Caught in the CloseoutSample

THE RIPPLE EFFECT

“But Ruth replied, ‘Don’t urge me to leave you or to turn back from you. Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God.’”

—Ruth 1:16

To be a Christian surfer means to be acquainted with God’s book, the Bible. The more you listen to God’s Word, and the more you soak in it, the more you discover this life that God wants to live in you and through you.

God’s Word can give you many things: knowledge, wisdom, revelation, and perspective. You can see how God shows His power and perfection through the lives of some wonderfully imperfect people. He loves these flawed, imperfect people—people just like you and me—and creates a ripple effect through them to impact even more lives.

Consider Ruth. It’s a four chapter book you can read in less than 30 minutes.

There’s no surfing in this book, but it has just about everything else! It’s a story of small people who face all the events of life. Making good choices—and bad ones. Burying husbands, and even children. Having to start over again. Working hard. Behaving with honor. Risking in relationships. Loyalty and love. Family and friendship.

It’s got everything!

The basic message of Ruth is this: You were meant to ripple. Your actions and the way you live your life really can influence the people around you—especially when you’re going through life’s hard times. And your life always means more than you think it does.

And if you care to believe that, you are now well prepared to have your story intersect with the story of God. Now, you are prepared to make some waves.

Go Deeper:

• Read the story of Ruth. What stands out to you most? What is God putting in your heart through this story?
• In what ways can you “ripple” into other people’s lives? How can you overflow God’s love and joy into the lives of the people you meet today?