For a series of 5 sermons called Crossing Boundaries we will be looking into the book of Ruth.  Of the 3 main characters in this Old Testament story 2 of them, Ruth and Naomi, are part of chapter 1.  Naomi’s family escapes trouble brought on by famine by fleeing from Judah to neighboring Moab.  While there her husband and two son die.  When the famine subsides Naomi decides to return to her home and tells her Moabite daughter-in-laws to go back to their original families and stay in Moab.  Ruth disobeys her mother-in-law despite being told 3 times to stay in Moab which is her home.  Ruth’s decision not only defied Naomi it also went against all normal convention.  Normally, if we have the chance, we run from trouble… as in Naomi’s family fleeing the famine.  Rather that separating herself from Naomi, a widow with no family, no hope, no plan, Ruth bonds herself to this troubled one. 

Ruth 1:16 But Ruth said, "Do not urge me to leave you or turn back from following you; for where you go, I will go, and where you lodge, I will lodge. Your people shall be my people, and your God, my God.

What does this say to us who share the God that Ruth has chosen?  Is our life a pattern of running from troubles that come our way?  Or can we face the tough times that inevitably come in the strength that God provides?