“After learning that Eric was connected to Louise and that Louise and her family were being placed in quarantine because he had fallen ill in her apartment, my first question was, “Could I visit her?” Somehow, instinctively, I sensed that in times like these, the role of a pastor is to be present. I wish I could say that I was intentionally following the example of Jesus, who said to his followers, “When I was in prison, you visited me; when I was sick, you comforted me.”

If Thomas Eric Duncan, for whatever reason, had not gotten on an airplane from Monrovia, Liberia, to Dallas, Texas, he would have become another nameless, faceless person who died of Ebola in Liberia. But because he did get on the plane — unaware that he already was infected with the deadly disease — he has put a face on a disease we Americans have tried hard to ignore.

Others can debate who knew what when or whether this gentle-hearted man should have been allowed on the plane or not. That’s not mine to decide. What matters to me is that because he did board that plane, Eric Duncan entered my own life and the life of my church, even though none of us had the chance to meet him personally.

Eric Duncan — the man who days before boarding that plane had selflessly aided a pregnant woman in medical distress, much like the Good Samaritan of the Gospels — came to Dallas to marry a member of the congregation where I serve as senior pastor. He came to reunite with Louise Troh, who was baptized in our church earlier this year and is a regular participant in the life of the church.

After learning that Eric was connected to Louise and that Louise and her family were being placed in quarantine because he had fallen ill in her apartment, my first question was, “Could I visit her?” Somehow, instinctively, I sensed that in times like these, the role of a pastor is to be present. I wish I could say that I was intentionally following the example of Jesus, who said to his followers, “When I was in prison, you visited me; when I was sick, you comforted me.” There was no time to stop and think of Bible verses and parables. This moment required fast thinking and hard decisions.

Looking back, perhaps those well-worn Bible stories did offer guidance because they had been hidden in my heart by godly parents and kind Christians from my childhood. And what I discovered along the way was that members of my own Dallas congregation apparently had internalized these biblical examples as well, because to a person the church has supported me in reaching out to Louise and her family. The only criticisms we have received have come from outside the church.

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