In 2013, my dad and I were blessed to travel to Israel with a group of fellow believers. One special memory was the evening we went to Bethlehem to an area between the Shepherd’s Fields and the Nativity Church to a place called the Tent Restaurant. Palm trees, olive orchards, and native plants surrounded it, with mountains in the background. When we stepped inside the dining area, we noticed Bedouin style rugs on the floor and a beautiful stone entryway to the dining area. Wonderful smells poured from the kitchen as we settled down to relax at the low tables and couches spread with tapestries. We were promptly attended by wait staff, who were eager to show us Middle Eastern hospitality.
A tour guide and his wife accompanied us, and soon his wife ordered a hookah. A hookah, or waterpipe is a single or multi-stemmed instrument for heating or vaporizing and then smoking flavored tobacco, or sometimes more potent things. The smoke is passed through a water basin before inhalation. As I looked around the room, I noticed many people eating as well as smoking different sizes and colors of hookah. A friend was smoking green apple flavored tobacco and insisted that I try it. My first instinct was to say, “no thanks.” Then I thought, “When will I ever have another chance to smoke hookah in a Bedouin tent in Bethlehem?” So I tried it and it wasn’t bad.
The population of Bethlehem is over 25,000 with both Muslims and Christians residing there. Over 2 million tourists visit Bethlehem each year, which supplies most of the city’s wealth. The city of Bethlehem is one of the oldest Christian settlements in the world and has been destroyed and rebuilt several times. The first known reference to Bethlehem is in a letter dated 1400 BC between the King of Egypt and the King of Jerusalem.
This special place on the earth, where God chose for Jesus to be born, will always be a holy symbol of God’s redeeming love for all believers, but it’s also a place where people live normal lives and eat, drink, and smoke hookah!
Isn’t this much like our lives? We do the everyday ordinary things, but then out of nowhere, God will use us to do something amazing! God uses ordinary circumstances and people for some of His most extraordinary work. How can God use you during this Advent season?
Susan Easttom Meharg, Director of Family Ministries
