Different Kind of Booth

Road Trip ~ Desert Lessons continued

Street fairs are a popular. Street fairs are fun. Street fairs are similar. Streets are closed. Booths are set up. Food and wares are available to buy. Music wafts through the air. And people, oh the people! I could sit on the sidelines and just watch the people

But the street fair we went to in Palm Springs had a little something extra, a little something different; a booth that made me stop, look and photograph.


Later I was sorry that I didn't stop at that little booth. The Rabbi looked so happy to be on the street, fully available and eager to engage with the people passing by. His sign didn't say he was selling anything. He was just there to answer questions.

I'm sure he wasn't hoping for questions like does so-and-so love me or will I lose my job? Or maybe he was. Maybe he knew that the way to share the truth of God's love, protection and provision was to get at the heart of what people are hurting over ~ or don't understand ~ or are curious about. Maybe he knew that he had to get real about their lives before they would be willing to get real about a God who really cares about theirs.

Or maybe he was a Pharisee eager to dispense and clarify religious laws. I prefer to think not. I prefer to think that the joy on his face and in his heart came from a close relationship with the God of the universe. I prefer to think that he was living in godly love that became fulfilled through Christ's birth ~ a Christ that this Rabbi may not know or believe in ~ but a Christ, nevertheless, who was evident and alive throughout Old Testament Scripture.