A friend sent me a word via text a few days before leaving for Israel mid November. The word was “advocate.” I asked her what that meant and she said to look for advocates everywhere I went in Israel. God was going to provide them! An advocate is a person who publicly supports or recommends a particular cause or policy.
OK, here was the first test. I was arriving in Israel with 9 suitcases; a mountain bike and an electronic piano. My prayer request to everyone was that I would be able to find a porter at the airport to help me with my load of stuff; and that I’d be invisible to the customs agents when leaving the baggage claim area.
I got off the plane and found the counter where I could hire a porter. I nice man (Mayer) came up and asked me in Hebrew what I would like. I mustered up as much Hebrew as I could and the two of us headed off to the conveyer belt to retrieve my bags. Actually I had quite a fun time making small talk in Hebrew with him as we waited for the bags. I think he too enjoyed my humble attempts at using a language that I had studied as a young girl, but only use when in Israel. It’s amazing how words never thought of just pop into my head when in Israel! It’s actually quite astounding!
We got the bags and he agreed to take them all the way to the rental car for me. He seemed empathetic and genuinely nice and I promised him a good tip to help make matters more palatable. I walked ahead of him going through customs and ignored the fact that the heavy loaded down trolley was all my stuff, hoping the officers wouldn’t associate the two of us. We made it! No one stopped us. Next stop was the ATM machine to get money to pay for the trolley rental. The first machine would give me no money. I was sweating. How would I pay for Mayer’s help? He didn’t take credit cards! I prayed – dear Lord – help! Mayer was patient as I walked to another ATM machine. Thank God it gave me cash and we proceeded to the rental car counter on another floor.
While I was waiting in line to get the car Mayer received a phone call from his boss down in the baggage claim wanting him to return and help someone else. He said something to me to communicate his disdain for his boss and out of my mouth came the words – lev lo tov (meaning heart no good). Mayer agreed with me, telling me that his boss in fact had no heart and for him it was all about the money. Mayer reassured me not to worry and that he would help me all the way to the car.
I had found my first advocate!
Please pray blessings on Mayer and his family. Truly, I wonder if he was an angel sent by the Lord and in a way, I guess he was!
