June-July 1999 The Sabbath Sentinel

What Are You?

by Mandie Nickels

"So, what exactly are you?" I glanced up from my plate and looked at my friend, puzzled. "What do you mean?" I asked, confused. "I mean, you don't go to church on Sunday, you don't keep Christmas. What are you?"

What am I? I am an Israelite. A child of God. What else could I have told her? I am the one who knows the real truth. I fear the Lord. Many things spun through my mind at that moment.

"Do you keep the holiday where you spin those little tops for 7 days?" I smiled. "You mean Hanukkah? No."

"So, what are you?" She asked me again. I saw the curiosity in her eyes. I remembered what my mom had told me when I was child. "I am an Independent Sabbath Keeper." I replied.

"A dependant who?" "An Independent Sabbath Keeper."

"Do you believe in God?" She asked me, leaning real close. "Of course. Don't you?" My question startled her.

"Sure." She stood up from the lunch table and gave me a dirty look. "You're weird."

Am I weird? Is it weird to love God with all my heart? Is it weird to not celebrate Pagan Holidays? My friend that had questioned me never really talked to me after that day. She was a very sincere Catholic and she refused to hang around me because I didn't believe in "Her God."

"Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light for my path" (Psalms 119:105). His word is a lamp. And while she was blind to his light, she rejected me when she heard the truth for the first time in her life.

But I could understand her curiosity. Being different in today's society is considered to be weird. Especially when everyone's wearing the same kind of shoes because some actress is wearing them. Everyone's hair is the same style because they saw it in a magazine. When someone is different, it screams out from the crowd.

I didn't attend her church. I didn't tell her to have a "Merry Christmas." And she was curious to my reasoning, but ran away from the truth when she was finally told. One day, she'll get her calling. And, maybe this time she won't run away.

What you are is a hard question to answer. You could probably call yourself anything, as long as Jesus is in your heart, and His word is in your head. Don't be spiritually blind. Nothing in this world is more beautiful than to see God's glorious light, like I am honored enough to see each and every day.

TSS

June - July 1999 The Sabbath Sentinel