.” WRONG! Cash only. And I didn’t have a penny in UAE money. Or any cash for that matter. And I wasn’t about to take out money for 2 minutes of internet time.

I asked about international calls to the US. $2 a minute!!! Obvisouly that was out of the question, especially since I had a prepaid phone card ready for me to use. I ran across the concord to the information desk. I asked if they could look up the address and number on their internet connection. They informed me that I could use the business center. Arg!

Back at the business center I asked if they accepted credit cards for international calls. Nope! Cash only as well! Back to the internet. I beg the guy working the counter to look up the number for me. I tell him I have no cash and need this info. He let me on for 2 minutes free of charge.

Foiled again! The access number for Dubai is a callback number. That means you have to be able to dial out first, leave a callback number and wait for a callback before you make your call. I can’t call out! The public phones require a credit card or a special phone card. I resigned myself to purchasing. I asked the business center if I could buy them there. They said they were out of phone cards and they were waiting for delivery of more today but the post office may have some. The man at the post office informed me he did have some but only accepted cash! ARG!!!! He said I could pay with a credit card down at the book store. Back to the shopping center–across the concord and down the elevator. May I remind you I’m pushing a cart with both my bags in it.

At the bookstore, they informed me that cards only come in 10-12 minutes and you can’t pair them up onto the same call! I buy 2 at about $8 a piece. Racing back up stairs, I hit the first phone I see. As luck would have it, the buttons were sticking and I couldn’t dial the number properly. All the other phones on this wall were in use, so I had to run to the other side of the concorse to find some free ones. I pick up the first one. “Out of Order.” The second one didn’t even have power! The third–I dial…half way thru “Number banned”. WHAT!?

I race down to the information booth. “Is there anything wrong with dialing to the USA?” He tells me no, I need to dial two zeros and then the number. ARG! I race back to the phones. By now its nearly 9am which means 10pm for Danielle! DIAL DIAL DIAL! It rings…. and rings…. and rings…. voicemail. ARG! Dial again…. rings… rings… voicemail!!!! “OK, DANIELLE! I’M GIVING YOU ONE MORE CHANCE TO PICK UP!” Dial….ring….”Hello?” YES!!!!

Apparently fate has worked in our favor. Though those $8 phone cards didn’t!!!

http://www.walken2008.com/

“Our great country is in a terrible downward spiral. We’re outsourcing jobs, bankrupting social security, and losing lives at war. We need to focus on what’s important– paying attention to our children, our citizens, our future. We need to think about improving our failing educational system, making better use of our resources, and helping to promote a stable, safe, and tolerant global society. It’s time to be smart about our politics. It’s time to get America back on track.”

“I believe in saving money. I believe in having a house. I believe in keeping things clean. I believe in exercising.”

In my conversation with Christine (a shipmate on my boat cruise to Olympos in Turkey) I’ve somewhat compiled my thoughts regarding the simplicity of our purpose.

Matthew 22:34-40
34Hearing that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, the Pharisees got together. 35One of them, an expert in the law, tested him with this question:
36″Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?” 37Jesus replied: ” ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’[b] 38This is the first and greatest commandment. 39And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’[c] 40All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”

John 13:34-35
34″A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. 35By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”

How do we please God? We follow His commandments. What are his commandments? Love God and each other, this is the fullfillment of the whole Law. So how do we love God? We love each other. How do we love each other? We love each other as Jesus loved us. How did Jesus love us? He became the ultimate servant going so far as to give up His own life for our benefit.

“Paul brings out the same truth when he develops the metaphor of the church as the body of Christ (1 Cor. 12; Eph. 4:11-16). Each individual in the church is to develop deep relationships with other members so that the body can grow and “build itself up in love” (Eph. 4:16). To be mature Christians who reflect God’s image, we need vital relationships with others. ” [1]

1. Love feels compassion.
2. Love is intentional.
3. Love denies self.
4. Love acts.
5. Love gives.

Love is a VERB!

It’s fantastic when someone realizes the simplicity Jesus spoke. When he turned the Jewish faith upside-down and reveal the true nature of the Law it was amazing! But what I really noticed, after my conversation with Christine, was that it wasn’t just the Jewish faith being flip-flopped, it’s also popular Christianity as we see it thrown about today! When I explained to Christine the simplicity of Jesus’ words, she asked “Then why do they make it seem so confusing and complicated?” Maybe “they” was refering to her perception of Christian leaders or maybe just Christians in general–some who today look just like the Pharisees of Jesus day. They complicate the simple formula.

I think that was one of the issues I had in understanding Jesus’ message. I saw hypocrisy on every level and it didn’t seem like anyone was addressing it. I still don’t know why we humans complicate things so simple, but what I did discover was that I didn’t need a religion. I needed a relationship–with God. I also realized relationships can’t be maintained vicariously. I can’t have a mediator between God and I–not a priest, not a pastor, not a friend and not a parent.

Man without the Spirit is describerd in Jude 1:18-19 as one who follows mere natural instincts–the sinful nature–nature not ment for us, or at least not living up to out potential or original design. That seems interesting to think about. I’ll have to elaborate on that later.