The Good Portion

I spent about four hours this afternoon accompanying Cordero de Dios's Vicar Yban and congregational president Luis on visits in the surrounding community. 

I was this close to telling Pastor Fritzler that I'd better not since I'm leaving tomorrow at 7:30 am to spend the next week in the capital with a short-term team from Tampa, but I didn't. Frankly, I love visits. I'm in awe of the ease with which the evangelists I'm accompanying segue into the message they've prepared and apply it to the lives of our hosts. They tenderly solicit prayer requests and never leave without a bold church invitation. And despite the many other balls I'm juggling right now, there is no doubt in my mind that this, this, is my chief task - church planting in the most grassroots sense of the term. 

So with cell phone silenced, I dutifully accompanied Yban and Luis to three homes. It only took one, though, for the irony of the passage Yban had selected to hit me: Luke 10:38-42. Mary and Martha. I've been feeling especially Martha-like of late, given the DR FORO (which I still owe you a post on), next week's team, and a Jamaica trip in quick succession, not to mention all the other things I'm "anxious and troubled" (v. 41) about. Things that almost kept me from pausing to take in "the good portion" (v. 42). 

And good it was. I love how new things sometimes jump out of familiar stories. It struck me that Jesus didn't rebuke Martha straightaway for her fretting; rather, he first identified with her: "...you are anxious and troubled about many things." He understood and acknowledged her preoccupation, which, on some level, is valid. After all, no one else was tending to the housekeeping. Likewise, no one else is going to finish packing for me or make a grocery list for tomorrow afternoon's preparatory PriceSmart run. But Jesus continues, for Martha's benefit and mine, "...but one thing is necessary." The good portion. Every Word that comes from the mouth of the Lord. Scripture assures me that Jesus knows my every worry...because He took them all to the cross and left them there when He rose victorious three days later. Faith in that truth is the one thing necessary in order to obtain the best portion - life eternal with Him. 

Pray for a safe drive to Santo Domingo tomorrow, safe travel for the team on Saturday, and a fruitful week together. Pray also that the individuals we (and the two other crews!) visited might respond to the Holy Spirit's stirring and trade the things they're anxious and troubled about for the good portion!

Until next time, blessings!