Shining the Light

Have you ever met someone that has such an amazing personality that you just want to take them with you wherever you go? They brighten up the world around you, lively adventures seem to follow them, and they challenge everything that people seem to take advantage of day-to-day.

Well, I met one of those people today, a woman named Ratem, a saleswoman in the mall. At face value, she appears to be just a regular, run-of-the-mill, Im-going-to-try-and-sell-you-something sales woman at the mall kiosk. But she was different.

The first thing you notice is her accent. Her eyes sparkle and her mouth is bright and shining, and the words that come out of her mouth are rich and full. She's selling a product that comes straight out of her home country- Israel. She starts talking about the Dead Sea, and the reason it is called the Dead Sea. Her products are Spa treatments using the minerals and salt and even the mud from the area, and she delights over you, showing you how her products work and exceed their competition. She's not just any saleswoman, she's been to the places she's talking about, she's seen the people who flock to her country to receive treatments for their skin diseases and ailments, she knows how rich with minerals the Dead Sea is.

Bit by bit, as we pry and ask her questions, she tells us alittle bit of her story. She is a schoolteacher in Israel, and is visiting America for "vacation, with working" she says. Her manager is a strawberry-blond, blue-eyed man who's accent puts him from Israel too. She asks us similar questions, too. Her character and culture radiate in her personality, and she is beautiful inside and out. She doesn't know who Christ is, and when we mention him, she asks us "what does that mean, in Christ?". She explains that she does believe in God, and although we don't have time to explain the detailed version of salvation message, we explain how much he means to us.

When we walk away (with 100 dollars of her products in our hands, and smiles on our faces), we agree with eachother that we wish that we could bring her home with us for a day, or a week, or a month... or an hour, and show her what it means to be a Christian, and to know Christ... We turn around and give her one last hug and say one last "God bless you" before turning away again.

How many times do I walk through life with a frown on my face and a slouch in my shoulders! If only I had the radiance and the beauty this woman had- if but only a quarter or a third of it- maybe I would shine the light of Christ better! Is this unbelieving, lost woman doing it better than I am? I should hope not!

I want Jesus to be the person people want to take around with them wherever they go! But how can they, if I do not live it myself? How can they, if they do not see it in me? Jesus! Lord! I want you to be with me wherever I go!

Thank you, Ratem, for being such a testimony to me, and I pray that you will find Jesus as your Savior- that you will understand that he loves you, and all the things he has done for you, because of that love. Thank you for this lesson, Lord. Make me a light, that I may shine for you. :)