Susan LaffertyAltars marked the path of Abraham. God said go and he obeyed. He moved his tent to the next place, built an altar and worshiped. Altars marked his encounters with a holy God, a covenant-making God. Some marked sacrifice and absolute surrender—holding nothing back from the One who called his name.
As we moved our “tent” across the world and established home in the temporary place, I thought of Abraham and Sarah. I drew strength from their journey to a place they did not know.
Oppression runs rampant in our world today. Trampling the poor. Persecuting the faithful. Trafficking the helpless. Destroying innocence. It’s splashed across screens here in America and on the other side of the world.
I’ve looked into the eyes of those caught in this evil. Devastated by it. I’ve heard their stories. I know those in the thick of trying to reach and rescue and rehabilitate and restore. It’s no simple task. No quick “glory story.” It’s hard and messy.
The gospel is the only answer. This I know with all my heart.
But some days it feels like darkness is winning.
The day ash fell on Surabaya in 1963 and turned day to night, I hardly noticed. Bali’s Gunung Agung had erupted—one of the largest, most devastating eruptions in Indonesia’s history—but my nose was in a book. It was only after I reached up to turn on the lamp that I realized it was pitch dark outside early on a Sunday afternoon.
