I had a brief session of educating my wife that not all Arabs are in the mould of Osama bin Laden. Very few Arabs involve themselves with terrorism. This lesson was important to avoid profiling. An opportunity soon presented itself to prove my point. We boarded our flight at Casablanca and the lady that sat next to my wife was a young Arab woman. She was courteous and generous. On two occasions, she passed her portion of the yoghurt to us. I was gratified to note that there are indeed good people in every tribe. Profiling is a sin; the misbehavior of a few should not rubbish entire tribes or regions.

I got another lesson from our encounter with the young lady. When I saw her reading with the dim light coming from the monitor before her, I assumed she did not know how to turn on the overhead light. Reciprocating her good gesture, I turned on the light for her. She responded that she was okay with the flickers coming from the monitor. I had no choice but to turn it off. Now, do you appreciate why Jesus would ask a blind or sick person if they wanted to be made whole? God does not deal with us on presumptions, He wants us to get specific with Him. For general blessings like sunshine and rain, we don’t have to express any opinion. However, with regards to specific blessings, only those who ask receive, and the one who knocks gain access.