My daughter, Laura, turns 13 this week. About a week ago, I asked her what she wanted for her birthday. She didn’t hesitate. She said she wanted a promise ring. I asked her if she knew what a promise ring was and what it represented and she did. I was so moved by her desire to pledge to remain pure before the Lord I wanted to make sure the ring was something that would last from 13 years old until the day she replaced it with an engagement ring.
I took her to the Atlanta Mart to look at rings so we could afford something really nice. The first showroom we walked into had beautiful things. I had to remind myself they price things with the retail price so I would not have a stroke over the price tags. She found a ring she really wanted. The gentleman gave me a price for the ring which was a fourth of the sticker price. It was still a bit more than I wanted to pay so we decided to look in other showrooms.
Before we could leave, the man asked if we were purchasing the ring for an occasion. I told him it was a promise ring for my daughter’s 13th birthday. He looked a bit confused and asked what a promise ring was. I told him my daughter was pledging to God and her father and me to remain pure until marriage. He looked at her and smiled and then gave me a price that was $200 less than the price he had just given me. I told him it was a good price but we still wanted to look around. Then he cut his price by another fifty dollars and said he wouldn’t charge us for sizing. I told him to hold it for me. I wanted to let her look in at least one other showroom before purchasing a ring so we headed downstairs to another showroom.
We chose a showroom on the back hallway and began looking at rings. The prices the lady quoted us were about $250 more than the price of the ring upstairs. I told Laura I thought we should go back to the original showroom. The sales representative asked me if it was the first showroom when you exit the elevators. Yes, I said, it was. She then told me they were owned by the same person. She went to the phone and placed a call and came back to me smiling. She said the owner of the two showrooms was the man we dealt with and he was so taken with Laura and her story, he was actually selling us the ring at his cost. Needless to say, we ran upstairs and purchased the ring.
As we drove home, I wanted to make certain Laura understood what had happened. I told her since she chose to honor God with her life in her decision to remain pure, as His word commands her to do [Exodus 20:14] He chose to honor her with a beautiful ring at an affordable price [Mark 8:38].
God’s favor was all over this encounter. The gentleman we dealt with was from India. Chances are good he isn’t a believer and this one encounter with Laura could be the thing that causes him to research the Christian faith or seek out a believer to question. You never know the seeds you plant through your words and your actions. Each and every opportunity you face is an opportunity to live for Jesus.
I tell the students in my Fellowship of Christian Athletes group “As a believer you are always a witness for Jesus. You get to decide if you are a good witness or a bad witness” [Acts 1:8]. Which will you be today?