It takes a little courage, just a little, to put yourself in the hands of Rami from Bethlehem. "Courage" because he has a razor in his hand and at times said razor is very close to your jugular. "Courage" because he really could jack up your do. The first reason is survival. The later, vanity. I say "little" because realistically what's the worst thing that can happen to a guy? If he butchers your hair just shave if off and start over, right?
Yesterday, J and I headed down to a local barber shop. Honestly I've walked by there a couple times but never could muster the gumption to go in. I can speak some Arabic but really, saying phrases like "Take a little off the top." or "Fade it on the sides." at this stage in the game could've resulted in a the loss of an ear or at the very least a bona fide mullet. With my eldest in tow it was impossible to back out. What kind of example would that've been? So in we went.
Rami greeted us with a smile and welcomed me to his chair with a flourish of his towel. A boy brought his razor, scissors, clippers and comb and laid them on counter in front a large mirror. "What would you like to drink? Coffee, tea, or Pepsi?" the barber asked. The same boy returned quickly with a glass of cold water on a silver tray.
The hospitality was disarming. Calming even. Rami asked what I wanted done and I tried to explain. Apparently he understood and off he went. Clippers buzzing and scissors scissoring, all to the beat of a catchy Middle Eastern tune playing throughout the shop. Minutes later he was done and I was...unharmed. He did a very good job, especially considering what he had to work with. I paid (read "got gouged" or "charged the white dude tax") and we out of there. All that worry over nothing.
Isn't worry usually like that? Will Rogers said, "Worrying is like paying on a debt that may never come due." Jesus put it like this:
“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? 27 Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?Next time you find yourself worrying about something, even something silly like a Middle Eastern haircut, remember His words. Even better, put your worries in the hands of the Guy from Bethlehem. Not Rami the barber, Jesus the Messiah!
“And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own."
"Any concern too small to be turned into a prayer is too small to be made into a burden." Corrie Ten Boom
Looking good!
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