Susan LaffertyWe meet for lunch. Fellowship over Mediterranean food. Simply connecting while all around us the global spread of a virus ensues. Intensifies.
Events cancel. Borders tighten. Universities move to virtual classrooms. Our best-laid plans are disrupted. Interrupted. Changed.
We sit in sunshine and cool air. Sisters conversing about life journeys. Children. The hard and unexpected turns in the path this past year. The joy of following Him.
Storm. Sometimes it comes out of nowhere. Fierce. Sudden. Unpredictable.
The recent tornado in Tennessee roared through. In the middle of the night. Unexpected. Devastating.
Today COVID19 continues spreading across the globe at a rapid pace. Insidious. Unsettling. Unknown.
And traveling along under the radar, another kind of storm. Often unspoken. Filtering through conversations and across the airwaves.
Fear.
They are traveling. Jesus and the disciples. They enter a village, then a house. Martha’s house.
Right before this, Jesus sends the disciples out into the harvest. Two by two. With several instructions. Including the following directive for entering a village.
“Whatever house you enter, first say, ‘Peace to this household.’ If a person of peace is there, your peace will rest on him; but if not, it will return to you” (Luke 10:5-6). The person of peace is their welcome. Their home base. For each particular village.
Now they enter a new village. Then Martha’s house. Perhaps they say “Peace to this household.”
“And a woman named Martha welcomed Him into her home” (Luke 10:38). A person of peace.
