Hallie prepared to speed down the street. She loved pedaling as fast as she could down the hilly street and then coasting as far as possible. Exhilarated, she took a deep breath and began to pedal. Suddenly, she realized that her brother Logan and his friends were crossing the street. “Look out, Logan!” Hallie yelled as she sped toward them. Logan and two of his friends stopped and waited, but another boy didn’t seem to hear Hallie’s warning. “Brandon, watch out!” Logan called. Frustrated, Hallie slammed back on the pedals and swerved to miss Brandon. So much for a joy ride. “Brandon, watch where you’re going!” Hallie scolded her brother’s friend and stormed back up the hill.
That night, Hallie and her family waited until it was dark and then gathered on the back porch. “Here it is!” Hallie’s dad said, referring to a large telescope.
“Cool!” said Logan. “I didn’t know it would be this big!”
“Yeah, we got the biggest we could - well, except for NASA’s,” Hallie’s dad proudly answered.
“Can I look?” Hallie asked, hardly able to wait any longer.
“Just a minute, Hallie,” her dad answered. “Let me get it set up and see what I can find.” Hallie watched her father adjust the telescope and point it in one direction. “Here you go, Hallie. What do you think?”
Hallie took the telescope and eagerly pressed her eye to the viewfinder. "Hmm...there’s a star, but it’s far away - I can’t see it very closely.”
“Turn it a little to the right,” her dad suggested.
“Wow!” Hallie exclaimed. “It’s the moon - and it’s really bright! I’ve never seen it so close up.”
“Let me see!” Logan begged. Hallie handed the viewfinder to her brother. He, too, was amazed. “That is really bright!” he echoed Hallie. “It’s almost as bright as the sun!”
“Actually,” Hallie’s dad said. “The moon isn’t bright at all.”
“What?!” Logan didn’t believe his dad.
“That doesn’t make sense, Dad - it’s the brightest thing out there,” Hallie agreed with her brother.
“Your dad is right,” Hallie’s mom said. “The moon doesn’t have any light of its own.”
“Well, where does it get its light? Aliens?” Logan suggested.
Hallie giggled. “Don’t be silly, Logan. Alien’s don’t exist!” Logan laughed when he saw his sister understood his joke.
“No, not aliens!” Hallie’s mom smiled, too. “The moon’s light is reflected from the sun.”
“Really?” Logan still wasn’t sure.
“That’s neat,” Hallie remarked. “I never knew that.”
“It’s a lot like the Christian life, actually,” Hallie’s dad said.
“HUH?” Now Logan was really confused.
“No, really, listen,” Hallie’s dad began. “As Christians, our purpose in life is to glorify God.”
“But what does that have to do with the moon?” Hallie was beginning to be confused, too.
“Yeah, and what does glorify mean?” Logan questioned.
“I’m glad you asked,” Hallie’s dad replied. “Does glorifying God mean to make Him great?” he asked Hallie and Logan.
“Nooooo,” Logan answered, but he was just guessing.
“No,” Hallie continued. “Because God already is great.”
“Right!” her dad answered.
“To glorify God is to help others see how great God is,” Hallie’s mom pointed out. “Like you said, God already is great, and by glorifying Him, we help others see His greatness. God’s greatness is already there, we just help others see it.”
“Okaaaay,” Hallie was confused.
Logan was lost, too. “And where does the moon come in?”
“Well, the moon doesn’t have any light of its own, so it reflects the light of the sun and gives us light during the dark of night. Hey, that rhymes!” Hallie’s dad joked.
“You’re a poet and you didn’t even know it,” Logan encouraged. Everyone laughed.
“And we don’t have any greatness of our own,” Hallie’s mom continued, “because everything we have comes from God. Matthew 5 says that we are the light of the world (Matt. 5:14). ‘In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven’” (Matt. 5:16).
“Oh, I get it!” Hallie understood. “We reflect God’s greatness so others can see it?”
“That’s right!” her mom answered.
“Uh, how does that work?” Logan was still confused.
“Well, let’s say that you have a friend that doesn’t know God.” Hallie’s dad began an illustration. “You’ve told him about Jesus, but he doesn’t seem to really care. You’re still friends with him, and you always act the way you know Jesus would act. You’re nice to him, you’re not a sore loser - you set a good example. Well, soon your friend realizes that you’re not like a lot of his other friends, and he wonders why you’re different. Now he’s ready to listen to you talk about Jesus.”
“I think I understand,” Logan said. “So if he knows that I know Jesus, and I act like Jesus, it’s like I’m shining God’s light on my friend?”
“That’s a good way to put it, son,” Hallie’s dad agreed.
“So,” Logan grinned, “the moon reflects the sun and we reflect the Son?” Logan is quite the clown, Hallie thought as she and her family chuckled at Logan’s joke.
The next day Hallie was again riding her bike and preparing to speed down the street. She looked up and noticed Brandon was out walking his family’s dog. I wonder if Brandon knows about Jesus, she thought as she began to pedal. Just as she was pedaling as fast as she could, Brandon’s dog jerked the leash from his hand and sped straight toward Hallie. Hallie slammed back on the pedals, stopping the bike quickly. Jumping off her bike, she grabbed the dog’s leash so he couldn’t run any farther. Smiling, she walked the dog back to Brandon. “Here’s your dog, Brandon. He’s fast!”
“Uh, thanks,” Brandon said, a little surprised at Hallie’s kindness.
“Brandon, I’m sorry for yelling at you the other day. It wasn’t nice of me to do that - I know that God wants me to treat everyone kindly. Will you forgive me?”
“Uh, s-sure,” Brandon stammered, still unsure of Hallie’s change in attitude.
“I see you walking your dog a lot,” Hallie continued the conversation. “Do you like dogs?”
“Yeah,” Brandon finally smiled. “I’m teaching him tricks, too, do you wanna see?”
“I’d love to!” Hallie answered, smiling to Brandon. She smiled on the inside, too, as she thought, “‘Let your light shine before others...’”
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