Christmas Blessings

Since I don't know if I'll be back here before 12/24/10, I am leaving you a Christmas message now. My mind goes to the book of Ruth, which is my favorite Old Testament book. To me, it shines like a bright light in the Old Testament. Why? When God's people are going astray from Numbers through the last prophets, here is a story about a woman, who was also a foreigner (two big strikes against her in that culture and time), who left her foreign gods, and came to dwell in the shadow of the One True God (Israel should have stayed there!). One of her rewards was to become the great-grandmother of Israel's most famous king, David, and an ancestor of the Messiah, our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. This is really what the Gospel is all about. Need I say more? God bless you richly this Christmas season, which is a reminder of the dawn of redeeming grace at Jesus' birth.