When my son was 16, we were letting him drive back from a sporting event late at night so he could get driving experience at a time when traffic would be low. As we entered a nearly desolate stretch of road between Russellville and Ft. Smith, Arkansas, on highway 40, he went around a slower vehicle. The truck he had passed suddenly accelerated and zoomed around us. No other cars were around at the time, on either side of the highway. The man driving the truck turned on a spotlight he had affixed to the driver’s side of his rear window and aimed right at the driver behind him! The light was blinding, and my son started swerving and correcting, swerving and correcting. We silently watched in horror as thankfully, miraculously, in what seemed like a lifetime, he regained control. He kept his eyes on the white lines painted on the side of the highway to avoid looking at the bright light, and soon the driver sped off at a rapid speed. Perhaps to find his next victim? This was at least five years before cell phones became commonplace, and we were at a loss about what we could do quickly to warn other drivers.

Seven lives were endangered in our minivan that night: five children ranging in age between 1 and 16, my husband and myself. We came close to being in an accident at a deadly speed. How did an inexperienced driver manage to not lose control and know what to do?

I started thinking about this incident and the admonition to let our light shine before men came to mind. Do we make our light a soft candle to help lead the way, or do we blind people and run them off course by overwhelming them with too much light?

It is hard, when God opens your mind to truth, to not want all your friends and loved ones to understand what now seems so clear to you.

We are supposed to answer, when asked, about the hope that lies within us, but we need to pray that we will never cause harm with what we share. Pray for loving kindness that does not seek to shove what we believe on someone else, and perhaps drive them away. A godly example is the best way to be a light to others—it is a soft soothing light shining in the darkness of a world that has lost its way.

God is the one who does the calling, and how we live our lives and treat others should lead them to seek what we have.

If they seek, they will find.