Where do you live?

One of the more interesting passages of Scripture to me is Ruth 1:15-17 which states (in the King James Version):

¹⁵ And she said, Behold, thy sister in law is gone back unto her people, and unto her gods: return thou after thy sister in law.

¹⁶ And Ruth said, Intreat me not to leave thee, or to return from following after thee: for whither thou goest, I will go; and where thou lodgest, I will lodge: thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God:

¹⁷ Where thou diest, will I die, and there will I be buried: the Lord do so to me, and more also, if ought but death part thee and me.

Naomi entreated Ruth to go back to her people and to her gods.  She begged her, implored her, suggested with emphasis that Ruth depart from her.  And yet Ruth asked her not to beg her to leave.  She stated more than just loyalty or friendship, she stated that wherever Naomi went, her people would become her people and her God would become her God.

Ruth was willing (and able) to forsake all.  She was truly able to leave her family behind and follow Naomi to a far away land, with customs she did not know, and where she would be a stranger amongst the people.

Several years ago I realized my wife, a Filipino, needed to be near her family and the culture she was born into.  So we moved to Hawaii to be closer to the Philippines and to be next to some of her family and friends.

Today, due to circumstances far outside our control, we are at the end of this particular phase of that journey.  We find ourselves forced into having to sell our home, and pack up our belongings, and move to Maryland.  We find our lives in an upheaval.

I have been extremely frustrated by this set of circumstances and by this move itself.  I have struggled with the sheer Godlessness of the world around me.  And yet, there have been clear and undeniable indicators of God working in our circumstances and gently guiding us in this direction.

Ruth tells us many things, but perhaps one of the more amazing things Ruth teaches us that is perhaps the most overlooked is – the reasons in our lives for being happy and the needs we think we have, are perhaps not the ones we think they are.

We have resigned ourselves to our fate as thrust upon us.  But I want to do more than that.  I want to be like Ruth and embrace it fully.  Not because we are blindly following some cosmic path, but because God is in control and is taking us to where he wants us to be.

The fools in this world, those who say in their hearts that there is no God, are completely hopeless in this situation.  When they do not get their way, they have nowhere to turn to.  It is simply the cosmic dust bumping together.  A bunch of chemical reactions, a set of physical laws playing themselves out over the eons of existence.  There is no design, there is no fate, there is no hope, and there is no free will.  They are not really making decisions about the course of their lives.  To think that they were would be sheer folly.  It is no different than an asteroid spinning through space that falls into a course that sends it crashing into a planet.  It was set on that course and bound to that end at the beginning of the (so called) Big Bang from the outset of time.  Just as their lives.

For those with a different world view however, one must accept that the Creator knows what he is doing and is in control and that all will be made clear within his time.

The larger question for most of us though is “Can you leave your people?”  Could you leave your land, your customs, your gods?  Because when you come to the point where you can leave your gods, then The God will be in a position to show you his riches and his goodness.

We are off on a new journey in life.  A new home, in a new State, with some old friends and certainly some new friends.  We are both sad and a little excited, and mostly worried about how things are going to work out.  But we know that no matter what, God is in control.

For those that say God is the invention of man’s imagination, then these circumstances must seem totally irrational.  The paradox becomes how can such a seemingly rational person be so irrational?  And I then ask – How is it that your rationality cannot resolve the irrationality in the world?  Because my God can.

So where do you live?  Are you comfortable in your surroundings?  Are you totally dependent upon family, friends, culture, habits, and circumstances to the point that you no longer seek what new adventure God has in store for you?  Or could you, like Ruth, leave behind your people and your gods and become a stranger in a new land all for the sake of one?

On an Administrative Note – I would like to thank the myriads of you who have registered on this Blog.  It is truly meant to be a conversation, and if you have registered, and would like to contribute, please feel free to comment.  As long as it is family friendly, I will approve it, no matter what the view point.

As we are in the process of moving 1/4 of the way around the world in the next few weeks, I will be out of touch with my computer and an easy ability to administer my Blog while our household goods are in transit.  I will do the best I can with my iPad, however it is not really the appropriate platform for what I need.

I promise that once we are settled in our new home and our lives begin to take on some semblance of normalcy there, I will pick this up with earnest and get back to what I truly intended it to be.  That will most likely be in about 45 days or so.  In the meantime I sincerely hope that you will bear with me of necessity and understand that I have not abandoned this effort, I am just going through a transition that does not allow me the ability to apply the due diligence I desire.  I trust you understand.