Ruth

I'm still on vacation in Nefoundland. I was confused on my last post - it was Friday, not Thursday. I thought I wouldn't add anything else due to the dial-up connection, but I've read so much my head is about explode if I don't write something.

After finishing Ortberg's book on Friday, I picked up "Jesus in the Margins" by Rick McKinley and read it Sunday morning. Another great book with some fantastic insights and also an easy read. In the midst, I read Ruth.

I mentioned to an acquaintence (a pastor) that I was about to read Ruth and he said he had prepared an eight week series from Ruth. I wasn't looking to get that deep, and wanted to take something away more personal. Ruth is a lesson for me in faithfulness. Ruth's faithfulness to her mother-in-law, Naomi (I live next door to mine), Naomi's faithfulness to Ruth, the community's faithfulness to Naomi, Boaz' faithfulness to his family, and all of it a picture of God's faithfulness.

As well, it's a feel-good story in the midst of all sorts of crazy disobedience-themed stories. It's nice to see that someone was being faithful to God.

Finally, it ends showing the family tree to get to David, which we know is an ancestor of the line Jesus was born into. So, the picture of faithfulness is put into context of a larger historical picture. I enjoyed it. Maybe I'll come back one day and look for an eight-week study, but not anytime soon.

On to Samuel.