Adventures in Egypt

We finally felt juuuust settled enough in Ghana to strike out on our first international family vacation in January! Destination: Cairo, Egypt! Now yes, Cairo is considered more of a challenging vacation destination for a family with 4 young children; we did get comments on how “brave” we were from other expats we passed sightseeing there. But I have always wanted to see the ancient wonders of the world, our 9 year old has been obsessed with Egypt and mummies for years, and Cairo is only a 5.5 hour direct flight from Ghana, so…why not??

Of course, we did all the major sightseeing activities, like the Pyramids at Giza, and I will do a post soon on those and the stressful-but-in-hindsight-hilarious scenarios that inevitably occur when traveling with 4 young kids across the African continent. But I wanted to focus first on our last full day in Egypt, as it was SO unique, fascinating, and just an unbelievably beautiful way to end an at times chaotic trip.

Our first stop that day was the Cave Church of St. Simon the Tanner, located in an area of Cairo known as “Garbage City” on the east bank of the Nile. This area’s economy revolves almost solely on garbage collection and recycling. For a small fee, residents will collect garbage from different areas of Cairo, then bring it back to Garbage City via donkey carts or pickup trucks to sort through. As much material as possible is recycled and sold, and more than 14,000 tons of garbage is processed each day here! It is quite a remarkable sight to see; the alleyways are incredibly narrow, with tour vans, donkey carts, and pickups piled high with garbage scraping by mere CENTIMETERS from each other. I’m telling you, I could not believe how close the cars were to each other when driving past! Much of the garbage is in these huge bags the size of small boulders. One of the most fascinating parts was watching them hoist these huge bags of garbage from the ground to floors multiple stories high in the buildings using ropes! You would just be driving by, and a garbage bag would be rising above your head, dangling by a rope, only to disappear into the side of the building once it reached the floor that was its destination for processing. Here’s some pics!

Anyway, after winding through Garbage City, we arrived at the Cave Church. The church’s history dates back to the 10th century, when Caliph Al-Muizz Li Deenillah ruled over the area. The story goes that the Caliph invited Jewish and Christian leaders to debate him over religion. At one point, a Jewish leader, Yaqub ibn Killis, challenged the Pope at the time by quoting the Gospel of Matthew, which states that “if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain ‘Move from here to there’, and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you” (Matthew 17:20). Ibn Killis smugly told the Pope of the Coptic Church (different from that of the Roman Catholic Church due to a schism in the 5th century) that if the Christian faith was indeed true, then the Pope should be able to move Mokattam Mountain. Al-Muizz thus gave the Pope 3 days to prove his faith and move the mountain. If he failed to do so, there were only 3 options – the Christians must leave the area, be beheaded, or convert to Islam.

And so, distraught, the Pope and these 10th century Christians began to pray. On the 3rd day, as he was praying in the Hanging Church (which we also visited, it is a church built upon the site where the Holy Family stayed when they fled to Egypt from Herod), he received a vision from Mary, the mother of Jesus. Mary told the Pope to go outside, where he would find a one-eyed man carrying a jar on his shoulder. In faith, the Pope did so, and found the man: St. Simon the Tanner. St. Simon had previously shown his own immense faith by plucking his own eye out, after reflecting on Matthew 5:29-30, “If your right eye causes you to stumble, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into Hell.” St. Simon instructed the Pope, the priests, and these early Christians to go out to the mountain along with the Caliph, and to exclaim “O Lord, have mercy” three times while making the sign of the cross over the mountain. Lo and behold, at that moment, an earthquake occurred…and the mountain was lifted. The Caliph, after witnessing the miracle, renounced Islam and converted to Christianity. The baptismal font in which he was baptized can still be visited today, and is know as the “Baptistery of the Sultan.”

And so, a church was carved out of the side of the mountain and dedicated to St. Simon, mover of mountains. St. Simon’s skeleton was discovered buried underneath the Hanging Church (mentioned above) on August 4, 1991 by archeologists. The hair on his body was still intact, and near his body, archeologists also found a 1,000 year old clay jar (St. Simon was known for carrying water to the poor), and paintings of St. Simon and Pope Abraam that match the stories told about these men for centuries. Relics from St. Simon’s body are still kept at the Cave Church, where Christians write little notes to him on scraps of paper. (Interesting note: The miracle is said to have occurred on November 27, 979 A.D. Julianna’s birthday is November 27th, and Don and I were married on August 4th, the date of the discovery of St. Simon’s body!)

The Cave Church was an incredible site to see. It can accommodate up to 20,000 people, and is considered the largest Christian Church in the Middle East!

Years ago, when we were going to church in a tent instead of a cave (see The Hurricane) I remember our priest, Fr. Michael, describing how Jesus was baptized in the Jordan River, which empties into the Dead Sea, the absolute lowest place on earth. It’s where all our filth flows into. And Jesus chose THERE, the bottom, the place where the filth of the world flows, to begin his mission to save us. He still does. In the 10th century, and even today, He chooses to show up, not on Mt. Everest or the Empire State Building, not in Buckingham Palace or the Oval Office, not in the highest and most important places of men. He chooses Garbage City. The creator of the entire universe, and he willingly runs straight into our trash, just to be with us. You and I, we are worth THAT much to Him. It never ceases to amaze me that that is where we find Him most–the lowest places. The manger in a stable, the lowest point on planet Earth, Garbage City, the midst of a hurricane.

For anyone reading this who thinks maybe their life is too big of a mess for Jesus, who thinks they’re too filthy to ever be made clean, or who feels completely worthless. He says you’re not. He says there is no place, and no soul, that is too low or too messy for Him to go to. He made the largest church in the Middle East literally in the middle of thousands of tons of garbage. He’s willing to wade through yours too.

This Lent, we are called to remember that we are dust, and to dust we shall return. But (and I’m gonna coin a new phrase here), remember also that it is redeemable dust! Jesus has shown us over and over and over, He’ll gladly take your dust over all the gold in the world. If you’re looking for way to sort through your garbage and meet Him this Lent, I recommend either the Lent Challenge on the Hallow App (that’s what I’m doing this year!) or reading the book “The Return of the Prodigal Son: A Story of Homecoming” by Henri Nouwen.

Let’s take out the trash!