Sunday 28th June

Well, here it is; my first ever blog. I confess to feeling a little excited as I have never ventured into the blogging world before. Sam has shown me what I have to do to 'upload' it and it's actually quite easy! You just type in the box and then hit the 'publish' button. Amazing!
But I'm also a little nervous as I'm having to follow the master blogger, Mr Dan Waspe. What a fantastic job he's done over this past week. I've loved his insight, his humour, his challenge - well done Dan.

Over the past month or so, I have been reading Ruth 2 over and over again - primarily because I am speaking on it this morning - but one phrase stood out to me every time I read it. It's found in verse 3. "So Ruth went out to gather grain behind the harvesters. And as it happened, she found herself working in a field that belonged to Boaz, the relative of her father-in-law, Elimelech."

"As it happened" implies that it was lucky, jammy, a fortunate fluke, a coincidence. It's a strange phrase to have in the Bible. You see, I didn't think things just happened. I was certainly brought up well enough to know that I shouldn't say 'Good luck' to anyone - there is no such thing as luck. And yet here in the story, the author decides to explain away a monumental work of God by saying "As it happened!" Yet, that is how it appeared. Ruth wasn't looking for Boaz (She'd never heard of him) and she certainly didn't know he was a family relative. She just went out and found a field where she could glean, and it just so happened to belong to Boaz.

So was God involved in this scenario? Of course he was. He was there working behind the scenes, almost unnoticed by Ruth, Naomi and Boaz.

It seems to me that this is how I live much of my life. Things just happen. It's only when I look back and reflect on things that I begin to see the bigger picture of what God is doing and how He makes things happen.

As it happened, I went to Writtle Agricultural College to learn farming (I hated it and learned little!)
As it happened, I went with the CU there to the Keith Green memorial tour.
As it happened, it was there that I sensed God calling me to do what I am doing now.
Without Writtle and the CU, you'd be listening to a proper sermon this morning!

There are so many "As it happened"s in my life where, unbeknown to me, God was working and leading. It just takes a bit of time to stop and reflect and begin to see the chain of events God uses -it can be quite an eye opener! (Joseph did it in Genesis 45:1-8)

So why not have a go and do it. See how your "as it happened" events are bought together by God to shape who you are, what you do. Go for it! Good luck!