Finding Shelter. Russell J. Levenson Jr.

my friends and I took that leap into that pile of leaves it was a lot of fun, more fun than we probably could have imagined. It was worth that leap of faith. Today, stepping out in faith might be as well.

       A New Leaf

      My hunch is you already know what God is calling on you to do—what step of faith he is asking you to take. If God is calling you to do so . . . why wait? Take that first step . . . today . . . right now.

       A Prayer

      O Savior Christ, Who leads to eternal blessedness those who commit themselves to You: grant that we, being weak, may not presume to trust in ourselves, but may always have You before our eyes to follow as our guide: that You, Who alone knows the way, may lead us to our heavenly desires. To You, with the Father and the Holy Spirit, be glory forever. Amen.

      —Miles Coverdale, d. 1568

Meditation 9

       The Way of Faithfulness

      But Ruth said, “Do not press me to leave you or to turn back from following you! Where you go, I will go; where you lodge, I will lodge; your people shall be my people, and your God my God.”

      —Ruth 1:16

      I mentioned earlier that I grew up in Alabama. Stop your average Alabamian on the street as autumn approaches and ask what they are thinking about come Saturdays in the fall—most will respond, “Football!” In Alabama, most will be speaking about their loyalty to Alabama or Auburn. I have also lived in Florida where the answer would be the University of Florida or Florida State. I now live in Texas, the responses are even more numerous! Loyalty to a team can be found in most places across the United States. People—even people who have no formal association with a football team—take great pride in putting up yard flags, having bumper stickers on their cars, and wearing jerseys and hats that visibly proclaim their loyalty to their team.

      The book of Ruth is, essentially, about loyalty. The Gentile Ruth marries into a Jewish family. When all of the men in the family die, no one would have been surprised if Ruth decided to go her own way. Her mother-in-law, Naomi, actually encourages her to go back to her people, but Ruth is loyal and, as we see in this verse, she pledges to go with Naomi—to stay with her, and be loyal to the family that took her in and to their God as well.

I could run down a few rabbit trails on this one, but let me limit myself to two. The first has to do with loyalty to those God has given to us in our relationships—friends and family. There is no question that there are people in our lives who may test our loyalty to them. An important caveat—there is no requirement to stick with someone who might bring harm or destruction into your life. But, when God brings people into our lives and when the bonds of affection in whatever form have been born, we are called to stick with those loved ones through thick and thin. In the marriage service, we ask a couple if they will stay loyal in all kinds of circumstances—“for better for worse, for richer for poorer, in sickness and in health.”¹⁷ There are things that certainly test that loyalty, but we are called to stand that test of time.

      The second rabbit trail would be our loyalty to our faith. We express that in all kinds of ways, but in the same way our relationships can be tested, so can our relationship with our Church, and frankly, even our faith. Some years ago, a friend of mine was having a conversation with a Russian Christian who was staying with a family in Birmingham, Alabama, for a semester of study abroad. One day the young student said, “What I have found fascinating in your culture is that people seem to have no problem changing from one church to another, but they would never change allegiance to their football team!”

Of course, in a word, this comes down to faithfulness. St. John Chrysostom once preached, “Faithfulness in little things is a big thing.”¹⁸ So true, do you not think?

      Ruth set a wonderful standard for familial faithfulness and for faithfulness to God. The road she took is worth considering. If a football team is worthy of your devotion, would you not agree that those whom God has poured into your life deserve much more?

      When it comes to our allegiance to God, and to the Church, what better model than Jesus, about whom Oswald Chambers once wrote, “Watch where Jesus went. The one dominant note in His life was to do his Father’s will. His is not the way of wisdom or of success, but the way of faithfulness.” As our forebears would say, “Amen, so be it.”

       A New Leaf

      Football games are great. I have sat through more than I can count and cheered my teams on like the next guy. But the exuberance some show about their favorite sports team begs the question as to whether they can stir their hearts with a like—or better yet, more intense—passion for the loved ones in their lives? For their God? Does any of this speak to where you are today? Might Ruth’s faithfulness inspire you to consider your own? What might you do differently today to be more faithful to your relationships? To your God?

       A Prayer for Faithfulness to Friends . . .

      Help me, O God, to be a good and true friend:

      to be always loyal and never to let my friends down,

      Never to talk about them behind their backs in a way

      which I

      would not do before their faces;

      never to betray a confidence or talk about the things

      about which

      I ought to be silent;

      always to be ready to share everything I have;

      to be as true to my friends as I would wish them to

      be to me.

      This I ask for the sake of Him who is the greatest

      and truest of all

      friends, for Jesus’s sake.

       Amen.

      —William Barclay, d. 1978

       A Prayer for Faithfulness to God . . .

      Now it is You alone that I love,

      You alone that I follow,

      You alone that I seek

      You alone that I feel ready to serve,

      because You alone rule justly.

      It is to Your authority alone that I want to submit.

      Command me, I pray, to do whatever You will,

      But heal and open my ears

      that I may hear Your voice.

      Heal and open my eyes

      that I may see Your will.

      Drive out from me

      All fickleness,

      that I may acknowledge You alone.

      Tell me where to look

      that I may see You,

      and I will place my hope in doing Your will.

       Amen.

      —St. Augustine,