Back in 2000, a number of close friends suggested I engage an experienced Egyptian national with the task of registering my new Daihatsu Terios vehicle with the relevant authority at Cairo. Such an exercise for a westerner, they said, can be quite testing of one’s patience and sanity. I was informed by a friend when I first entered Cairo that Egypt was the ‘logic-free zone of the Universe’ and that Egyptian bureaucracy was not known for being efficient and effective.

With the support of my friend, Leo, an Arabic speaking Sudanese national from our church at Maadi, we set out in my Terios for Cairo early in the day, with me behind the wheel.  In the context of Cairo traffic, I aptly named my Terios ‘The Terror’ because most people who travelled with me in the car would usually apprehend terror before arriving at our destination . Did I venture out prayer-pared? I sure did!  

Upon arriving at the motor registry office, I counted twelve glass-partitioned enquiry counters, numbering 1-6 along one side of the room, and 7-12 along the opposite side. Leo enquired as to which window to commence the registration process. Anyone who is Cairo-experienced knows that waiting patiently in a queue for service at a government office gets you nowhere… you can die of queue-mania without ever being noticed! When in Egypt, one must combine diplomatic-assertiveness with stacks of prayer, patience, and perseverance if success is to be achieved. Battle preparedness is advised!

After four long hours of being bounced from one window to another by staff members who seemed to go out of their way to sabotage the process, my file had become pregnant with an array of tax-stamped forms, bound together by a ton of staples. At the last window a set of old, dented registration plates came out of the vault and caught my attention… Yes, finally, victory was in sight! However, within seconds, my short-lived excitement was dashed, together with my patience and spirit. An official noticed a certificate was missing from our Everest-high stack of papers that should have been issued to me by the Daihatsu dealership… The process hit a brick wall, along with my head!

How did I react? I reacted like most westerners would have reacted! With emotions turbo-charged and out-of-control I erupted like a volcano in the face of the senior police officer in charge, telling him in broken Lebanese Arabic, Ozzie-English and body language what I thought of his operation. I then stormed out of his office… yes, without registration plates.

When I arrived home I briefly informed my wife what had happened and asked her to give me some time and space to cool down. I sat alone on the floor of our bedroom and processed what had taken place. I knew my Christ-likeness had failed dismally under Cairo-testing. The Holy Spirit reminded me of God’s counsel in First Thessalonians to “Always be joyful. Keep on praying. No matter what happens, always be thankful, for this is God’s will for you who belong to Christ Jesus” (5:16-18).

Friends, that day at Cairo I paid but a small instalment of the great cost of the learned lesson of ‘how to be content in every circumstance of life’.  The practiced attitude of always be thankful continues to this day to keep me head and shoulders above every circumstance I face. Choosing to “Always be thankful” in every circumstance is the way to victory in all of life’s daunting challenges!

Best wishes

Bill Joukhadar
P.S. Sincerely, on the whole, Egyptians are exceptionally warm, kind and friendly people.