Faithful Steps with Others

"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:l6b

I honestly never preached from Ruth until this past fall, It was then that the story grabbed me. Here is Ruth, a Moabite, a foreign woman, who makes the decision to stick with her mother- in-law, Naomi and journey to
Naomi's homeland. Ruth's husband is dead Naomi is without husband or son, so she decides to go to her ancestral home in Bethlehem. Naomi seeks to convince her daughter-in-law, Ruth, to stay behind with her own people, but Ruth insists on going with Naomi. Ruth steps out in faith. One faithful step at a time without knowing what is fully before her.

The story continues with Naomi guiding Ruth into a marriage with Boaz. It turns out that Ruth is the great-grandmother of King David. She is also listed in the ancestry of Jesus in the gospels. Ruth did not know this
at the time she stepped forward with Naomi. She just lived in faith that the two women could do more together than they could apart.

We are never sure about the future, but each faithful step with others can make a difference. Your dollars joined with other dollars can be the source of a scholarship for a young woman who may be the next bishop
of Mississippi. Your dollars may provide the bed net that prevents Malaria in Africa and saves the life of a child who could become the next Albert Einstein. Your dollars joined with other dollars may provide a camping experience for a child who will encounter the love of Jesus Christ for the first time and this child may be your future pastor.

We may never see the result of our next faithful steps in all of its fullness, but taking that next step with others--The Power of WE--may make all the difference.

-- Rev. Mike Hicks, Hattiesburg DS, MS Annual Conference

God Is Still In Control!

Miss Lladale Carey
Web Content Producer
www.umcgiving.org
lcarey@umcom.org