By Dr. Kaia Kloster
As I go into the jail to “Proclaim the Gospel with evidence,” I never know who will choose to come to Bible study—or why. One day, a woman shared with me why she had decided to come. Although her mom had been raised in the church, they hadn’t been taken as kids because her mom didn’t want to “force her beliefs on them.” So while not raised as a Christian, she was aware of “them.” In her daily encounters with people she was quite certain she could identify them.
There was something different—it seemed there was a “glow” about them. She and her boyfriend came to call them “shiny faces.” Upon leaving a gas station, for example, she might turn to him and say, “She was a ‘shiny face,’ wasn’t she!” It was as if there was a light from within, she said. The difference was undeniable, and always desirable.
I am uncertain of the circumstances which brought her to the jail, but once there she received a Life Recovery Bible. As she opened the cover to check it out, a verse at the bottom of the very first page caught her eye. It was Psalm 34:5 (NIV):
Those who look to Him are radiant; their faces are never covered with shame.
She had been right. They were “shiny faces”! This simple connection between what the Bible says and what she saw in the world was an important part of her newfound spark of faith. It was a joy to watch her seek truth and grow in her faith as she made more connections between what the Bible says and the evidence she saw in the world.
As I thought about her testimony, I found her observations were convicting in some ways. I couldn’t help but wonder: Am I a “shiny face”? How many people who claim to be Christians shine in this dark world? Maybe we all should ask… Am I a “shiny face”?
“And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord’s glory…” (2 Corinthians 3:18, NIV).
