Some of you know that I spend my workday preparing college students who are about to spend a semester studying in the Holy Land. Many of these students hope to connect with their Savior while they’re in Jerusalem. During their interview, I tell them they will have to look for Jesus or they’ll miss Him—that even in a place where they can’t look down the street without their gaze landing on a church, mosque, or synagogue, they won’t find Jesus if they aren’t paying attention.
But we can’t take everybody to Jerusalem. What do I say to the students who don’t get to go? I say the same thing to them that I say to myself. You don’t have to be in the Holy Land to find Jesus.
Jesus showed up where the lame lay abandoned, where the blind felt their way, where the sinners were accused, and where the leper was exiled. Jesus showed up for the people who struggled, for the people who questioned. He showed up where they were. He didn’t wait for them to make their way to him.
Jesus shows up.
For people like me.
For people like you.
I tell the students they can find Holy Land wherever they stand if they’re looking for Him.
Because it is Christmas time, it feels right to share some of those moments when I find my feet treading on Holy Land . . . when I see Jesus show up where I am.
Take today, for instance, my husband David left for choir rehearsal early in the morning for the hour's drive to SLC. He is usually with his carpool group, but today he drove alone.
It happened right before an exit. The Tire Pressure light lit up the dash. He had just enough time to exit the freeway before a tire went completely flat.
David’s back has been troublesome all week. He’s made multiple trips to chiropractors and physical therapists. So when he called and told me about the tire, I pled with him to call AAA. After all, we’d never even changed a tire in this car, and who knew where the spare was located? Surely it would be in a place not great for his back. He called AAA. They tried calling their providers in the area. No one answered. It was so early. But then they called David back and said someone was on their way.
When the tow truck driver arrived, it turned out he’d been summoned from Wendover.
Did David make it to choir? No. Did he get to sing in the broadcast or the fireside? No.
But is he home, safe and sound, with his back none the worse? Yes!
This morning the Good Samaritan was a tow truck driver who answered his phone at six o’clock on a Sunday morning and drove to Draper from Wendover to help a guy with a bad back in a white shirt and dress pants change a flat tire. That’s what I call a glimpse of our Savior’s light, right there on Interstate 15.
Our Savior’s light sustains us through the shadows. His promises make our everyday paths sacred. His atonement makes it possible for us to pick ourselves up and start again, no matter how many times we mess up and get off track. He loves us. And if we pay attention, we can find Him, where we are, as we are. If we keep our eyes open, the Christmas season will be filled with evidences of our Savior’s love for us.
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