Easter in Dubai

Still dark, but the birds are beginning to twitter. Out into the warm air and down the street towards the beach. Sound of surf breaking on the shore. Many figures moving towards a spot on the sand where trestle tables stand, piled with pans of food and paper plates. That's for later.
When the air has grown light, we sing praises to God that the darkness of death has been conquered, that nothing can separate us from this love that fills the universe. As Paul wrote, Behold, I tell you a mystery... It is a mystery and I cannot find good-enough ways to explain why I am convinced that there is such a thing as God's glory. It is like music. Either you are moved and transported by certain sounds, or you aren't; no logic can convince a person to hear.
So here I am full of joy and the peace that passes all understanding...
And I have a new tiny granddaughter, a little over one week old. We watch in wonder, gazing at her sleep-filled face, so mobile, sometimes apparently smiling, sometimes lined with deep concentration, as if pondering upon the insolubles of time and space... Little creature, born of joy and mirth...
I play with my two grandsons, now aged just over 6 1/2 and 4 1/3. The two are utterly different. Sometimes like bear cubs, rolling and wrestling, or shouting at each other. At other times, building a 'sofa-boat' togeher, and complete with detailed sea chart drawn by Isaak, we sail off towards a Treasure Island, avoiding the swarming sharks and the thousand treacherous rocks (marked with an x on the chart) that impede our journey across the waves. Tricky business, skirting the coast to find somewhere to beach, and set off for the cave where the treausre lies buried... Then it's usually suppertime.

I guess this will be my last visit to Dubai for some time, since Judy and family are re-locating to Brunei in the summer. Every time I visit here it seems like another building has been added; I continue to be amaxed at the awesome (yes!) shopping malls, palaces of plenty but also adapted for the not-so-rich; try to learn a little more history of this part of the world. Oh, so much to learn...

Soon back to Turkey for our final month in Finike. We could happily stay there another year, or years... But Europe seems to be calling.