Film Friday Isabel is managing an orphanage in India when she hears of a generous benefactor, Theresa, who would like to support her work. So she travels to New York only to find herself invited to the wedding of Theresa’s daughter. Arriving late she sits down and freezes as she sets eyes on the bride’s father. This is not what she expected at all.
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‘What are you doing here?’ Oscar, the bride’s father asks Isabel. And we wonder that too. What on earth is going on? What has happened in the past? Do they know each other? Is this strange happening totally random, or is there something else going on here? Little by little the truth leaks out, and the lives of these people will never be the same. Sometimes ‘random’ is not what it seems.
There are moments in the Bible when strange happenings occur. People bump into people and a door opens. Take Ruth. She and her mother-in-law Naomi limp back to Bethlehem, two broken refugees looking for some light. Naomi is so battered she starts calling herself Bitter. But Ruth won’t give up. She decides to go out looking for scraps. And, surprise surprise, she ‘just happens’ to end up in a field owned by a relative. And not just any relative, but a goodhearted one, who sends her home with way more than a few scraps. This is the start of something, and before long Ruth will be married and having the great-great-great… etc grandfather of Jesus. Part of a much bigger picture. Ruth and Naomi don’t know it – but they changed my life. They were part of the Christmas story. Jesus coming into the world, in Ruth’s little town of Bethlehem, and coming into my life and yours. What are the odds? Well, I’ve no idea. But sometimes God is at work secretly behind the scenes. When Boaz (Naomi’s relative) meets Ruth he prays that God will bless her, and then immediately he answers that prayer by being generous to Ruth. Who knows what part we may play in the bigger picture this Christmas. Following in the ‘random’ steps of Ruth, Boaz and Naomi. Whether we are aware of it or not.
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Thanks Dave. I will copy your account of Ruth and Boaz and use it in my preaching!