Do you know what I know?

To all those near and far, who is thinking about us and who we are praying for and love, to those who we meet every day and those we haven't seen for many months.

May this be a blessed Christmas for you!

A thought

I just realized I haven't been out of town for almost 4 months! The renovation both at home and in the office plus the not-so-welcoming weather... I am so tired I am starting to forget things. Like, somebody tells me something, I turn around and bam! I already forgot! (This works especially well when my boss tells me to do something). One doesn't realize how much recharge and recreation can even a short trip out of town do, until they go without for a while.

Bottom line - don't look for me in town this weekend!!!!!!

The peculiarities of national driving - Part 1

I know I wrote about driving and traffic in Yerevan when I first came here, but the longer we live here, the more interesting facts we find out.

For example, isn't it funny that for the less than one million inhabitants in the capital there are several hundred (!) registered taxi companies, with anywhere between 1 to 100 cars each, and just as many unregistered taxis. Taxis are cheap (50 cents per mile, give or take), and the city is relatively small, so it makes sense to take a taxi just about anywhere. Still, the sheer amount of different companies is astonishing. What's even more amusing, is what those taxis are called.

There is a wide variety of names, from personal (Sofia, Ella, Tatev, Lida, David) to geographical (Yerevan, Malibu, Rio, Galaxy) to zoological (Panther, Golden Eagle) or bothanical (Rose, Willow, Daisy). There are names as short as one letter (Taxi L, Taxi Z, Taxi X) and as long as two-three words, like Caravan of Hope (with colorful camels striding across the side doors). There are names referring to the service area (Opera, Armenian Market) and service quality (Fast, Best, Busy, Cosy), or just the owner's personal ambitions (No 1, Dream, VIP). There is the royalty (Royal, King, Queen) and aristocracy (Baron, Marquise, Golden Duke, Don Maestro). There are Russian names like Kalinka (a famous Russian folk song), Elki-Palki (literally pines and sticks - a profanity substitute phrase, like "Oh, fudge"), Just You Wait (famous Soviet cartoon series), Ot ee Do (From and To). There are English names (Sheriff, Star, Sherlock Holmes), Spanish and Latin names (Amigo, Viva, Santos) and, of course, Armenian names. There is a taxi called Barev (Hello) with a handshake picture on it, taxi Bari (Kind), and our personal favorite Tanem-Berem, literally: "I'll take you there and back".

On religion and faith

There was a comment from our long-time and much respected commentator Nazarian on Roxy's previous post. It goes like this (I quote): "You can't shove religion down people's throats which I think is the reason for these churches [from the previous comment I gather it's Protestant churches, correct me if I am wrong - M.] not being very popular (even though I have known quite a few people who were evangelicals). I don't even think the Armenian Apostolic church is much more popular either. They may have high attendance but the people have no idea about their ideology. I don't know their take on Christianity either. I just like the smoke thingie and the singing during the services."

Since it is concerning something I consider very serious and feel about deeply, I just thought I would say a few things (just expressing my humble opinion, mind you!)

There is religion, and then there is faith. Someone merely religious might be content by just going to church once in a while, lighting a candle, maybe listening to some pleasant music, observing traditions such as christening (which they call baptism) and church wedding, etc. These things they do just in case there is someone "up there" watching, or to feel good, or to look good in other people's eyes, or because their parents did them. These religious excersises usually have no bearing on their everyday lives. Nor do these people try to bother other people with their religion, often because they are afraid to land in an embarassing situation.

On the other hand, someone who has faith believes and knows that there is someone "up there." In fact, having faith - real faith - opens a way to communicate with that Someone, whom believers call Lord and God. They also believe in the eternity of the soul, in afterlife, in Heaven and Hell and consider them very real. They believe that our physical existence in this here Earth is not all there is to life; that it's only a small part of one's life, a preparation for the real thing - yet a very important part, because how we live our lives here on Earth determines where we spend the eternity.

Now imagine being one of those people, who have this faith, who communicate with God daily in prayer, who are delighted to do God's will because they love Him so much, who know that God wants them to spread His gospel among the unbelievers and doesn't want anyone to perish just because nobody told them how to be saved. Imagine seeing your loved ones, or people you care about, or just nice people you meet, headed to an eternity without God - just because they don't know anything about Him. Wouldn't you be talking about your faith, shouting about it, sharing it, telling about it every chance you get, heedless of snickers and scorn, just to get the message across? Wouldn't you be knocking on the closed doors of their minds to wake them up and make them see where they are headed?

Imagine that for a second, and then tell me once again about "shoving religion down people's throats".