We were blessed with beautiful sunny weather for visiting the ancient ruins this afternoon in the city of Jerash (or Gerasa, as it was known in days of antiquity.) After walking around the ruins of ancient temples and amphitheatres, we stopped at a little market area where local people were selling hand made crafts and souvenirs. I hadn't changed a lot of money into Jordanian dinars, as I planned only to buy a few postcards and a fridge magnet.
After I'd already made my purchases, I was approached by a teenage boy, who invited me to come over and visit his stall. I went with him to admire his handiwork (he was using coloured sand to make artistic creations in small glass bottles) but I explained to him that I didn't have much money left and wasn't planning to buy anything else today. Nonetheless, he pleaded with me to stay and drink a cup of tea with him. He was just seventeen years old, and I think he was keen to practise his English.
So we chatted for a bit while I drank tea and asked him to show me how he made the wonderful coloured pictures in the bottles. I watched while he quickly and skilfully poured different colours of sand into the bottle and used a long pointed instrument to fashion the shapes of camels, horses and mountains. He told me that his name was Moh'med and that he had a desire to travel and to study overseas when he finishes high school.
Once his work of art was finished, he asked me if I would like to try making one too. Well, art wasn't exactly my best subject at school, but I was enjoying chatting with this young man and so I agreed to give it a try. Needless to say, my masterpiece grew a lot more slowly than his had done, and my efforts to draw a camel in the sand were only just recognisable, as you can see from the photo. While I was still working on fashioning the mountains, Moh'med spoke in Arabic to an older man who was obviously the stall owner, and I could see that this man was saying yes to him. Moh'med had asked if he could give me my handiwork as a gift, and he added my name to the inside of the bottle before wrapping it up for me.
Before we said goodbye, I asked this young man if I could pray for him and for his future. He said yes, and I was able to ask God to be with him, to lead him into all truth, and to help him realise his dreams of travelling and studying business, so that he could be a man of influence in his nation. I thanked him for being so open and hospitable to foreigners and encouraged him always to pursue excellence and to use his skills to bless the lives of others.
It was rather a special moment. When we went to visit the ruins this afternoon, I never imagined that I would have the opportunity to get to know and to pray with a Jordanian teenager. Perhaps you could join me in praying that God will bless Moh'med and that he will have other opportunities in his life to discover the true and living God.
