Peace on Earth
“Is your town peaceful?”
This question was posed to me by a 10-year-old boy from Eritrea, Africa. We correspond through letters a few times a year. Upon my initial reading through his letter, I didn't think much of the question. Not much of anything happens in my hometown, Pulaski. We do get some Amish upheavals every once in a while when cars don't share the road fairly with their horse and buggies, but that's about it.
As I wrote back to my 10-year-old correspondent, I was struck greatly by the context of his question. He grew up in a war-torn part of the world. He has never known anything other than violence and war. His father died because of violence. His village is under constant threat. Eritrea's location is just across the Red Sea from Yemen and Saudi Arabia, thus making it susceptible to Islamic extremism. He has never experienced peace in the way I have—peace I often take for granted. In fact, it is probably just as strange for him to imagine his hometown in peacetime as it is for me to think of Pulaski in wartime.
Still, he goes to church and is open about his faith in God. How eager he must be to experience the glorious peace of the new creation.
This 10-year-old boy gave me a much-needed reminder to thank God for the peace he has given to me and to most people who live in the West. Even more, it motivated me to keep praying for those who experience everything but peace in their lives.