Dr. Ehab

On Saturday, I visited with Dr. Ehab. He is a wonderful man with the light of God's spirit within. He radiated love and hope on a day I was irritated and homesick. I had been pondering my own selfish nature that morning. My desire to tell Cairo to live in its own hell, hop a plane and high-tail it to American serenity. Visiting the famed Egyptian museum, where I envisioned cool, well-lit corridors in which history and modernism might mix, a cafe with good food served worldly travelers, and tourists would jostle each other to view ancient artifacts, helped little and was mis-appropriated.

Instead, I was greeted by barbed wire, tanks, soldiers and more decay. The Revolution took its toll on the Egyptian Museum of Antiquities. Three years later, the government and its military heavily guard the museum with ten tanks, 40+ soldiers and multiple security gates. The museum is dark, quiet and nearly empty considering its world famous stature. The gift shop is non-existent, shelves are bare and no one cares. The restaurant is dirty and lifeless, save for a few Egyptians desperate to get out of the 105degree heat. The ice cream shop is not open, and probably hasn't been since Tahrir Square was filled with angry people. There are only two small soda cabinets where I buy a very expensive Diet Pepsi.

The art is wonderful. I have seen these artifacts in books, movies, and on television over the years, and now, I learn they are real. They exist. People have existed for thousands of years, living and roaming the Earth, leaving puzzle pieces for the generations to come and place together. What also exists is mummified cats, dogs, baboons, crocodiles, cows and more. I don't visit the mummified royals this time. I figure they have been there for many years and aren't going anywhere now. Instead, it is time to join a local Muslim in crossing the street to Dr. Ehab's office and as he says, "close your eyes, pray to Allah and run". This is the Egyptian way of crossing the street (and the only way to operate on the streets of Cairo) an event that can surely end your life in any failed moment.

I meet Ernest once again, exchange some new Arabic greetings, sit for some time and then he explains that Dr. Ehab is on the 5th floor. I find this funny that we sat for so long, he offering grapes and rest, before we visit with the doctor. When I see my friend, Bashar in the Dr.'s office, we laugh at this--I was sitting downstairs and they were sitting upstairs. But Egyptians are hospitable and this is one of the truly lovely graces about being in Cairo. We wait another 30 minutes for Dr. Ehab to arrive and when he does, I am so grateful. His spirit fills the room, his sweetness and humility is evident within moments, despite the fact that he is well known, a man of the Senate, and his father has just won the greatest literary honor in Egypt a week before.

He easily talks about his own ego, love for addicts, and that sin is no more pride, murder, theft, homosexuality or greed. It is all the same and that is how he can love addicts, God's children, that do unspeakable things but can be redeemed through the 12 Steps and God's light. Having studied the best programs in the US, the 12 Steps of Recovery and others, having spent nearly 25 years in the business of addiction, Dr. Ehab is convinced that true recovery, without relapse, is not possible without a spiritual foundation. In addiction circles, we all know that it is not the addict that chooses to get well, but an intervention of God and anything more is mere vanity. We agree that recovery brings about divine miracles, walking miracles, that transform and go out to serve. We agree that many come into recovery angry at God, rejecting, but on the journey to a new relationship, should the addict that has invited initial help from God into their life, continue to choose it.

In Cairo Christian circles (and recovery circles), the new atheism that has taken hold has been seen as a good thing. It is the beginning of a separation from Islam, that breeds deep darkness. It has taken me time to come to some resolution that Islam may not be the peaceful religion that many desire to articulate, but a darker force that has yet to see the light. I am still wrestling with this idea because I want to believe that most religions are connected to God, that spirituality is one's own. That is not to denounce that I am a Christian or God's gift as I stand dedicated next to a man who serves individuals in their darkest hour. I am honored to learn from and stand with this man who sees a murdering addict no less than a homosexual, no less than a prideful man or a greedy man or a man who simply does nothing. I am blessed and I will need this blessing for the Sunday morning to come when a lesson on Good and Evil arrives, and it arrives not from Egypt but from the US.